Winter Gardening Results: The Angelique Tulips Bloom

With the very, very mild winter we had on the East coast this year, I was able to get out there and plant these Angelique tulip bulbs I bought on sale at Wal-Mart in the middle of winter, leftover from last falls bulb season.

Bulbs are laid out – or broadcast – over the area to be planted

I got out there and posted this  during the last days of January or earliest February, worked the soil, cast the bulbs and planted them with my handy bulb digger. Being so late for spring bulb planting, I was concerned as to their viability. But clearly there was nothing to worry about. Here’s how the mass planting is blooming this morning:

These are even more beautiful alive and glowing pink and cream in the garden than they were on the package label. The morning light was shining right into them and really illuminates the layers of soft pink petals.

These deep pinkish maroon tulips were planted the same winters day, and were also among the forgotten bulbs of the Susan G. Kolmen Breast Cancer promotional bulbs that I found outside, frozen in the closed-down gardening section of Wal-MArt in January. My Clematis is back crawling along my beaten and weathered picket fence.

I left some of the carrots to winter over, and used them from time to time, running out into the garden in the middle of cold winter nights, when I needed a carrot for soup or a salad. Here’s what I just picked this morning;

Many of the lettuces made it through this mild winter. The arugula is flowering and putting out its seed, and some red and green leaf made it, as well as the fennel, in that the roots are sprouting with fresh, frilly plants.

The lawn I spent months on last spring/summer fall, and which took so long to get anything done due to months of heavy rain, was finally seeded in mid-October. That was rather late, but much of the fall seed I bought managed to take root, and it’s young and green now.

 

The bald patches require reseeding, so I should get on that this week with a spring grass seed blend. And last, I finally painted my newly built gate a few days ago. I still have to paint the back and hinge it into place, but here it is so far.

Which looks a lot better than it did before the repairs:

The Old Gate

The old Wisteria vine has come back to life, and it’s just waiting for me to build it a trellis and arbor. The original one was destroyed in the tail-end winds from a hurricane some years back. Looks like I’ve got my work cut out for me. But it’s wonderful to see everybody coming back each year, which is the satisfying part of growing perennials.

My next post I’ll cover the laying of a flagstone walkway. 

 

The New Gate

The Old Gate

From this photograph, taken last winter, you can see the damage to both my picket fence and gate, torn asunder by a former (and kinda crazy) neighbor, to the left. She – and her boxes of wine - have moved on (thank god) and the two missing pickets were replaced. But the gate, which she pulled and pushed on, while trying to break off pickets (and ended up on disability for 4 months afterwards, with a damaged shoulder) was still weak, structurally, and now crooked, too. It’s old anyway, probably 18 or 19 years old, and I’ve needed to replace it for years. A few weeks ago, I re-painted the gate, and the adjacent fence section:

The Old Gate, painted and repaired

 - but it still needed to be replaced. For several years I have studied this gate, fearfully, not believing I could rebuild it, or get those heavy hinges unscrewed from the post. For whatever reason, I developed a really big mental block around this, so the gate was left as it was for far too long. What was required to remove the hinges was a nice big, old-fashioned wrench. Which I purchased a week or so ago from Lowes. Then the hinges were unhinged:

For all the past 5 or 6 years of stress and worry I had regarding those hinges, and the seeming impossibility of them ever coming off, it was remarkably easy once my dillhead figured out the right tool. OFF came the gate!

This gate will now be temporarily replacing the front, side gate, of the same dimensions, which is in even worse condition until I can build that one anew. I laid the gate down on my workhorses, or whatever you call those A-frame things, and used its structure as a template for building the new, faster, sexier gate

Still, to be safe, I measured everything. The 2 x 3′s were cut to the same length with a jigsaw, and the pickets cut from 1 x 4″ pine boards. Again, as with the rebuilt fence section last spring, a picket from the fence was used as a template, traced and cut:

After 6 new pickets were cut, to varying lengths, the cross bars and diagonal support/brace board were cut. Then these were laid flat out on the street, set into position and squared.

I only needed 6 pickets, but had a 7th on hand, as I was going for a curved, concave arrangement of the pickets. I laid it out with the 7, but that wouldn’t have left room for hinging the gate, so I stuck with the previous design, and just the 6 pickets. These were cut in pairs of equal length, each pair being 2 inches shorter then the preceeding pair:

7 picket layout

6 picket layout

I liked the curve and look of the 7 picket layout better, but with space only allowing for the 6 picket design, stuck with that. But I may change it. In order to attatch the pickets, I tacked the cross section to the posts with nails temporarily - before it’s all permanently fixed in place. Using a pair of boards below to keep the pickets raised in place, these were then also only ‘tacked’ into position, allowing for a review of the work, and checking for evenness. (the yard’s still in its’ “winter mess” phase, so please overlook the excess of tools and boards and construction equipment in the background…or, maybe I shouldn’t have even pointed that out?) 

(that’s my new tropical palm leaning in the wind against the fence; I’ve been bringing it outside to get some sun, as it was suffering indoors from a lack. Already it’s lost some fronds. Unlike my outdoor gardening, I have crappy luck with indoor plants) For the time being, I am trapped. The new gate is nailed into place, and I can’t get out of my yard. So meanwhile, I’ve been climbing over the fence into my new neighbor’s yard to let myself out. I am hoping my interloping does not lead to another angry, crazy neighbor, tearing my fence apart. Better tread carefully here. Which translates to: don’t get caught.

The new hinges are black, and I like their look, but haven’t decided whether the hinge will show on the front, or be attached across the back along the supports.

 

I’m thinking, I should paint the whole gate before adding hinges, which will appear in a follow-up post. Then the whole, godforsaken project will be completed at last. It was easier than I had thought, and putting it off all these past few years has been a classic study in fear and ignorance. Now that I have the proper tools, and it’s built, I realize there was a lot of misspent angst there. When the weather breaks again, this project will, at long last, be completed. Then, it’s on to building an arbor for the gate. This beautiful picture is my guiding inspiration:

Only 3 more gates to go! Plus, I saved on the cost of buying a new one ↓ Materials cost, including hinges, was about $30.00, versus a vinyl replacement from Home Depot at $254.00 – a $224 savings if you do-it-yourself. Now, that’s what I’m talkin’ ’bout.

New England Arbors 43 in. W x 2 in. D x 44 in. H, Traditional Gate

$254.00 /EA-Each

 

 

Mean Green Challenge: The Good News Is -! Medical Results of My Juice Fast

 Okay. So I tried the Mean Green Challenge, commencing in December. I spent about a week prepping for that challenge, getting ready for a pure juice-fast with days of half my meals being juiced, the other being a piece of fresh fruit, or vegetarian vegetable soup. It was difficult at first, but I began to become accustomed to it. My sugar cravings dropped, and I lost 4 lbs. :D  But – that’s not all.

I went to see my doctor today, and we reviewed my latest test results. These were taken 2 weeks ago. Right on the tail end of that juice fast.

BIG FAT RESULTS

As a result of this brief juice fast, and the avoidance of meat, dairy, cheese, etc., my cholesterol lowered significantly. I am talking, in a few short weeks, by exactly 30 pts. Yes, my cholesterol went from a dangerous 237, down to an almost admirable 207. Mmm-hmm. yes, you heard me right. My brief Juice fast (considering my hypothyroidism) lowered my cholesterol by 15% ! I told my 90 year-old Doc, who I’ve been seeing since before I was born, that I intend to get that number even lower. He smiled and said “That’s what all cardiologists love to hear”.

My Thyroid numbers were also remarkably good, after only 8 weeks on the natural hormone, Armor Thyroid. The worst my ‘TH’ numbers had been before this, about 7 years ago when first diagnosed with hypothyroidism and before thyroid meds, was 15. Last fall, before starting the new, natural meds, or juice fast, my thyroid numbers were even worse – 17.

Today? That number went from 17 down to 5. That, plus cholesterol being reduced by 30 points, I would say, the natural hormones, coupled with the juice fast was a success. That is proof enough for me.

I will be singing the praises of juicing from the rooftops from here-on-in  

Some of my friends have gone on and accepted a statin drug at this point in their medical history, because they simply could not commit to changing their diets. I have always refused a cholesterol-reducing drug. I believed the problem could be handled with diet and exercise. Turns out, the experts were right. Going from 237 to 207 in a few weeks isn’t anything like a medical miracle. It’s just a matter of cutting out the offending foods.

That said, yesterday I returned to the produce store for more ingredients to make that wonderful Mean Green Juice:

• 6 Kale Leaves
• 4 Stalks Celery
• 1/2 cucumber
• 2 Green Apples
• 1 inch ginger root
• 1/2 lemon

Should you have any doubt that you can reduce your own cholesterol with some tough work, a little hunger, and a switch in your food intake, let me rest that doubt here. I did it. SO CAN YOU! 

  

Winter Gardening – and the Fight Against “The Cure” for Breast Cancer

™

Recently, as we’ve had mostly a mild winter, I had the chance to get back out there, and plant some tulip bulbs. Beautiful bulbs – Angelique, double-petal, pink tulips, and deep fuscia pink, two-toned ones.

I had found these at Wal-Mart quite by accident. Tulip bulbs are sold in late summer/early fall, for fall planting here. So, to find a display almost full of bags of bulbs hidden away outside, in the vacant gardening department, was a treat. I assumed – correctly, for a change – that they’d be discounted. Yep. From $5.00 down to$2.50 per bag, with a dozen bulbs in each. So, I bought four bags, came home, and got right to work. Three days later, that is   That the packages were pink, and labeled with the now famous ‘Susan G. Komen ™for the Cure’ *logo, was a bonus. (more on that later)

I gathered together my planting gear: gloves, bulb planter, small spade…..well, that’s it, really. You don’t need much to plant bulbs, as long as your soil is already loosened up. Some of the bulbs had already sprouted a green stalk. But again, I figured, it’s for a good cause, and if they fail, at least I tried to save them, and made a donation in the meantime.

It was a mild winter afternoon outdoors, and with the sun, fresh air and hard labor, I slept well that night. For a change. So, the whole thing was a plus-plus in my mind.

Bulbs are laid out - or broadcast - over the area to be planted.

I chose not to use bone meal or those chemical, dry granular, slow-release fertilizers. My soil is very rich, and my daffodils have been multiplying for 16 years without help. So, why poison all those helpful little worms down there?

Bury bulb, fat side down, about 4"-6" deep. Add fertilizer, if using. Cover with soil.

As you can see from last weeks photo, above, I was so proud of my find, and the Race ™for the Cure, that I stuck those pink plastic markers down in the ground which came inside each package. All I have to do now is sit back and wait for next spring.  When everyone will see my beautiful pink Breast Cancer Awareness Tulips, and think I am such a good person for buying brand-name, charity-driven flowers to display. The neighbors – nay, the whole world - will be impressed. Right?

Had enough of this nauseating pink print yet?

Well, you’ll be sick to your stomach when you read this article, re-posted from Life in the Boomer Lane’s blog:

For those of you who believe that Komen’s decision to pull breast cancer screening from Planned Parenthood goes against what Komen is supposed to stand for, read the following words from Ed of ginandtacos.com:

I have been of two minds about how to approach this. One option is to be thorough, do some research, and make a careful, reasoned argument about why the Susan G. Komen Foundation^tm is a marketing consultancy masquerading as a charity, a fact only reinforced by their recent actions regarding Planned Parenthood. The other is to put my gall bladder on the keyboard, crank the Dillinger Escape Plan, and let the bile-laced invective fly. Press A for the first option or B for the second.

That’s what I thought. No one ever picks A.

As a preface, please consult Lea Goldman’s outstanding, well-researched article “The Big Business of Breast Cancer”, which represents what may be the one and only outgoing link to Marie Claire magazine I will ever offer. It details the proliferation of scams in the charity industry (a fitting, if oxymoronic, term) that has sprouted up around breast cancer. There are many organizations that use the funds they raise primarily to raise more funds and pay handsome salaries to the administrators and their talentless family members. It is a long read but well worth it. Note well the point that breast cancer research is hardly suffering for lack of funds. The author conservatively estimates six billion dollars funneled toward research annually with almost no progress made since the 1970s.

Second, just in case you missed what all of the fuss is about, the Susan G. Komen Foundation^tm For the Cure^tm announced on Wednesday that it will no longer be making grants/contributions to Planned Parenthood for early breast cancer screenings for the poor and/or uninsured. Nothing says “We’re committed to stamping out breast cancer by encouraging regular, early mammograms” like eliminating funding for mammograms.

OK.

The Susan G. Komen Foundation^tm has been on my personal shitlist for many years (this post is from 2008). If this is what it takes to get you on the heretofore lonely Screw Komen bandwagon, so be it. But you should not have a low opinion of Komen^tm because of their announcement on Wednesday. You should have a low opinion of them because they’re a fake charity run like any other company with a product to sell. In this case the product is a combination of guilt, pity, and hope dissolved in a weak acid and dyed a nauseating pink.

Wednesday’s decision has been described as motivated by pressure from pro-life groups, but in reality Komen^tm is (and always has been) run by right wingers and closely aligned with conservative politics. The organization’s current president, Karen Handel, ran for governor of Georgia in 2010 and lost in the Republican primary. Sarah Palin endorsed her. During her campaign she promised repeatedly to defund Planned Parenthood. She took over Komen^tm a few months ago. You do the math. On a personal note, Karen, I hope you get cancer. I hope the doctors find it too late to do anything but treat your pain, and I hope they do a poor job of that. Cut and paste that at your leisure to prove how mean-spirited and Uncivil liberals are.

Komen’s founder and CEO, Nancy Brinker, is a big money Republican with ties to the past three Republican administration who received a political appointment from George W. Bush as a reward for her fundraising largesse. She draws a salary of $459,000 annually, money well spent compared to the 39% of its budget the foundation spends on “public health education” (i.e., marketing itself). Not to mention that they also spend a million bucks per year in legal fees to threaten other non-profit groups who use the phrase For the Cure^tm, to which Komen^tm claims to have intellectual property rights.

That last part is important to the organization, of course, because every successful marketing campaign needs a good logo and a slogan. And that’s all Komen is – a consulting firm that helps large corporate clients sell more of their products through pinkwashing campaigns. By slathering everything from pasta to baseball bats to perfume to fast food with the Pink Imprimatur, consumers are led to believe that their purchases are making meaningful contributions to breast cancer research. Somewhere down the line a few cents per purchase may trickle into those bloated coffers, but the immediate and motivating effect of that pink packaging is to get you to buy things. In short, Komen^tm is a group of salespeople selling image. Whatever money benefits the sick, researchers, or recovering patients is ancillary. Getting those big, fat tax-exempt checks from their Partners for the Cure^tm is what drives their business model.

Am I too cynical? Consider their lack of discretion in choosing Partners^tm. Nothing says “We’re serious about stomping out cancer!” like a pink bucket of fried chicken or pink bags of deep fried snacks. It’s ridiculous on that “Earth Day brought to you by Ford” level.

There is a special circle of hell devoted to people who conceal their own selfish behavior with the appearance of charity and good deeds. I suppose that people who make so much money on the suffering of others need some way to look their spa-treated faces in the mirror every morning, but the rest of us need not be deceived. I have never purchased a Komen^tm-labeled product and I hope you will make a similar arrangement with your conscience today. Playing politics with people’s lives is low, even by the withered standards of morality in the corporate world. The 60% of women whose breast cancer is detected before it metastasizes survive almost without exception. The 40% of women whose cancer is detected after metastasis almost inevitably die within five years.

Regardless of whether they cave to public pressure and reverse this decision, I would love to see the Susan G. Komen Foundation^tm and its self-aggrandizing, silly publicity stunts reduced to ground zero. I want corporate sponsors to feel like they’d rather put a swastika on their packaging than another Komen^tm logo for fear of a public backlash. And I want to prove that charitable giving is not wedded to the act of shopping. And since I’m so much better at pointing out what’s wrong with everything than at offering solutions, here’s what you should do if you want to help the fight against breast cancer:

1. Donate directly. Call or visit the Sloan-Kettering or Johns Hopkins/Avon cancer research institutes and ask how to make a donation that will go 100% toward research. Or donate to the American Cancer Society, which contributes less to research but does a lot of quality-of-life things like buying wigs or prosthesis for cancer victims. Donate locally to a hospital or hospice in your area that will use your money directly on patient services rather than commercials and administrative salaries.

2. Donate your time. One afternoon helping Chemo patients by cleaning their home or running their errands is worth more than all the yogurt lids in existence.

3. Say no to fake activism and Cause Marketing.

4. Remember that people die from things other than breast cancer. Cervical and ovarian cancer are overlooked. Men needlessly die from the reluctance to get regular prostate exams. AIDS is still a thing. Heart disease is the #1 killer of men and women. Depression is a leading cause of death among young people.

5. Share this with as many uninformed people as possible. On Facebook, via email, or whatever. Show them Lea Goldman’s article. Explain patiently why Planned Parenthood is used as a pinata by every floundering right wing political figure to score cheap points and get the rubes whipped into a frenzy. If you encounter said rubes directly, insult them. Suggest that his or her parents were related prior to marriage.

*     *     *     *     *

My Personal NOTE: I’ve read that this Komen Marketing Organization has since reversed its decision to pull funding. But it is too late: now, we’re on to them. I won’t dig up the tulips or anything dumb like that. Afterall, it’s not their fault they got caught up in this marketing mess. And I won’t toss the last of my pink Susan G. Komen re-usuable grocery shopping bags, either. But I will no longer fall for this crap.

My Micro-Greens Experiment – Results

 

SO BEGAN MY EXPERIMENT with micro-greens. I ordered seeds from SproutPeople, and within a few business days, had my seeds: 1. San Francisco mix {lentil, peanut, mung, peas, adzuki, garbonzo}, 2. Kale Greens, and 3. Spicy Salad Greens {daikon radish, arugula, cress}. Also, a growing mat:

From there, it merely took cutting the mats to size, to fit various plastic containers, (including one that came with mixed spring lettuces), sprinkling on a generous layer of the organic seeds, and watering them. Warning: do not pre-soak or over-water micro-green seeds; a fuzzy mold will form. It’s okay for bean sprouts, tho. 

View this and all photos enlarged just by clicking

Though you can choose an organic fertilizer, like liquid kelp, the mats themselves contain organic matter from which the plants will draw nutrients. Once sprouted, I needed to find a place in the sun for them.

Growing Table

Enter: my antique, 1920′s, porcelin -top table, situated in front of an east-facing window. I check and water the seedlings 2-3 times per day. A mister or spray bottle would be better, to avoid drowning the roots. Or, just tip the trays to drain out excess water after a few minutes.

micro-greens roots, bottom of growing container thru mat

So far, the results have been impressive: High growth, high yield little plantlings. 

San Francisco blend bean micro-greens

 

Micro-Greens tray (kale)

 

 

mini-pot of micro-greens, individual serving size

 

 

 

 

Trim micro-greens just above the roots. This may be easier by lifting the matt out of the container they’ve been grown in. Otherwise, shown here, you get a bad angle, and lose some of the plants stem.

 

 

 

Here are a few way’s I’ve used my new, and quick, indoor harvest:

 

Ancient Harvest Quinoa Pasta Primavera w/micro-greens

 

Cucumber Sandwiches w/micro-greens

Filet Mignon with buerre rouge sauce, blue cheese and daikon/arugala/cress and kale sprouts

 This filet mignon was a reward for having gone outside in the middle of winter (only 60°, so no pain there) and painting the trim work on the shed, back door and windows. Plus doing some fence repair. The orange blob beside it is some wonderful mashed sweet potatoes, with a dark acacia honey, dairy-free butter, and Saigon cinnamon. Sprinkled w/ fresh thyme, still growing in my herb bed Happy Meal for me.

3 Egg Omelette with micro-greens, raw onion, ham, swiss cheese and hot sauce

 

 

I mostly only cut what I need as I go along. But for storing, I found once cut, they die within hours, as they are so delicate.So I dampened a paper towel, laid the greens on top, and laid another lightly dampened towel over them. This keeps them alive inside a plastic berry container for days.

Sadly, these guys didn't make it in the fridge. So place on top of damp paper towel

 

In a future post I’ll “show n’ tell” more about the bean sprouts. These guys:

 

 

Urban Permaculture Gardening

Continuing with the theme of Permaculture today, I’ve located an illustrative video featuring an English couple, Mike and Julia Guerra, who practice urban sustainable design in their small city ‘garden’ (or just back yard, as we Yanks call it).  They make an amazing use of their space, and experience an extended harvest season due to their stewardship of their small slice of land. After many years spent designing their space, they claim they now only have to devote 2 hours of attention per week to their gardens.

To read more about sustainable urban farming, check out The Permaculture Association in the UK, and the Wild Green Yonder blog, right here on wordpress. Featuring Colorado-based Adam Brock, a permaculture teacher and ecodesigner, Wild Green Yonder seems like a good starter home for beginners interested in learning more about permaculture in the USA. 

Here is an example of one couples backyard permaculture garden, in 2 parts: 

 

How To Make a Trash-Can Compost Bin

Juicing waste requires composting, but when the garden is frozen over, a composting container will help. And you can place it in a location that’s easy to get to in the cold and snow. Use the type of trash can with wheels, and you can roll your portable compost bin from place to place. This is also convenient when your composted greens and browns have turned into ‘black gold’, and are ready to be worked into your gardens’ soil;  just roll your composter to the spot and unload.

This first video, by P. Allen Smith,  gives the best, simplest instructions I could find:   

This design uses a brick base and castor wheels to help with rotating the compost:

 

HUMANURE – Not Cool, Man. Just So Not Cool.

And here is a lovely lady who practices poo recycling – which I find totally disgusting…especially when she plunges her arm into a container of dark stuff, and pulls up a fistful of her last years poopys. And down along the whole side of her house are barrels of people-poo, which she says need to be composted for one year, in order to lose their danger-poop status.