The Garden Buzz

Making Local Eating a Little Easier

Radishes (The Garden Buzz)

Just days after the announcement of Apple's iPad, it's easy to think that all the new ideas are hi-tech, complex and out of our reach. And then an idea comes along that is sweet and simple, and based on sharing. A smart lady with the appropriate last name of Farmer, has started a website called The Farmer's Garden, a place where gardeners, growers and farmers can register to sell, buy and trade surplus produce with other local growers and consumers. In addition, individuals and non-profits, like food pantries can register classified ads for wanted produce. She wants to make it easier for everyone to be a locavore. It seems a win-win for everyone.

Ms Farmer states that you can "trade your banner crop of one thing for your neighbor's bountiful crop of something else". I would think fruit tree owners might find this especially helpful when an entire crop comes at once, or even the everyday gardener with a zillion zucchini, and all kinds of good food in between. Delicious, unusual or rare varieties might be found growing not in your own backyard but mighty close. She encourages people to consider that even in winter there are still certain crops available.

It's not necessary to register to search the database. You can search with options for zip code, travel radius, transaction type and produce category. Always use common sense when using any online source.

This community resource can connect consumers and growers, create community, support better nutrition, and reduce waste. I bet you can think of more. Check it out at The Farmer's Garden. 

Alpine Strawberries: Perfect Fruit for Small Garden Spaces

The other day I was singing the praises of Alpine strawberries across the table at the Master Gardener luncheon, when I thought I might as well shout across the blog about them too. I think they are about as near perfect a plant as you can get. For gardeners expanding their edible landscapes or new kitchen gardeners, this red berry should be on your radar.

Alpine Strawberries (The Garden Buzz) 

Alpine strawberries have a taste that's hard to pin down. It has been described as perfumed, yet I think that gives a bad connotation. It's not the soapy type of perfume taste. It's complex without the tartness of a cultivated berry but with a certain 'je ne sais quoi'. No sugar needed.

You can't even use my "can I grow it better than the grocery store" rule. You'll never see an alpine strawberry in the store; they are simply too delicate to make the trip. They go from green to ripe to too ripe, too quickly for the marvels of modern food marketing. Yet the berries are in a perpetual state of production, so the supply never runs out until frost.

These delicious little gems rarely make it to the kitchen, I eat them in hand every time I pass the plant. So prolific, there always seems to be more as I rifle through the foliage. They can give your Cheerios a sense of European sophistication if you gather them early in the morning. A few times I have combined them with other berries, like regular strawberries, blueberries and  even mulberries on lemon cheese tarts. They combine well with other berries for more depth in taste.

I did have one problem last year; my new puppy watched me picking them and before I knew it he was nipping them off the plant to eat as well. As far as I know there are no ill effect besides the unwanted competition. 

Alpine strawberries, or Fraises des Bois, come from the wild woodland strawberry, Fragaria vesca, in fact you can can grow the wild version, or any number of cultivated versions. Compared to when I started my first ones from seed, there are many varieties available. They differ from domesticated strawberries in that they produce small, pointed, almost conical berries on clumping plants. Without runners, the benefit is that these plants can be used in the perennial landscape and put in permanent positions without the need to constantly rejuvenate the patch.

The bright green leaves are attractive in their own right with deep serrated texture. The rounded shape is great for edging or spotting throughout the border. The dainty little flowers are adorable. The plant is easy to grow with good soil and adequate moisture, mine have seldom been bothered by pests. They'll even tolerate a little shade. These little jewels make it possible to grow fruit in small spaces.

Do be warned, there are impostors. In my haste one year I ordered plants from one of those iffy mail order places; the berries were rounder and bland, and then the runners started running and ruined my bed. Pay attention to the fruit shape and description if possible when buying seeds or plants.

Alpine strawberry plants are now available from a number of sources, and sometimes appear in nurseries. That can only improve as everyone learns about the flavor and versatility of this fruit. I've listed some sources for seeds and plants with the different varieties noted.

Seeds

Thomas Jefferson Center for Historic Plants  Fragaria vesca

Renee's Garden Seeds  "Mignonette"

Thompson and Morgan "Mignonette"

Kitchen Garden Seeds "Red Wonder" and "Yellow Wonder" (The yellow not preferred by birds? The berries hide in the foliage so I don't know if this is truly an  issue)

Richter's Herbs "Ruegens"

Select Seeds "Alexandria"

Plants

Bluestone Perennials "Ruegens Improved"

White Flower Farm "Fraises des Bois"

And if you don't believe me when I tell you how great Alpine strawberries are in the garden and your tummy, take it from Henry-dog. Would he lead you astray?

National Pie Day - January 23 (Pear Tree Pie Recipe)

Let me be the first to wish you a Happy National Pie Day! Who knew? The American Pie Council (nothing to do silly song lyrics or naughty boy movies) designates January 23 for this auspicious occasion to help in "preserving America's pie heritage and promoting American's love affair with pies". Their aim is to "raise awareness, enjoyment and consumption of pies". Heck, I'm there.

 
Pumpkin Pie     The Garden Buzz

What, you say? Is The Garden Buzz going all foodie? Occasionally. In this case, I don't think it's that far from the pie pan to the garden, or vice versa. Name a pie that doesn't need produce to produce its filling. Cherry, berry, or kumquats, it all starts in the dirt. Chocolate cream? Little cocoa groves in West Africa. Rum raisin? Vineyards and cane fields. Chess pie? Maybe you got me there, but I like mine with a little lemon zest.

And lest we forget. Bees make pies. Every bite is just buzzing with bee-power. Without pollination, what could we look forward to; wheat pie, corn pie?

I love pie. I love how it is all contained in a crust, sort of like the perfect packaging of an egg. I love making pies; the fluting of the crust, paring apples, peeling peaches, or whisking the filling in a big bowl, and finally the finished piece. I love how it looks in the kitchen, the ultimate symbol of domesticity. I love slicing it in eight perfect portions and feeding it to people to watch them swoon. If I had one of those wide windowsills like in the cartoons, I would make pies just to see them sit there.

I remember some pies better than people; that purple raspberry/rhubarb/custard from last year that still elicits sighs and haunts us with its elusive qualities, the sweet-tart gooseberry pie at Kansas family reunions, the sweet potato pie when I grew my own, the dainty lemon meringue my mother-in-law makes. Yet my mom never made proper pies, but rather these messy, misshapen fried apricot pies, greasy and good, eaten with your hands, and even better cold.

Any day with pie would be a little bit happier. But here's a pie to honor the spirit of the American Pie Council's special day. It was inspired by the pear tree that grew by our old limestone house in Kansas. It provided shade, honey-scented blossoms and voluminous quantities of lumpy little green pears every other year. I miss it, now, every year.

Pear Tree Pie  

Use your favorite crust recipe or buy a ready-made frozen one, I wont' tell, it's only for the bottom.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

6-8 Bartlett Pears (or whatever kind is available) peeled and sliced

3 T. Lemon juice

1/2 C. Sugar

2 T. Flour

1-2 T. Chopped crystallized ginger (this is what makes it good, I think more is better)

Combine fruit and other ingredients in a bowl, then spoon into pie crust. Sprinkle with crumble topping.

Crumble Topping

1/2 C. Flour

1/2 C. Sugar

1/2 t. ginger and 1/2 t. cinnamon and 1/4 t. nutmeg

You can add oats or chopped nuts for more flavor

Combine and then cut in 1/4 C. Butter

Bake in oven for about 45 minutes.

Serve  with vanilla ice cream if desired.

PS: You can double this recipe in a 9X13 baking dish without a crust for a delicious fruit crumble, but then that wouldn't be pie. SHHH..Don't tell the pie council.

 

 

 

 

 

Is it too late for a calendar giveaway?

Cleaning off my desk when lo and behold I found some more of those 2010 North American Native Bee Calendars (retail value $14.95) I ordered for gifts and giveaways a few months ago! Lots of gorgeous bee photos and tons of useful info. Pin up this calendar and you'll be a beeologist before you know it. I know January is almost over, but hey...there's still 11 more months...and it's free. As always to avoid spam, please include in the text of your email a little something about what you like at The Garden Buzz. Title the subject line as "calendar giveaway". Giveaway contest ends on midnight (central time) Monday, January 25. I'll pick three random winners. I'll have it to you by the first of February! Good luck.

Tall Perennials: Go Big for the Birds

I usually consider the cute little junco a harbinger of doom when he first arrives in late fall. The dark-eyed junco is a winter bird, a sign there's no turning back. But as winter settles in, my attitude softens. Small birds with that sweet-little-bird silhouette, the junco is nattily attired in charcoal gray with a white breast. They seem to be perpetually puffed up against the cold, giving them that slightly rounded shape.

(I made an exception to providing photos other than my own, just this once)
  

They flit about and flash their white striped tail as they fly from feeder to ground. They are birds of the ground; woodland birds that prefer the forest floor. However yesterday I saw them causing a ruckus in the joe-pye weed. Later when I stepped out I saw they had shattered the withered flower heads and scattered the seeds over the snow. Their little tracks marked the icy crust from where they fed.

Seed-heads of Joe Pye Weed (The Garden Buzz)

You see, the snow is deep. And there's still more winter to come. The snow cover makes it difficult for all animals to find food. The other day we watched a red fox lope and sink through the snow when not supported by the ice-stiffened surface. The going is hard. While the juncos are not endangered birds, they and all birds this time of year, still struggle to find seeds not hidden by the snow. By now most gardeners with a nod to the birds leave up seedheads over winter, indeed it is now you see the value in this practice.

Black-eyed Susan's in the snow (The Garden Buzz)

This stand of black-eyed Susan's could be covered with just a few more snowfalls. So maybe it's time to think about planting some taller perennials for next year's late winter habitat. Tall perennials lend architecture and variety as well as wildlife support to herbaceous plantings; think Russian sage, bee balm, Rudbeckia "Herbstsonne", Baptisia (false indigo), New England aster, boltonia, coneflowers and globe thistle. For shadier spots, use cimicifugia (snakeroot), meadow rue, ligularia and larger astilbes.

As a side note, I'm not a bird-watcher but I watch birds. In doing a little research I found this great site. Maybe you know about it already and I'm just now finding it. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology has beautiful photos, concise information and best of all birdsong! A recording of each bird is available with all the other facts about habitat, migration patterns and concern status. I encourage you to visit it for a little color and flutter while we wait for spring.

Do Bloggers Get Sick Days?

Today's post has little to do with gardening or nature, but rather the nature of blogging. Apparently there is a phenomenon called blogger's guilt; the act of feeling bad when you can't blog. Although there are many who start blogs and after one way-too-lengthy post and a few half-hearted ones realize they haven't really got that much to say or don't have the self-discipline, and subsequently leave their blogs to languish in the web dust.

Then there's me. I have been described at times as "too responsible". I usually don't commit to what I can't do. I could have been blogging at the big-bang beginning of blogging and be way down the road with this garden blog. But I waited until I knew I could follow through. And it might sound a little egotistical if I think a missing post or two would matter, but there is a tiny growing number of readers who seem to actually like reading my little musings about Mother Nature and all her wonders. And 5% live in Australia, what's with that? But anyway, thanks, mates.

The day is not often when I can't come up with something to say, I only need look out the window to find a topic. But today, I have to say I was leaning toward... I got nothin'. I don't feel so good.

The past few days I've had a scratchy throat and a gunky cough. No big deal. I was running errands yesterday and my husband called. He was home, where was I? He had gone home sick, and since this rarely happens, I was concerned. He was nauseous, could I bring home some 7-Up? So I rushed over to the store and rushed home with the bubbly anti-dote to most of my hubby's infrequent ills. He took three sips and went to sleep, for the next  12 hours. I proceeded to make chicken soup, which he never ate. He got up this morning and pronounced himself cured and left for work. At least I have some soup.

But me. I don't feel so good. I prefer pain over nausea. And I already was sick, I don't want his sickness too. I feel kind of fuzzy like the frozen fog outside today. I may read this later and regret it. I don't think it's too far up on the clever-meter. But I felt like I had to write something.

Maybe I am imagining this eeghh feeling. I saw he had touched my laptop this morning, so I sprayed it with Lysol. And then I was thinking about going to see that Avatar film, and even thinking about a 3D movie makes me woozy. I have kind of gotten intrigued about it, even though it may be like my daughter describes all fantasy movies of that ilk; "just Star Wars in a forest". But I digress.

Last week when I was busy getting everyone in the family off to their own disparate destinations of Missouri, Colorado and Russia, I failed to post my blog a couple times. It made me anxious and a bit cranky. My mother-in-law called to see if I was ok, because she hadn't seen The Garden Buzz. That was very sweet since I am usually the worrier and not the subject of worry. So I posted three times the next week as self-imposed makeup work.

I love blogging. I love the immediacy. I like how I pitch the story to myself, then write it, photograph it, post it and own it. It suits me to a T. Maybe I can get a sick note from myself?

Garden Catalogs: Getting Behind the Birds, and Now the Bees

Hopefully by now you've accrued a pile of well-thumbed garden catalogs, some already marked with sticky tabs and yellow highlighter, or at least a couple turned-down pages. I'm still hoping for a little more quality time with my catalogs and some hot chocolate. Maybe you've just been glued to the computer screen, dazzled by the bright colors and earnest promises of the seed and plant companies.

You'll see some catalogs have widened their offerings to include more vegetable seeds after the explosion of interest in growing food this year. Seed companies were one of the few businesses to see growth (is that a pun?) after the economic downturn. And yet another trend has emerged and spread in scope; pollinators are finally getting their time in the spotlight.

Bee on Coneflower by The Garden Buzz

A few catalogs have always been kind enough to connote the attraction of certain plants for particular pollinators like hummingbirds and butterflies. But this year some catalogs have given a shout-out to the hardworking and humble bee. It's about time.

Like a horticultural Oscars ceremony, I wanted to give an award for the best catalogs in a pollinator-supporting role, and maybe a few honorable mentions. Please note there might be some that I missed, if so let me know, I'm always up for a good garden read. And as always, these plugs are totally unsolicited.

High Country Gardens comes in first with a bee on the cover and directly inside a moving message about bees as the "spark of life", responsible for every third bite of food we eat. High Country Gardens specializes in xeric and native plants, mostly for the western half of the US, however there are quite a few selections that are suitable for the rest of us. Plants for the western states are marked with a cowboy hat icon; I always get sad when I see the cowboy hat, so many cool plants I'll never grow again. But this year something that makes me smile with every page; joining the butterfly and hummingbird icons is a buzzing bumblebee to showcase bee-friendly plants. Kudos to High Country Gardens and its founder, David Salman.

John Scheepers Kitchen Garden Seeds is a close second with delightful drawings of birds and ladybugs, and now with golden bumblebees buzzing around the seed selections and tasty recipes on every page. In addition the back cover features a collection of collections for growing habitat gardens for butterflies, hummingbirds, songbirds and now, ta-da...bumblebees!

In third place, Select Seeds, whose specialty is antique flowers, so often preferred by pollinators, uses an icon to specify plants for hummingbirds and butterflies while also mentioning them in individual plant descriptions when appropriate. They sell habitat seed collections as well.

Thompson and Morgan gets an honorable mention for selling 'The Natural Garden", a grouping of traditional British wildflower seeds suitable for the US, for planting a wildlife habitat.

Beyond that Richter's, the herb catalog, Seed Savers Exchange, the heirloom seed source, and Blustem Perennials, along with White Flower Farm and Roots and Rhizomes give occasional mention of the pollinator attracting charactersistics of certain plants.

I'm sure there are more catalogs adding this crucial onformation to their products...let me know and I'll list them in an additional post. Please consider planting for pollinators this year. Climate change, habitat loss, invasive species and disease are some of the greatest threats facing these valuable creatures. Every little bit helps! 

  

Pickin' Wildflowers

Wildflowers at Elkhart Lake (The Garden Buzz)

 

I say, baby, what you say we go pickin' wildflowers

got a spot way back in the woods

we'll sneak away for a couple of hours

you and me baby, pickin' wildflowers

hey baby, mother nature is waiting

and love's blooming like a cherry tree

let's buzz around, maybe do some pollinating

yeah, dive in like honey bees

....Keith Anderson (Pickin' Wildflowers)

 

Oh goodness, now I have to explain how I heard these lyrics. But heck, how many times do you hear song lyrics about pollination? I had to go ahead and share, I mean with being all about The Garden Buzz and such.

When I tool around town in the Twin Cities, I listen to Bach and Vivaldi, perhaps Delibes. When I ferry my daughter to and from college we listen to her latest radio show playlist; indie bands,interminable Neil Young and always Dolly Parton (she loves "Jolene"). But when I do the return trip solo, I tune in the country stations, the twangier the better.

Hokey, corny, yes, but I have to admit, also humorous and heartbreaking, and sometimes hugely authentic. I like listening to something besides the same-old, same-old classic rock in an endless loop-the-loop. What are these kids going to listen to when they grow older, will it still be "our music"? Story-telling is a big part of country music and I can't resist a good story.

Other than the herbal themes of "Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme", are there other gardening-related song lyrics? Share them by all means. I'll post a list if we get enough.

 

 

 

Plant a Terrarium...It's Like a Blast from the Past, Man!

Along with daisy stickers, peasant blouses and macrame, terrariums bring out a certain nostalgia for aging flower children like myself. But with all the talk about sustainability these days, they are the perfect teaching tool about enclosed ecosystems, not to mention carefree mini-gardens for those of us with cabin fever. Whether it's your first terrarium or your first in years, I'd say it's time to give terrariums another try.

 
Completed terrarium by The Garden Buzz

Clear glass containers are best, I found a large cannister at TJ Maxx for $7; there are lots of inexpensive and interesting candidates out there. Use your imagination. In addition to plants, you'll need small pebbles for drainage. I used both decorative river rock and aquarium gravel I had on hand, either will do, but I wanted a layered look. Charcoal is necessary for odor control; find it next to the potting soils in most stores. Some sources will say sphagnum moss is the next layer, to keep soil and rock separated, however I decided against it, for aesthetic reasons; green plants won't show up well against it. Instead I pre-moistened my potting soil to keep it in place and easier to work with while planting.

 
 
The terrarium trend hasn't gone unnoticed by the garden centers, there are lots of tiny houseplants available right now. I chose a Rex begonia and baby's tears, for contrast in color, size and texture. In spite of being 3 and 4 inch pots, they ended up being to big for the container. After dividing the plants I had more than enough for another terrarium.

 
Dividing baby's tears moss  The Garden Buzz

Colorful foliage and varied leaf shapes like that of polka-dot plant, nerve plant, pepperomia, maidenhair ferns are just a few of the potential terrarium possibilities.

 
Layering the materials in order of size from large to small, finish with enough soil to anchor the plants. With narrow neck vessels it may be necessary to use funnels, and fashion wire tools to fill and plant the container. I chose a wide mouth jar shape to make it easy; I was in high school the last time I planted one of these. I also had a Boston Fern and a rooted sweet potato in my room; destined to be a plant geek.

 
I trimmed off some older and drooping leaves from the begonia to keep the size in proportion to the jar. As the plant grows additional trimming is needed from time to time. I'm tempted to take a few of the extra leaves for rooting other begonias.

 
Rex begonia by The Garden Buzz

I used my soil scoop to delicately top off the last bits of potting soil, then tamped it down with a wooden spoon. Spray the interior to wash off stray particles of soil and to initially water the planting. Be careful not to flood it. I added a little ceramic mushroom for a woodland look. Feel free to add ornaments but keep it from getting crowded.

 
While condensation is visible, the terrarium is sufficiently watered. It helps to occasionally lift the top to keep it from getting moldy. Spritz when condensation isn't present. Be sure to set the terrarium in indirect light, strong sunlight will cook it quickly.

 
With the remaining plants I used the same technique with a glass trifle bowl. With the open arrangement I'll have to be more diligent with watering, and wonder just how much the close sides will maintain humidity.

 
It's always great to get dirt under your fingernails in the dead of winter. For more inspiration I suggest Tovah Martin's book, The New Terrarium.

(Thanks to my daughter, Hannah, on her last day before returning to college for helping with some of the photography today...always a lovely and talented assistant.) 

Next Year is Here! Garden Planning Begins...

The snow plows have created a sea wall of sorts in my front yard; the snow has been piled and pushed to form a barrier between my house and the street. Packed so tightly, it glows blue in the crevices just like those icebergs in the Arctic. It's hard to imagine the garden again. This week I had to click through my photos from last year to convince myself it wasn't just a dream.

This garden is fairly new, an older one in need of rejuvenation and renovation; it remains a work in progress. Gardens are never completed, there's no fun in finishing. Leaving my last garden, a decade's worth of digging, was heartbreakingly difficult. I am still waiting for this garden to show me the way. It has potential, and problems. And now it is to be featured with at least five other gardens on tour this summer. Yikes! It will require some fancy footwork, not to mention hard work to make it presentable by July.

 
Our Master Gardener Learning Gardens Tour intends to educate and inspire while keeping in mind the limits of time and money for everyday gardeners. It is not about splashy, spendy (that's a word I've acquired up north here) gardens but what is doable. Preparing for the tour will bring about some great subjects for this blog in the coming months. However I promise it won't become a preoccupation.

 
My courtyard has been planted as a pollinator's paradise ( the real reason behind the name of "The Garden Buzz"), it will only demand a bit of tweaking and tuning-up. I can't wait to share how a bird and bee-friendly garden can be beautiful as well. It is the side yard and back that I have left blank until now. There's also the hill of neglected and overgrown perennials that I mentally rearrange and transplant while floating in the pool. Real action will be required.

 
Instead of installing a hurried and harried landscape design for the deadline, I am thinking of annuals and containers, actually very large containers set within beds of annuals. Just go with me on it for now! I have a vision, but the backyard is buried in snowdrifts and inaccessible for now.

 
So until the big thaw I'll be talking a lot about color combinations, container recipes and focal points. I'll be profiling plants I can't live without and think you might just love as well. I'll be recommending plants with wildlife value and seasonal interest. I'll be exploring ways to incorporate more edibles. What are your garden plans for 2010? I'd love to hear!