Staking Out the Beans

Yesterday, I planted two rows (16 plants total) of pole beans, staked them and labeled the rows, and mulched around them. Additionally, I put up part of my garden fence (once I finish planting, I'll finish enclosing the garden.

Those two little rows wore me out so much that I went into the guest bedroom, flopped on my back on the bed, and took a zombie nap for a couple of hours. I was completely non-functional the rest of the evening.

Today, I managed to get out, plant two rows of soup beans (Lina Cisco's Bird Egg and Irish Creek Annie)--about 8 plants each), staked them, and watered the whole garden. That was enough for the evening.

At this rate, I might actually have my entire garden planted by August 1. [sigh]

Anyway, I planted today in my bare feet. Yes, people, I ignored my mother's advice from my childhood about not running around the yard without something on my feet and planted my toes in the grass and soil. The grass was soft and silky and cool as it caressed my soles; the dirt rough and rocky and...painful. Despite the pain, I managed to plant the two rows of beans before putting shoes back on for the staking. So why even bother to tend the garden with tender tootsies?

Microbes.

Microbes? Why would I want to capture microbes with my feet? The answer: for better health.

I know, it sounds counter-intuitive. We're supposed to avoid bugs at all costs, according to social norms. We're supposed to antibacterialize and disinfect our homes to avoid breathing in a single bacterium. That's supposed to be healthy.

But it's not. In fact, our urge to over-clean everything just may be at the root of several illnesses, not the least of which include an increased incidence in asthma, allergies, and autoimmune disorders. A review of the "hygiene hypothesis," by Fernando D. Martinez from the University of Arizona Respiratory Sciences Center lends credibility to the hypothesis that lack of exposure to microbes in childhood may result in allergies and other conditions. When a person is exposed to microbes, the body works to develop immunity toward those microbes--in a sense, the microbes act a bit like a vaccination. When a person isn't exposed to these microbes, the body doesn't have a chance to develop an immunity, and therefore may react allergically to these microbes when exposed to them later in life.

So...I'm inviting microbes in. How about you?

Creative Gardening Tools: The Kitty Litter Bucket Rain Barrel

The day after I planted the sickly tomatoes, the zucchini, and the onions and shallots, the good- weather reprieve was over and we were back to April weather. Three rounds of rain followed by hail that day, rain the next day, and rain yesterday have saturated the ground. Everything is soggy, and therefore my beans and cucumbers are not yet planted.

Luckily, the hail really only damaged one tomato plant, which I should have attached to the stake a little higher. I'm hoping when I tie it back to the stake it will recover...it already has baby tomatoes that I don't want to lose.

I did, however, have the foresight to put out some rain barrels--Fresh Step kitty litter buckets! I never know what to do with them and don't want to throw them away, but they make excellent rain buckets. I saved the lids this year so I can cap them and prevent skeeter babies from swimming around in them. I also had the foresight to put a rock in the bottom of each one so they wouldn't blow away in the gusty winds.

So here is a rundown of the short-term gardening projects I have left to complete if Mother Nature ever gives us a break:

1. Plant cukes, beans, and dill seedlings
2. Put up rabbit fencing around the garden
3. Add compost to the garden
4. Put together the gated arbor
5. Put together the bridge
6. Start remaining seedlings

Wow, the list seems overwhelming when I don't know when we will have dry conditions again. Keep your fingers crossed for a couple of dry days for me!

Find of the Week: Plant Markers

Run, do not walk, to Target's One Spot area! I found these metal plant markers in the One Spot clearance for 30 percent off, which means I got a package of 5 metal plant markers for just 70 cents each. I bought my Target out of them--about 20 packages. Each package comes with a small permanent marker, too, so I have plenty for future marking! I stopped in another Target today, and their One Spot clearance is at 50 percent off, but no plant markers.

Usually I use popsicle sticks or something similar, but this was too good a deal to pass up. Plus they are easier to see (they shine in the sun!) and are a little more permanent. Who doesn't love a good gardening deal!

Finally...I Am Playing in the Dirt!

Yesterday I finally was able to re-till the garden quickly and begin planting. I had 8 sickly, water-starved tomato plants that needed to get into the ground and watered deeply. (I watered them a few days before my wedding, which was last Saturday, but busy-ness caused me to neglect the poor things.) Today they are starting to green up and stand a bit more upright. A couple of them even have teeny tiny tomatoes, despite being parched. These tomato plants want to live!

I know that some of you are probably asking, "So, why didn't you plant your garden much earlier? Sheesh, it's June 1 tomorrow!"

The answer goes something like this. Rain. Rain. Rain. No rain--ground too wet. Rain. Rain. Rain. No rain...oops, rain. No rain--ground too wet. Rain. Rain. Rain. Rain. More. Effing. Rain.

We were supposed to get the four-letter R-word today, but thankfully the weathercasters were wrong! So I schlepped out to Menard's to get some rabbit fencing,stakes, and more organic seeds. (I've seen bunnies in the yard, so I'm not taking chances.)

Apparently, I missed the Menard's-party memo. Everybody in the area was at Menard's, with not a single cart to be found. Courtesy dude, who is supposed to collect carts and bring them back to the store, looked lost. I finally went out and brought my own cart in. Then, people were in my way, driving on the wrong side of the aisles (you can tell what kind of driver they are on the road by the way they drive their shopping carts in the store). Sheer craziness. But I found what I needed and headed home.

I watered the poor little tomato plants (I read somewhere that they need a gallon of water each day--whoa!) and then set out to do some more planting. I got 12 zucchini plants in the ground and surrounded by grass clippings, 80 yellow onion sets, 20 white onion sets, and 20 shallot sets. (I don't think I'll need to buy onions the rest of the year.) I covered them all with grass clippings and watered them well.

By then, I was utterly exhausted. Too exhausted to manage planting anything else or put up the rabbit fence. Clearly I need to build up my stamina. I was able to get all the implements back to the garage, and now can barely budge from the chair where I am sitting, typing my gardening commentary.

Tomorrow I will start some more seedlings and hope to get some cucumbers and/or beans planted. Unless I can't get out of bed.

The Post Where I Deflect Attention from What I Have Not Yet Planted

Last week, I stopped by Blaine's Farm & Fleet, hoping to pick up some raspberry bushes. They were out. I thought I'd settle temporarily for some prettily colored Caladium for some of the shady areas of the yard. They were out. It seemed like everything I wanted, Farm & Fleet was out of.

My friend Michelle recommended Lowe's. I think I mentioned in my previous post that I still find it odd to pick up plants and food and toilet paper in a hardware store. But I had to stop by Lowe's anyway for some lamp finials to put on the ends of rods on a Goodwill-purchased towel rack (no luck), so I figured I'd check out the plants.

I came away with more than I bargained for. Not only did I find a variety of raspberry bushes, but I also lugged home asparagus and rhubarb starts as well as a couple of different onion sets.

The same day, I planted the raspberry bushes--one golden raspberry, one red raspberry, one black raspberry--and a blueberry bush. (I know--you can't really see them in the photo--just the dirt for the holes and the dirt I didn't manage to scrape back into the holes.) Someone recently said that once the bushes start growing, they will "take over"--I can only hope! I love summer berries, and it would be nice to have enough to freeze for winter eating. We do have a couple of mulberry trees, so I'll try making mulberry freezer jam this year. (I don't do canning--too much hot, particular work for me. Freezing is more my preservation style.)

My question for readers is this: what is the best way to remove mulberry stems? Just pinch them off with your fingernails? (Of course, I've bitten all my nails to the quick, so I don't really have any nails to pinch with.) Use scissors or some other implement? What do you advise?

Creative Gardening Tools...The Green Tool Cart

I love looking for interesting ways to reduce waste by finding an object used for one purpose and reusing it for an entirely new purpose.

One of the things that frustrated me last year is that every time I gardened, I had to make several trips back and forth to my gardening tools. Now that I've moved, the distance from where we store the gardening tools to the garden is even further, and since I'm inherently lazy, I don't want to walk any farther than I have to. Besides...I'd rather spend more time gardening than carting tools back and forth.

Enter Organic Gardening magazine. I couldn't tell you what issue I saw this idea in, but I immediately latched on. It was a picture of a golf cart and bag being used to haul long-handled gardening tools, such as rakes, manual cultivators, and so forth. I loved the idea and, being a frugal shopper (most of the time), I found a golf cart in decent shape for $1.50 at a garage sale last summer. The problem was that I couldn't find a reasonably priced golf bag that was still in decent shape. Most of the garage sale bags still had clubs in them, priced at anywhere from $10 to $25 for the set--way out of my price range. I did see a few for around $5, but they weren't in very good shape.

Last weekend, though, I hit the jackpot! I went to a ginormous church garage sale and found a bag in very nice shape--almost attractive, actually--without clubs for...$1! I brought it home, strapped it onto the cart, and for $2.50--voila!--a tool cart! The bag has some nice long side pockets on each side for my medium-handled tools, a net on the front to hold in some small-handled tools, and another pocket on the front for gardening gloves, short stakes, and other small supplies. (See photo.) The cart works great for hauling all the tools out to the garden at once and then back to the garage. I highly recommend searching for a bag and cart for YOUR gardening!

Where the Dead Things Are

I'm not sure why, but lately I've been finding the odd dead thing in our yard. When David was mowing a couple of days ago, I walked out to the backyard and found a dead infant bird. It looked like it had been blown out of the nest shortly after hatching, although I could find no signs of shell or nest nearby. It was very light--I used a dandelion stem to roll it onto its back. It had little feathery wisps tufting its head and back, and its brain and stomach were blackened. The skin of the bird's belly was translucent and wrinkly, almost like tissue paper. There was something very sad about finding this little guy. Not only is it sad that his life was cut so short, but the fact that it was just lying there in a bed of clover without anyone mourning for it was just wrong. I wanted to pick it up and hold it, but at the same time, wanted to leave the bird in peace. I came back later to check on him, but he was gone. I suspect he became part of the food chain for another bird or small animal, only fitting, really. You might wonder why I took his picture--I know I did. Upon reflection, it seemed only right to do so as a tribute to this little one so he will be remembered. At one time he lived and breathed, and perhaps chirped a bit of bird song on entry into the world, making the world a more beautiful place.

On the same day, I was wandering down by our creek to see if I could catch a view of a frog, and I saw through the clear water...a claw! I did not think about possibly having crawdads in the creek, but it made perfect sense. You can't tell from the picture here, but the claw seemed a little blue or silvery. I had only ever seen crawdads that were red (we used them as bait on occasion when we were kids and went fishing with Dad, and sometimes we could catch them at the fishing hole and play with them).

Today I spied half a crawdad shell sitting in the rock next to our pseudo-creek (as opposed to the real creek that borders our property). I picked him up and put him on a bed of moss to photograph him. The inside of his shell is completely empty; his shell is quite hard and surprisingly thick. He looks a little pissed off, if you will pardon the expression, so my guess is that he wasn't very happy during the detruncation. (The severing occurs too far down the body to really consider it a decapitation, but I'm not really certain detruncation works, especially since truncate means to shorten...which means detruncation would probably mean something like the act of un-shortening, or the act of lengthening--which doesn't really apply here. Hmmm. Gotta love the English language.)

But I digress. He's really quite beautiful, even in his pissed-offness. He's a beautiful color, although I don't know if the silvery blue is his natural color or whether that's the color he turns because of his death or exposure to the elements or loss of blood or other bodily fluids or some combination.

So...calling all crawdad experts. What can you tell me about this guy? Or, if you're not a crawdad expert, what do you think?