Grow your garden up!

This week in anticipation of putting in the warm weather crops I was thinking of creative ways to grow some of the vegetables. As I have a pretty good understanding of personalities of most of the vegetables that I've grown over the years I can anticipate what their needs are spatially. In an effort to bring more whimsy and creativity to the garden,I had a few brain storms!

So, one day early in the spring while visting my brother's house (he has a garden from The Front Yard Farmer that I tend), I saw that he had just trimmed his Corkscrew Willow and the limbs were in the street waiting for removal. I chose about 20 of the discarded limbs, ranging from 6'-7'long and and cut back any side branches off the main limb and left them to dry out for about 4 weeks. Anyone who is familiar with Corkscrew Willow knows that poking a cut limb in the dirt is all you have to do to start a new tree, I don't even think you have to water it. They are super hardy and fast growing.

My idea was to use the willow branches for growing cucumbers. I took about 6 branches that were relatively straight at the bottom and gradually curled towards the top! I joined them together in a tee-pee fashion and zip-tied them about 2/3's of the way from the top. I'll plant my cuc's at the bottom and they will have a work their way to the top. It looks very cool!

At Steve's garden I wanted something creative for his cucumbers as well. I described to him that I wanted to somehow utilize the existing fence which was about 2 1/2 feet from the edge of the raised bed box, with a mulched walkway in between. Somehow I wanted to have a trellis that had its foundation in the bed and arched onto the fence, bridging the cucumbers over the walk way without blocking the walkway.

I planted the seed, so to speak with Steve and then had to leave for a few hours. Upon my return a few hours later he had almost finished his new design. Steve is the kind of guy who saves 'stuff' just because one never knows, it might come in handy one day. In an ah-ha moment it came to him that those old tents up in the attic that had'nt been camping in many moons had the kind of flexible tent poles that would surely do the trick. You know the poles that are joined by a piece of elastic on the inside which makes them able to flex into an arch???? He took 2 of them, spaced about 24" apart, poked them into the soil of the bed and arched them over to the fence, then laid a piece of wire coated fencing over the poles and attached it with tie wire and VOILA!!!! a trellis for our cucumbers, and it was tall enough for him to walk under without ducking (over 6.5 feet high).

Thats the dirt! I'll keep you posted on the progress of the vertical growers!

In the green,

Wendy

Looking up from the compost Pile

The other night when I went to dump the compost, I noticed a fresh pile from the day before. Usually we cover it with some straw but this was exposed. Upon closer inspection I saw something staring up at me and as I focused more closely I realized that they were fish heads! FISH HEADS??????????????? What the heck??????????? I screamed and ran away (quite literally).

Then in a flash I realized what that was about. Steve's dad had been here that afternoon after fishing in his favorite spot; right under the bridge where the fish fish hatchery releases the trout for the season! So after acclimating for about 10 minutes to the natural environment of the wild and scenic rivers of NJ, he skillfully snatches them up for a tastey dinner.

Well, this particular night Steve's friend John was joining him and his dad for dinner when John mentioned that fish guts are really good for the garden. So Steve's dad did me the favor of dumping them right on top of the compost, because naturally you would'nt just dump FISH HEADS directly in the garden. So off to the compost they went. No chance that they might begin to stink to high hell, or bring in varments!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well now, I know that Joe was just trying to help. My dad used to love to put fish in the garden as well. After a day of fluke fishing, he'd come home and filet the fish in the kitchen sink and then take all the guts and put put them in the food processor for a whirl while the rest of the family was trying to quell the gag reflex. Then he would gingerly spoon the guts onto the base of each individual tomato plant in the the garden (and cover it with some soil, of course). Later in the summer when slurping his fresh tomatoes he would reflect on how it was the fish guts that made them so tastey! Just like when the Indians showed the Pilgrims upon landing on Plymouth Rock. (remember???).

Gardeners Note.... ground up fish guts or fish heads looking up at you from the compost? I'll pass on both!
Wendy