General growing and maintenance guidelines. Your plants and how to care for them…
I’ve sung the praises of white valerian (Valeriana officinalis) in the garden many times on this site and in public presentations. It’s one of the most impressive perennials I grow in my community garden plot. Although it isn’t directly useful as an edible like most of the other perennials I’ve put in, it does good things for the garden. We are continuously impressed by it’s beauty, size, smell, and ability to attract beneficial insects.
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In all honesty this could be any Rudbeckia. There are just so many that look alike and this was in a public garden. Who can know?
They do photograph well.
One of my tips when doing the magnifying glass/box camera trick is to seek out shapes that are large, simple and repetitive. It’s especially helpful if there are lots in a cluster like in this shot and the last because then it doesn’t matter if your focus is exactly where you planned for it to be. If you’re striving to photograph a single subject, chances are good that it won’t be in focus. I carry a retractable measuring tape to check the distance but it’s still mostly a guess.
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As I mentioned earlier today it’s been a L O N G year. Actually, it’s been a long year and a half. Or two years. Where am I?
I’ve mentioned it briefly here and there but was finally given the go-ahead today to speak freely(ish) about the main project that has been taking up so much time over the last… very long while.
A NEW BOOK!
I’ve been busy making a new book and this time it is all about my biggest gardening love, growing food in small spaces. The book is called “Grow Great Grub: Organic Food from Small Spaces” and is published by Random House/Clarkson Potter.
I’m really excited about this one. Not just because the topic is so specifically near to my heart and where I most find joy in my own small garden spaces, but because I’ve changed and grown in the years since I made “You Grow Girl” and I think this book reflects that.
This new book has lots of pictures, most especially lots of BIG pictures, all taken by me with a few exceptions. It also has a much more gender-neutral design, which I think will take away the small embarrassment some felt in carrying book number one out with them in public. HA! As a funny aside, when the first book came out many people asked if that was me illustrated on the cover. I replied many times that while the woman sort of looks like me back when I had long hair, it wasn’t really meant to be me.
Besides, I would never garden in a crop top. EVER. The end.
This time it really is me on the cover. And my real plants. And my pickles. Delicious pickles. I can’t wait for you to make those pickles. Why is this suddenly reading like a euphemism? I swear, sometimes pickles are just pickles.
Unfortunately, the wait is long. Grow Great Grub will be officially released in February 2, 2010 (I keep joking that the aliens will have arrived by the time this thing sees the light of day), but it is available for pre-order from several online booksellers (and at sale prices too!) in the meantime. Once I’ve had some time to decompress from the long and harried writing/making portion of this endeavor, we’ll begin work on rolling out the details. My sweet, patient, and also very exhausted partner Davin (also my partner in designing and illustrating the book) has put together a quick micro-site and will be helping me build a bigger site soon.
Serendipitously, the book launch will coincide with You Grow Girl’s 10th anniversary so I’ve also got some fun events and whatnot in the works for next spring. Stay tuned and thanks for riding it out with me!
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It’s been a difficult year and every cell in my body has been craving simplicity and play in an effort to rebound. When I’ve had some free time lately, I’ve found myself reaching for box cameras that I haven’t used in years rather than my usual mainstays. These cameras are as simple as they come: no light meter, focus, and no aperture. It’s just a box that holds film with a lens and a shutter. The viewfinder barely functions. Hold the box, point it, and click the shutter.
Oddly enough, this simplicity actually opens things up to a certain amount of complexity and fun experimentation. Most box cameras like this one can’t focus less than 2m. I took this close-up photo by holding a magnifying glass in front, juggling a ruler to be sure I got the distance right.
This photo was taken with an old favourite, the Ansco Shur Shot. I love the smell of the old leather cover. Unfortunately, it appears to have sprung a leak somewhere, which you can see by the numbers and dots from the paper backing that have burned into the film. Of course, some people would see that as an advantage that adds something to the image.
On the plant: Bladder campion (Silene vulgaris) aka cowbell is one of my most-loved edible weeds. I’m not a huge fan of the eating part but I do love those bloated flowers. I’ve secretly come to associate the plant with a favourite director, Jane Campion. But given that it’s alternate name is cowbell, I think you could make a case for calling it the Christopher Walken plant. More cowbell!
You can’t eat the leaves at this stage since the leaves are tough and bitter this far into the season. Instead, pick the tender shoots when they first emerge in the spring. Like most edible weeds, it tastes kind of like spinach.
Leave a commentMy latest Globe and Mail Microfarming article came out on Saturday. I’ve included the text below.
My editor sent a photographer out this time so there are some pictures in the printed version not taken by me, and one of me planting arugula online. I didn’t lay chickenwire over the flat as protection after planting, and that night the raccoons dug it up. They’ve been busy diggers this summer! What are they looking for?
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The time is ripe for mid-season planting
A gardener friend recently gave me a few pinches of wild Italian arugula seed, Rucola selvatica, the most fantastic arugula I have ever seen or tasted. The leaves are peppery and pungent yet delicate, unlike the hairy self-seeder I inherited at my community garden plot from its former resident. I can’t wait to grow those seeds into salads; fortunately, I don’t have to wait until next year to get started.
Contrary to popular belief, spring is not the only season for planting. In fact, arugula is one of several crops that actually prefer conditions at the end of the growing season, when the climate shifts to progressively cooler temperatures.
By contrast, trying to grow arugula and other tender, leafy greens as the summer heat rises is an exercise in futility. The leaves grow bitter and tough (if they grow much at all) and the plants rush to produce seeds like their life depends on it.
And that’s because it does. Just like us, plants get rather antsy about procreating before their time comes. Living with the stress of heat and drought signals cool-loving plants to get on with the business of reproduction sooner rather than later. Root veggies suffer a similar fate. They go straight to the flower-making stage, completely skipping the part you want most, the bulbous root.
The good news is that the end of summer isn’t the end of the gardening season but the beginning of another chance to reap further rewards from your garden before the year is out.
When to sow a late-season crop depends on how long that plant takes to reach maturity. To begin, check the number of “Days to Harvest” listed on the back of the seed packet. For example, arugula takes about 40 days. Tack on a week or two to the total time to account for the slower growth rate of plants as the days and nights get progressively cooler. Next, calculate the sow date by subtracting the total number of days from the “First Frost Date” for your region (www.almanac.com provides listings).
Fast-growing lettuce, spinach, chard, radicchio, endive, mâche and mustard greens can be sown into September or later if you’re on the West Coast. Broccoli, kale, cauliflower, cabbage, turnips, kohlrabi, Brussels sprouts, collards, peas, beets, carrots, parsnips and radishes love the last half of the growing season. When to sow varies wildly among veggies, so calculate individually.
Sow annual herbs including basil, cilantro, pansy and viola seeds right now. Better yet, speed the process up and double your bounty by taking cuttings from basil, mint, oregano, rosemary and other herbs that sprout roots easily in a glass of water.
Early fall is also one of the best times to make a permanent home in the edible garden for hardy perennial herbs, fruit bushes and trees. The cooler season is much more forgiving on new transplants and gives the roots a chance to get established before the winter forces the plant into dormancy. It just so happens that most garden stores are eager to get rid of their stock in the fall. Take advantage of end-of-the-season sales to get big discounts on oregano, marjoram, thyme, sage, sorrel, mint, blueberries, strawberries, currant bushes, grapes and apple, plum, peach and pear trees. While the bounty will be meager to nothing this year, you’ll get a bumper crop of fresh herbs in the earliest spring straight through to the following winter and beyond.
- Originally printed in The Globe & Mail (July 25, 2009)
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