How Does My Garden Grow?

This week my garden grows in bags. :)

In case you missed it, this cool gardening tactic has been making the rounds on Facebook lately. Bag gardening isn't new - just do a Google search and you'll yield thousands of results. However, the blog post that has been referenced on FB presents the idea in what I think is a better way. It brings the height of the garden up to waist level (for me, anyway) and out of the reach of the voracious bunnies that live in my neighborhood.

So here, in pictures, is my adventure in bag gardening. Easy to do - took me one shopping trip and about a half hour to plant. I'll post updates as the bags grow (or don't!). And please, send us pics if you do this too. I'd love to see your results.

- Alex

Shopping list:

2 wooden sawhorses (Home Depot) - $19 ea - reusable for many jobs

1 piece of cow fencing - cut to 3' widths (Farm & Fleet) - $20 for eight finished cuts

4 one cubic foot bags of garden soil (Home Depot) - $5 ea

Seeds for shallow rooted plants (herbs, greens, etc)

You'll also need a utility knife or some other sharp knife or scissors.

This is what cow-fencing looks like.

Two sawhorses, one cut of cow-fencing, holds four bags of soil.

Poke holes in the bottom of the bags for drainage.

Cut open the top of the bag, leaving about a 2"-4" border.

Like this. Leave the "flaps".

Loosen the soil.

Remove and retain the top layer of soil (you'll reuse this).

Shallow-rooted seeds.

Sow the seeds per the package instructions.

Use the removed soil to cover the seeds.
Roll the flap up and tuck them in the sides. This provides stability.
I used the seed packets to mark my plantings.

My finished bag garden!

Fingers crossed, I should have a fabulous garden of greens for my summer eating!

Christmas Dinner

Yeah, I know it was a couple of weeks ago, but there's a story. Isn't there always?

A few days before Christmas I did a run to Costco. I needed a few things and, while there, realized that I could buy nearly all my Christmas dinner supplies as well - in giant quantities, of course.

For those of you with a Costco membership, I don't have to explain the wonder of their meat department. And, because it was just before the holiday, they were seriously stocked up. After debating with myself for a while between a beef roast or a lamb roast, I called my son and let him decide. We ended up with lamb.

So, the dinner menu consisted of roast lamb, artichokes, creamed greens (like creamed spinach but add swiss chard and kale), brussel sprouts with bacon, and roasted mixed fingerling potatoes. Yum!

On Christmas morning I started brunch by putting the bacon in the broiler. If you've never broiled bacon, give it a try - it's super easy and less messy than any other method I've found. I went about prepping the other items and about five minutes later I realized I wasn't hearing, or smelling, the bacon. Sure enough, the broiler and, as it turned out, the oven were both broken. So much for the lamb roast! I considered other cooking methods but none would work, for a variety of reasons. So, we had sides for dinner and the potatoes were mashed instead of roasted. It worked. We were full and didn't really miss the meat (too much).

The oven eventually got fixed and the roast got cooked. It came out great and has been enjoyed for three meals so far. So, for today, I thought you guys might enjoy a few of my Christmas dinner recipes - easy to cook and very satisfying. Bon appetite!


Lamb Roast

Feeds a small army

1 leg of lamb (I used boneless, 4.5 lbs)
1/4 C fresh lemon juice
8 (or more) cloves of garlic, minced
3 T chopped fresh rosemary leaves
Salt & Pepper

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Remove any webbing that's holding the roast together. Rinse the roast in cold water and pat dry. Reshape the roast in your roasting pan and, using your hands, rub the lamb all over with the lemon juice. Pat the garlic and rosemary evenly over the surface of the meat. Season the meat with salt and pepper. Place the lamb in the oven and roast for 30 minutes to brown. Reduce heat to 350 and continue to cook until a meat thermometer inserted into the center of the roast registers about 145 degrees for medium-rare. Remove lamb from pan and allow to rest for 10 to 15 minutes before carving.


Brussel Sprouts with Bacon

4-6 servings

4 strips thick-cut bacon
2 tablespoons butter
1 pound Brussels sprouts, halved
1/2 large onion, chopped
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Directions

Cook bacon in a large skillet over medium-high heat until crispy. Remove to a paper towel-lined plate, then roughly chop. In same pan with bacon fat, melt butter over high heat. Add onions and Brussels Sprouts and cook, stirring occasionally, until sprouts are golden brown, 8 to 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, to taste, and toss bacon back into pan. Serve immediately.

OPTIONAL: My son is a big fan of bacon but not, necessarily, of brussel sprouts so I added diced apple for the last 5 minutes of cooking to add some sweetness to the dish.

Creamed Mixed Greens

4 servings

2 pounds fresh mixed, dark greens (spinach, kale, chard), washed and tough stems removed
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1 teaspoon minced garlic
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 cup heavy cream

Chop the greens and set aside. Melt the butter in medium saute pan over medium-high heat. Add the onions and garlic and cook, stirring, until soft and fragrant, about 2 minutes. Add the greens and cook, stirring, just until the greens are fully wilted. Add the cream, salt, pepper, and nutmeg, and cook until the cream is reduced by half, about 4 minutes. Remove from the heat and serve immediately.

Weekends Are Too Short

I think we can all agree, right? Five days of work and two days of "leisure" is an incorrect balance. I mean, first of all, those two days are never actually leisurely to begin with so, really, you're working seven days a week - just at different jobs.

That being said, I do manage to cram a lot of fun into my two days of housework and errands.

This past weekend, I saw two movies at the theater (trying to keep up with my summer blockbuster movie list). One of these viewings allowed me to spend time with a group of friends that I don't get to see nearly as often as I'd like. I also did some gardening, cleaned my house, went to an Arbonne party where I spent more than planned (imagine that), and hosted a birthday party for two friends who both turned *cough, cough* this month. Not a bad showing for a mere 48 hour period of time.

As for movies, I finally saw Snow White and the Huntsman. It was really good - dark, creepy, and lots of action. The story seemed more like the original book than like the Disney-movie version. I'm tempted to go read the book again to see how closely it followed. There were a couple of "revisions" I didn't care for but, overall, it was pretty awesome. Charlize Theron is the best wicked witch ever. Seriously. I could have done with someone other than Kristen Stewart as Snow White. I just didn't buy her as "fairest in the land". She's pretty and all but she can't hold a candle to Charlize.

I also saw Moonrise Kingdom - the new Wes Anderson movie. *sigh* If you're not a fan of the Andersonian quirk, steer very clear of this movie. It is HIS movie - funny, beautiful, and weird. I was lucky enough to view it with three friends who are involved in movies - two for work, one as a reviewer - as well as three others who are passionate movie-goers with great opinions. After the film, we went out for a drink so we could "discuss it". One of the most film-educated of our group is exhausted by Anderson's need for the set/costume design and shot set-ups to take precedence over the story and acting. We had a lot of lively discussion about whether or not one could love a Wes Anderson film for just being pretty. And, me, being the corporate shill that I am, brought up the fact that, if Anderson stopped making Andersonian films, people might stop going to see them. Regardless of artistic integrity, at some point his style became his franchise. If the dude wants to keep making money, he needs to keep making his style of film. (see: Woody Allen)

You may also be interested in what happened in my garden this weekend. As many of you know, I've been battling a variety of garden pests and learning all about how to control the destructive little bastards as organically as possible. On Saturday, I discovered a whole new level of (*#$&Q$^ bugs on my chard plants - Leaf Miners (aka: Cockroaches of the Plant World) I swear, if there's a nuclear explosion, Leaf Miners will be living alongside the cockroaches in the brave new insect-ruled world.

Here's the deal - leaf miners start out as flies that lay eggs which turn to larvae on the backsides of your chard leaves (also susceptible are beets, spinach, and other leafy plants). The larvae then burrow in between the layers of the leaf and start eating, destroying the leaf in the process. Once the larvae is done, it turns into a fly which then lays more eggs and the cycle continues. Basically, they can wipe you out of leafy greens for the entire summer. So, how do we get rid of them? Well, outside of using some really harsh chemicals, the only option is mitigation and control - trying to stop the cycle before it happens again and staying on top of any eggs/larvae you see.

I spent over an hour on Saturday cutting all the damaged leaves off my chard plants *sob!* (they were almost ready for harvest too), and then sitting amongst my plants with a wet rag and insecticidal soap, wiping the disgusting eggs off the backs off all the undamaged leaves. If that's not garden love, I don't know what is.

Finally, for the birthday party we had at my house, I tried a variation on a recipe that I shared with you all a couple of weeks ago - Spinach and Feta Orzo Salad. Since a number of the attendees are vegetarian, I decided to try making the salad with quinoa instead of orzo. Not that orzo isn't vegetarian - it's a pasta - but the quinoa would add protein to the meal. The texture is very different but I have to say that I really enjoyed the end result - maybe even more than the original recipe. If you're interested in trying it, use all the same ingredients as the original recipe except substitute the orzo with 1.5 cups of quinoa cooked in vegetable broth.

So, those are the highlights of another too-short weekend. I think that, next weekend, I might just plan to do nothing. :)

- Alex

Bloody Battles

Grape tomatoes - bought already fruiting

Bloody Battle No. 1 - The Battle of the Cold.

It's finally garden season in Wisconsin. Granted, heartier stock than I got their gardens in ages ago and are probably thinking, "WTH, girl?". But I'm the definition of a fair-weather gardener. I, quite literally, will not work in the garden if the weather is bad - or even questionable. So, as you all know, Mother Nature has been weirdly unpredictable here for the last couple of months which has severely effected my digging in the dirt.

Bloody Battle No. 2 - The Seige at Market

Saturday morning, I hauled my butt out of bed at an ungodly 6a.m. and went to the Farmer's Market. My intention was to just to get the plants I needed to finish up the food garden. I managed to come home with most of what I needed and a bunch of stuff I didn't. My bag contained:

• A grape tomato plant
• A Mr. Stripey tomato plant
• Three Heritage Cherokee Purple tomato plant (because they only came in packs of three)
• A bunch of little cucumber sprout, of which I used 6 or so and gave the rest to my neighbor
• A bunch of sugar snap peas, most of which I used
• Four Swiss chard plants
• Four fennel plant (the kind with the bulbs)
• A new oregano plant, since mine died over the winter
• A rosemary plant
• An Italian parsley plant

As if that weren't enough, I still needed arugula because I couldn't find it at the market. At the greenhouse I found one, solitary pot of the peppery leaf (with four plants in it) and - my favorite find of the year - Malabar climbing spinach. I know... I'd never heard of it either. But the idea that I could have spinach all year long and that it would grow UP instead of out?? Heaven, baby!

I also bought some new tomato stakes that are supposed to be the bomb. It's just a spiral piece of coated metal and you train the tomato's main stalk up the middle of it. I bought the 7 foot Gardman's brand. We'll see if it works. I despise tomato cages. 

The spinach is against the fence

Fortunately, the weather was glorious on Sunday - sunny, low 70's, no humidity - so I got a solid three hours in the garden and everything's in the ground.

Making the most of small spaces

Bloody Battle No. 3 - The Colonization of the Patio Strip

Mine is an urban garden, taking up little strips of earth wherever I can wedge something in. As a result I tend to plant things pretty densely and deal with culling the plants later. I tried pot gardening a few times but never had much luck and I seem to get quite a bit out of my tiny plots of land. The concept of "square foot gardening" is great when you have a tiny area to work with. While I don't specifically follow it, I think that it's a good starting point for people with limited space. I'm also fond of the concept of "vertical gardening" where you plant things in such a way as to make them grow "up." My favorite example of this is the potato cage. I haven't built one yet but might now that the bulk of the gardening is done.

Bloody Battle No. 4 - The Battle of the Bunnies: The Final Stand

Another plight of the urban garden are urban rabbits. My neighbor encourages them. This year, I bought some deer and rabbit repellent. We'll see if it works. My dogs keep trying to eat it because it's made with garlic and spoiled eggs or something disgusting like that. All I can say is that, if the little bast*rds eat my cool new spinach, I'm coming after them with a rake.

Not actual rabbit

The war is won. With the plants in the ground and the work shifting from "planting" to "tending", I finally feel like summer is here. Unfortunately, with my late start, I'll probably be eating from my garden a little later this year. There are a lot worse things to worry about, I suppose - like, who's going to pull all the weeds that pop up.

- Alex (aka Ms McGregor)