Finally, time to sow!

It's taken forever this winter to finally be time to sow.  It could have been last weekend, but I was busy doing other things, and I knew soil temperatures were still low.

"blank" raised beds --now sown with peas, beets, lettuce, and greens

But a beautiful weekend and signs of spring popping out (from the piedmont to the mountains)  -- it was wonderful to get seeds of sugar snap peas, spinach, lettuce, beets, chard, mustards, kale, arugula, etc. into raised beds and flats.

I put out some spinach transplants in the mountains, and radicchio and kale in the piedmont (woodchuck issues).... we'll see.

flats and pots sown with lettuce mix, arugula, spinach, and kales

kale and radicchio transplants (I KNOW the woodchuck won't like radicchio!)

Lovely to clean out all the dead perennial herbs from pots for a clean slate!

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A trout lily adventure

The beautiful trout lilies put on quite a show,
but only for a few weeks in the spring.

I first heard about Wolf Creek Trout Lily Preserve at the 2010 Florida Native Plant Society Conference in Tallahassee when Dan Miller made a lunchtime presentation. He told about how he a few others had saved a unique, 13-acre population of trout lilies from development. The population is in south Georgia just north of Tallahassee, FL. His photos and story took my breath away.

This year I knew when the the trout lilies had started to bloom because of photos posted on Facebook, so my husband and I made the three-hour trek west out to the preserve on Valentine’s Day. (Yes, no flowers were harmed for my Valentine’s Day treat.)

For more photos of this amazing ecosystem continue reading at Eco-activists: A few people can make a real difference!

There are millions of trout lilies in its southernmost population at Wolf Creek Trout Lily Preserve.

A sunrise hike at Falling Waters State Park

Falling Waters State Park

After Wolf Creek we drove back into Florida and another hour west to visit the state's highest state park. It's elevation is a whopping 324'!

Overnight, a windy, rainy front passed through. The next morning we got up early and hiked to the state's tallest water fall--70'. We don't have much topography in Florida, so this is a big deal and that the waterfall fell into a deep, perfectly circular sinkhole made it quite dramatic. It was a beautiful trail to the waterfall and the sink holes in the karst landscape where the limestone is eaten away by rainfall over the years.

See photos of the sinkholes, waterfall, and more at Falling Waters State Park, a profile over on the Florida Native Plant Society blog.

Instead of hiking back on the same trail we walked on the less-traveled path around the other side of the lake and found this fresh tree fall--a huge pine that filled the air with its sharp resin smell.

This harvest-of-the-day went into a mashed potato dish.

Harvest of the day

This harvest of come-again broccoli (that have sprouted from the plants after the main curd or head has been removed), curly parsley, garlic chives, and wild garlic ended up in one of our favorite comfort food dinners for a chilly, rainy day--Cheesy mashed potatoes.

In addition to the harvest, which was finely chopped with parsley separated, the ingredients are:
1 large onion, diced
1/3 cup chopped celery
3 tbsp of olive oil
1 cup instant potatoes
1 cup of water
1/3 cup plain non-fat yogurt
1/3 cup grated cheddar cheese
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
5 pats of butter
freshly-ground black pepper

Saute the vegetables except for the parsley in olive oil in a covered frying pan (stirring frequently) until the onions caramelize. Turn the heat to low and add the parsley and stir until the parsley wilts. Meanwhile, mix the potatoes, water, yogurt, cheddar cheese, and 3 pats of butter in a bowl. Cover and microwave for 2 minutes. Fold the sauteed ingredients into the potato mixture, add the Parmesan and the pepper. Makes two generous serving. Serve in a shallow soup bowl and top with a pat a butter and grind some more pepper. Garnish with a fresh parsley sprig.

Beautiful Black Creek!

Smooth alder (Alnus serrulata) on the shore of Black Creek.

A close-to-home adventure

Earlier this week, before the weather turned cold and rainy, my husband and I rode our bikes over to the Black Creek Ravines Conservation Area and then hiked 5 or 6 miles along the trails of this 965-acre preserve. We went to a bluff over-looking Black Creek--a feeder into the St. Johns River.

We then went down to the shoreline. I was hoping to find the alders blooming with their yellow catkins, but the pollen was gone--the catkins were still there, but brown. The alder fruits look like little pine cones.

It was a lovely half-day adventure in a beautiful spot. We did not see anyone else out on this beautiful day.

It's all in the family!

Grandson Weber Stibolt, a student at the University of Delaware was on the team that planned and built the University's display at the Philadelphia Flower Show. He's in front of the fish ladder demonstration--fish ladders are located next to dams so fish can migrate past dams to their spawning areas in these rivers.

Weber posted this on Facebook, but you need to be a member to see his Photo album:

The final improvement we were really looking to make from last year's exhibit was to have a more concrete message and one that is easier to understand and digest. This award [Best Achievement in Social Change Messaging ] pretty much sums up everything I could have hoped for! You can read more about the exhibit at the following websites: http://www.udel.edu/udaily/2014/mar/phila-flower-show-030414.html  & http://udreview.com/2014/03/03/professors-and-students-create-exhibit-for-philadelphia-flower-show/

I hope you and your family are out enjoying nature this spring.

Green Gardening Matters,
Ginny Stibolt

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Spring is popping out

From daffodils to Oconee bells, flowering has commenced.  Hooray!

The Asian cherries in the median of our small city's entrance are in flower (after being coaxed into early flowering last fall); daffodils are up everywhere in our "yard" --not planted by us, but echoing past gardeners, as do the crocuses.

In the Garden, the first Oconee bells are in flower, too.  At the end of February, it's about time for early spring!

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A lovely witch hazel

I'd thought that the glorious winter flowering witch hazel in front of our mountain house was a Chinese witch hazel, until reading my garden blogging friend Janet's post about Hamamelis vernalis (hmm, maybe it was on FB?).  I couldn't find the reference for a link -- but thanks, Janet, for pointing me in the right direction!

It was looking lovely last weekend, complete with flowers. It certainly seems to be  H. vernalis!

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Spring is definitely on the way

Not only daffodils are flowering in the Piedmont, Asian cherries are back in flower in our city's median plantings.  Lovely.  They were "tricked" in late fall to bloom early, but happily, are now looking quite nice -- welcome after coming back "down the hill" today.

All sorts of things are starting to pop up, beyond the snowdrops, daffodils, and crocus.  Dimpled trout lily (Erythronium umbilicatum) is in flower, too, and I'm sure our native Hepatica spp. are out, as well.

I went by the old "farmhouse" in Montford this afternoon, to take some photos of the Galanthus that's naturalized (presumably over many years).

It was nice to see the carpet of snowdrops again!  I've not ever seen snowdrops in masses like that, so it was a welcome sight.

Galanthus naturalized in an old lawn

Old house (in Montford historic district, Asheville, NC) with Galanthus

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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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