To John Clare

John Clare

Well, honest John, how fare you now at home?
The spring is come, and birds are building nests;
The old cock-robin to the sty is come,
With olive feathers and its ruddy breast;
And the old cock, with wattles and red comb,
Struts with the hens, and seems to like some best,
Then crows, and looks about for little crumbs,
Swept out by little folks an hour ago;
The pigs sleep in the sty; the bookman comes—
The little boy lets home-close nesting go,
And pockets tops and taws, where daisies blow,
To look at the new number just laid down,
With lots of pictures, and good stories too,
And Jack the Giant-killer’s high renown.

Spring is coming, isn’t it? She is a hell of a flirt right now.

I sat out on our enclosed porch today and finished reading Ruth Stout’s How to Have a Green Thumb Without an Aching Back. It’s a quick and entertaining read; if you like Nero Wolfe novels, then her brother’s work is familiar to you. If you have never read Nero Wolfe (I haven’t, I only saw the short lived TV series in its first run, which is a haphazard introduction to the character, but there were enough interesting quirks to the character to tell me I might enjoy the books if ever I get to them, BUT I DIGRESS….)

…Ruth Stout’s book is a quick and entertaining read, and she writes in the exact same way she speaks. There is good sense in what she says, because I’ve been treating my rhubarb (above), herbs, and raspberries in a similar way since 1997. It’s one of the reasons I want to move towards as many perennial, edible plants as I possibly can, because the only care I have given these beds for years is harvesting the stuff and not bothering to rake the leaves out of the beds. I plan to start “mulposting*” at least one of the raised beds this year, and see how it goes.

As for the winter sowing mentioned here, I have about 60 cartons out there now, and have something growing in almost all of them.

Red Giant Mustard on 3 April 2013 and 20 April 2013. Click through for large and click through again for huge images, if you want to really see the growth.

All of the wintersown brassicas have come up, the spinach came up (and the spinach I stared indoors did not), all the lettuce and lettuce mixtures, and some of the cukes and melons have started sprouting. If I had waited for the ground to get to workable point, I’d still be waiting. So I am glad I decided to try this technique.
—

* Ruth Stout eventually combined the process of mulching and composting into one action by using her vegetable matter to mulch the garden; it would compost in place. Mulching + composting = mulposting.

William Billings (1778)

By the Rivers of Watertown we sat down and wept,
we wept when we remember’d, O Boston.
Lord God of Heaven, preserve them, defend them,
deliver and restore them unto us again.
Forbid it, Lord God,
forbid that those who have sucked Bostonian Breasts
should thirst for American Blood.
A voice was heard in Roxbury which eccho’d thro’ the Continent,
weeping for Boston because of their Danger.
Is Boston my dear Town, is it my native Place?
for since their Calamity I do earnestly remember it still!
If I forget thee, yea, if I do not remember thee,
Then let my numbers cease to flow, Then be my Muse unkind,
Then let my Tongue forget to move and ever be confin’d;
Let horrid Jargon split the Air and rive my nerves asunder.
Let hateful discord greet my ear as terrible as Thunder.
Let harmony be banish’d hence and Consonance depart;
Let dissonance erect her throne and reign within my Heart.

Walt Whitman

A promise to California,
Or inland to the great pastoral Plains, and on to Puget sound and Oregon;
Sojourning east a while longer, soon I travel toward you, to remain,
to teach robust American love,
For I know very well that I and robust love belong among you,
inland, and along the Western sea;
For these States tend inland and toward the Western sea, and I will also.

We are off to California today, returning April 15. Given the importance of that particular day in American culture, I did my taxes before the last minute this year.

I think I will continue to use the Hawaii tag as a general good vacations kind of tag. See you soon!

For Weeks After the Funeral
ANDREA HOLLANDER BUDY

The house felt like the opera,
the audience in their seats, hushed, ready,
but the cast not yet arrived.

And if I said anything
to try to appease the anxious air, my words
would hang alone like the single chandelier

waiting to dim the auditorium, but still
too huge, too prominent, too bright, its light
announcing only itself, bringing more

emptiness into the emptiness.

Poem Copyright © 2006 by Andrea Hollander Budy. Photo credit: Art Shay. Presentation of picture and poem is believed to be fair use.

And so, for the poetry month selection, here is Carlos Andrés Gómez, a slam poet, performing his work, “Vote for Them.”

I voted, of course I did. I feel like I am living in a political nightmare, but I vote anyway. I hope you did, too.

Robert Frost

When a friend calls to me from the road
And slows his horse to a meaning walk,
I don’t stand still and look around
On all the hills I haven’t hoed,
And shout from where I am, ‘What is it?’
No, not as there is a time to talk.
I thrust my hoe in the mellow ground,
Blade-end up and five feet tall,
And plod: I go up to the stone wall
For a friendly visit.

…and a little helper has arrived to my garden. She is too shy for me to get my camera out and get a picture yet, but while I was out looking at the winter’s wreckage, sitting still so as not to spook her, she suddenly dashed at me, head bonked me, and then ran a few feet away.

So I know, now, that she is not Snaggy. I held out hope for that, but this little black kitty had a large white spot on her breast, and still has her front paws. She looks like someone abandoned her, and like she has been out for months.

Now, a few days later, she has been trying to follow me into the house. So it would seem she has decided that I am her friend.

This would be the winter sowing that I managed this year. I doubt I will stop putting things out in jugs, although soon enough–I hope!–it will be too warm for true winter/early spring sowing. I’ll be doing it as it gets warmer in order to ensure that the roly polies don’t eat the seeds, and then plant the seedling blocks into the garden.

I did get some things started indoors, in more traditional ways, but unfortunately, I neglected to turn the grow light off when we went out of town for a few days, and so I came back to a lot of sunburnt seedlings. Some of them will make it, but others, well, I may start an extra set of tomato seeds, just in case.

Friends sometimes wonder why I am so impassioned by this idea, this Victory Garden Initiative. Sure, they all know that I like to garden, that I always have a veggie garden, some years better than others, but every year a gardening year.

Take a look at the video above. These are the neighborhoods I work in. This is the world I see, places where people’s best access to cheap food is the the dollar menu at McDonald’s and every other house is a boarded up fire trap. It’s a terrible world and thinking people have to figure out a way to change it. What was that quote? Oh, yes:

Of all the preposterous assumptions of humanity over humanity, nothing exceeds most of the criticisms made on the habits of the poor by the well-housed, well-warmed, and well-fed.
—Herman Melville

Don’t want to break the federal and state bank through health care for the poor? Provide the tools and education that will prevent some of the health habits that lead to diabetes and other problems. It’s good advice for everyone in the first world, of course. I, however, work with the people who who need state aid. And my concern is making sure more people don’t end up needing my help.

Found on the Victory Garden Initiative Facebook page. Since it looks like a PSA to me, I believe this is fair use.

And so, the Seedutopia list. There are a few more things I wanted-specifically, a medlar tree, good king henry seeds, wonderberry seeds, borage seeds, and orach seeds, but I’m tapped for buying plants, particularly since shipping the two packs of seeds mentioned up there is going to cost 5 bucks. I can’t bring myself to order $3.50 worth of seed and pay $5 to ship it. I’ll wait until next year, and get my bulk purchase from someone who has these seeds.

Incidentally, Victory Garden Initiative is currently taking registrations for the Blitz! in May–this means that you can get a 4′x8′x10″ raised bed constructed in your yard for $150. This is worth it.

You will notice that there are a lot of greens in there. Yum. This should be the last seed list focused entry for this year. The fact of the matter is that if I save enough seeds, it’s going to be a few years before I need to buy any more. Which is fine.

I’m pretty excited about the salad green mixes, because there is a lot of 16th c greens in them; I can grow them up without having to buy a whole packet and grow a whole bed before I can discover that I hate, say, chicory.

Did you know you can eat hostas? I didn’t know that.

Edited to add, 20 April 2013

(1) These are all plants that have been Winter Sown–or, as the cold has lasted so long this year, in some cases early spring sown–in milk jugs, before 8 April, and are currently showing growth. Some of the cold hardiest are already showing their first set of true leaves, so I will have to get them into the ground soon. All winter sown jugs are on the south side of the house.

(2) This seed is now used up.

(3) This plant was started indoors and has begun to grow.

(4) Bulbs/seeds/new-to-the-garden perennials that I left in the ground overwintered successfully and are now growing again.

I know; seeds are not a terribly exciting topic, but I need to get my plan together so that I can determine how much I can still cram into my garden. The lot is only 60′ x 70′ and has a house kind of in the way. I have so much seed that I could easily plow up all of the land on my lot and still not go through all this seed. This isn’t because I grow to excess… No, no, I need to face it. I buy 37 different varieties of seeds, and can never go through the entire packet. I will be sharing some of my seed this year. Probably with Ghita, I already know I can send her some of the 2012 seed that should still be viable. I couldn’t possibly grow this many cantaloupes.

Without further ado, the list of leftover seeds I have and expect will grow.

Beets, variety: Detroit Dark Red*
Cantaloupe, variety: honey rock.*
Carrots, variety: Nantes.*
Chives, variety: common.
Collards, variety: Georgia*
Cucumber, variety: Armenian.*
Eggplant, variety: black beauty*
Garlic, variety: white.
Lettuce, variety: gourmet blend.
Lettuce, variety: prize head*
Melon, honeydew, variety not specified.**
Mixed greens, variety: Japanese.**
Mustard, variety: Florida broadleaf*
Mustard, variety: mizuna.*
Okra, variety: Clemson spineless.*
Pea, variety: sugar snap pole.*
Radish, variety: white icicle*
Rutabaga, variety: American purple top*
Spinach, variety: Bloomsdale Long-standing*
Squash, variety: Mammoth Table Queen/Royal acorn.**
summer squash, variety: black beauty*
Summer squash, variety: zucchini dark.*
Summer squash variety: zucchini bush**
Swiss chard, variety: Fordhook giant.*
Turnip, variety: purple topped white globe.*

*open-pollinators or heirlooms
**non-specific variety, but from Livingston Seeds, so it’s at least non-GMO.

Everything else from the Seedutopia 2012 list is either used up or so old that I have no expectations of growing it. However, I may try some of them anyway, because the Florida broadleaf mustard came up, grew like mad, and produced enough seed for this year. That package of seeds was approximately six years old when I planted it. I also had one of the watermelon seeds, start last year, but I did not get a melon–I came up, and I believe I have seeds from them–I did not mark the jar.

In terms of seed life, only the spinach has to be used up this year; spinach only has a 2 year seed life. The other plants have a longer shelf life, and so if I plant them, I should get growth. I need to attend to that, lest I buy another 37 packages of seeds. However, I bought entirely too much spinach and beets and eggplant last year, so I should probably pass them along, send it to Ghita, and my brother, and maybe asked my mother-in-law to she wants the other package. I won’t grow this much spinach, or beets, or cantaloupe–even if I send everyone 10 seeds out of the package, I will still have more than I can use.

Seeds I saved from my garden:

Marigold
Mustard, Florida Broadleaf
Mustard, Mizuna
Pepper, Bell
Pepper, Thai hot
Sage
Thai basil
Patty pan squash, unknown variety
Butternut Squash, unknown variety

And I left the collards in the ground; if they survive the winter, they will seed this year, and I’ll collect those seeds, too. However, I am not sure which variety of collard got planted in which bed, so I may be growing me a crap shoot in 2014. It will be fun to see.

I don’t really like patty pan squash; I might just sprout those seeds. I may do the same thing with the butternut seeds. I got them from a squash I bought in a Growing Power market basket, so I presume that, at the very least, they are not GMO, but there is no knowing for sure.

Tell you what. Harvesting seeds is a boring, boring thing, but it really smells good. Right now, I’m cleaning the Thai Basil seed I saved; I can see why they call sometimes call it licorice basil. There’s a heavy scent of anise as I squished the pods to get the seeds to pop out. Mmm.

So, I am pretty close to a Seedutopia list for 2013. I’m pitching all my flower seeds (except the marigolds) and will but a few perennials and then… It’s all over except the planning and the building trellises and beds and digging and …

I guess it ain’t over.