Tag Archives: gardening

The Official First Day of Spring

Posted on March 20, 2012 by AnnieRie

So, today officially spring begins even though it has been evident for days that the calendar and the flowers, trees and shrubs have already synched up.

The tulips in our yard are up. In Columbia, where I went today for a doctor’s appointment, they are already way ahead of us in terms of the color all around. We are a few degrees cooler and a few hundred feet higher in elevation than Columbia.

To me, my favorite thing to celebrate spring is fennel salad. Light and tart, full of the delicacy of the baby fennel, the tartness of juice oranges, and bite of red onion, I love making this every spring.

It will be dressed with the best olive oil I have, and sprinkled with sea salt and white pepper.

My other favorite thing to cook in spring is asparagus. We have wild asparagus growing out under our crepe myrtles. I keep going out there to look for it, but it usually doesn’t show up until mid April. Just checking to see if the warm weather has hastened the sprouting of them, but no luck yet. Asparagus frittata, yum!

As for my trip to Roots the other day, I had to indulge in Hummingbird Farms tomatoes, from their hydroponic plantings. I know I really should eat tomatoes in season to get the best tasting tomatoes, but these beauties just called to me from the case.

I think they will be sliced open and served with Cherry Glen Gold goat cheese. Drizzled with St. Helena Olive Oil’s lemon infused oil, and some herbs de Provence. Truly a spring time pleasure.

Add to all that, my husband insisted on picking this up at MOM’s yesterday.

Their web site says it is mild. They lied.

I think it needs something to mix it with, and serve it with grilled lamb kebabs maybe. I know, maybe I need to use this Treuth skirt steak.

All this great weather inspires me to get out and grill.

hocofood@@@

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Attracting Pollinators

Posted on March 18, 2012 by AnnieRie

One of my most important spring time jobs is establishing the proper environment to be sure the pollinators take up residence in our yard and garden. I know I need the proper mix of flowers, bushes, bird seeds and the habitat that attracts the birds, bees and beneficial insects.

I had a coworker who lived in an area devoid of the bees necessary to pollinate her vegetables, and she resorted to hand pollination. Not what I want to do. Thankfully, we have lots of bees. Carpenter bees, honey bees, bumblebees. They will swarm around the hummingbird feeder to get to the nectar.

The flowers are also important and my perennials like my tulips and gladiola

besides attracting bees give me the pleasure of flowers on the table brightening my day.

The flowering trees attract bees and birds. The birds particularly like them once the berries are set, but in the spring the return of the bees to my cherries, mock orange, dogwoods and red bud trees tell me they are setting up shop and staying around to find my garden.

I have black eyed susans as well, the MD state flower. Once they are almost done, the finches will hang on them to get the seeds out of them.

My yard also contains spirea, which the bees crawl all over until the color has left the flowers. It contains butterfly bushes to attract butterflies and for the birds to nest in. Azaleas in the spring, another big source of color and cover in the yard. Chipmunks and bunnies hide under the wall of bushes along my house.

All in all, I have been creating a habitat to coexist with birds, bees, small animals and beneficial insects attracted to keep my garden productive.

Can’t wait to get out there and plant vegetables. I just need to make sure that I keep this little monster’s relatives out of my garden. He lives under my neighbor’s shed.

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St. Patty’s Day Gifts

Posted on March 17, 2012 by AnnieRie

We got lots of gifts today. Perfect weather.

Crock pot corned beef and cabbage.

Mojitos on the patio (hey, they’re green, aren’t they?)

and a spring clean up without lifting a finger.

When we knew I was having surgery, for the first time in seven years, my husband hired a local family owned business to do our spring clean up. I can’t lift or carry, and he was on his own doing things inside and outside our home.

We usually do all our yard work ourselves. I find it relaxing to putter around in my flower beds and spread mulch. I couldn’t do anything this year, so we bit the bullet and hired Rhine, a local west county family in the landscaping business.

Four really good guys came in, removed shrubs, edged all the beds on the property, cleaned it all up, and will be back tomorrow to mulch, with 40 cubic yards of mulch. That’s what it takes to do our entire property.

The fun part for me now is replacing all we took out. I get to choose my shrubs, bushes, ornamental trees and flowers. It was all cleared up and dug up, including a few massive stumps from dead trees we cut down after two years of blizzards.

A clean slate. And, a few froggies in my pond.

I still like to do things myself around here, but it is nice to have locally owned family businesses to turn to when you do need help. This was such a large job, and I can relax and know my husband isn’t pushing himself to the limit doing it all himself.

Now, when it comes to my garden, ain’t nobody touching it but me.

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From Little Sprouts …

Posted on March 13, 2012 by AnnieRie

… to a carpet of green in eight weeks.

These are my bedroom window microgreens. I have been slowly thinning them and moving them off to become outdoor plants in the next two weeks, but also having fun adding the little ones to salads.

Our bedroom window gets full south sun in the winter, and is warmest, so the lettuces love it. Can’t beat it. Instant salad.

Now, once I plant the lettuces outside, I need to guard against moochers, siblings and offspring to this fine little friend here. At least they keep the cracks in the extension to the patio weeded.

I usually plant lettuces and chard under bunny proof netting in a spot that gets only morning sun. They seem to do well there.

Window boxes and large flower pots work really well with microgreens. I plant them two or three times a year to keep them growing and rip them out when they bolt.

I also learned only to plant mint in containers or it will take over your yard. Here’s to spring coming in full force. Mint juleps anyone?

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Spring Has Sprung

Posted on March 12, 2012 by AnnieRie

The Grass has Riz, I wonder where the boidies iz. Remember that children’s poem? The grass hasn’t risen, but the garlic I planted late in December is making its way up.

The rosemary never died off, and some of the sage is still hanging in there. The mild winter left us with some already producing herbs, and we lost nothing to wind or frost damage. Two years ago the blizzards killed numerous bushes and damaged trees,

This year, the big spring clean up will take place this weekend. Hubby is getting help there, as I am out of commission. I get to supervise this time. This entire week is going to have warm, mostly beautiful weather just right for planting seeds of spring producers. Temps in the 70s. Sunny most days.

I have a few seeds we are going to put in where we took a tree out last year and had the stump ground out. I need to leave something there for the summer that can be replaced with new bushes in the fall, when they have a better chance to get established. Summers here can be brutal to young trees and shrubs.

I picked these up in Kendall’s the other day, and figured we would sow them right in the ground just to keep something growing in the empty space. Minimize any erosion on a corner and provide color as well as dinner. Hopefully garlic chives in front of the chards will all survive the potential critter invasion. Or at least, if they invade there, they will stay out of my good heirloom tomatoes that will go behind the deer fence in the garden.

We were going to put in concord grapes with an arbor in a space where last year we took out bushes. Maybe it will get there but not counting on it with me being unable to assist. One new project at a time.

While out and about the other day, we spotted this display of daffodils. They always make me smile. Mine aren’t up yet but look to be almost ready to bloom.

I may not like that earlier switch over to daylight savings time, because it messes up my internal clock for a few weeks, but I can’t wait for spring to finally get here for good. I want to go out and see this wonder all around us.

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Starting Seeds and Dreaming of Summer

Posted on February 23, 2012 by AnnieRie

I went through my seed packets today to prioritize what will go where in the garden this year. Last year was the second year I started heirloom tomatoes from seed. They did OK, but the rain made them not ribbon worthy at the Fair. My herbs did better getting me a ribbon. This year I want to do some heirloom herbs as well as the tomatoes. The Howard County Fair heirloom tomato category has grown like crazy. the first year I entered there were six entries. The second year, there were ten. This past year there were 29 entries. Competition is fierce, and you need more exotic heirlooms to get a ribbon. I have one ribbon for tomatoes from a previous year.

My herbs last year were stevia, lemon basil and sage.

Putting out the garden is always interesting. The deer fence seems to do well except that little bunnies can squeeze through it. The black material to cut down on weeds worked well in the tomato sections, but I can’t use it where I put in rows of lettuces or chard. The tomatoes really did better because that material kept the soil warmer.

I had the heirloom tomatoes in with some cucumbers and they did well there. This year I will be planting peppers and chard in that section, and a few zucchini. Rotating the plants in each of the three fenced sections and adding compost every year has kept our soil in pretty decent shape. We had it tested last year and it came back with no requirements to add anything. We are lucky that our yard was once a horse pasture, all that manure must have really broken down that clay that seems to prevail every where else we lived around here.

I do herbs all over the place including in pots on the patio. The mint as usual was out of control.

The tomatoes did come in well. This is a big rainbow, the largest heirloom I grew. It would not have won a ribbon at the fair though because that wasn’t large enough for the largest tomato competition.

This year I am starting microgreens from seed that I am now getting ready to transplant into a small “cold frame”, really just a container with a cover. They will be moved outside soon. The heirloom garlic chives and swiss chard seeds will go out sometime next month.

The greens are looking good, getting crowded and I started moving them to bigger pots last week. Growing veggies and herbs is one of those simple pleasures that make me glad to live here.

I just hope our little furry friends stay out of my gardens.

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Out of the Ground at 4 …

Posted on February 17, 2012 by AnnieRie

… on the table by 6.

Micro-greens from Sharp’s at Waterford Farm. A wonderful place in southwest HoCo. Denise Sharp gives talks about farming and takes visitors on a tour with a history lesson. Worth the time to do, if you get the chance. I was there helping a friend set up lunch for the Howard Legacy Leadership Institute of the Environment (HoLLIE).

I buy plants from the farm. My chrysanthemums came from there. In the fall, we go there to get pumpkins. They sell plants commercially and at the greenhouses in the spring and fall. The greens are from their new high tunnel, and since it never stayed cold long enough, they never died back. She encouraged us to take some home since they would be dug up soon to put in the spring seeds. I certainly enjoyed these for dinner that night with honey mustard dressing.

Also at the farm, the Howard Bird Club gets permission to hike there on a Sunday to find waterfowl, eagles, migrating birds, and owls. Last year we found two northern bob whites walking down the dirt road next to the tall grasses. It had been years since anyone saw them wild in this area.

Kevin Heffernan took this picture which is now featured on the Howard Bird Club photo pages. His three bob white pictures featured there are the only recorded pictures the club has published in their photos taken on field trips by members.

This week the group with Denise walked back one of the old dirt roads and learned some of the history of the farm. The lovely old house on the hill, which is one of those farmhouses around here that just kept growing and adapting to the family’s needs is the sort of place that brings back memories to me, memories of my great grandparents farm beyond the Liberty Reservoir, where they farmed from the end of the 19th century until they had to sell and move in with my great aunt and her family.

When the greenhouses open in April I will be there looking for some heirloom tomato plants. For those who live in Howard County, this farm is one of the really interesting places to visit. If not in the spring, the corn maze and pumpkin patches in the fall are worth the trip down Route 97 to Jennings Chapel Road.

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It May Be Winter, But There’s Lots Going On!

Posted on February 7, 2012 by AnnieRie

I honestly am not sure how I found time to work. I have so many things happening this month, and places I want to go.

The Howard County Conservancy has two events this month, one this Saturday and one on the 26th. The Howard County Bloggers are having a blogtail hour in Columbia on the 13th. The 14th is Valentine’s Day and we are wandering down to Bistro Blanc for an after dinner drink, if we can get in.

The Great Backyard Bird Count is February 17-20.

I am volunteering to set up for an event at Sharp’s Farm for the Howard Legacy Leadership Institute for the Environment.

Breaux Vineyards in VA has their annual Samedi Gras event on the 18th. And, we are meeting friends for Fireside Friday at Black Ankle one of these Fridays if we can fit it in.

First up for us, going to the Conservancy on the 11th to see how to worm compost. Squirmy Wormy Worms That Work: Kitchen Garbage to Top Soil – with Barb Schmeckpeper, a retired researcher in human and medical genetics, Howard County Master Gardener and environmental volunteer, who loves to talk to kids of all ages about the wonder of the natural world. Dr Barb Schmeckpeper has been doing this for many years – and she and her grandkids have a lot of fun with it! The Conservancy event page is here.

Then, Monday night I will be meeting some of the long time Howard County Bloggers in Columbia to get to know others who blog locally. It should be an interesting evening, as I have lived here 40 years almost, but spent most of my life commuting to DC.

Doing my thing counting the birds in our yard and meadow for the annual Backyard Bird Count next weekend. The habitat that I so carefully created and have nurtured has given me dozens of visits. My highest count one year was over a hundred birds, thanks to a flock of geese who landed in the adjoining fields behind our house and my neighbor. We routinely get more than twenty different species here. It’s easy to register and send in a count. Click the link above and get started.

On the 26th, we are going to see a truly amazing lady, Twig George, talk about Life with her mom, who wrote over 100 children’s books including the famous My Side of the Mountain. Twig herself is an author, writing children’s books as well. This family event at the Howard County Conservancy promises to be a great one. Learning more about nature and the environment are priorities for me in retirement. I spent too long as a bureaucrat pushing paper and now take every opportunity to get out and experience new things.

Who says retirement is boring? Certainly not us.

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Feeding My Fine Feathered Friends

Posted on January 3, 2012 by AnnieRie

The winter feeding site. The place where the birds come when the berries and seeds have all blown away or been eaten. We moved here in the winter and found an amazing array of birds living in our coniferous trees. I have slowly created a habitat that attracts and retains this variety. What does it give me? Birds to eat the bugs that bother my garden.

How do I keep them fed during the worst storms of the winter?

You do have to be prepared. After that storm, I was throwing seed out the door onto the hard snow under the bushes. It brought birds up close and personal.

But my best investment was a thermostatically controlled heating pad for the bird bath. Water is extremely important for the health of the birds. Even with 48 inches of snow on the ground, my backyard birds had water.

Since that series of blizzards in 2010, I have added a few more feeders and kept them topped off when I know storms are coming. And for me, the pleasures of watching them feed are worth the expense and effort to feed them.

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New Year’s Resolutions

Posted on December 30, 2011 by AnnieRie

I always seem to make them, but never really keep them. Except for a few.

I did keep on track to lose weight and improve my health by eating better and paying attention to foods that triggered allergies. I did get some of the projects done around here, but not as much as I wanted to do.

So, what do I do about 2012, the year where I will turn 60! What should I finish? Do I volunteer more, or take time to travel. Do we expand the garden and grow more year round vegetables? Do I stay in the CSAs or freelance around the markets?

What projects NEED to be done this year? All good questions.

I do resolve to be more creative and expand my culinary boundaries to include more baking, and more ethnic foods outside our European heritage. I do intend to continue being more and more of a locavore, and use up as much processed stuff in the pantry, and not replace it.

I intend to can more things, pick more veggies and fruits, and process them. I need to get a freezer and buy something at the fair, from the 4H’ers. Maybe lamb, or goat, or part of one of the steers or hogs. Our friends’ children raise animals to bring to the auction. We want to support them more by making it worth their efforts.

Is this the year we get the chicken coop? Haven’t made that decision yet, but we are working on it.

I want to build a cold frame. Will I find the time?

We still need to clean out the stuff we accumulated at our jobs, which sits in boxes in the attic and garage. That is a priority.

Who knows what 2012 will bring weather wise, and health wise, that might get in the way of our plans?

But I am optimistic and anxious to do new things including expanding what I do in my volunteering, like geocaching and giving presentations. Another priority. Looks like I have enough to do, and I’ll see how it turns out in my second year of retirement.

Here’s to a Happy New Year!

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