Garden 2023

 Wow!  It's been a long time since I blogged!  Time to get back to it.   I'm trying to figure out what is coming back up.   So glad I drew a map of the perennials I planted:

Let's we what is coming up!

Pollinator Garden

Today I planted a pollinator garden to celebrate the 100th Anniversary of the National Park Service and to take my mind and heart off of the horrible violence in the news today.    I'm tired of reading preachy facebook posts from people who think they know all the answers.   I sure know I don't have all the answers, but I got some seeds from the NPS, and planted them in the garden of our lake house, which is on the shore of Lake Superior in the Keweenaw.   Hope they grow!

The seed pack included lupinus perennis aka wild lupine which I see growing all over the Keweenaw. There was also Asclepias tuberosa  which we know as butterfly weed, Rudbeckia hirta or black eyed Susan, Monarda fistulosa, which is wild bergamot and Solidago canadensis or Canadian goldenrod.  Here's my garden located on the map!

To find out more about the project, check out the Pollinator Project.    Also you can get free seeds from the National Park Service.   Find your park!  Hopefully, a year from now I will see some flowers in my garden and remember that even though there is evil in the world, there is also good people and love and flowers.

Seed starting

I started these seeds the weekend of March 23....

• Chadwick Cherry Tomato - it's supposed to be the best tasting cherry tomato you can grow. 70 days
• Black Prince - deep garnet round, 2-inch tomatoes are full of juice and incredibly rich fruity flavors. This is a tomato that chefs rave about for it's rich flavors. The small fruits contain deep rich colors on the inside. Perfect for patio gardens. Perfect for eating fresh, and in cooking in tomato sauce or other culinary wonders.70 days
• Cherokee Purple - one of the best tasting heirlooms.  80 days
• Camp Joy tomatoes  _ after planting, I learned it's the same as the Chadwick.  Oh well....
• Basil - I can't remember what variety, it was some leftover seeds I had kicking around 
• Thai hot chili peppers
• Cayenne Peppers
• Borage - edible flowers

Most of these were all ready to be transplanted into potting soil from their seed starting medium last weekend, a few of the peppers needed a little more leafing so I let them be until this weekend.

For this weekend, I transplanted the 

• Cilantro
• Bells of Ireland - only 2 of 8 sprouted
• Mallow - 6 of 8 sprouted 

Epic fails

• Mexican sunflowers - I saved these seeds from Greenfield Village last year.  These flowers were beautiful in the Burbank Garden. None sprouted, so I bought some seeds to try again. Lady Bird Cosmos - only 1 plant that was so leggy it tipped over and croaked out of 8

• Passion Flower -    My daughter bought these seeds 2 years ago, and she has been dying to grow them.  

This weekend, I am starting the rest of my seeds:

• Moonflower
• Blanket Flower - Golden Goblin
• The aforementioned Mexican Sunflower - Torch
• Marigold - French Favourite blend

Mexican Sunflower - it's 4-6 feet tall!

The seed packet for the Mexican Sunflower suggested planing them with Grandpa Ott Morning Glories, which would be lovely! I'm worried the morning glories will choke the sunflowers when they climb.  I'll have to think about how I will do that.

Morning Glory - Grandpa Ott

I usually plant morning glories on my mailbox, but this year it's going to be moonflowers.   I saw some last summer in a yard near the Ann Arbor Farmer's Market and I vowed to plant some myself.  They bloom at night, and they are supposed to smell heavenly.   I can't wait for summer.

Moonflower vine

Hypertufa

This year, much of my garden is in containers.   We finally got rid of the wooden deck in back and replaced it with brick, which is so much easier to care for.  I now have lots more room for plants.  I have had great luck with "Earthbox" style planters - which are just a form of hydroponics where there is a water reservoir underneath the growing medium.  About half of my patio garden plants are planted in that type of container.  The rest of my garden is planted in other style containers, including some of my hypertufa that I made myself. 

What is hypertufa?  It's a simulated rock used to make planters.  Evidently it was made popular by alpine gardeners, who used to use antique animal watering troughs for a rustic look, but they became rare and expensive.  Historically, it's been used since the 1800s in England to make the troughs.    They are light and easy to move around.

The recipe for hypertufa is simple:

3 parts peat moss
3 parts perlite
2 parts Portland cement

Mix these 3 together, and then add enough water to make it look like cottage cheese.   Wear rubber gloves!  Portland cement is very caustic.   Use another planter as a mold - I had good luck using plastic planters or buckets. The cement stuck to a wood barrel I tried to use as a mold.  I think plastic works well, because it keeps the outer surface wet enough to get it out of the mold easily, and it is flexible so you can give it a gentle tap to help get it out.    Square containers were easier to get out of the mold than round ones.  Spray the inside of the container liberally with cooking spray (like Pam) to act as a mold releasing agent.   Apply the hypertufa to the inside of the container about 2 inches thick.  Make sure the thickness is uniform - watch out for thin spots.  Add a drainage hole by pushing your finger down in the center of the bottom.   Let it dry in the mold for 48 hours, or until it feels dry when you touch it.  Don't go longer than 48 hours or it will be hard to get out of the mold.  Carefully unmold it by turning the put upside down and tapping it gently.  Sometimes, I had to use a butter knife to ease it out around the top edges.  The hypertufa will be very fragile at this time, so don't touch it once it is unmolded.  The inside of it is dry and the outside of it will be very wet, so it's prone to breaking.  Don't try to move it.   Let it cure for a couple of weeks in this position.   I leave them upside down in the garage to cure, so they don't get rained on. 

It took me many trials to get the hang of hypertufa.  I probably broke half the ones I made at first.    It's important not to make the container too big or too thin.   I wouldn't recommend anything bigger than 1 ft in any dimension (width, height or base) otherwise it needs reinforcement of some kind.   I read online that polymer fibers can be used to reinforce bigger containers, but haven't been able to find any at craft stores or hardware stores.    Concrete dyes can be added to make colored ones, but I like the rustic stone look best.  Hypertufa is a great garden project for March or April, when all gardeners have spring fever and it's too early to plant.   It felt good to actually be doing something to prepare for the season.   I am looking forward to making more next spring.

Heirloom Seed Trial Update:

I planted what I had left of 'Grand Rapids' lettuce and and the picking cukes in one of my hypertufa planter molds on June 1.   I also threw in some watercress seeds I had that aren't part of the seed trial Looks like I've got something growing today, June 5!

I also planted the 'Kentucky Wonder' pole beans again - my first batch was planted in a hypertufa planter that fractured when I tried to move it.  It was too big and too thin.   Today, there's nothing showing yet...

The 'Sangiovese Ameliore' lettuce and 'Cincinnati Market' radishes are splendid.....

....as are the dwarf gray sugar peas.   It is alleged that they don't need a trellis, but I am unconvinced at this point.   Wait and see!  Happy gardening this week....

Great Lakes Heirloom Seed Trial

This year, I am participating in Slow Food Huron Valley's Great Lakes Heirloom Seed Trial, where SFHV is giving away heirloom seeds in exchange for information about how these particular varieties do in our gardens.  Many of these were sold through Detroit's D.M. Ferry and Co. Seed Annual from as early as 1894. Since I have lots of critters that live in my woods, it's hard for me to grow a garden, so I am having an all container garden.    I'm hoping the deer decide they don't like the sound of their hooves on the brick patio! 

I got six varieties of seeds....they are:

Cucumber
Green Prolific 'Boston'
57 days until maturity
Smooth, bright-green, 5.5-6 x 2.5-3” blunt ended, seldom too large for pickles, slight taper, black spine, very high yields, bears continually if kept picked, popular old reliable small cucumber for pickling, listed by D.M. Ferry in 1880.  Sow seeds directly into garden soil (outside) 6/1-7/1. Trellis planting: sow seeds 6 inches apart, 1/2 inch deep, in rows and thin plants to 12 inches apart. Sprawling
growing method: sow seeds 4" apart in rows 5' apart and thin plants to 8" apart.  Raised bed planting method: Sow seeds 6" apart in rows 16" apart and thin plants to 12" apart. Keep seeds moist until germination. Cucumber plants normally produce for about 1 month. If you want a longer harvest period plant a second succession planting 1 month after the first planting.

Lettuce, leaf
Sanguine Amerliore' Strawberry Cabbage Lettuce'
45 days to maturity
Old French Butterhead variety w/ deep red-brown  mottling clustered toward the pink center of each tongue shaped leaf, retains color, tender texture, excel quality,  intro to the U.S. in 1906 as Strawberry Cabbage Lettuce by C.C. Morse and Co.

Lettuce, leaf 'Grand Rapids'
42-65 days to maturity
Large erect bright light-green heavily frilled and curled  leaves, for greenhouse or field culture, early, holds well, slow bolting, TB disease & rot resistant, for home gardens or greenhouses, MSU
Sow seeds directly into garden soil (outside) 4/1-6/15.

How to Grow Leaf Lettuce (full size) method: sow 3 seeds every 8" in rows 10-12" apart (cover seeds lightly with no more than 1/8" of soil or leave uncovered; tamp soil lightly with hand). Baby leaf method: broadcast sow 60 seeds/ft in a 2-4ft wide band (cover seeds lightly with no more than 1/8" of soil or leave uncovered; tamp soil lightly with hand ). Keep seeds moist until germination! Seeds may be started earlier inside into containers as early
as 3/20 - be sure to provide adequate light!

Pea, garden "Dwarf Gray Sugar'
60 days until maturity

Described by D.M. Ferry & Co. in 1892. Broad pale green 3-4" pods are stringless and free of fiber, well suited for steaming or stir-fry. Beautiful purple bicolored blossoms. Vines grow 24-30" and do not require staking, quite prolific. Edible podded. Sow seeds directly into garden soil (outside) 3/27-4/20, 1 inch apart, 1/2-1 inch deep, in rows 12-18 inches apart. Keep seeds moist until germination. These are dwarf peas and do not need to be trellised

Radish
'Cincinnati Market',
'Long Scarlet'
25-30 days until maturity
Heirloom described in Vilmorin's The Vegetable Garden (1885); now becoming scarce. Deep red radishes are 6" long and tapered (like a carrot). Flesh is tender, crisp, and mild. Medium tops are good for bunching. Sow seeds directly into garden soil (outside) 4/15-8/1, 1 inch apart, 1/2 inches deep, in rows 1' apart. Or, broadcast seeds about 1" apart and thin plants to 2-3" apart. Keep seeds moist until germination.

Bean, pole, snap
Black Seeded
Kentucky Wonder' 84
Kentucky Wonder type with long, large, stringless, fiberless, fleshy pods 6-8" long, 8-10 seeds per pod, good flavor & texture, heirloom from central Ohio.  Original seeds from Tom Knoche's Aunt Marge who maintained this variety for 60 years.  Sow seeds directly in garden soil (outside) 5/15-6/7, 3 inches apart, 1 inch deep, in rows 20-36 inches apart. Keep seeds moist until germination. Support pole bean plants with trellis.

How am I doing?   I haven't planted the cukes or the beans yet - actually, I did plant the beans but my hypertufa planter broke when I tried to move it so I will have to replant them.      I planted the Cincinnati Market radishes with the Strawberry Cabbage lettuce in one planter, but all I see is radishes, no lettuce. 

I planted the Cincinnati Market radishes with the Strawberry Cabbage lettuce on April 10, 2011.  I think those are radish seedlings, 11 days after planting, in the next picture.  At 16 days after planting, the radishes are taking hold - no sign of lettuce - but a critter has burrowed a hole in the right had side of my planter.  On May 1, I think I can barely see some leaves of lettuce in the planter, but I am not sure.  The last picture is today - there may be a few lettuce leaves among the radish plants.  I have more lettuce seeds, so I will plant a planter with just lettuce next.

The peas have been a total delight thus far....I planted them on May 1st, and they have been growing wonderfully.  The bottom picture was taken this morning.   The Grand Rapids lettuce has been interesting - it grows pretty unevenly in it's container.

Mom

My mother died on May 25 at 1:30 pm.   What to write about my mother?   I could write a ton of things.  She was a fantastic gardener, and she would be glad to know that her garden looked wonderful on the Tuesday she died.  She has a purple clematis climbing a trellis at the back door that one of the hospice nurses remarked on how beautiful it was.   The azaleas were in bloom.  We had opened the front curtains to show her how the front yard looked, and I am hopeful she was able to notice.  That morning,  I went out and picked some of her magenta rhododendrons and put them in a vase next to her hospital bed.  Her next door neighbor remarked that she could remember my mother doing the same thing this time last year.  I can remember picking some of those same flowers and wrapping them in a wet paper towel and aluminum foil to give to my teachers every spring at Rinke Elementary School.    The bright pink roses were in bloom from the bush that was at the house when we first moved there in 1969.   It was planted by the original owners, a family known to us as kids as "The Balooneys", although I don't actually know how their name was spelled.   How on earth did my mom keep the Balooneys' rose bush living for 40+ years?   I can't count how many rose bushes that haven't survived at my house.   When my mom was still able to talk, she kept telling me to take cuttings of her roses and dip them in butyric acid and plant them at my house for my daughter, who drew her Grandma lots of rose pictures.   I've tried it 4 times now and it hasn't worked, but I'll keep trying until I succeed.   Maybe I need to try a root cutting hormone?

My mother was the kind of gardener that would see things she liked somewhere and try to find it on sale somewhere or get a cutting or some seeds and make it happen in the perfect spot in her yard.   She wouldn't hesitate to knock on a stranger's door and ask them about a flower.   I can remember when I first moved to Ann Arbor, she wanted me to make sure I planted what she called "Coronation Flower" - it was a magenta colored dianthus with light green fuzzy leaves that self seeded.   I had quite a bit of it for a while, but no longer.  I am sure if I looked at her garden when I am there tomorrow, I will find some to bring home again.  She wasn't big on Latin names of plants; when I called her plants by their scientific names, she'd gently correct me with their common names.   But what did I know?  I used the proper names and my plants didn't survive.  She called hers what she called hers and they lived. 

Despite her lack of appreciation for science when it came to gardening, it was her lifelong wish to donate her body to science which I think is a wonderful thing to do.  How it works when the time comes, all you do is make a phone call and some really kind people come and pick up the body.  Since my mother died in Warren, that meant she went to the Wayne State Medical School.  In other areas of the state, bodies are taken to U of M or MSU.   Following the study of the body, the cremains can be returned to the family if desired.  So, at my mom's funeral service, she won't be there physically, just in pictures.   Also, she'll be there in flowers.  She wasn't big on cut flowers from the florist, so my sister and brother and I have all bought the same rose bush to plant in her honor - it's called Carefree Wonder and I am hoping that it's true to it's name and it survives at my house.  

Note to self: bulbs planted in the garden

Every year, Downtown Home and Garden prices their remaining spring flowering bulbs half off during mid November.  This year, I bought hyacinths for forcing and then some unique bulbs for planting in the garden.   I'm documenting it here because I will forget what it was and where I planted it come spring.  Along the steps, I planted oxalis adenophyla (Shamrocks) and ornithalgum nutans (Drooping star of Bethlehem) by the stairs and muscari golden fragrance hyacinthoides otisponica pink (can't find a picture of this pink bluebell) and muscari saffier down by the Pink Promise hybrid tea rose bush my daughter planted.  I'll try to rmember to post later about how these all turn out!  I hope the rose bush makes it - I've never had much luck with roses.

Killing Frost and Crabapple Butter

Last night, I am sure we got a killing frost. We had a light frost a couple weeks ago, and the remains of my garden were still hanging on, but when I looked out the kitchen sink window at my thermometer was reading 29F. At first light, I'll take a look and see what's going on. It's still dark right now. In my small herb garden I still had some greens growing that I sowed in August, as well as some oregano and some mint and sage. I had potted up some of my herbs to try to keep them going over the winter inside. I left the sage out there, though. I had a sage plant in years past that was almost like an evergreen - it stayed green all winter and I used to pick leaves from it when snow was on the ground. It was like a bush and I used to brag that I couldn't kill it when I finally ended up doing just that by moving it once too many times. I grew sage from seed via winter sowing and I got one plant out of it (although oregano, basil and some of the flowers turned out really well and I will definitely try some more again this year). I am hoping this sage plant will soldier on through the cold months like my old one did. My neighbor is getting new windows, so I am going to try to fashion a cold frame out of his old ones with some bales of hay. That will be next weekend's project!

This weekend, I am making crab apple butter. This is the first time I've tried it, and I've gotta say I love it! . There's nothing like free food, and my neighbor has a crab apple tree. She gave me a couple bags full and I threw them in the crock pot on low with a little water last night before I went to bed. They are small, so I just removed the stem ends. When I woke up this morning, they were ready to be pureed. I continue to adore my KitchenAid fruit and vegetable strainer attachment which made making the crab apple puree a snap. It's a much better purchase than a food mill, which takes forever to do and is a pain to store. Somehow, I ended up with two food mills in my house (one I bought new when I first started canning, the other I got at a garage sale) and if you ask me, it's 2 too many! If you've already got a Kitchen Aid stand mixer, just buy the fruit and vegetable strainer attachment. You'll love it!

This morning, I pureed my crab apples and added the remaining ingredients and put everything back in the crock pot on high for a few hours with the lid off to see how that would work for reducing the sauce to butter. Not sure how this will work, but I'll let you know in a later post. But if it doesn't, I can always cook it down on the stove top. Here's the recipe I used for the crab apple butter - my husband said last night that the crab apples get sweeter after the frost, so maybe I will pick some more today and make more. Right now, the puree is a beautiful color pink and smells great. There's nothing like canning something for darn near next to free! My cost will only be the sugar, spices and lids. This probably will work out to 25 cents a jar!

Crab Apple Butter

4 lbs crab apples, stems removed and halved. If they are small, they can be left whole

1 cup water

2 cup sugar

1 t. dried grated orange feel

1 1/2 t. ground cinnamon

1/2 t. ground cloves

1/2 t. ground ginger

Put apples and water in a large crock put and cover, cook until apples are soft, about 8 hours on LOW. Strain apples using a food mill or fruit strainer until a uniform texture is reached. You should have 6 cups puree. Return to crock pot (or saucepan for stove top cooking) and add spices and stir frequently. Cook down until the fruit butter can hold it's shape on a spoon, to check it put a small amount on a chilled plate. When the liquid doesn't separate and create a rim around the edge, and it holds a buttery, spreadable shape when you pass your finger through it, it's ready to can. Ladle into jars leaving a 1/4 inch head space, and adjust caps. Process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes. Yields about 6 half pints...

Shrimp and Tomatoes

I am guilty of buying shrimp from Thailand. I never can remember whether I should be buying farmed or wild shrimp. I wanted to buy U.S. shrimp, but there wasn't any at the store...here's why. None percent of shrimp sold in the U.S. that comes largely from Southeast Asia and Latin America, where environmental regulations are sometimes lax and often not enforced, and 33%
of U.S. shrimp imports that come from Thailand, our largest single supplier.

Mr. MomsKitchen got me an Earth Box for Mother's Day, and so we planted tomatoes. I have not tried to grow tomatoes since one of the cherubs was in preschool and her tomato she grew got eaten by some kind of critter and she cried, so I figured it wasn't worth it, but why not give it a shot? I planted Mr. Stripey and Sugar Lump. I bought them solely for their names. As it turns out, Mr. Stripey is a big tomato with orange and red stripes and Sugar Lump is a cherry tomato. My friend Johnna is from Kentucky, and she always called cherry tomatoes "Tommy Toes". I like that name. We'll see how this goes - we parked the Earth Box on the front porch to keep it away from the rabbits, chipmunk, deer, whatever that likes tomatoes. If it works, I'll try more Earth Boxes.

Plant a row for the hungry....

...my friend Sharon is leading our "Plant a Row for the Hungry" project at St. Joseph's Church and has decided to expand it to the entire village of Dexter. Here is the blog that she started about it. I can't grow vegetables in my garden - I have too much wildlife in my yard to grow fruits and vegetables and I don't want a fence. I do grow herbs, though.

Funny to talk about gardening when we are supposed to get 6 - 10 inches of snow tomorrow.! I just finished my winter sowing - I took a peek and chervil, summer savory, Genovese basil, scallion, oregano, spearmint and cilantro have germinated in the containers I started a few weeks ago. I sure hope this works!

Winter Sowing

Today, it doesn't feel like winter, it's 50 degrees out, but I am trying something new to me called winter sowing. Quite simply, it is a way to start seeds outdoors before the danger of frost has passed. Everything I learned about winter sowing, I learned on the Garden Web or on Wintersown, but I first leaned of it from reading this blog post. I like to grow herbs, and finding a good variety of herbs is difficult and expensive when buying flats. I don't get enough sunlight in my house to start seeds indoors, and I really didn't want to buy grow lights.

I like the idea that I can recycle milk jugs, take out containers, and even last years garden flats with repurposed plastic bags from grocery store produce. I spent about $20 in seeds. I'm experimenting chervil, scallions, cilantro, parsley, oregano, dill, sage, rosemary, garlic chives, sweet annie and summer savory. And also, some spearmint, in honor of the Michigan Lady Food Bloggers official cocktail, the mojito. The seedlings will have good 6 weeks to get started before our frost free date here in Ann Arbor, which is allegedly May 15th, but last year we actually had a frost warning on May 27th.

I am hoping this works....I love the thought of getting some gardening accomplished in March.

Sunshine Farm and Garden

There's a great herb and dried flower farm in Wixom that I have visited and taken classes at called Sunshine Farm and Garden. They have a wonderful collection of herbs for your garden and also teach some great herbal craft classes. I've taken a few wreath making classes there and learned quite a bit. Many of their classes are free. It's located near Proud Lake Recreation area, which I haven't been to since I was a Girl Scout camper, and I need to remember to visit it when I go to buy herbs this year. I just got their 2008 catalog, and it features some recipes I am eager to try:

FLOWER PUNCH:
2 C water
2/3 C sugar
3 tablespoons fresh mint (cut up)
1 C orange juice
1/2 C lemon juice
2 C strong brewed regular tea
1 liter bottle club soda, chilled
1 large stem of lavender, or borage flowers
rose, calendula or pansy petals
Flower Ice Cubes or Ice Ring

Place water, sugar, mint and lavender or borage in a large stainless steel pan. Bring to boiling, Remove and let steep for 20 minutes. Strain through cheesecloth lined colander. Add orange juice, lemon juice and tea to flavored water, chill. Just before serving, add chilled club soda. Sprinkle punch with edible flowers and serve with ice cubes or ring. Makes about 3 qts or 16 servings.

LAVENDER COOKIES

2 eggs
3 c. flour
1 c. butter
2 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 c. sugar
1 T. lavender flowers, crushed
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. grated lemon rind
Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, dry ingredients, and flavorings. Drop a teaspoon at a time on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake about 10 minutes at 350° . Makes 5 or 6 dozen

The garden in spring

Has spring sprung yet? I just wanted to remember what was sprouting in the garden. Old hyacinths, planted when we first moved here...irises planted very late last fall...in the barrel, there is some alium and around it, some pulmonaria. Yesterday it looked like spring, but today, it is back to gray winter.

For the birds

I finally was able to get out and buy some more bird seed. I like to shop at the Dexter Mill for my bird seed - they have a lot of variety. I bought the "Cardinal Mix" this time. The deer love to eat my bird food, so I bought them a deer block and put it on the far edge of our property - in the woods. Hopefully, they will like the block better than my seeds. This year, I moved the bird feeder so I can see it from the kitchen table.

I can't identify too many birds, (yes, I know this is a cardinal) so someone recommended Birds of Michigan to help me. It's a great book - I checked it out of the library and I can't wait to buy it used somewhere. It's small, and it is organized by color, and lets me know what season to expect the bird. I usually get lots of juncos at the feeder this time of year. Who knew they wintered here in balmy Ann Arbor!

Today, the Junior Girl Scout troop my daughter belongs to had a sledding party on our neighborhood sledding hill. It is known as Cardiac Hill, because riders almost have a heart attack because of sled speed or the fear of being deposited in the creek on the more southerly face. It is cold and windy today, and the promised snowfall turned out to be a "weathergasm". Still, the girls had a nice time.

Snow Day and Cabin Fever

Just for the record, today was a snow day. I'd say Ann Arbor got about 5 inches of snow, but downriver got much more - like 10 inches. I have horrible cabin fever and can't stop thinking about gardening. I am hoping the good people at arborseeds, a local group I belong to, will have a plant exchange again this spring. My daughter's Girl Scout troop is having a sledding party this weekend. I never thought I would say this, given my many years in the U.P., but will the winter NEVER END????