Appreciating California

Adam and I just arrived back home after a trip to the middle of the country; namely, Ames Iowa, home of Iowa State University. Adam participates in a yearly competition called Odyssey of the Mind; it's too hard to explain it here (click the link for more), but it's a great organization and he's been doing it since the 3rd grade. His team has twice gone to the international portion of the competition after acing both Regionals and State; both times the event has been held at Iowa State in Ames. Tom went with Adam last time, so it was my turn this year. The event itself was mind-opening and exciting, we saw teams from all over the world and saw incredible performances. Our team is already looking forward to next year's event and hoping to attend (it will be in Michigan in 2019).

And the university itself is quite lovely, with all the things we don't get to enjoy in California - vast mowed lawns, swathes of peonies and hostas in the woodland areas, and fireflies in summer. We saw a dramatic afternoon thunderstorm, with dark clouds racing across the big prairie sky.  We had frogs hop in front of the car on the freeway, which bordered a river. Large groups of robins fed from the lawns everywhere we looked. Bunnies hopped out of the bushes at dusk. All of that was quite charming and fun to experience.

But there were far more things that made me appreciate coming home to California. I'm not knocking the midwest, but there are just some things we Californians do better. Like carry reusable water bottles everywhere we go, rather than buying plastic. Having recycling and compost bins next to every trash bin in any public place. Reducing the use of water whenever possible (I watched a landscape-worker watering a flower bed the morning after the heavy rain. When I asked why, he said 'they pay me to do this, so I'm doing it.') Making sure fresh fruit and vegetables are available at every meal (understandable to have canned or frozen in the winter in the midwest, but why in late May, when many things are at their peak?). Don't even get me started on the university's cafeteria food (five soda stations at every cafeteria and only one with water). 

Adam and I ate twice at the cafeteria, and then we had to stop. It just made us feel horrible to eat what was available there (reheated, plastic food). We had the foresight to rent a car which allowed us to explore the nearby town of Ames. Among a million fast food places, we found a diamond:  Wheatsfield Cooperative, a tiny natural grocery store that featured locally grown, organic produce and meals. We were so happy to have a place to buy salads and sandwiches, kombucha and real lemonade. I told Tom when we got back that you really know you are from California when you read a sign on the co-op picnic area wall ("These oak tables were milled and made from the 200 year-old oak that stood next to our store and was felled in a storm") and think "THESE ARE MY PEOPLE." We make fun of ourselves for our "Portlandia" mentality but it really is true that there is a care for the artisanal that lives deeply in us. 

It made me think again about food security and food justice. There we were, in the middle of one of the greatest agricultural places on earth, and it was difficult to find real food. We are fortunate enough to have the means to search out and purchase the best we can find. But what about the people who can't? Why is the cheap, fake food so much more available than the real stuff? This is an issue that many folks are wrestling with and it's a noble battle.

Another very interesting aspect of our time in Iowa was that I saw no bees. The campus is full of flowers that are empty. We visited Reiman Gardens on campus, a lovely 14-acre property filled with gorgeous flowers and trees. I saw two native bees, one carpenter and one bumble. That was it. I asked a docent, "Do you have a native garden section? I'm very interested in the native prairie ecosystem." I was told no. They used to have one but it's being torn up to make more landscaping. I searched their 'pollinator garden' - no insects. I found it incredibly disturbing. 

Meanwhile, we arrived home last night to find a homemade dinner waiting for us, chock full of real ingredients, that Tom had lovingly prepared. This morning, I woke at 6, grateful (for a short time at least) for the dry sunshine. I went outside in my pj's and picked and ate the first blueberries from our bushes, and some strawberries from our strawberry wall. I visited the chickens and gave them some collards from the garden. I watered all the plants and had visions of soon-to-appear tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers. I sat and watched the bees for a minute and appreciated their presence. I knelt down in one of our pollinator gardens, which happens to be full of poppies at the moment: there was a bee in every.single.flower.

I'm often disdainful of California and this state is in no way perfect. But there are a few things we really have gotten right here. I'm very grateful to be home. 

In Praise of Messy Borders

Last weekend I was working in the garden when a neighbor walked by and asked a question about a particular plant. This plant wasn't in my yard, it was down the street a bit, in a newly landscaped yard of another neighbor. So I walked down with her and we looked at this new landscaping and identified some plants. The particular plant this particular neighbor was interested in was Kangaroo Paws, which is an interesting and wise choice for drier California gardens. As we stood there in this other yard chatting, I mentioned that they way the landscaping had been planted was displeasing to me. It's a vast expanse of lawn with a border of these kangaroo paws and other more common plants, all planted about four feet apart from each other. The ground in between the plants is mulched with wood chips (and that's great!) but the plants are so far away from each other. I said that I preferred a riot of plants, all close together, making a kaleidoscope of color and texture; some high and waving in the breeze, some low to provide a living carpet mulch. I waxed poetic about that type of planting until I looked at this neighbor next to me, who had a sort of blank look on her face. So I stopped talking and she said, "actually, I'm the opposite. I prefer plants to have lots of blank space around them, so you can appreciate each blossom."

Well, that was interesting. I had never considered that there were people who preferred that type of planting, something I've always read about and thought of as 'polka dots.' I then remembered another neighbor who once looked at my front woodland border and said, "I prefer things neat." It's fascinating, isn't it, the way we each have our certain ways of doing things, and the way our eyes see beauty? 

I don't think of myself as a messy gardener; after all, we have a strict pattern of raised beds all over our yard, each of which has a neat, defined border of wood, and plants growing within that border. In spite of that, or perhaps even because of it, I like my borders to be a bit wild. The interior spaces are dedicated to production - food for our family. Therefore they must be organized and neat. But the borders can be a tumultuous array of natives, ornamentals, perennials, and annuals, all growing in a haphazard manner and lending the garden a sense of the carefree.

I'm not knocking my neighbor's preferences for orderly spaces, but there is some science behind letting your flower beds, and indeed even your vegetable beds, be a little bit on the overgrown side. Let's go through those reasons one by one.

1) These wild borders mimic natural spaces. Where in nature do you see a neat, orderly, polka-dotted landscape? Nature fills in space, with whatever it needs in that place to improve the soil for the next plant. Soil life depends on living roots in the ground for optimum health. Living plants are constantly feeding the microbes in the soil and making important exchanges to improve both the soil and the life of the plant. Dying foliage offers nutrition to the area. Conversely, orderly landscapes show only the asserted will of humans. I'm not sure when the trend of orderly landscapes started, probably a long time ago in Europe and Asia, when humans decided they could improve nature, and started manipulating plants. I'm not saying there is anything wrong with asserting a human force of will on your garden. But I'm saying that, while it might be enjoyable to the gardener, it may not be what nature intended. I would say mowed lawns fall into this category. Where in nature do you see a lawn? Now a meadow, maybe. 

2) Pollinators like drifts of flowers. You'll attract more butterflies and bees if you plant drifts of flowers, all close together. Pollinators like a place where they can go and stay awhile. If your plants are few and far between, they may just skip the joint all together - it's too much work for too little reward. If you like seeing beautiful wildlife (birds too) in your garden, and if you like having your food plants pollinated, plant more closely and in drifts. 

3) A plethora of plants helps shade the soil and conserve water. Here in our dry state of California, choosing plants by water needs is a good way to go. If you plan your border to reflect a particular plant community rather than 'native' or 'imported,' you can have lots of flowers that you enjoy that may not be particularly suited to our state. Natives are important and I try to keep the contents of my borders 50% native; but you don't have to limit yourself to those as long as you put plants in similar communities and water needs. Plus, if you have lots of plants, you'll actually conserve water. This is because the plants form a canopy that shades the soil and allows less water to evaporate from the ground. A moister soil also helps regulate the temperature under that canopy, so that the plants don't get too dried out. It's a win-win.

4) A dense canopy of plants also helps to crowd out weeds. If every space is taken by a plant you intended to be there, there will be no room for weeds. 

5) You'll attract beneficial insects. Not just the pollinators that we all know and love, but also weird creatures that like to shelter in a denser canopy. These weird creatures are often the good guys, eating up the aphids and thrips and whiteflies that plague our crops. We all have plenty of prey insects, regardless of whether we want them. The trick is to invite the predators in too. And one great way to do that is to plant a full and diverse border.

6) And that brings me to the subject of diversity. When you plant a diverse grouping of plants, you're solving lots of problems at one go. You'll get some plants that have shallow roots, some that have deep. You'll get some lower growers and some tall growers. You'll get some flowers with daisy-like heads and some with umbrella-like heads. You'll get some who have lots of pollen and some who have lots of nectar. You'll get a gorgeous flower show from the entire rainbow, as well as different greens from the leaves, which create texture. You'll get big leaves and small leaves, coarse foliage and fine foliage. In other words, it's a delight for your eye, for the insects, and for the soil.

7) Plants grow better with friends. As long as you are careful to plant in correct communities (things that like acid soil, things that like clay soil, things that like shade, things that like dappled sun, etc), plants will do better with a diverse community around them. Permaculture has the right idea about this with their guilds. 

8) Perhaps the best reason of all, it's less work for you as a gardener. Why are you spending time mowing and chopping and weeding and watering and cleaning up all the time? And you can do this in containers, too, if you don't have yard space. My mother, who lives on a rocky hill that has remained (sensibly) a native habitat, has hundreds of pots on her deck which are always awash in color and beauty. 

I don't mean to imply that having this kind of garden is no work at all. I do spend a lot of time on these borders. First of all, they take years to establish, depending on the kind of plants you purchase. The full look that I've gotten (and love) has taken me all my 13 years at this house to achieve, and there's plenty of spots where I have yet to achieve it. It takes planning, time, and money at the outset. And the ongoing maintenance also is an issue if you choose more annuals over perennials. I like to have about half of each, so that means some seasonal work to replace the spring annuals with summer annuals, for instance. Some clean up is necessary and some re-seeding. And if you put out seeds frequently, you'll need to clear a little space for those seeds so that they have room to germinate, and you'll need to water a little more frequently. 

So it's not work-free! But the constant 'taming back of nature' isn't part of that. Instead, your goal is to allow nature to take over and do the work for you. 

So, for my part, I shall leave the heavily tended, cultivated polka-dot look to my neighbors. Instead I will continue to crowd my space with diversity and beauty, and reap all the rewards of it. I believe that, once you understand the reasons to do it this way, you'll want that too. 

Shallots and Sunflowers

When I pulled this season's shallots out of the ground a couple of weeks ago, my first impression was that it was a great harvest. The actual bulbs weren't developed as fully as I would have liked, but some had started to put up flower stalks, and all of them were wilted and clearly at the end of their growing time. So I had to pull them out. I hoped, after drying and curing, they'd look more like they were supposed to - more round in the bulb, not quite as skinny.

I took them down from my curing shelf (the top of the chicken coop) and bundled them this weekend. And I have to say, I'm not thrilled. In fact I'm somewhat disappointed. Easily half of the shallots were mushy to the touch, not firm like they should be; I had to compost those. And the half that seemed firm enough to eat are still on the skinny side. Not the plump, full, firm bulbs I'm used to.

So what happened? 

I planted three allium crops last October for harvest this spring. Crop #1, leeks, were planted in the North Garden, where there had been both cabbage and beans before that. If you remember, the bush beans succumbed to spider mites and we had only a brief harvest. After that I added compost, then transplanted cabbage into that bed along with clover. Both did well and the clover continued as a companion crop, all winter, to the leeks. Plus, when I planted the leeks, I added more compost to the bed. And the leeks were a great success. We didn't have a huge amount, nor were they very large in size, but they were delicious and perfectly formed. So, no problems there.

Crop #2, garlic - my usual favorite variety, 'Inchilium Red' - was put into a bed in the South Garden that had housed tomatoes up until garlic planting. I did not add compost at that time for some reason. I did sow clover along with the garlic. The garlic came up quite well and seemed to be doing great; the clover never germinated. The garlic stayed the same all through the winter. When the earth finally warmed and the sun came out, it didn't start growing again like I expected it to. I gave it fertilizer and mulch, but nothing much else happened in that bed. The harvest was meager; we got about 75% of what we expected, and all the bulbs were much smaller than usual. Some never formed cloves, just made one larger clove. I also noticed numerous black aphids on the green part of the plant. So, the garlic was an almost total fail. We do have some bulbs that are usable, but we will go through them very quickly.

Crop #3, shallots - a new-to-us variety called 'Red' shallots - were put in a bed in the South Garden, which, like the garlic, had had tomatoes up until the day before. I do think I added compost to this bed. I seeded clover as well. Both the shallots and the clover grew wonderfully - an almost perfect growing season. But when I pulled out some clover that was about to go to seed, I noticed that space had been pretty tight in that bed; everything was really  crowded. And, when I harvested the shallots, I also dislodged quite a few earwigs.

So. I've learned a few things. Always add compost after tomatoes!!!! (or how about always add compost period!) Tomatoes are heavy feeders and likely the soil was depleted. The clover, had it grown correctly in the garlic bed, would have helped add nitrogen, but still needed nitrogen to grow in the first place! The fact that it didn't germinate at all should have been a big red flag for me - I mean, clover isn't hard to grow. You people with lawns know what I'm talking about.

Also, I think some floating row cover over these crops would have helped. I didn't use any covers this winter as an experiment and I won't repeat that. Like everyone else in creation, we had a weird winter. In early February we had 80 degree weather. It only rained once between November and March. Then winter moved in and it rained all of March, hailed several times, and was around 25 degrees nearly every night. Row cover would have protected the crops from those extremes of weather.

Another thing - maybe it's best not to crowd alliums.

Another thing - maybe it's best to loosen the soil a little after tomatoes before adding the compost - just some broad-forking to assist with air exchange, no tilling or anything. 

Well, live and learn. Hopefully next winter's crop will do better. Meanwhile, how lucky we are that we have grocery stores to supplement our harvests! If we had to rely on what we grew, we'd have some very bland meals without those alliums. 

Now, on to some sunflowers. 

I have three different kinds blooming right now, none of them very common, and I think all of them should be more used because they are my very favorites. All are from Renee's Garden.

This first is 'Sun Samba,' a variety which contains different sunflowers of different colors, so you get a variety, and some with very unexpected combinations. Isn't this one gorgeous, with it's tri-colored petals?

And this one is 'Cinnamon Sun.' I love its deep red petals and that inner ring of yellow which sets it all off.

And lastly, 'Chocolate Cherry,' with it's reddish-brown petals and inner ring of brighter red. You have to work to see this one in the garden, but what a reward when you do.

If you're tired of regular sunflowers, give these varieties a try - I think you'll love them!

I May Have Found the Perfect Hose

For years, I've struggled with hoses. Yes, we have a drip system, but I also have various containers that need watering - containers that are in the far reaches of the garden or up on porches. Dragging out the hose has been a chore, every other day, for my whole damn life, it seems. The hoses you buy at the box stores are huge, heavy affairs - when they kink, it's a half-day project to untangle them. Plus they all seem to be in bright, garish colors which don't blend in with the landscape. If you tend to leave your hoses lying around (because they SUCK to put away in a neat coil, really, who is able to do that?), they are a blot on your otherwise-lovely garden scene. And don't get me started on the hose-end sprayers. I must have gone through 20 different kinds in my gardening career and they all stink. The handles break if dropped, or they catch on the ends of beds, or they make my hands hurt (something that you never foresee happening until you turn 50 and suddenly you can't even water your yard anymore without arthritis pain). 

The other day, I forgot to turn off my spigot after watering and my hose actually BROKE from the water pressure. It popped off the sprayer which took the screwy-thing-end of the hose with it. At first I was mad, but then I thought, "Hey, maybe I can finally find a hose that I actually like. Is there such a thing?"

So I started doing some research. As long as I was buying a new hose, I wanted it to be food-grade; no BPA, phthalates, or toxic chemicals (we get enough soil-killing stuff in our municipal water, why compound that problem?). I wanted it to be made in the USA. I wanted it to be light! Oh yes very light! I wanted it to be easy to move around! Flexible for fitting around tight corners! I wanted the fittings to be well-made and leak-proof. I wanted it to be a color that blended in to the yard, instead of standing out.

I remembered reading about such a thing on a blog I like to visit, A Way to Garden. The author used to be the editor-in-chief of Martha Stewart Living Magazine, but left that job to garden on a large property in upstate NY. Even though a lot of her information is for east coast gardeners, I really enjoy reading her posts. She has a mindset like mine when it comes to nature - she likes insects and wildlife. And she's really the one that got me into underplanting trees. Anyway, she had found this particular hose and declared it nearly perfect. 

This hose is made by a company called Water Right, Inc, which is located near Portland, OR. I ordered two hoses and I got them yesterday and I hooked them up this morning and I am in love. Water Right doesn't know I bought these, and doesn't know I'm blogging about them, I purchased them with high hopes that I would find something so much better than my old hose, and I have, and I'm not getting any money or anything from the company, I just want to share this with you because I am SO PLEASED.

Check out the difference in size between my old hose and this new one. They are both 50 feet long.

This hose is so light! And it's so easy to move around! It makes taking out the hose and watering a pleasure rather than a chore. This company believes in American-made products, so it's all made right here. The hose is food grade. All the colors are muted, but I went with olive green. The fittings are very well-made.

I could not be happier. They are on the expensive side - $50-60 bucks on Amazon - but well worth every penny. They come in four lengths: 25, 50, 75, and 100 ft. Plus they have a five-year guarantee.

While I was at it, I bought new hose-end sprayers. One broke when the hose burst, obviously, but I was also tired of my hands hurting so badly, and the handle catching on everything as I tried to haul in the hose at the end of every watering session. I decided on Dramm sprayers, and I'm extremely pleased with these as well.

It has all the standard spray settings, but what I like is that the on/off is worked by your thumb. So you don't have to hold a trigger handle down with your grip. Honestly I think half the battle with my hands was dragging that heavy, unwieldy hose around, so having a super-light, flexible hose attached to this thumb-triggered sprayer is really going to help.

Hope this is good information for anyone else who has hated their hose for years, like I have!

Strawberry Wall update

You might remember that, back in January, we made a new strawberry wall out of guttering and a recycled wood trellis. I thought you'd like to see how it's performing. Here it is when we first planted it:

And here it is today:

A few plants haven't made it. I have found that the plants in the ground below are doing much better in terms of size and color, which doesn't surprise me because they are forming all sorts of associations with microbes down there, which the plants in the gutters don't have. Strawberries are woodland plants; they are probably used to having lots of forest duff around them and all the fungal activity that brings with it. Of course I have to fertilize the guttered plants frequently, using something organic and with a low nutrient level - fish emulsion is ideal. I have a dripline on the in-ground plants, but I have to remember to water the ones in the gutters every other day, and thoroughly, because they dry out very quickly.

So, a few drawbacks, but generally I'm happy with it. In the ground would be ideal, but who has the room? And - there have been zero slugs on this wall - which is a great benefit. And I've eaten several strawberries already, and more are on the way!

Delicious. Also, pretty, which is something I really value in the garden.