1 PALLET:15 THINGS YOU CAN DO WITH IT! Insallment 1

Here are some uses for a free pallet......
1) VERTICAL GARDEN

Client and friend, Patrick Cahn, used his free pallet he got from Harvard University dining commons to grow kale, swiss chard and salad greens this summer in his Summerville, MA yard.

He said his two daughters Lila and Sofie helped him plant and harvest their greens, the girls like the kale the best.

He used strips of landscape fabric to cover the sides, he simply stapled them down.

Then he covered the openings on both front and back with a piece of plywood and poured in a planting mix, composed of compost and planting soil (Coast of Maine products and my first choice and what he used here).

Then he wet it down well to make sure the soil would adhere to itself and the pallet.

Then he could remove the plywood. The whole pallet needs to lean back about  5% from vertical and face full sun so the soil wouldn't fall out and your vertical garden is ready for planting.

Patrick said the hardest part was keeping the planter watered!!!

If you are  an organic gardener like I am you might want to make sure that the pallet that you use has not been exposed to industrial usage, sometimes materials get spilled so knowing your source of  is important.

SEEDS OF CHANGE

Allium seeds vegetables from the dried flower head.

   Every year I harvest the fruit vegetables and flowers that we grow here in Lincoln, but I also harvest the plants for next years in the form of seeds. Generations of gardeners, farmers, and  horticulturists have started the next year by picking seeds from the plants that grew and produced well. Unfortunately many seed companies today have genetically engineered their plants so the seeds will not grow beyond the first generation, which in turn causes farmers to buy new seed every year. So I start by  making sure the seeds I buy are not genetically modified and then my harvest is secure.

Allium head and Okra seed pods

The biggest concern when saving seeds for the next years planting is to dry them and keep them dry. I make sure they are spread out so air can get around them, I use a plate or cookie sheet or even a screen from an old window and keep the seeds from touching each other. I also find a dry spot in the house with no strong drafts. The top of my refrigerator works well; the generator in the fridge creates a little heat and dries them quickly. Attic space was traditionally used: it's nice and dry and warm, you just need to make sure there are no mice. They love seeds!

Okra seeds and pod

   After your seeds are fully dry you need a dry place to store them until it is time to plant. I like envelopes or tins.  I found these tins at TX Maxx for $8.99 and I reuse them every year, I also like to give them as gifts to my gardener friends, I make flower or salad mixes of seeds and a how-to planting note with the little tin wraped up.

WINTER LEEKS

   Early January and the leek crop is still providing for us. I left the pitchfork in the patch before the snow and all I had to do is pry. The soil wasn't frozen more than an inch and the leeks came right out, the snow acts to insulate the crop. These are self-sowing leeks that we grow as yearlings and use them when they are the size of your pinky. Every year we allow 5 or 6 to get large and flower so they can sow seeds that we dig up and move around the garden to where we want them. The allium family includes leeks, onions, and garlic all have the wonderful ability to deter animals and insects from eating them and ofter other plants around them so we use them as natural defense for our garden.
   I wanted leek dip for a get-together and the little scallion like leeks chop up great and have a mild sweet taste from the freezing they endured.






















A littel leverage and leek dip comming up.

LEEK DIP post to come....

SEASONAL FLORAL ARRANGEMENT IN BURGUNDY

      CMC Design has designed floral arrangements for over 20 years for weddings, parties and corporate events. This piece was a thank-you to a special client who donated her time to the CMC effort. She has a rich personality and loves sumptuous textures so I wanted to create something elegant and somewhat extravagant. I picked the fall grasses and millet as the mainstay center of this piece and took the color pallet from the millet. From that burgundy palette I picked other flowers and grouped them in clusters so they would stand as clumps and create a texture unto themselves. The greens of the kale and hydrangea act to step off the darker background reds and pop in the front. 
     The container, chosen to accentuate the natural and somewhat wild aspect of the arrangement, is made up of wood rounds tht are attached to a solid fiberglass pot that holds water.
       The final touch is a personal card that is created from a rendering of a pear that I did in my journal and photocopied and then colored with pencils once again in the same burgundy color palette.

PLANT NOW FOR SPRING BLOOM, THE BULB

FALL BULBS

PLANT NOW FOR SPRING BLOOM

THE BULB

This picture of Biltmore in April says it all, the man in the foreground has stopped in his tracks at the site of thousands of Tulips, Hyacinths and Pansies in bloom. While this may not be practical for most gardeners there is lots of room to layer bulbs into our borders. Mixing them in with ornamental grasses is a great way to extend the season of interest, when grasses are cut low to the ground in early spring the bulbs are just starting out and quickly fill in. 

  

These snowdrops are coming up through English Ivy in an untended garden and bringing cheer to a dreary late winter day. Bulbs in ground cover is another good combination as long as there is enough sunlight. I have Alliums that come up through my Ivy. 

Here is a great combination of tulips and Hellebores at Great Dixter in East Sussex England.

The small shots of color stand out against the sculptural masses of yew topiary.

Here someone has planted a child in this field of Daffodil at Great Dixter, as the dillies fade the orchard grass will take over and the dying leaves of the Daffodil will be covered and the whole thing can be mowed by June.

The best part about Daffodil is nothing eats them! 

Not even children.

Seasons Changing Fast

Seasons Changing Fast 

We are rocketing through October
Here are some Halloween highlights........

The lifelike tootsies were a big hit.

Black cats like skeleton 
soup.
















Eyeballs and parsnips look otherworldly floating in a milk bottle of water!


.....and they smell bad after 4 days too!

KALE SO GOOD

KALE SO GOOD

Kale, frilly like petticoats and brilliant in colors. How is it a cabbage can fascinate me so entirely?

These tough plants are a boon to any fall landscape, and the ones I've planted here in New England show color well into January. Not only are they beautiful but they're edible too, and very good for you, in case you haven't heard. These I spied on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, two varieties nestled among the ivy in concrete planters.

 A member of the brasica family makes these a cold season crop and therefore great for fall and early spring planting. With last winter's mildness ours overwintered well and reseeded new babies.

They aren't without pests though. Slugs, snails and the Colorado Bean beetles all ate ours this summer.

These little Zebra caterpillars love my organic kale.
Check them out in Garden Insects Of North America
by Whitney Cranshaw. Great reference for what is eating your plants.

KALE CHIPS

There are varieties that are for eating, and varieties for looking at. Get the culinary one for this recipe. 

Pick and wash kale in a bucket of water, (the frills tend to hold the dirt)

Rip the stems out and dry leaves with a paper towel.

Lay on a cookie sheet and sprinkle with 2 tablespoons good olive oil

Toss to coat.

Lightly salt.(Kosher salt seemed too big and heavy, I pulverized it and put it on thin)

Bake at 350 for 15 minutes until crispy.

Eat them like potatoes chips, kids love em too!