Must Have Tools

Figuring out what you need to tend your garden can seem futile. I myself have purchasesd some of those "promising" tools only to realize that they don't actually remove weeds on their own! I now feel like there are an essential three to making life easier. The first is a good trowel for planting, digging, weeding etc. The biggest problem with most trowels is that they are week at the neck. They cannot take the force of deep digging dandelions or compacted earth. I have found one that has yet to whimper at what I have put it through. It even comes in a super cool pink! Average cost is about $18.00. You can find them in select garden stores but they are also available at diggersusa.com. The second item is the nejiri gama hoe. I love this hoe for working on your knees and eradicating weeds close to your plants. It cuts the soil nicely and is great for precision work. It helps keep hand weeding to a minimum. You can expect to pay about 12-18 dollars. The third item is the scuffle hoe. Since I am a farm girl I was pretty convinced the old standard was the way to go. My husband read about this item and brought one home. I was resistant as first but alas I am now a big fan. The best part about this hoe is that you can cut the weeds just under the surface of the soil on the front stroke and the back stroke with much less effort than the standard model. This one is truly a shoulder saver! Expect to spend about $20.00. You can find them at most garden stores. All three take a little work and none of them will tackle a three foot weed. So weed early weed often! What are your favorite garden tools?

Peas if you please

Over the course of the past two weeks we have been trying to harvest and eat peas from the garden. It has been very disappointing and I am sure I am to blame. This year when I planted the garden, I vowed to be more diligent about marking what I planted where and when. Soooo I diligently placed plant labels at the beginning of each row marked with date and variety. You would think, had I been so fastidious I would have known that the peas I was trying to harvest were shelling peas and not sugar snap peas. I was trying to eat the whole pod and harvest early so they would be tender. It seemed no matter how early I got to them they were still fibrous. Alas I waited a week until they were nice and plump and what do you know, if you pop open those pods some beautiful and tasty little surprises wait inside!

So why was I so clueless? Well this is a lesson that I am ashamed to admit that I learned long ago actually sitting in class at UNC! I marked my plant tags with a sharpie. It takes less than two weeks for the sun to render the markings of the seemingly ever permanent sharpie invisible! Always use a pencil my friends. Is holds up to sun and water forever! I am sure I have weeded away some special rows of something this year because I didn't know what I was looking for to sprout. Sigh. Thank you all for your patience during my computer troubles! Things are well on their way to spectacular now!

Computer Woe's

Well my blog friends, my computer is seriously ill. Please hang tight and enjoy your gardening/crafting while I work to bring things back on line! Hopefully things will clear up with in the week. Wish me good deals!

Small Batch Preserve

Sometimes when you are first starting out with your garden your harvests can be small. In Sean Conway's book Cultivating Life, he has a terrific recipe for small batch preserves. The recipe requires one cup of fruit and about four other ingredients that you are sure to already have in your kitchen. It took me 30 minutes to cook up this strawberry version. It needs to be consumed with in a couple weeks but trust me you will have no problem once you start slathering it on your ice cream or toast! I will be whipping this recipe up multiple times this season.

Don't delay, plant a tree today.....

We have lived in this house for about 6 years now. It was a foreclosure that needed A LOT of work. (Probably more than I bargained for!) This year we finally got around to planting some trees. Typically I advise my private landscape clients: "Plant your trees first!" Early on, this is always your best investment. Had I listened to myself, I would have six years of growth on my trees. Even if you can only afford a twig, time will pass quickly and you will be glad you at least started somewhere! Even little trees can reap rewards. Take for instance my new peach tree. Barely the size of my thumb but....5 peaches! My pear tree has also surprised me. Six feet tall and viola, my first pears! There may only be four but you can bet they are going to be the best pears that tree ever produces because they are the first and I wasn't expecting them!
I would also advise to keep good record of what you planted....someday you may want to know!

Unknown Pear

Red Haven Peach

Blue Spruce

Your local cooperative extension office is always your best bet for choosing varieties that are hardy in your area. If you purchase from a local nursery, this is usually not a problem. But, if you are buying from a big box store, it would be wise to do a little homework to make sure you are not wasting your money!

Cherries and Strawberries

About 4 years ago we purchased a nice Montmorency cherry tree from a nursery that was going out of business. Every year it has bloomed beautifully but no cherries. We were beginning to wonder if it was labeled wrong and not a self fertile tree meaning I would need two instead of one. Today, as I was watering I looked up in the tree and saw something shiny and red. What could that be? Closer investigation revealed not one but three perfect red cherries! I know three seems pretty lame but, nonetheless they were awesome. Unfortunately I inhaled them before I took a picture! The strawberries are also in full fruit. Last year I moved them from the garden to a raised bet dedicated to their care. As a result we did not eat many last year but I am happy to say I see some strawberry deserts coming my way this year! What is your favorite thing to do with fresh summer strawberries?

Creative Gardening

Gardening is not a static endeavor. It is a creative adventure. One must constantly think up new ways to attack the weeds, organize the layout and come up with new ideas to make it better. Well maybe not always new ideas but creative versions of old ideas. Take for example my hog panel trellis. I have planted gourds on both sides. I plan to train the vines up and over in an effort to save some garden space. Trellising is not a new idea and using hog panels is probably not either but, it is a new creative option for my garden to help me get more into my small urban lot. I hope it works well for me! I am even more excited about the fact that they are scraps from someone's yard. All I had to do was ask. They were happy to let them go, and I was happy to have them! I am all about ease and minimal effort. These were cut to size(approxx 3'x5') using a dremel. Anchored in the ground and wired at the top it took about two minutes to put them up and will take about the same to store for winter. They probably will not win any awards for attractiveness but I don't think anyone will be the wiser when they are covered in vines!