Studiology

Vegetable Gardening

Maybe all the gardener grows is a vegetable garden, but this is certainly the year to consider growing your own food if you haven't been inclined to do so before. I have had a vegetable plot since I began gardening and last years was probably the best ever, a year in which I recorded results and plotted for the ideal number of plants for my square footage. I'm fortunate to have enough ground to grow a large vegetable garden but amazing things can be done in smaller spaces.

When I was still running the nursery, the job of the grower was to follow guidelines and notes of when to sow what seed and how to plant or transplant those seedlings. I required each grower to keep a journal of daily activity and over time these greenhouse notes became a way to tweak a growing season as best we could despite the vagaries of weather and employee rotations.

Laminated sheets were kept on vegetable and flower production which began with seed sowing for the first week of January and continued until the last week of April. Our earliest sowing of cool crops in the greenhouse was the first week of February and despite the fact that lettuce might like it cool, we sowed seed into flats that sat on heat mats of 75 or 80 degrees, ensuring consistent results. Consistency being the objective when you are selling plants. Post emergence the lettuce was grown cool at 40 to 45 degrees, as were many other cool crops.

When sowing directly in the garden, soil temperature can delay sprouting and therefore harvest. Various methods can be used to warm outside soil; black plastic, glass cloches, and water filled cloches transfer heat to the ground. Early in the season the gardener can grow sugar snap peas, carrots, kale, mustard, lettuce, kohlrabi, beets, and Swiss chard. All of these can be sown directly in the ground. Onions and potatoes go out as bulbs and tubers, also better when temperatures are cool.

Corn is planted from seed in rows. Wind pollination is necessary so there must be a minimum of 3 rows, but 6 rows are even better for guaranteed harvest. Tomatoes and peppers are either bought as starter plants or seed is sown indoors (or in a greenhouse). Peppers are slow to germinate and love bottom heat; the hotter the pepper the more they love heat and the slower they grow. Seed sowing was early to late March in our greenhouse.

Tomatoes also love warmth but can tolerate cooler temperatures growing tighter and shorter with temperatures in the 50's or 60's. With initial sowing in market packs, the flats can be stacked on heat mats until they germinate. For the home gardener, it helps to sow seeds in a warm location and then move them outdoors on nice days to harden them off. Grow lights can be used to grow your vegetables indoors but it's vital that the light stay just above the top of the plants to discourage spindly, weak stems. Tomato seed sowing stretched from late March to early April in our greenhouse, we were also inclined to run our hands over the seedlings to help strengthen the stems, a method that helps make stronger plants and roots.

Tomatoes, eggplant, and peppers are susceptible to tomato mosaic virus which is spread from tobacco. If you are a smoker, it's important to wash hands thoroughly before handling the plants. This was one of the first questions I would ask a potential grower if they were applying for a job.

Late spring is also time to sow cucumber, squash, melon, and zucchini directly in the ground. They take up a large amount of real estate and can easily fill ten square feet per vine. Growing them up a support is a space saver and certainly works.

Container gardening is easy with many vegetables. I love lettuce in pots with flowering plants and few plants grow better in our hot summers than pepper plants. Tomatoes can be grown in containers - the bigger the better. Consistent watering is essential and a daily dose of fertilizer will be needed. Fertilizers like "Plant-Tone" and "Tomato-Tone" are organic and a sprinkle on top of the soil will energize your plants for the summer.

If you ground is loaded with weed seeds, place a thick layer of compost down over your ground (newspaper can be put down first as a barrier below the compost), and sow directly in "weed free" compost. As an additional precaution, I place newspaper around the base of my tomatoes and peppers and then mulch over that so I'm not spending the summer weeding there. A weekly check to stake and tie up tomatoes is essential; fruit gets heavy and causes stems to snap.

For me its boiled down to eleven varieties of tomatoes for the perfect season. I recommend you keep a journal or notebook on how your season progresses to help make your garden the best it can be.

Into the Garden

Go outside they say, enjoy the weather, enjoy the garden! Take long hikes, sow some seed, and plant some cool crops, these will bring you joy! And so I have been passing my days with beautiful weather and lots of gardening, thankful that I planted spring flowering bulbs. 

Garden cleanup has been slow and steady as I wait for temperatures to rise while overwintering insects move about on warm days. And boy have we had warm days and a fast spring. Two weeks, three weeks, that is how advanced this spring has been with flowers arriving in droves, epimediums are budded, Virginia bluebells are already showing bits of blue, and daffodils are going strong, will they hold out for the daffodil show on April 10th? Will there even be a daffodil show, these are the questions we have to ask ourselves as we think of ways to not think of quarantines, food supplies, and staying healthy. 

For the gardener in 2020 be grateful that you garden, it can be a safe place with innumerable experiments and ways to stay busy. This morning I watched two groups of turkeys in a field as I cleaned up beds. The males were quick to puff their feathers, hopeful that the ladies would see how sexy they were. At one point four males were strutting shoulder to shoulder, each trying to outstrutt the others, it was comical. They have no idea there's anything wrong with the world, there are more important matters.

 

Fat Tuesday

Cheers to Fat Tuesday, to my artist friends that gather in New Orleans, and to the crazy krewe's that perform in the parades of New Orleans. I will end this year's chapter with a look back at my last parade and the fabulous art that was created during our Ghost Rider workshop. The theme's for each year are decided by our instructor Michael deMeng and this one was also titled "The Krewe du Ghoul Workshop" which translates to parade ready ghost assemblage. Working towards a theme can be a delightful exercise in creativity or not! I used roller skate parts to build mine and it sits on a stage with magnets embedded to hold it in place. As usual, I built 2 pieces, but one was much, much smaller. 

And here are all of the other assembled ghouls.

The Krewe du Vieux parade was its usual risque act, these are censored photographs.

This was the Transformers Krewe - Revenge of the Storm Drains and they were busily picking up items to recycle.

And thanks to Thom Ciulla I have this photograph of our parade through the French Quarter where we don't attract as large a crowd but we take it seriously.

And another fun year down!

Happy Mardi Gras!

 

Lettuce Time

Taking full advantage of our cool seasons, lettuce seed can be sown in fall or early winter with an alternative round of seed sowing in February and/or March. Days to harvest from seed can be as long as 70 days and as short as 35 with our climate driving the calendar as we strive for better taste before bolting or bitterness. True annuals, lettuce and many greens are cool season plants, their trigger to complete the cycle arrives with longer days and warmer temperatures.

A cold frame is the best way to grow some of the smaller head types which require the longest days to harvest. But I must add that vast improvements have occurred in the last 20 years most notably the inclusion of dwarf types or dwarf head lettuce which allows us to grow varieties that used to grow poorly with our short spring season.

There are about 7 types of lettuce varieties with hybrids between head lettuce and looseleaf. The beauty of looseleaf types or a mix of tender greens is the ability to cut them as they grow, harvesting over a long period. As days lengthen, a hint of bitterness will be evident but I have found that an afternoon in the fridge will improve the taste. A list of the various types follows and I have included some of my favorites. Nasturtium leaves can be added for a peppery taste, viola flowers for their beauty and health benefits (vitamin C), and red mustard if you like it spicy.
Listing types from the longest to harvest to shortest, as you might imagine the head types take longer. The most common head lettuce requires 60 to 70 days to harvest and was developed for long distance shipping. Inferior in taste when compared to others, these are called the crisphead or iceberg types. With their prolonged growing requirements they are poorly suited for growing here.
The Batavian, also known as French or summer crisp are intermediate between butterhead and crisphead. Loose heads form with a harvest time of 50 to 60 days from seed. My favorites for slow to bolt or heat resistance are 'Nevada' and 'Muir'.
The butterhead types include Boston lettuce. Small, dense heads ripen in 50 to 60 days. The flavor is light and delicate with red leaf types such as 'Red Butter' and 'Red Oakleaf'.
Bibb lettuce is heat tolerant, the most popular variety has been 'Buttercrunch' which requires 55 to 70 days to harvest. New dwarf types can be harvested in as little as 40 days, adorable with their small compact size and ideal for our climate. I recommend 'Little Gem' and 'Rosaine'.
Leaf types are also known as looseleaf or cutting lettuce. Very successful March sowing will give you some gorgeous leaf types. Harvest time for a full head (loosely speaking) is 50 to 58 days but harvesting can begin when the leaves are small. I even like to mix these into the garden beds or mixed containers. There are many to choose from with varying colors of bright green, to a pinky green with 'Vulcan', to bronzy reds with 'Ruby Sky'.
Oak leaf lettuce has a distinctive leaf which is beautiful in a salad. New dwarf varieties can be harvest in less than 50 days, forming very loose heads of bright green or dark burgundy. 'Galactic' was always my favorite but has been superseded by a hybrid of similar red color known as 'Rouxai'.
Romaine or cos types in their standard (large) size require 60 to 65 days to harvest. New mini romaine is definitely best for us with compact leaves and maturing in as little as 43 days, resistant to bolting which equates to better taste over a longer period. I recommend 'Dragoon' with a 43 day harvest.
Mixed greens or baby leaf blends are popular. Each mix is developed for early harvesting, a mix of colorful leaves, and/or spicy greens such as mustard, arugula, spicy cress, and mizuna. This is a good option for long harvest because some will bolt earlier while others continue to produce.

A cold frame is recommended but there are alternatives. The over-wintering fabrics work incredibly well for us. Small hoops can be placed to essentially create small tunnels, but truth be told just laying a layer or two of the fabric over your plants is enough to protect them from super high and low temperatures. The fabric can be rolled up on sunny days to warm the soil which protects them on super cold nights.
Lettuce seed requires light to germinate so sow seed directly on top of the soil. A sprinkling of vermiculite may help keep seed in place with no hindrance in germination. If you are concerned with contaminated soil where weeds will sprout, add a thick layer of compost down first and sow seed directly on top.

Once your lettuce crop is finished it will be time to plant tomatoes, beans, and peppers in their place. 

And so Mardi Gras Begins

The parades continued, passing through the French Quarter, it was a short walk to catch the next one, titled "Krewe Boheme'. I'm not sure it has a real theme, described as "Artsy and Inventive", that it certainly was. 

Things are still pretty tame, the rowdy parade is on Saturday and it's not for the easily offended. Meanwhile we had a wonderful night at the Broad Theater with our own big screen show of "Beetlejuice". There was food and cocktails and some dancing in the aisles!

Also a day trip to the Barataria Preserve, which was right up my alley. Drippy Spanish moss, alligators, resurrection ferns, and cypress knees.

Spring was already arriving with the first week of February and maple flowers in New Orleans. Once home I found my snowdrops and winter aconite in bloom, a different kind of spring offering but one that brings a smile.

Playing Dress-up in New Orleans

As an art group we are in class on most days but for extracurricular activities we are lead by Katherine Engen who lets us know when it's appropriate to don wigs and makeup. There are many occasions in New Orleans to get fancy, it is the town that loves to wear costumes.

This is Katherine Engen and myself, getting ready to see a parade. The more you dress-up, the more goodies are thrown your way, in fact it's best to take a bag for the collection of oddities that you collect.

We also participated in our own Second Line Parade and the great costume reveal was held in the lobby of the hotel. I must add that the workshop this year was titled "Ghost Riders" which was a bit "wide open", so some came as their favorite dead person. I was Frida Khalo.

Karla had joined the group, a friend from Merrifield Garden Center and she came ready to party having just flown in from Wisconsin. This group is well known for their costume prowess, every year it seems to get better!

KD came as "Lenore, the Cute Little Dead Girl", and she rocked the costume.

We cause such a stir in the lobby of the hotel that guests want to pose with us. Oh it's fun!

I think we did a good job.

First Day in New Orleans

Priorities are a bit different in New Orleans. With only 15 minutes to spare, I made it to the hotel and then Preservation Hall just in time for my reservation on night one. 

On my first full day I walked around, this is my 9th trip, so I knew where to go. A priority is Royal Street for the art galleries. The French Quarter has not experienced frost this year so decorated balconies were splendid with hanging plants. 

Gorgeous old gates and wrought iron fences line small yards where tropical plants grow.

My evening's first parade of the Mardi Gras season was also their first, number one of 39. The parade title was "Intergalactic Krewe of Chewbacchus", designed for fans of Star Wars, Trekkies, conspiracy theorists, super nerds, etc.. Never disappointing, this town knows how to dress-up for a parade.

I was told that this is a three hour parade and by 10 PM I was done, no dinner, no drinking, it was time to finish for the day. Class would begin on day 2 and I would find my New Orleans family. We have spent many days together over the years and completed a few art projects, which makes us very fond of each other. 

So stay tuned for more parades and costumes as well as some New Orleans art.

 

 

New Orleans Bound

Once again the time has come for my annual trip to New Orleans. Tonight I will be seated in Preservation Hall, listening to traditional jazz in the heart of the French Quarter. Few things make me happier. 

This will be the usual art workshop, my excursion for 11 (or so) years and I'm excited to meet up with my other family, some I've known from the first trip. The big reveal for my costume is the ghost of Frida Khalo. Ghostly makeup can be challenging, both to put on and take off. All will be disclosed when I return.

In the hustle of getting things done, I did manage to finish another wand as in magic wand. Not that I rushed it, there were complications. The subject matter was an octopus, having learned that they have a doughnut shaped brain, are highly intelligent and have a bundle of nerve cells in each of their legs which can function independently, even if cut off. Consider it a wand for the intelligent, or the person with a highly developed intellect. The concept was simple, build an octopus on a long wooden spindle. The head shape had to be right, not too round, elongated and bulbous. The core of the head is a plastic easter egg. The legs are clay covered wire. 

The back was once the front of a dresser drawer and antique metal drawer pulls enhance the top and bottom. Silk fabric stretches down both sides and is wrapped around the wand. Leather straps hold it in place, cut from an old belt. The paint layers include various shades of blue to imitate the ocean, my favorite blue - manganese blue, is the foundational color. Once mounted on its base, the size from top to bottom is 36". Titled simply "The Octopus Wand" it is displayed at Art A La Carte Gallery.

 

January Art

The latest piece of art was built from a wooden shelf unit that looks like a little house. The unit was very old and somewhat crooked, leaning like an old log cabin might. It was also covered in crumbling paint, which was really challenging. 

After removing some of the shelves, I was finally able to move forward with a plan. This is an item that has been in my possession for a long time and has always been a source of frustration with its many compartments. After multiple false starts, I finally came up with a solution which I call "The Bird Angel". The 3 guineas at the top mimic their behavior so perfectly, I'm sure that anyone that has owned guinea fowl will be enchanted with this piece. 

There was a week long incidence here where our last surviving guinea was downed from a tree almost every night for a week. The predator was unknown, possibly an owl or maybe a raccoon. One of the old chicken coops was repaired and moved to the house, rebuilt to function and left for the next attack (if the guinea actually survived another). The decision had to be made as our guinea had spent one night in my studio (what a mess) and two nights in the kitchen, sleeping on a dowel wired to kitchen chairs. 

At 10:40 PM, the day of the chicken coop move, the guinea was attacked again, this time screaming and standing at the kitchen door, beside him a barred owl. As I rushed to see what the commotion was, the owl was lifting himself for the final kill, having already removed many of our guinea's feathers. As the owl flew off, the guinea was picked up (I have never come close enough to actually touch him), and was secured in the coop. 

That happened a month ago and all is well, at least the guinea is alive, but often refuses to go in for the night, preferring an old cryptomeria tree. I am astonished that this bird has survived for so long on its own, everyday is a surprise. And you see, this was the source of my desire to build this assemblage piece. 

This piece was built and then covered with metal paint that will rust when sprayed with an oxidizer. The stage of rust you desire can be halted by applying matte medium paint, diluted with water. I have found that the rusting process often continues, so the art will alter over time. 

As usual, these items are available at Art A La Carte Gallery in Occoquan, Virginia.

Uplifting Reads and Downloads for Winter

Our geographical location may not rob us entirely of gardening options in winter. Between pruning, cold crops under cover, or indoor seed sowing, the gardener can find preoccupation. Alas it's not nearly the daily submersion of other seasons so I would like to suggest a few alternatives to fill your days and keep the motivation high.

For those of us that like to sit with a good book, I have two suggestions. "The Cabaret of Plants" by Richard Mabey is an extraordinary read. Basically a history of plants, the author is British but includes subjects that are historically rich in diverse locations. Each chapter leads the reader on an exploration, beginning with cave drawings and finishing with recent findings of communication between tree roots or the chatter that takes place underground. Available as an audio book as well, the narrator speaks with a British accent, his botanical names contradicting my own pronunciation which often leaves me laughing out loud. I own both versions and have listened to the audio book numerous times, it's that good.

Another book titled "Head Gardeners" by Ambra Edwards is also a British publication that devotes 13 chapters to individual head gardeners working in England. Chapter titles vary from "Mission Impossible" to "The Naturalist" with a interview style approach where the individual explains their attraction to a place and/or facet of gardening. As an estate gardener I found it very entertaining but would argue that any gardener would find it interesting. 

Podcasts are something I listen to every week, daily when seasons are in full swing. Naturally a gardener wants something local, which can be challenging; the podcast world is no different than other social media platforms, building a bigger audience can be their objective. Lucky for us "The Native Plant Podcast" is the audio blog of John Magee of Middleburg, Va. The subject matter is primarily native plants, as John interviews nursery owners, garden designers, and writers. In recent years the spotlight has been shared with Preston Montague of Raleigh, NC and the format is loosely predictable as they share phenology (the cycle of bloom events in relation to climate), humorous dialog, a dog or pet story, and then share a local brew or craft beer. In John's most recent post, future podcasts will also be hosted by his wife Susana and Chris Felhaber of Chanticleer Gardens. Good news for local gardeners.

Another (very new) podcast is titled "Wild Plant Culture" by Jared Rosenbaum. The subject matter is field botany, herbal medicine, and regenerative practices. Jared's humor is quick and smart, the content highly elevated. Give this a listen if your horticultural interests include the local, native landscape. 

My last recommendation is based on my own curiosity as I prepare for a lecture on citizen scientists. Titled "Citizen Science: Podcast Brunch Club by Adela", it is wildly entertaining. Subject matter is not strictly horticulture but still worth a listen as citizens are working with scientists under various platforms, some with little structure, others more formulated, to procure information to share. Bird migration and invasive plant spread are just a couple of topics that have been enhanced with input from everyday people. Call it a merger between eyes on the ground and data seeking scientists. 

So welcome to 2020, a new year with new sources of inspiration as we wait for spring to arrive.