A novice's attempt to get 15 percent of his food from his suburban fifth acre
Posted in Uncategorized on May 9th, 2010
A frost-less winter had me ready to write a breathy tribute to my great success in overwintering last season’s tomatoes — a pair of Beefsteaks and a Husky Cherry — despite the fact that I put no effort into the overwintering and had even less to do with whether or not our region had a [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Apr 25th, 2010
Despite the array of barriers I have defensively erected around my young warm-season crop, my experiences from a year ago have left me in an distrusting frame of mind that has eroded my relationship with the animals with whom we share this property. There’s not a lot of love there. Even though we had a [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Apr 20th, 2010
To combat several pests this season, I have put a load of plastic bottles to reuse before I recycle. With their caps and labels removed, their insides washed free of lingering beverage, and their bottoms sliced clean off, I employed the menagerie of bottles I collected as a fairly effective shield. I’m not sure where [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Apr 15th, 2010
In the past few days I have noticed some nibbling in disparate parts of my yard that suggests grasshoppers. The complete consumption of leaves here and there in a particular area and the fact that I can’t find the culprit on the hit plants also point toward this pest among others. Caterpillars I tend to [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Apr 12th, 2010
Last season I made an in-expert attempt at fencing. The barriers I erected were created in desperation in the midst of losing my entire warm-season crop — for the second or third time — and were hastily, poorly constructed contraptions. They failed to keep the ground squirrels, rabbits, voles, skunks, and opossums out. We lost [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Mar 24th, 2010
This morning I found myself picking pill bugs off my bean seedlings. I noticed that several of the new sprouts — Kentucky Wonder, Contender, and Scarlet Emperor — had wilted and looked chewed. A few had pill bugs on their tender new leaves, but all had dozens of these tiny crustaceans just beneath the surface [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Mar 21st, 2010
I have perhaps set a brazen schedule for our second spring. The last warm season’s utter failure is one impetus. The crushing persistence of the local pests is another. But ultimately my broad catalog has been inspired by all that I have learned. This warm season we will plant many traditional or heirloom varieties of [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Mar 13th, 2010
As we prepare for the spring planting this month, throughout our yard there are several spots and beds still devoted to cold-season holdovers. And some — like the broccoli, carrots, and beets — have a few weeks yet to go before the first round of harvesting. I could intersperse warm-season crops here and there between [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Feb 27th, 2010
The orange tree out back of our kitchen announces spring for us each year with thousands of white buds and a citrus scent I can smell from across the yard. It did so this past week, and it always surprises me in its timing because it seems like we just finished eating last season’s fruit. [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Sep 4th, 2009
Apparently “winter” squash does not refer to the season in which it is grown. There are cool season crops, like Little Gem Romaine Lettuce and Fordhook Giant Swiss Chard, and warm season crops, like Beefsteak Tomatoes and Georgia Rattlesnake Watermelons. Those designations clearly denote when the something should be stuck in the ground. This I [...]