Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Today, Congressman Jay Inslee (D-Wash.) introduced the Community Gardens Act of 2009 with Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) The bill creates a grant program within the U.S. Department of Agriculture to compensate community groups for up to eighty percent of the costs associated with starting and maintaining a community garden.

Very cool article over on City Farmer News

Last week we netted a few cherry tomatoes, some strawberries here and there, and 2 short, fat zukes. Zucchini bread ensued, and it was…well, lets just say I need to find a new Zuke Bread recipe. The strawberries found their way into various cereal bowls. The cherry toms became instant snacks.

Today, after getting irradiated by the sun for days on end, the garden gave up this haul:

Hell yeah. The bush peas are going crazy, as well as the crook neck squash. These were grown from seed, so I expect to be using seeds more often. I use Territorial Seed Co., which you can get from my good pals over at Portland Ave Nursery, or by mail (they have a big sale on baby varieties which I might be trying out). Those zukes are both 8 inches or bigger. Shoulda picked ‘em sooner, but they will do nicely. I expect to get out in the blackberry bramble tomorrow to get the first cache of those (and hit the stray patch at the end of the alley).

The big ass pumpkin that found home in the driveway behind the garden is literally getting bigger by the day. Next year I’m going to tend to it closer and me and the kid are going to go big and enter one into the Fair. Word up. We might have to make uniforms and shit for that one. W00t!

P.S. – the sun rules for the garden, but HOLY HELL. This heat is a pain. I expect I’ll have to water daily this week to keep everything happy.

The best method was taking off the pedals. Today we put them back on and here’s what happened:

HELL YEAH.

A WHILE AGO:

A LITTLE BIT AGO:

TODAY:

This is the Atlantic Giant Pumpkin that has overgrown the garden:

I put two in there “just to see what happens”, and it took off running. If all the gourds that have appeared turn into pumpkins, I will be hooking peeps up with jack o’ lanterns galore. Also need to check on some recipe for ‘fried pumpkin flowers’.

They Live, zucchini version:

Cauliflower finally shows up. This is one of 5:

Here is the newest bed with (in the distance) bush beans, and some newly planted stringless pea seeds. I have one last section for some new plantings in 2 weeks or so. The bench planter just got a fresh planting of carrots. The other side holds the last of the lettuce that hasn’t bolted yet. The foreground is 3 squash hills that seem to be doing aok.

Strawberries in the front have already yielded fruit, but more to come!

The Gardens are looking great, but I’m too tired to take pictures! Here’s what we’ve been up to:

Planted 2 Better Bush tomatoes in the front yard. I did these varieties 2 years back in containers on our old deck, and they went crazy! Tons of tomatoes, and fast.

Ripped out the existing ‘flower/weed’ bed in the front yard and put in hydrangeas and wildflowers.

Cleaned out around “Hole”, our giant sequoia tree seedling we picked up a few years back in NoCal. Weeds were trying to choke him out after his transplant last Fall. Hole is now over a foot tall, and the same wide. Weird.

Built a gate from front yard to back yard. Built a gate and arbor from backyard to parking area in the back. These gates make the backyard look like, well, a backyard.

The red oak lettuce we planted in the half-whiskey barrel is GOING INSANE! Salad every night, give it away, it keeps coming. The cabbages next to it are also getting quite huge. My little nephew was over munching on all of it, and his mom said that was the most vegetables she’d ever seen him eat. I guess they’re about to plant to sustain his new found likeness of vegetation.

Strawberries in front yard are bearing fruit! 2 red berries, and a bunch of budding fruits right now. I can almost taste the buggers. Whoever the jackass was that said they would never grow in a planter box so close together is not getting any of these red beauts.

In the backyard garden, I have now 4 cherry tomato plants, 5 cauliflower, 2 zucchini, 2 pumpkin, and even more lettuces scattered throughout. The cherry toms are already in cages, loving these sunny days. Cauliflower are getting huge…wonder if they’ll give me anything. They were pretty much a ‘toss it in the ground and see what happens’ kinda deal. Pumpkins are also going off.

I also put in two 8×2 foot planters. One has 3 hills with summer squash seed, the other has the first planting of bush beans. I’m going to do 3 plantings of bush beans to see if I can make something happen.

I also have Hops (Centennial and Tettnanger) to figure out where to put in. I’m thinking along the fenceline.

Pics soon!

Been busy around here. Had an awesome flood of sewage in our basement, which the City of Tac is reimbursing me for (whew). Here’s the start of our gardening projects:

Front porch herb garden. Rosemary up top, with cilantro and dill down one step. The other two planters are for whatever we bring home next time. The Rosemary is growing crazy fast.

Strawberries in the front yard. All are blooming, but the pic is all washed out. This is why I serve beer and am not a design dood with mad photoshop skills.

Well look how hippie-dippie we are! Made this out of fence-posts and wood that was left when we bought the house. The posts were actually still in the ground with no fence. I bought the cedar board on top for a buck, and a can of paint. Everything else was found here. Works like a charm.

The raised bed. This was a carport, now a “parking area”. We built a wall with concrete blocks, tilled up the inside, and filled it in. 26 feet long, 3 feet wide, and about 20 inches thick of fresh mushroom/chicken manure/soil mix to fill it. The tomato and squash starts are acclimating in the garage for transplanting. The blocks were put in so the “holes” will be small planters as well. This is 3 feet off the ground so I can work it without bitching about my gimp back hurting. Damn we crafty…

Red oak leaf lettuce is going off like crazy! Daisy in the middle is doing grand.

Cabbages, chives, and a ton of onions all at different depths just to see what happens. Daisy in the middle is NOT doing grand.

Apple trees and beans on the way. Might be doing a parking strip garden as well with cherry toms. We are so urban it hurts!!!

Having a clean alleyway again: priceless

Today me and the wife picked up a total of 660 pounds of others people bullshit, but at least we have a clean alley again.

Mattresses run $11 flat rate for those who need to know at the Tacoma landfill over by Home Depot on Center. Apparently the people who live behind us didn’t know, since this mattress has been outside for 2 months now…but I’ll just consider it a neighborly gift. The alleyway is NICE now.

Please people…just give a shit, and life will be easier for all of us.

…and falling fast here on the south side of Hilltop. Crystally light snowflakes that make for tight-packed snowballs that HURT.

Some of us voted days ago…

I have been, and always will be, an absentee voter. My wife is, and will always be, a poll voter. Her polling place had a 30 minute wait at 9:30am this morning. She said she has never waited in line to vote. I hope this election decision has a positive outcome. We’ve seen tons of lines to vote here in Tacoma while out and about. That’s pretty positive in itself.

On Halloween, the fam went as The Big Cheese, a mouse, and a cat.

Yes. We are indeed adorable. We headed out to Stadium District’s Street of Treats event with Pat from the mighty King’s Books and his daughter. Here’s some shots I fooled around with while the kids were loading up on huge amounts of candy: