The Garden Greenhouse

The Garden Greenhouse is being Built!

So exciting, the little greenhouse is happening!

Now we have dug & laid the paver floor, and are framing it out

…an 8×12 multi-use building on the western edge of the garden…

We have begun to clean up some repurposed windows for the West & South sides,

I have a full set of vintage patio doors & side lights to give elegance to playhouse entrance on the East side, with its “patio for having tea”. I am gong to plant climbing roses on both sides of the doors.

…the back wall is to be a solid wooden panel for hanging tools inside & hiding the handcarts outside.

Actually, it is much more imposing than I had thought.  I am not a builder, and in fact – now realize I cannot envision structures after they have become more than a door & simple walls.  It turns out the doors need “headers”, the roof requires eves, the walls have strong corner posts, all classic construction details that have somehow never come on my radar.

I helped Joel cut some wallboard – was just holding it steady, really, but have given a hand here and there in the process.

My job is more that of the designer of the overall garden space…

How to make best use of the tiny garden we urban folks have…compost piles, beds, fruit trees, nursery or greenhouse, plus a beautiful look to it all, & having fun!!!…quite the challenge!

I love the garden as it wakes up in the spring – the rose bushes look happy, their leaves all shiny & healthy, the early bulbs nod their heads in the breeze, the longer days seem to give everything beauty & hope!

Blessings of Spring to you All,

Annie

SIMMERING SQUASH in my Crock Pot

Simmering Squash in my Crock Pot

LAST CHANCE WINTER SQUASH SOUP

How to eat what you have on hand…
End of winter finds me cleaning out the pantry just like my great gramma did – and indeed – finding a small box of our homegrown butternut squash.  They are all so tiny (4 inches long) & in fact – have no seeds … these little babies were the ones I grew in my only-slightly-successful circle bed of the Three Sisters…beans, squash & corn, the ancient inter-planted companion staple foods for simple nutrition & long storage. Mostly I struck out in that cute little circle bed – no beans to pick, a dozen small, short ears of corn & these few puny squash. Ok – I did have one fabulous and huge squash, but she seemed out of place with the others…

The bed was a converted hard pan walkway in partial shade that I dressed with compost & turned, so maybe I shouldn’t feel too bad – but, still – wished I could have eaten a lot of lovely sweet corn last year!! I won’t be trying corn again with my shade problems & space issues…look out Farmer’s Market!

Back to the cooking…

So, easy to make a dinner with them – after breakfast – as Richard is doing the dishes, I just cut them up slightly, clean out the centers & pop into a slow cooker for a few hours of slow steaming.  By afternoon they are cooked up and soft.  If you are at work all day, you can leave them as long as you need, it won’t hurt the result.

Dinner is almost ready when you walk in the door – 5 minutes to chop one large onion – sautéed until soft in olive oil, then add a scoop of Thai spicy sauce (you could just use Italian seasoning or even simply salt & pepper to taste) and use your handy stick blender right in the crock pot…or transfer everything to a jar blender & give it a whirl!  Leave chinks of squash & onion for texture.  This delicious & hearty soup dish has no protein, but is a perfect serving of slow burning carbs, with very little but high quality fat calories from the olive oil.  With an addition of a cold bean or chicken salad, it is a simple yet balanced meal for the busy cook and her(his) family!

I love squash & pumpkin soups all winter long, and am sad to see the last of them go with the end of these lovely little baby squash from my pantry.

So – DO try making a simple squash soup before it is too late!  Or, plant some of those seeds & by September you’ll be eating this yummy vegetable again… Seeds from my biggest squash are already to sow & start in the  “greenhouse that is becoming”…now, that is an exciting thought!  The miracle of the seed & the harvest, the on-going cycle of nature & the seasons…seed to squash to seed to squash to seed…

Blessings on your Planting and Eating,

MORE yummy squash planted soon – started in my own greenhouse…now, that is exciting & VERY LOCAL!

-Annie

FROSTY GARDEN UPDATE

Brrrrrrrrr, I moved from Michigan to California, to warm and balmy weather – right?

Let’s talk 12 degree nights this early December week, and my garden is uptight & hunkering in – as are we all!  Glad to be a human with a warm house, flannel sheets & cuddly guy in my bed…

As for my garden beds…well, i crunch around on the frozen mulch, and take a look…they are all frosty until almost noon, then have a brief fling with the slight winter sun until the poor things get shaded again and start to cool down.  I took the covers off my fabulous straw bale beds at 11am & put their little faces to the sun, gave them a deep drink of water, left it all open until about 4pm…which was too late, really – I lost a bit of gathered warmth, should have been open from noon until 2:30 maybe…

Soil temperatures continue to please me, the soil in regular raised beds was 35degrees at 6 inches deep noted at 11am, but the inner straw bales read 55degrees!  I MUST get an air temp measurement inside the covered beds to see if the “greenhouse effect” is working…

Also – want to figure out an end cap, as the ends are poorly gathered up, and loss of warm air to a cold/warm exchange must be happening there…maybe heavy cardboard cut to fit the hoop shape, and clipped on…

Eating fresh tree collards & cabbage that is holding up rather well despite the weather…hoping for rain tomorrow, and warming temps…

How to survive in case of global cooling…how much greenhouse fabric can we realistically use?

Straw Bale Planting Beds –Building with bales!

WATER RETENTION

Last seasons garden was semi successful…I was happy to be planting a garden in the 5 raised beds bequeathed to me in this wonderful vintage home.! I discovered that this soil was also quite vintage, and so last winter we used each bed in turn as our compost pie. Then, in early spring I amended the beds with oyster shell, perlite, azomite, chicken manure, rock phos & other minerals. I was so used to dealing with the hard clay of my former garden, unfortunately I went too far toward building a permeable soil – and spent the dry summer dealing with a very silty soil that does not hold water well. Luckily, I have been continuing to make plenty of compost, and will correct that problem very soon. In the meantime, I am trying a great experiment in water retention & mulch for this winter’s garden. Frey Biodynamic Organic Winery is using these innovative straw bale beds in their old parking lot. Instead of tilling the compacted & hardened soil, they brought in a number of straw bales, made rows and proceeded to plant right into the bales, by cutting holes or “rows” & adding soil into those areas for planting. After 3 years the original beds are now made of wonderful humus about 4” deep, and the original soil underneath is getting healthy too! They inspired me to try this method in my raised beds. I brought in 4 straw bales, and laid them onto the soil in the bed, first removing about 3 inches of soil to use elsewhere. I was having a hard time cutting the straw until after the first rains, when it was really soaked through. Now I could more easily cut, reach in & grab handfuls of straw to remove until my hole was deeply set, and my little starts would be happy in a small bit of soil set into the decaying straw. It was a decent soaking rain, and I felt confident about planting now.

STEAM HEAT

An interesting development! As I was reaching into the first hole, I felt extreme warmth inside the bales. Richard has a compost thermometer, so he inserted it into the bale, and – wow! It was a 60° day, but the interior temperature was almost 140 degrees!!! Over the next week, as the bales slowly dried out, the temp went down to 120°, then 100°., then 80°, where it has stayed for well over a week. Today the soil temperature was 60 degrees in the rest of the garden, and the straw bales remain at 80°. The starts are doing just fine, not extraordinarily so – but showing normal growth rate for this cooling time of year. My hope is that they will get an edge from the heat, and in fact – I am going to use bales in another bed for some spinach, normally almost impossible to grow here in winter. I will use the hoop bed (see rear of picture) and add a “greenhouse” cover to it soon. The hope is that the decaying straw will add warmth to the interior of this mini-greenhouse – heck, I may be able to put my lemon trees in there!! And, then – next spring! Head start on tomatoes!! Ok, I am getting ahead of my self, but am very excited & hope to be reporting positive news in the next months – from this little experimental bale garden.