A Long Hiatus Ends

Two years have gone by and we've scarcely stuck a trowel into dirt.

I blame these fallow periods on California's lack of seasons. It's even worse with a four-year-old drought on. Planting time seems to begin earlier and earlier and there's always something else to grab our attention.

The oregano, thyme and mint that we moved away from the main vegetable plot are still going. There are brown paper bags hanging from my balcony with drying herbs. They should be ready to put into jars tomorrow. The biggest challenge is harvesting before they go to flower.

The mint died off and has now come back. It's indestructible, it seems. It makes wonderful tea when added fresh to black tea. We need to work harder on summer recipes that use mint with yogurt, quinoa or cucumbers. Perhaps with the Fourth of July holiday coming up we can spotlight some dishes featuring mint.

All that's left in the main vegetable patch is a tenacious yellow chard. We cleared away the knitted trellis and put it in storage for awhile. The bamboo stakes that make its framework were splintering and breaking. The vivid colors of the construction twine have faded, but it's still functional.

Our big challenge in restarting the garden is water. There's some irrigation in the vegetable plot, but not enough. We've always used soaker hoses to good effect, but one has now sprung a leak and with the addition of the herb garden, we need to branch the hoses to hit different areas.

There's always the possibility of doing a drip system, but it takes some expertise in making sure you don't have backflow of water if something gets stopped up. It's labor-intensive and is best done after you have a plan. That way you know where the drips should be. We tend to be more impulsive gardeners.

Karen spent a lot of time digging, which means the plot is cleared of a lot of tree roots and we didn't have to resort to mechanically tilling, which disrupts the creatures great and small in the dirt.

Comments

Know Your Soil For Best Garden Results

I've always taken soil for granted. It was there. You put seeds into it. You put water on it. Plants grow and produce flowers, fruit or vegetables. Gayle Weinstein, author of Xeriscape Handbook; A How-To Guide to Natural, Resource-Wise Gardening , takes a different view: “Soil . . . acts as a highway between life and death, land and atmosphere, plants and animals.” It stores water, air and nutrients and makes it possible for an exchange of elements and chemical reactions to occur, she adds. She describes soil as being animal, vegetable and mineral combined. Here are six tests Gayle recommends for getting to know your soil. Grab a shovel and a quart jar. Dig up two cups of dry soil two-to-six inches deep from the areas you want to test. Gather a glass of water, dish washing detergent and paper towels. A soil pH kit, a meter or litmus paper will be needed for the final test.

Away With Holey Leaves: Offing the Pests

I can't stand the tell-tale signs of garden pests: the leaves with holes, the failure to thrive. I believe in early assault with organic deterrents. Kate has great faith in plants' commitment to survive. She considers holes in leaves to be a mere cosmetic blemish. Like politics and religion, getting rid of pests in a garden is sure to cause a community donnybrook (or at least rapid words over ice water in the lounge chairs). To do organic warfare against pests means using one or more of these tools:

Herbal challenges

The thought of an orderly, scented kitchen garden like I've seen at The Huntington Gardens or in books is so appealing. Ranks of herbs -- thyme, oregano, basil and parsley -- lining neat pathways in easy reach for cutting. A garden right outside the kitchen when you need a pinch of marjoram for a sauce . . . At Fink Farms, it never works out like that. Unruly bunches of herbs grow into each other, or bolt or shrivel in the sun without water. When we first started the farm, we were growing herbs in the main garden with the tomatoes, and beans and lettuce greens. I decided to set up a separate herb area along the cinder block wall, first because of squabbles about what should go where between the then-three partners and, secondly, because I'd read that herbs like adverse conditions. Since we were composting up the main garden, I thought perhaps the herbs would do better in less rich ground. There were problems with that thinking: There probably isn't enoug...

The Fink Farm Dirt

Search This Blog