From compost to dinners...

After removing the last of the compost from the location in the
foreground of this photo, I added a 6" layer of leaves and pine needles,
and then addedthe old lime basil twigs and sugar snap pea vines.

Spring compost!

It was time to clear out the last of the compost from last year's pile. I needed to use it to refresh some of the rows where I'd harvested the crops and it was time to nourish the soil around various shrubs.

When I get to it, I'll turn the old compost pile onto the freshly prepared space. Then the cycle will start all over again.

Isn't it amazing how one spring garden chore leads to several others?

Adding compost around the roots of the blueberry bushes. I pulled the mulch from around the blue berry shrubs, laid in the acidic balsam from the Christmas wreath, placed an inch thick layer of compost in a circle around each of the shrubs, and then returned the pine needle mulch. This is a good time to do this to boost the spring growth.

The last of the first crop of carrots. Most of this crop was harvested in December. These were the runts and maybe they could have grown more, but they've been in the ground since September so it was time to give it up. Like gamblers, gardeners need to know when "fold." These carrots ended up in a tabbouleh--see below. I added compost to the spent carrot row. The other crops are parsley, cabbage, romaine, and the last of the sugar snap pea vines, which ended up in the new compost pile. Some new peas were growing there already, so I planted more along the tomato cages.

Adding compost to an old lettuce row. There's one stub of lettuce left, but the rest were eaten. So it's time to lay down some compost for a new crop.Since this was a leaf crop, I'll probably plant a fruit crop next, such as pepper. Other crops are garlic, Swiss card, and dill.

I saved the seed from the lime basil and the marigolds
that were growing in the space where I wanted to
build a squash mound.

Building a squash mound

I had a 4x4 bed that grew only marigolds last year--no crops. Along the far edge was a row of lime basil, which we really enjoyed. (Link to Nematodes, marigolds, and crop rotation to see it in the summer and find out why I planted so many marigolds.) The bed had been just sitting there through the winter, but now it was time to clear out the dead stuff and build a squash mound. I wanted to do this quickly because a rainy front was coming through.

First I collected the seed from the marigolds and the lime basil, and then separated out the marigold skeletons from the basil stems. Then I raked the soil back from the front half of the bed to about 4" deep, laid in the dead marigold stems, added a 4" layer of compost, and then raked the original soil back. I did the same thing to the back side. After that I build a squarish swale and mulched the sides with pine needles. I'll bury my next batch of kitchen scraps in the center. It's still a little early to plant squash, so I'll let it sit for a couple of weeks to let it settle.

This bed had mostly marigolds growing in it last year with some lime basil growing to the side. To prepare the bed, I raked the soil to the back half of the bed, covered the soil with marigold skeletons, added 4" of compost, and then raked the original soil back..

The second phase was to rake the top 4" of soil from the back toward the front, add the marigold stems, and compost the same as the other half..

Squash mound with its center swale is now ready for some kitchen scraps in the center, and then I'll let it sit for a week or two before planting squash seeds. As I was finishing up this task, the rains came--2" in just a couple of hours.

Vegetarian hash.

How dinners have been changed by our harvest-of-the-day

We enjoyed a lovely vegetarian hash dinner the other night. It includes: wild garlic, garlic chives, oregano & rosemary from the garden. Plus store-bought zucchini, red potatoes, onion, green pepper, and celery all browned in olive oil in a covered frying pan until the onions were caramelized and the potatoes were soft. I then divided the hash into two servings on either side of the frying pan and topped each serving with an egg and covered again until the eggs were cooked. Topped with freshly ground pepper and salsa, Yummy!

The next night, my husband created a batch of tabbouleh, which will last us 3 days or more. The recipe varies and one of the factors is the harvest-of-the-day.

Harvest for tabbouleh: garlic chives, wild garlic, carrots, and a good-size bunch of curly parsley.

Juice drained from a can of diced tomatoes and
heated in the microwave is poured over the bulgur
wheat to soak while the rest of the prep is done.

The de-stemmed parsley is chopped in the food processor. After this the cucumber, celery, olives were also chopped in the processor, but the carrots, garlic and garlic mustard were hand-sliced.

Adding the soaked bulgur to the rest of the salad.

Ready to serve. Yummy. We'll probably add shrimp tonight or the next for variety.

Our recycling neighborhood, Mother Nature, and more...

A found bench! Our neighborhood has a tradition of putting stuff out on the curb the day before trash day and people roam the streets for stuff they can use. Recycling at its best!

Mistletoe really stands out in the spring!

For more on how the neighborhood  recycling works, see my post Two geezers and a shed. The shed in question is in the background of the above photo.

Carpenter bees have been chewing into the blueberry flowers to rob the nectar. I hope that there is at least some cross-pollination happening so we get a good crop this year. For details on why this is important, see my article Florida blueberries.

A fluffed out red shouldered hawk the other morning. It's saying, "Hey, you lookin' at me?"

Sometimes natives don't look so great in their pots, which is one reason big box stores would have a hard time selling more of them. There's been a good discussion about this over on my Sustainable Gardening Facebook page.  This is a beautyberry bush (Callicarpa americana) that sprouted too close to its parent. I put it in a pot for the winter, and now is a terrific time to plant this tough and attractive plant. Let's see... Where will I put it?

I hope you are having fun with your spring gardening chores.
 

Green Gardening Matters,
Ginny Stibolt

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Snowdrops and daffodils

I haven't seen any daffodils up in the mountains yet, but I'm sure they're open in the Piedmont (my garden blogger friends are reporting them, and they looked ready to pop in our garden). Hooray!  Spring is coming.

Here in the mountains, snowdrops (Galanthus spp) are brightening the landscape.

One of the first old houses in our mountain neighborhood (probably pre-dating the "development" of Montford) has carpets of snowdrops under trees, poking out into the lawn, and lining the road.

Enchanting!

This is a Wikipedia image (no camera was along for our walk this afternoon)!

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Snow and more snow

Happily, we've just had so far - lovely snow. 

The sleet is currently falling this evening, but the temperatures (for Clemson, SC) are predicted to gradually rise around freezing overnight, so accumulations of the 2-4 inches won't (hopefully) be issues in terms of power outages. (The snow hasn't accumulated on trees and power lines, thankfully).

This isn't the case for lots of folks across a wide band of the SE US, unfortunately. 

And we have another "snow" day tomorrow, with campus closed again.

I'd have photos, but my camera is up in the mountains (left behind by accident in the bread box drawer!)

Hmm, WHEN will I be able to get out and get the beds ready for early spring plantings of peas and greens?   Nothing has overwintered, for sure, so I'll definitely be starting with a clean slate!

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Now, potentially much more (snow and ice)

Hmm, this is definitely the odd winter!  We're experiencing the potential advent of another snowstorm (with ice) blanketing the Southeast for several days, after an exceptionally cold January. 

This, after a lovely and benign snowfall overnight that had melted by late afternoon.

Campus (and most everything else that can close due to winter weather) will be closed tomorrow.  I'm grateful that I can just stay home.  And be hopeful that the power will be on!

But I'm mindful of all of the folks that need to get to their jobs (in all of the service capacities that we depend on).  Thanks to all of them.

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Hmm, more snow and (potential) ice coming?

Yikes, this winter has been really strange. 

The Prunus mume (that I saw starting to flower again last weekend) may be totally blasted. 

At least the predicted temperatures are quite moderate. 

The forecast is all about snow (and potential ice) and full of hyperbole about snowfall (I think because of all of the previous storms and severe temperatures this winter).

We could be inundated with snow and ice in the upstate of South Carolina over the next few days, or maybe not.  We'll see.

It all depends on where the fronts collide, it seems.

At least I haven't planted any peas yet!  I haven't even managed to get out and take soil temperatures or turn the beds.  And my raised beds in the mountains -- hmm -- they'll be replanted totally from scratch -- I don't think any of the perennial herbs made it through the severe cold of January.

Hmm, seeing previous incarnations of spring planting is always encouraging.  Here's an link to searches about previous blog posts about "spring vegetable beds."

My raised beds in the mountains and the piedmont at the moment look really sad.  They're ready for change-outs.  They're waiting for spring.

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Finally, signs of spring!

A mild winter day was welcome after the deep freeze of January (and the natural gas bill that accompanied it -- yikes, it was at least a third to a half more than we'd ever paid before!)

More importantly, signs of spring are popping --dandelions are in flower and the early yellow jasmine (the Asian shrub, not our native Carolina jessamine) is in flower in our neighbor's yard.

It's welcome.

Buds are swelling, and the Carolina Jessamine flowers will pop forth soon.

It's not been a good year (so far) for Asian early-bloomers.  Camellias, etc. have not fared well, dropping lots of buds, being frosted, etc. 

The Professor Sargent in front our house is full of brown, frost-bitten flowers at the moment, unlike in previous years.  

Here's what it looked like in 2011.

Professor Sargent camellia, 2011

But the first natives are creeping into sight -- early Trilliums at the SC Botanical Garden have already popped up.

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Spring is in the air!

Some trees and shrubs are already producing their spring growth.

Spring is beginning to show itself with new growth on some of the plants and the extreme busyness of the little birds. It's too early to plant the tender crops because we are still likely to experience more frosty weather, but the rest of our native landscape will be fine with our hot spells in the middle of winter.

People who try to push the envelope on tropical plants in northern Florida make a lot of extra work for themselves. And many of them cover their tender plants and then leave them covered right through hot spells. It's likely that the plants that are being protected from the frost will die from the heat under their protective tarps and blankets. It's been in the 80s here for several days in a row.

If people would plant more natives in their landscapes, they wouldn't have this problem.

Our red maples are in full bloom already, which is why people need to pay attention to provenance. Our Florida maple trees would not do well in Canada and the Canadian stock would do poorly here even though red maples are native in both regions.

The pre-Super Bowl snacks with homemade pesto dip and home-grown carrots.

Super Bowl

Our hope for the Super Bowl was for a good game. I used both orange and turquoise dishes to show our impartiality. We did not get our wish, but we did enjoy the commercials and the pre-game snacks.

Here is the recipe for the pesto dip. Mix together 1/4 cup of pesto*, 1/4 cup mayonnaise, 1/4 cup plain non-fat yogurt, 1 tbs of horse radish, 1/4 cup of equal parts of finely chopped fresh dill, parsley, and meadow garlic, with freshly ground pepper. Yummy.

*I still had some frozen pesto, so it was time to use it. Here's a link to my pesto recipe.

That's me with the braids camping on an island in Long Lake in the Adirondacks.

The making of an advocate

Over the past few weeks I scanned the old family slides into digital files and was struck by how hard my parents worked to get us out into nature. We camped every year, took car trips and we were encouraged to play outside. I wrote about how much their efforts have influenced my life and now I have the time to be a real advocate FOR Mother Nature. See my post A look back to find lessons for the future over on the Native Plants and Wildlife Gardens blog.

The photos below are two of the images that I did not include in my post. On the left, the camping chores were endless.  We'd pack a humongous amount of stuff including a huge canvas tent into a flat-backed canoe on Long Lake in the Adirondacks and camp out on an island with another family. On the right a photo from a trip from Connecticut to New Orleans via Lake Worth FL to visit my grandparents, we stopped to admire the view on the Skyline Drive in Virginia. There were no big highways then, so we traveled through every small town.

The never ending camping chores in the old days. I don't remember the name of the other family, so if you recognize yourself, let me know!

I'm looking at the view with my brother at the Skyline Drive. Wow, look at those old cars, but they were newish then!

I hope you had great outdoor experiences as a kid and if not, it's never too late to get started!

Green Gardening Matters,
Ginny Stibolt

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