Garden Planning and Books

The green beans have died. We're getting a bit of drought in Atlanta this year. The onions died from the summer heat, as they do, and it is August.

I picked up seeds to get a few things lasting through the fall.

On the docket once I do some weeding is: new beans (for a late crop or two - for canning), snow peas, beets, and broccoli, although I haven't had much luck yet.

I've been doing more reading on local living.

A new book just came out, called "Canning for a New Generation" From looking at it at Borders, it seems to have some interesting recipes that are better than most of them that are heavy sugar around a little fruit. I'm going to order it, and the author will be at the Decatur Book Festival. That is one of my favorite free festivals in Atlanta.

The book Plenty is a great read about a couple in British Columbia who decide to eat local for a year. In many ways, it launched a bunch of local food movements. Great read and many of the issues and challenges are universal throughout North America.

I am about halfway done with Farewell, My Subaru. This guy is a little crazy, but the challenges he is facing are interesting, and written in a very humorous demeanor.

Read the books, especially the last two. They really bring light to the thoughts of eating local and the challenges in today's world. Did you know that an average tomato travels 1500 miles to get to your plate. That is further than most people travel. Not to mention that most climates can grow tomatoes at least in the summer.

On one last note, why is it that the stores in Georgia (the Peach State), where the peaches taste the best and are currently in season, have decided to stock peaches from New Jersey, California, and South Carolina?

Deal of the Day and A Look at the Garden

I had a busy day yesterday.

I found out that Ace Hardware was having a one-day only sale. Anything you can fit into a bag (that you bring) will be 20% off (minus a few things in small print). Anyways, I went over there and looked through the garden section. One of the things I have been wanting to get (cheaply) for over a year has been a strawberry pot. I was at the neighborhood Ace last summer and saw the strawberry pots there (a. not a lot of places have them, b. they are usually $40ish online, and c. if you buy online, you pay more for shipping) but I kept looking either online or at garage sales, but Ace had the best price because... they buy them semi-local from a guy who makes them in northern Georgia. They ranged in price from $25-$40 there depending on the size. Well, they had one today, originally $26, and so I got if for ~$21 with tax. I guess I should add that I really like the look of the garden when you add color with planters and pots placed in it.

Anyways, I found some strawberry plants when I picked up a new weather strip for our door - 20 plants for a little less than $10 at Home Depot. I'll plant the strawberries in about a month, after the risk of frost has left Georgia. I got ever-berrying plants so we should have strawberries for all of late spring through fall!

I spent a good chunk of the afternoon digging up grass and other junk growing in the garden expansion. I found out that Dekalb County gives free composted organic matter (and mulch) to its residents, from all of those yard waste bags that they pick up. The neighbor and I are planning on going and getting some for my garden and his later this week. They got some for their gardening work, it seems great and would provide an excellent base to grow most anything for this summer.

That dirt that looks more brown is actually hard Georgia clay... in drastic need of the compost and some tilling. Luckily, my wife is awesome and got me a hoe for Valentines Day.

I even took some of the old bricks (there are a lot of them) to make a small flower corner. There are already daffodils growing there, and I will plant some stargazer lilies in there too, once I get that compost.

A bit of humor, this week's goals, and a delicious dinner

I came home from Washington, DC to find this on the fridge for me...

It is so true... starting and keeping a garden is no small commitment. You invest time and money into making the garden, and then you need to upkeep in order to continue to enjoy it. In the case of herbs, you can enjoy both the looks and tastes of the garden.

So, it's January. It is officially time to put together the list of things to grow this year. I received a catalog from "Gardens Alive" last week. They have a $25 coupon for any order, so I plan on trying some of their products for free and ordering this week.

The neighbors and I are going to most likely order some heirloom vegetable seeds next week. Tomatoes, Cucumbers, Beans, Peppers, Eggplant, and a side of deliciousness.

On a side note, we made homemade tacos. Correction, my beautiful bride made tacos tonight. Featured in them were peppers either from our garden or the neighbor's that we froze a month or two ago. The soy we cooked up as the main protein with about a half pint of tomatoes that I canned last summer. Also, I put some peach salsa on them. I made and preserved this last summer... I went and picked the peaches, and then made the salsa with peaches, tomatoes, and peppers from our garden. YUMMO!

New Year's Resolutions

It is that time of year. Everyone tries to think of something they can do to better themselves or the world. One of mine is to keep up this blog and show how I am working on minimizing the distance that my food travels between being grown and my mouth...

Planet Green had a post this morning about "green New Year's resolutions." They usually have good ideas on how to reduce, reuse, recycle, etc. Of their 25 resolutions, these are my favorites:

17. Go vegetarian one day a week. The livestock industry is a huge greenhouse gas emitter.

18. Eat organic -- it may not be nutritionally superior, but it's a lot better for the planet.

21. Grow your own fruits, veggies, and herbs.

#17 - I've been a vegetarian for 7 or 8 years now. Each year saves about the amount of emissions as one cross country flight... which offsets the large amount of travel I have to do for my graduate career.

#18 - I like growing my own food because I KNOW what was used. I had some serious issues last year with bugs eating my squash, so I may use some pesticides there this year, but I love my garden food because it is so much more natural than what I can get at the store.

#21 - I'm doing that again, and this time, I'll keep a blog about it.

A few resources I'll be using in the next month or two:

Heirloom Tomato seeds

Heirloom vegetable seeds
Pick your own veggies and fruit

This is the time of year to plan what to grow in the spring. Tomatoes, peppers, green beans, and squash are all in the list. More herbs this year. Maybe some house plants and herbs... The last link is more for planning right now. What do I want to do a pick my own of?

I have a grow light I bought from a friend moving to Chile, a bunch of pots and planters to get stuff started... it will be planting time next month... at least for starting seeds indoors. CAN'T WAIT!