…the leaves were calling me.

I meant to do my work today,
But a brown bird sang in the apple tree,
And a butterfly flitted across the field,
And all the leaves were calling me.

–Richard Le Gallienne (1866–1947)

Miss Peanut answers the call of a Mint leaf

Well, the last week has simply been heaven. Every spare moment was spent planting the seedlings started during Spring Break. Several huge cans full of grass and weeds were pulled as well. There is still a lot to be done, but the garden looks tended again. It’s impossible to express just how good for me this process has been. My intellectual pursuits of the last 20 months were very intense and I had not been grounded in the way I need, which is that special brand of grounded I only get from, well, the ground. All head and no body makes one a bit insane after a time. The garden is medicine. My muscles are delightfully sore and I have a touch of color back in my cheeks. The weather was even on my side with cool cloud cover and a bit of rain midweek. The photos all came out with a bit of fog in the center, so I apologize for the quality – not worth retaking them though. Let’s just pretend that I was going for that vintage nostalgic hazy days of summer sepia toned wonder and call it a day. Later I’ll clean the lens, since I know I probably thumbed it with sunscreen. We get messy when we’re gardening 🙂

Somewhere around 42 Tomato seedlings went into the ground in various spots around the property. They had priority, of course. Those are the leftover winter peas drying on the tops of the stakes so I can plant them later.

the Brandywines are in the ground and all is right with the world

The Artichoke seedlings, 4 of them, came from last year’s fruit.

Artichoke seedling

I found a bird’s nest, probably doves, in a burrow on the ground in the meditation circle. This makes four nests that I save in a special place in the potting shed. They are among my favorite things.

I have quite a growing collection of bird's nests in the potting shed

The Hollyhock seedlings are from Andrea’s seeds, so of course I’m hoping for dark colored flowers!

Andrea's Hollyhock seeds are finally in the ground

Tom bought me an upside down hanging Strawberry planter so I would have more than just a few ripe ones at a time. He loves me.

Tom's Topsy Turvy

There were at least three of these cans full of grass and weeds pulled out to make room for seedlings.

out with the old - in with the new!

At a certain point, I had pulled out so many plants needing new homes, I had to spread out over the lawn. I find I have to make a mess before I can bring about any kind of order.

finding joy amid the chaos

There is still a lot of transplanting to do; finding new homes for what I dug up, re-potting things that have grown out of their pots, moving all succulents and cacti to pots leaving more ground for herbaceous plants, etc…

looking for new homes

When I get it all cleaned up, probably by the Full Moon this coming Wednesday, I’ll be able to sit in my rocking chair and celebrate with a juicy glass of wine. In the meantime, the bees are busy gathering pollen…

greedy little bee in an Agapanthus

…the flowers are blooming…

Roses and Grapes and Andrea's birdhouse

…completely oblivious to the fact that I’m literally turning the entire garden upside down. The only ones to really notice have been the spiders, but we get along famously as long as we respect each others space.

the ever-faithful Feverfew

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Tuesday’s Muse: Mentors

Today is Tuesday, so time to honor the Muse. Today, she takes the form of mentors, those people who come into your life and teach you things, and I would like to talk about my father-in-law who passed away last Wednesday. He leaves behind a very large family that adored him and a lifetime of friends who loved and respected him. He came into my life when I was still a very young woman, about 20 yrs old. He gave me a job when I desperately needed one and that’s how I eventually became a Northcutt myself.

There are many things I am grateful to him for, but the one I will highlight here is that he shared with me his knowledge of gardening, took me under his green thumb and taught me how to grow things. He had been a sharecropper in Oklahoma before moving to California all those years ago when so many people fled the dust bowl. He also had a small farm here in Ramona, Ca. By the time I met him he was mostly settled back into the suburbs just a few miles from where Tom and I live now, but his backyard was always lush and blooming with as much as would fit. The crowded state of my own backyard testifies to his influence: a little bit of lawn in the center with all the edges packed with fruits, vegetables and flowers.

He taught me how to grow peppers and potatoes and how to train vines, told me when to cut back my roses and to plant garlic under them to help keep bugs off, and how to cage my tomatoes. Thanks to him, I know about burying rusty nails in the dirt under a Hydrangea to change its color and many other nuggets of gardening wisdom and folklore that all seemed like magic in the beginning. He taught me to garden by the cycles of the moon and to read the Farmers Almanac, told me why things were not doing well and how to fix it. He told me to loosen up the dirt around the base of plants so they could breathe, answered all my questions and told me silly stories. Most impressively, he knew all of this without ever consulting the internet or a book.

Over the years he must have given me a hundred planting pots , every size and shape and material. He picked them up, along with the half dead plants that were in them, in alleys and abandoned lots, or from the recently vacated houses and apartments he was working on. We always had fun trying to bring those poor plants back to life and more often than not we had success. If I admired a plant, he would immediately whip out his pocket knife and give me a cutting, along with another pot and some dirt, and told me how to grow it. My hands were always dirty when I left his house, but they were never empty. Every time I visited we took a walk together around the yard to tour his garden, where he was always happy and always in denim overalls. We had to stop at every plant and discuss its progress, every bloom was appreciated and snails were collected and thrown over the fence – I won’t say in which direction 🙂 There was a turtle that lived in the yard and we fed it broccoli together. If there was something new growing, he told me all about it. Billy Wayne Northcutt taught me more about gardening than anybody else. It was something we had in common, besides Tom. He passed along to me one of his life’s passions and for that I will always love him and am deeply grateful that he took the time and effort to teach me something so important. Thank you, Billy, from the bottom of my heart.

If you have a mentor in your life, it is an honor, say thank you. If you are a mentor to someone else, it is an honor, say thank you.

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Go Outside and Play!

When we were little, our mothers sent us outside to play when we were getting on her nerves. We thought she was being sweet and encouraging us to have fun when all she really wanted was a moment alone with her thoughts and perhaps a Highball or two. Well, I’m on my own nerves lately, so the moment I get free from work, rain or no rain, I’m going outside to play and I’m dragging Tom with me.

Carrots get curly if the soil isn't loose enough - be sure to prepare your soil!

In gardening news, it’s an excellent time to plant anything with an underground harvest such as root vegetables, like carrots before it gets too warm, or bulbs. Today I’m planting the garlic that was leftover from an olive oil roasting I did on Monday. When the garlic you use in the kitchen has little green centers, it means the garlic is growing again in your pantry and it will most likely be bitter tasting and it’s past its prime. Bury it and you’ll have fresh garlic later. I know I’ve said it before, but I really really want you to plant garlic! It helps keeps aphids off your roses and vampires will think twice before messing with your garden.

red Dragon Carrot - sweet and adds color to salads or cake - did someone say cake? 🙂

It’s also a good time to plant radishes if you live somewhere with a cool spring. I just harvested mine, so I won’t be planting more, but it’s not too late if you want to get another batch through before summer. I had the “Easter Egg” blend and they were delicious!

Spring Radishes - Easter Egg Blend - April 2011

The Moon is waning so it’s also a good time to prune where needed. My pruning is done for now, so I can take a break on that front. In fact, the garden seems to be doing her own thing quite effectively right now, so I can take a little breather. I have some extremely feral patches around the property, but I’ve put those off until summer when school is over. Thanks to the budget cuts, summer classes have been canceled so I have no opportunity to change my mind about taking the summer off. Tom and I are going to plan a little trip someplace we’ve never been. It’s very exciting.

I didn't really like carrots until I grew my own

This is also a good time to think about feeding your garden. Spring is a time when nature has a voracious appetite and plants need food and mulch and compost-y nourishment to reach their full potential fruit and bloom-wise. I like the pellet kind of food because I can walk around the garden with a bucket of it and toss toss toss. I’ve tried the Miracle Grow liquid with the hose attachment and, although the food itself works well, it’s not a great way to apply it and I think it wastes a lot of water while being inconsistent with the delivered amounts. I did see an ad in Sunday’s paper that they have a fairly new device with premixed solution, but I have not tried it yet. The bucket/toss method seems to work for me, for now. That’s the key with this gardening thing – do whatever works for you and you alone. Gardening is a much easier task than it was even a decade or so ago. When I started gardening seriously about 10-15 years ago, there wasn’t a huge online community of plant enthusiasts, garden blogs were rare, websites that explained how to care for plants were terribly incomplete, tools and products were still old fashioned and not much of it was geared toward those of us who choose the organic way. Now, the world is your oyster, or pea, if you want anything from a tiny pot of herbs on your urban balcony, to a farm in the backyard, and anything and everything in between. Information is instant online and there’s a huge community of people just like me writing about gardens just like mine and sharing information. It’s awesome, easy, rewarding and healthy, and will improve your mood considerably. Even if it’s just one Strawberry plant – the fresh and pristine pesticide-free fruit will have you hooked in no time. So, what are you waiting for? Go outside and play!

Inside a sea of Nasturtiums - March 2011

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Ode to Tomatoes

Ode To Tomatoes ~ by Pablo Neruda

The street
filled with tomatoes,
midday,
summer,

These were warm from the Sun when we ate them. - July 2010

light is
halved
like
a
tomato,
its juice
runs
through the streets.

Beauty on the inside. - August 2010

In December,
unabated,
the tomato
invades
the kitchen,

We roasted these for sauce. Yum! - September 2010

it enters at lunchtime,
takes
its ease
on counter-tops,
among glasses,
butter dishes,
blue saltcellars.
It sheds
its own light,
benign majesty.

Tomatoes so bright, I gotta wear shades. - August 2010

Unfortunately, we must
murder it:
the knife
sinks
into living flesh,
red
viscera

Cherokee Purple/Brandywine - September 2010

a cool
sun,
profound,
inexhaustible,
populates the salads
of Chile,
happily, it is wed
to the clear onion,
and to celebrate the union
we
pour
oil,
essential
child of the olive,
onto its halved hemispheres,

Happy Tom making kitchen Magick - September 2010

pepper
adds
its fragrance,
salt, its magnetism;

Lots of fresh cracked pepper and coarse salt. - September 2010

it is the wedding
of the day,
parsley
hoists
its flag,
potatoes
bubble vigorously,
the aroma
of the roast
knocks
at the door,
it’s time!
come on!
and, on
the table, at the midpoint
of summer,
the tomato,
star of earth, recurrent
and fertile
star,

an extra ripe "Green Zebra" - August 2010

displays
its convolutions,
its canals,
its remarkable amplitude
and abundance,
no pit,
no husk,
no leaves or thorns,
the tomato offers
its gift
of fiery color
and cool completeness.

time for a BLT! - 2010

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…Seven Potato More…

Well, It seems like forever ago since I started the posts about the potato experiment that my friend Kenny and I were going to do over the summer. Things got busy and complicated and we have all been taking care of business. I have a few minutes before I close up the office for the day, so here goes the update. You can click on the vegetables/potatoes category to your right if you want to see the previous posts.

From Kenny:

“Much to my disappointment my potato harvest has been rather pathetic. I found one white potato and zero blue potatoes.

The White Knight

The one Idaho spud I tossed into a pot and pretty much ignored, did provide several little fingerling potatoes…those were tasty!!

Idaho spud-in-a-pot

French Fries, we need French Fries!

I think the problems were the high heat we had in Arizona this summer. Many days were over 110F! The potatoes in the raised beds just couldn’t handle all the heat all the time The beds didn’t even get a chance to cool down at night since even our nighttime temps often stayed in the upper 80’s to low 90’s.”

Thank you, Kenny! I’m sorry you didn’t have better luck with your spuds, but I remember trying to garden in Arizona and every time you plant something you just have to hope for the best against the weather goddess. Here in San Diego, we had one of the coldest summers on record and my potatoes did really well, for which I can thank Mother Earth since I was busy at school while she took care of everything…

Let me just say I was assuming the absolute worst outcome with this experiment! After planting mine, I got busy with school and work and didn’t check on the garden for long stretches at a time. One day Tom said he saw potatoes under the apple tree and suggested we dig em out. Part of me didn’t want to see that I had a bunch of raisin-looking spuds that died in the shadow of my abandonment. Bad Mommy! Anyways, here’s what we found under the apple tree:

August 2010 - French Fingerlings

Pink Potato Happiness

…and there was an honorable harvest out of my plastic buckets:

Buckett Potatoes

my fabulous assistant!

My thoughts:

* the potatoes under the apple tree were the best and I didn’t even plan those – it’s where I tossed the leftover pieces! I will assume that direct contact with Earth had something to do with that.

* the buckets were great but they took up a lot of patio/sidewalk space and were not pretty to look at – not a big deal though

* the plants never actually bloomed, which was odd and the reason I had no hopes of finding spuds…seems a miracle to me

* the small fingerlings did well and were tender and delicious, buttery too…I wonder if the type of potatoes that we each planted had something to do with the success rate? perhaps I’ll try bigger ones next year, although Tom says he really liked the little pink ones.

Next year, I will definitely be planting more potatoes since these were gone in a couple days, and next year I won’t harvest until I’m ready to eat. We dug these up all at once because I couldn’t stand the suspense, but they will last a little longer under ground than in a basket on my table.

French Fingerling harvest - August 2010

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True Blood…nuff said.

Scabiosa columbaria 6-5-10

Tom and I just got back from a weekend in Newport Beach. We went up for business and stayed for pleasure. What a wonderful couple of days it was too. All worries were left behind and we did our favorite things together…romantic walks, romantic lunches, romantic dinners….well you know. When I got back I spent two hours catching up with watering. Everything needed it and by the time I do the orchids and house plants and everything outside, I’m pooped. Tonight I’ll water the grass and be done with water till Tuesday. It’s hard for me to keep on the schedule that the “City of San Diego” wants me to keep with watering. But I do my best.

Anise - Pimpinella anisum

It was strange to come home after only a couple days gone and find the garden the same but very very different. All the plants are still there but the tomatoes went berserk and suddenly need help getting back up in their cages. The grapes have burst forth once again and my previous efforts to vine them up seem to have been futile.

Grapes June 2010

The potatoes are as tall as I am and I haven’t built the dirt up around them yet, I’m missing some tomato cages, the leeks need more soil…As I went around the yard, almost every plant told me it needed some attention and Cicero (my beta fish) needs a good bath since it’s the New Moon and there’s a fungus growing on his Greek temple columns. The list is growing faster than I can think the thought.

Baby Apples June 5 2010

I’ve been focusing on business lately but now my garden needs some love!

Squash Blossoms 2010

But none of it matters today! Sundays and New Moons don’t always fall together, but today they did and I’m taking advantage. No more lists or chores until tomorrow morning. For now, I’m off to watch “dude tv” with my husband and son and this evening I’m watching the first episode of the new season of True Blood: the only TV show I really really like any more and the one thing I’m doing tonight no matter what! I’ve been waiting forever for it to come back and I’m not missing a moment of it!

Swiss Chard, Hollyhocks, Nasturtiums, Tomatoes, Feverfew

So right at this moment, I’m about as happy as one can get. The birds are chirping, the sun is shining at last, I just spent a romantic weekend away with my man, the flowers are blooming and my garden looks better than ever, there are sparkly bubbles in my favorite Champagne flute, True Blood is on tonight, I’m feeling good and I’m in a good mood, the Moon is New…none of this is going to last, so I’m off to wallow in it. Happy Sunday everyone!

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…Five Potato, Six Potato…

“Money is the root of all evil, and yet it is such a useful root that we cannot get on without it any more than we can without potatoes.”
Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888), American novelist

As promised, an update from Kenny for the Potato Experiment!:

Arizona: BAKED Potatoes!!!

“They are growing quite well in my raised beds. As a matter of fact they are about 2 feet tall now. I’ve added more dirt to the bed twice, so it is full to the brim!

Build up the soil around the stems as they grow

I noticed today that they are also starting to get blooms which means that potatoes are forming underground. Once the flowers die off I’ll be tempted to dig up some fingerling potatoes just to see how they taste!

Potato Blooms

I also noticed today that I have some inch worms inching their way among the potato leaves so I picked off what I could find and then mixed up a batch of Castile soap bug spray to help get rid of any I missed. The Castile soap bug spray is really easy to make, here’s the ‘recipe’: in a clean two liter bottle add 1 Tbsp of vegetable oil, 2 Tbsps of Castile peppermint oil or Eucalyptus oil soap ( I use Dr. Bronner’s brand because it is certified organic and a USA owned company). Shake the bottle well then pour into a clean spray bottle. Spray tops and bottoms of leaves, making sure all surfaces are completely soaked. I’ll do that every couple of days for a week then check for critters. If I don’t find any then I’ll just spray once a week to help keep things at bay. If it rains, which is not a problem here in the Arizona desert, then you have to apply again.

Inch Worm: cute and hungry

Nothing like home made “camping potatoes” as I call them: potatoes fried up in a cast iron skillet with some butter, onions, garlic, salt & pepper with some Parmesan cheese cooked till everything is a golden brown! YUM!”

Thanks for the update Kenny! The plants look healthy and I can’t wait for you to dig them up! I’m not going to talk about my potatoes since they aren’t blooming yet and Kenny’s are the star of the show today! I am, however, in the mood to go camping now, as long as Kenny will get up early to fry the potatoes. 🙂

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…three potato, four…

A few months ago, my dear friend Lucie told me she had a friend I MUST meet. She said he was a gardening nerd like me and that we would get along famously. Thanks to the modern miracle that is Facebook, we have indeed become long distance gardening buddies, and we get along famously! Kenny inspired me to plant potatoes and when he was ready to plant his, I asked him if he would take some photos and make notes so he could be a guest star on my blog. So here goes: (and Kenny, thank you for being such a sweet muse – you rock!)

Kenny’s Potato Method:

This year, I chose 3 varieties to try. One called “All Blue” is exactly as named – the skin is blue and the flesh is blue! I’m looking forward to making a batch of blue mashed potatoes for Thanksgiving this year!

All Blue

The second variety is call “Superior”. It’s just your basic white potato. It is supposed to be heat and drought tolerant…those abilities will definitely be tested here in Arizona!

Superior

And lastly, just for good measure, I planted a good ole Idaho spud I got from my local supermarket. All 3 are supposed to be good all-purpose potatoes…baked, mashed, or fried.

Making my bed:
Hmmmm, where to start…I guess I’ll start with the place where I’m growing them. I have a nice sunny spot that doesn’t get any shade at all throughout the day. I live in Phoenix so no shade could end up being a problem in the heat that is quickly on the way…we’ve already hit 97 one day last week!!

I’ve decided to use the raised bed method. First, I built a basic raised bed which is approximately 9 square feet. The bed is about 12 to 14 inches deep and the bottom is rocks. My whole yard it rocks so that part was easy!

custom-built raised bed

Next, I put down a layer of newspaper to prevent any weeds from growing. I then dumped in a bag of quality garden soil mix from my local nursery to fill the bed about halfway, added some manure to the soil and mixed that all in well, then leveled the soil.

add newspaper and soil

To plant the taters I dug a hole about 3 inches deep, placed 3 potatoes in the hole and covered with soil. I spaced my tater groups about 8 inches apart so I have 9 group plantings.

nesting potatoes

I watered everything really well, then lastly I place some chicken wire over everything to keep the neighborhood feral cats from using it as a litterbox.

NOT a litter box!

Unlike Pam, I did not “chit” or pre-sprout my potatoes so I’m not really sure how long it will take for them to start. The instructions that came with my potatoes said it can take 2 to 3 weeks for them to sprout and push through the surface. Now the wait begins!

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One potato, two potato…

Papa, potatoes, poultry, prunes and prism, are all very good words for the lips. ~ Charles Dickens

My almanac tells me that the best time to plant potatoes is when the moon is waning in Pisces. Well, that’s today! Thankfully, the seed potatoes I ordered from Seed Savers Exchange had already sprouted and were quite ready to go. I just love it when things fall into place at the right time. They seem to do so when I pace myself with the moon, much like ovaries or oceans and such.

Never having grown potatoes before, I have been sifting through my books and internet websites for hints and tips. What I took for myself: 1) they like lots of sun and room 2) you don’t have to grow them in the dirt, you can use a trash can or bucket filled with dirt, straw or shredded paper 3) never let them dry out. 4) keep covering the tops and stem with dirt as they grow 5) when the plant dies off they are ready to harvest. There’s a lot more info but, since I decided to go the bucket method, I didn’t need a lot of the other tips. This method seemed best since I won’t have to struggle to find adequate dirt space and dig a new bed, I can move them around to get enough sun and when I dig them up they’ll be cleaner.

Since Ms. Peanut uses cat litter in the plastic buckets and I never throw them out, I had enough buckets to use. First, I drilled drainage holes in the bottom:

Shredded office paper went into the bottom of the bucket to absorb water and keep the dirt from falling out of the drainage holes:

Whenever I use my paper shredder, I think of Watergate and Monica Lewinski-type intrigue and I hear the theme song to Mission Impossible in my head.

Straw went on top of the paper – I buy mine at the pet store in the hamster section and it comes in handy in the garden quite often:

On top of that went some potting soil and worm castings. According to some websites, I didn’t need any dirt, but the thought of eating a root that had not come into contact with any earth kinda creeps me out. Enough room was left to be able to build the soil up around the plant as it grows:

I stirred the straw and dirt together a bit and went to chop up my seed potatoes. You want about 3 “eyes” or sprouts for each piece you plant. Cut the rest of the potato away, leaving an inch or so of potato around the eyes to nourish the plant:

I got quite a few nice pieces to plant:

These went into the straw/dirt mix and they were buried with potting soil about 3 inches deep. If you plant them too shallow, you won’t get many potatoes:

Then, I watered them all very well and put them in the sun. The remaining bits of potato got buried under the apple tree.

And now, to dream and wait. Tom has a knack of cooking potatoes to perfection, so I am going to have trouble with the waiting part!

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Happy Venus’ Day

“Venus” by Jean Leon Gerome

I love the word “Friday” in the romance languages because you can actually hear the “dies Veneris” or “day of Venus” happening in the word. Say Vendredi (French) Venerdì (Italian) or Viernes (Spanish) and it’s a much more exotic day than “Friday”. Our way of saying it drums up images of cheap buffalo wings and $2 beer: TGIF-woo! (ugh) Not that I’m opposed to wings and beer (Stella please!) but I feel more like celebrating Venus these days, than picking chicken out of my teeth at Chili’s. Why not acknowledge that the days of the week were once dedicated to the old gods and open a bottle of champagne?

Friday’s are not my last working day of the week so I usually try to quit a little early. Working Saturdays isn’t bad if you don’t work late on Friday. (I know it’s all in my head but isn’t that where it counts?) Today, I’m getting my work done early and hopefully heading out in the garden to rub up against all the beauty out there. Yesterday, I noticed my tiny wisteria blooming. So far, I haven’t had time to really “see” it. So, in honor of the Day of Venus, I’m going to try my best to experience some beauty goddammit!

Also on the to-do list for the next few days: get my Itunes working again, get a couple more trash cans for rainwater at ACE hardware, pick up more seed starting mix, finish properly setting up and categorizing this blog thingy, get a manicure. There are more mundane and unpleasant tasks to be done, but why sully my blog with that stuff!? After all, Venus may have had to scoop the litter box, but she certainly never would have discussed it!

Oh! I almost forget to mention: yesterday, Tom and I went to a farmer’s market where we proceeded to spend $6 on two huge Brandywine heirloom tomatoes. Sheesh! I cannot wait until my garden gets under way again because that really chapped my ass. Not enough to make me buy those little anemic grocery store things, but still.

So, have a beautiful and happy Venus’ Day and I’ll probably see you on Sunday with some new photos of the garden in ‘almost spring’ to share.

Queen Anne's Lace - 2008

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Hearts Wildly Open

Atlanta, Georgia

Breathe
Breathe love
into the cup
of your hands
and place your flaming
palms against your heart
Let this warmth
melt your fears
like wax before a fire
and watch the delicious
softening reveal
the wildflower
of your heart.
We must live
with Hearts Wide Open
Hearts Wildly Open.
–Kali Heydel

Atlanta, Georgia

Actually, I’m waiting for my schedule to be wildly open since I just received an envelope full of seed packets from Seed Savers Exchange! Here’s what I got:

Anise (the mail smells like licorice today!)

anise

Love Lies Bleeding (ordered just for the name and to put into vases)

Love Lies Bleeding

Long Tom Tomato (just for my husband Tom)

Long Tom Tomato

Night Scented Tobacco (these have beautiful trumpet shaped flowers)

Night Scented Tobacco

Hyssop

hyssop

Magnus Lovage

lovage

St John’s Wort

St. John's Wort

Red Milkweed/Prairie

Red Milkweed

Cherokee Purple Tomato

Cherokee Purple Tomato

Black Sea Man Tomato

Black Sea Man Tomato

Himalayan Blue Poppy

Himalayan Blue Poppy

Dragon Carrot (I’m such a sucker for a dramatically named plant!)

Dragon Carrots

And right now I’ve got a serious case of ants in my pants because I’ve got to get my work done and then go to school this evening: no gardening for another couple days! Well, as the opening line of the above poem advises, I must breathe NOT hyperventilate!

Atlanta, Georgia

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Early Morning Onion Happiness

“It’s toughest to forgive ourselves. So it’s probably best to start with other people. It’s almost like peeling an onion. Layer by layer, forgiving others, you really do get to the point where you can forgive yourself.” – Patty Duke

Today I got up and out early to plant some little red and white onion bulbs I bought on sale. I wanted to get them in the ground before the full moon tomorrow. It was a cool, crisp morning and I could see my breath in the air as I turned the earth over to get the bed ready and the ground is still moist from the recent rain. With a steamy cup of coffee and my favorite pitchfork in hand, my day started out perfect in every way!

I chose a sunny location, but really I don’t have much choice in my small suburban back yard – unless I want to dig out more lawn, which I promised my husband Tom I wouldn’t do. (even though I sometimes sneak a few inches here and there – he calls it “encroachment”…whatEver!)

So first, I dug down about 2 feet and turned the earth over and over, removing rocks and weeds and crumbling up the big chunks. There aren’t many rocks left after working the California clay soil this way for several years. Now I have soft, crumbly, sweet-smelling dirt full of rich organic mulchy goodness. I met several hideously long and fat earthworms (earthsnakes) – a good sign that my earth is healthy! Onions prefer fairly firm soil so I gently patted the earth back down, leaving some back to cover the bulbs with, and set the onions in the dirt roots facing down. If you accidentally plant them upside down they will still grow, but they’ll be a little stunted from the effort to grow against their nature…as with all of us I guess.

I don’t need a lot of room for these because I will most likely pick and eat them fairly green. If I want larger onions to dry, I just leave some in the earth and they’ll have plenty of space to grow after the green ones are removed – just pick every other onion to keep them evenly spaced.

Then, I covered them with the remaining dirt – an inch or two deep – and patted the soil down a bit. The whole process, including a coffee break, took 35 minutes – plenty of time to get to the home office by 8. Now comes the hard part, waiting for spring!

You can harvest the green onions after the plant part is about 6-8 inches tall. If you want to dry your onions: hold back on watering when they mature, wait until the tops turn brown and fall over, then pull them out, dust them off (being careful to leave the delicate skins in tact) and let em hang out in a cool, dark place – like the potting shed. Make sure they have a LOT of breathing room all the way round. A screen works best, or do it the old way and tie them up in groups of three using the tops. At this point moisture is the onion’s worst enemy so keep an eye on them for soft spots or mold. After 2 to 3 weeks you can cut the tops off and use them, or store them as you would grocery store onions. Remember to remove and immediately use any plants that form a flower since they don’t make good dried onions at that point. Onions are bi-annuals which means they don’t bloom until their second year…mine get eaten way before that!

Nutrition Facts:

(1/2 cup fresh green onions, chopped)

Calories 13
Dietary Fiber 1.2 grams
Protein 0.9 grams
Carbohydrates 2.8 mg
Vitamin A 2,500 IU
Vitamin C 22.5 mg
Iron 0.9 mg

(1/2 cup chopped, mature onions)

Calories 29
Dietary Fiber 2 grams
Protein 1 gram
Carbohydrates 6.6 grams
Vitamin C6 mg
Vitamin B60.2 mg

Isn’t it odd that only green onions have Vitamin A?

For more juicy bits about onions visit the ‘source’

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