Seed Report on Strawberry Spinach-Portland, OR

This grew fast directly sown in the ground. The only suggestion that I have is to make sure that you properly identify it with a marker because I didn't which resulted in me pulling much of it out. I thought it was a weed. It did not take long for the plant to start seeding or growing fruit (the strawberry part). Would I grow it again? Not sure to be honest. The leaves are tasty, but small and the fruit does not have a taste to me and taste like you just put a whole bunch of seeds in your mouth. The plant would look nice in an arrangement, but again I would have second thoughts about devoting valuable space to it and would grow it just for the leaves.

Another interesting fact I discovered is that it is grown in some parts of Europe and in some countries it is considered a weed as it self seeds very easily. It might be a good plant for a Children's Garden. Caroline will be commenting on how this plant did in her Maine garden soon.

Portland Community Garden Update-July 1oth

It was a great garden day. 80 plus weather. I was able to harvest the rest of my peas. I noticed that they don't taste as sweet so I figured that pea season was drawing to a close so I removed the plants after harvest and added them to my compost pile. They had begun to cover up my summer season plants anyway.

Here is just one of the many community fruit trees and bushes in the garden
My Calendula started from seed is doing very well. I have an orange variety also. I grew them to keep the insects at bay.
Here is the Strawberry Spinach. I have been pulling out tons of it thinking it was a weed. It is not very high but already is producing berries.
Egyptian Onions are all over our community garden
Lovely Dahlia's from the Children's Garden
Community Berries ready to harvest. They taste very sweet

Growing food on 1/10 acre

Check out this front yard in California. It is not the prettiest garden I have seen, but it grows enough food to feed a family of four. Actually, it looks like a mini farm to me that could feed the whole neighborhood.

Roasted Carrots Recipe

Our carrots are not ready yet, but once they are we will be sure to use this recipe.

Michele's Garden Day Book-July 1

Outside my window..... I can see the sun beginning to set on a fantastic day
I am planning.....work on drying herbs for teas
I am harvesting....lettuce, peas, chives, radish and berries
One of my favorite garden things.... this week I had a great time harvesting peas
Creatures I saw in my garden this week were.....our garden cat. I call him magic
Projects for the rest of the week....work on condensing the compost heap
What I would do differently next year....plant more herbs

Portland Community Garden Photos June 29th

It was overcast in the garden today. Our first hot weather in Portland this year is on the agenda for this weekend. My Tomatoes look pathetic. Add the Peppers and Egg plants to the pathetic list. Just not enough hot weather and too much rain to warm the soil and get things going.

Here is a neighbors Artichoke plant. They seem to grow really well here because they are growing in many of the community garden plots.

Here are some of the Peas that I harvested today.
I don't have too many plants, but was able to harvest enough to fill four 1 gallon bags. Plan to harvest more in a few more days.

Still harvesting Lettuce. Some of my other Lettuce is bolting so I need to get more aggressive at harvesting as it seems like everything seems to go to seed really fast here. I also was able to harvest Chives and more Radish today.

The Chard is growing well in the cool weather

The Beans sprouted quickly and is doing well although the slugs have found them

Lovely edible Nastrium flowers

Not sure if these are Marigolds or Calendula

One of my neighbors is using milk jugs to protect his summer crops. Seems funny that we are still using this kind of protection in June. Many gardeners have some sort of protection over their summer crops.

Swiss Chard

Here is a video full of information on Swiss Chard. We are growing the Rainbow variety this year. The stems are so pretty that they look as if they should be in a floral arrangement. You can cook many different recipes with Chard. My friend Lauren who is vegan uses the leaves for her wraps. We also like Chard because it is easy and fast growing.

California Poppy Invasive in Oregon?

Today I found this clump of lovely California Poppies close to our community tool shed. It almost looked tropical against the sea of green leaves and pastel color palate of the spring garden. I imagined how wonderful my summer garden might look as the California Poppy seemed to scream "summer" to me. Then it suddenly struck me that someone at the Community Garden had told me that the California Poppy was considered invasive in the garden. Or did they say it was invasive in Oregon? Or both?

I did an Internet search this evening for more information and found that although the the California Poppy is drought tolerant and self seeding it is only recognized as a potentially invasive species. Another question. What is considered invasive in Oregon? I did not find the California Poppy on the list, but did find other plants such as Ivy. It might be a good idea if you don't know what is on your state's invasive species list to take a quick look.

What do you do when you have a invasive plant growing in your garden? Here is a video from the University of Maine Extension Services.

Portland Community Garden Photos May

Cimmaron Lettuce

This is the Cimmaron variety. Don't worry I have more of it in other areas of the garden. All plants in my community garden were panted from seed so I am way behind the other gardeners who used plant starts. Their lettuce looks like it will be ready to harvest in a few weeks. This variety of lettuce is ready in 65 days. It is a deep red romaine type with a good resistance to bolting. This heirloom variety dates back to the 18th century. Caroline and I are also growing the Black-Seeded Simpson variety.

Oregon Sugar Pod Peas & Cimmaron Lettuce

I think the peas should be further along than they are since they love cooler weather which we have had a ton of. I grew some of the peas to use as a temporary green manure until the summer crops (tomatoes, peppers, melons) can be planted. Since it does not look like the ground will warm up to 60 degrees any time too soon I think I should be able to harvest the peas grown for green manure before I have to pull them up.

Yarrow Herb

I inherited these when I acquired my plot. I would like to get rid of most of the plants. In just a few months of having the garden the herb had multiplied into large clumps that are very hard to dig or pull up. Personally I would consider it invasive here in Portland. Although it is grown for its medicinal purposes it is just not a useful herb to me and is using up too much of my valuable space.

Garden Note

I would like to say at this point that I am not a neat or tidy gardener. Surprise. There are no rows in my garden and most of the beds are oval. Vegetables are interplanted with flowers and herbs and vegetables are interplanted with vegetables. I do have mulched paths, but to tell you the truth I am thinking of getting rid of most of them so I can fit more plants in.

Note to Caroline:Overwintered Kale

As you know I have become fascinated with all the overwintered Kale that have started to flower and turn to seed in my Community Garden. Some of the Kale is nearly as tall as I am. See the photo I took over the weekend of a whole field of flowering Kale.




We did not get any comments to my question on why the Kale was turning to seed so early so I had to do a little research. I found that it is common for Kale to turn to seed after over wintering. My "google" search resulted in finding out that you have to harvest the Kale leaves quite quickly because Kale, and for that matter all over winter varieties of Broccoli, Cabbage and Brussels Sprouts, will flower and turn to seed early spring.

On a side note, remember how I was telling you about Kale Chips last summer? Well, I found a great video on how to make them. Hope all is well with you.

Stevia

Stevia is one of the herbs that we are growing this year. After receiving a "tweet" on how to use it we decided to do a little research. We had heard that it is often used fresh in teas and that was what we intended to do with it being avid tea drinkers. We found two alternative ways to turn Stevia into a liquid while cutting most of the bitter after taste.


We are growing Stevia from seed starts. The seeds are tiny and we did not get many seeds in each packet so we suggest that you check how many seeds you are getting and if it is under 20 you may need to buy two seed packets. With that being said we did get a few sprouts after a few weeks that seem to be growing quite vigorously now.

Here is the information via video on how to turn Stevia into a liquid sweetener while getting rid of the bitter after taste. In both videos there are no preservatives used or mention of how to store.For that reason we highly suggest that you store your extracted Stevia liquid in the fridge and use within the week.











We intend to try both methods (with glycerin and without) and report back to you which version works the best.

Rhododendron-Portland, Oregon

Saw some great Rhododendrons in bloom on my way to work this morning.

Vegetables gone to Seed in the Portland Community Garden

I noticed that most of the over wintered plants in the community garden plots have gone to seed and wonder why. I would like to find out why because I plan to over winter Broccoli, Lettuce, Cabbage, Kale and some other veggies this fall. Anyone know why?

Progress at my Portland Community Garden

I spent some time yesterday at my garden and took a few photos. Photos are numbered from the bottom up. Photo 1 is some kind of Berry Bush next to my plot. Photo 2 is a my Chard that was over wintered. I think it is ready to eat. Photo 3 is over wintered Kale. It is going to seed now. Photo 4 is my neighbors cover crop and photo 5 is the Rosemary in shared area of the garden.

Overall the seed starts are emerging, but very slowly. I planted the Breakfast Radishes and Egyptian Onions that that Caroline sent me. Other seeds I planted included Cucumbers and Bells of Ireland flowers.

Note to Caroline-Spring Update

The weather has been awful here. We have had three times more rain so far this year than usual. You know that is a plenty since it rains daily here from December through February. I am way behind in planting and getting worried that with the late start most of my summer vegetables will not produce. When it gets hot here it doesn't get hot like Maine summers. The high starts to drop off come July and August while those are the hottest months for you.

What were your thoughts on the royal wedding? My mother is excited about her trip this month to Stonehenge. We have visited there before when we lived in London, but this time she will be taking her Master level Reiki certification class so it will be extra special. She is also meeting up with some old friends from when we lived there in London after her class. I hope she can bring some candy back for me. I miss British Chocolates like Maltesers, Flake and Areo Bars. I think I told you once that they have the same names for some of the bars we have like Milky Way, but the bar is totally something different.

I believe that winter is over for you in Maine. What kind of gardening activities have you been working on? Have you given more thought to keeping bees and what you are going to plant in your new community plot?

May 1, Photos from the Portland Community Garden

Sowing Seeds in Peat Pellets

I got a really late start on sowing seeds inside because this April has been so cold and rainy. I bought 4 window sill sized peat pellet trays with hoods. They cost $3 and each tray comes with 12 pots.

All you do is add about 1 cup (check instructions) of warm water to the peat pellets and they expand with their own pocket of soil ready for your seeds.

I had to re-think the location I had in mind for germinating the seeds after I discovered that my newer model fridge was very cold on top. Perhaps it is too energy efficient.

The top of my dryer is where the seeds tray ended up. The seeds trays are at my business because I have much more space and light there. Since we do services such as Facials & Massage the dryer is always in use.

Here is a list of seed starts: Chocolate Stripe Tomatoes (photo one), German Red Tomatoes, Anas Noir Tomatoes, Purple Tomatillo, Thai Long Peppers and Pink Banana (second photo). I will keep you posted on when the seeds germinate. The hardest seed to germinate will be the Pink Banana. The seed packet says that it could take up to 2 months to germinate, but once it does it is easy to grow.

Sowing more Seeds-Portland, OR

Finally the weather has made a turn for the better. After news that this is the third wettest April in the history of Oregon we finally have a week of 60 plus weather to look forward to.Time to get going in the garden.

This morning at my Community Garden Plot I was able to sow Zinnia, Lemon Cucumber, Dill, Marshmallow, Lettuce and Squash.

News about the Broccoli that was over wintered. They are beginning to flower and turn to seed. I am not sure why. Is that normal?

More good news about my over wintered Cabbage. They have not recovered from the hungry pests in search of food this winter. Pests in the winter? Did not think that would be a problem.

The Cinnamon Lettuce, Rhubarb, Rainbow Chard, Stocks, Calendula and Money Plant Seeds that I planted two weeks ago are now up. The two varieties of Carrots are missing in action.

More positive news. There are tons of ladybugs in the garden.

Free Garlic Plants-Portland

On my way to work this morning someone had put out four pots of Garlic with a free sign on them. As often the case in Portland, people put out their excess plants on the curb for others to take. I really appreciate this unexpected treat!

Note to Caroline: New Community Plot

Very excited to hear about your new community plot. That is great that you were allocated space and I can't wait to hear how the plots are set up. Generally every community garden has a set of "garden etiquette" rules depending on who is setting the garden up.

My garden is part of the Portland Garden and Recreational Program so it may have more formal rules than your plot will have. It seems like the biggest no, no is to have a weedy plot. We have rules on weeding like we must show that we have made a start on weeding our plot by May 1st of each year and by June 1st half of our plot must be weeded. Ask if there are any garden amenities included. For example we have a water hook up for each plot. The water is turned on from March 30th to October 30th.

We also have access to a limited amount of basic gardening tools and mulch. Garden work parties and work groups seem to be common events at a community garden, especially at the start and end of the season. From what I can tell you usually attend these if you are able to and it is a time when everyone works on the garden all at once.

There might be other odd rules too. For example, we have a list of things that we cannot compost that normally you could and there are no trash cans to place trash so we must take it with us. I was also surprised to find out what plants were considered invasive here as some of the plants were things we commonly plant in the Midwest. I don't think you will have a problem with this because you have always lived and gardened in New England.

You must tell me more and check to see if there is a Garden Manager. It is nice that you may be able to fulfill all your green produce needs for your family with this additional space. I have enclosed the following link to the page of rules for the Portland Community Gardens. http://www.portlandonline.com/parks/index.cfm?a=93178&c=39846