Get Your Tomatoes in the Ground!

No time for dilly-dally! If you've been waiting or wondering what to do next, just go do it! Just about everywhere is warm enough for all those crops you've been dreaming about--tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, squash, beans, basil, carrots, you name it. You can sow beans, cukes, squash and carrots directly; buy the pepper and tomato starts. Follow the package instructions for spacing and add a little organic food when planting. This can be liquid, powder or compost, whatever is easiest, but stick with organic, skip the Miracle-gro. See, we're actually growing soil here, the food is a delicious byproduct. That's why organic is important---we want to create a healthy environment for all the earthworms and critters who relish in making soil, the true kings and queens of the garden. Make it nice for them, and they'll take care of you.

Along the fence, I'm harvesting that early lettuce completely and following it with pepper plants, what's called successive planting. See the garlic in front, and peas are growing up the fence.

My Earth Box spinach is starting to 'bolt', go to flower and seed. I'm going to harvest it all now and replant with a whole new summer menu.

Cute little Cherry Belles from the porch, these are in a big pot with snow peas at the back so they can climb the trellis. This we call companion planting. When they're done, I might put more of the same in, or maybe something like basil.

The porch is bustin out with lush green vibes, it's amazing how fast things are growing now---moon on the rise, heading towards summer solstice, powerful time in nature, peas growing 6 inches a day and starting to flower (left foreground).

Planting Seeds of Literacy in Jamaica with Great Shape! Inc.

Some of you may already know, I love Jamaica, I love Bob Marley, and I love Reggae. I'm blessed to volunteer with Great Shape! Inc. in Jamaica where we conduct the "1000 Smiles Dental Project", the SuperKids Literacy Program, and this year, Vision Clinics. I'll be working with our literacy team in schools around Ocho Rios this year.

Last year, we brought teachers, literacy specialists, books, computers, musical instruments, love, smiles and enthusiasm to students like these at Breadnut Hill Primary School.

On our day off, a group of us went up to this tiny Basic School in Woodland, way up above Hopewell and delivered books and 'fluffies' (stuffed animals) to Andrea Brown's students. Here they are in front of their new library.

First Books supplied us with many copies of the ever popular Dora.

Aleshia, the librarian at Parry Town Primary worked with us to get their library ship-shape for the new titles we brought for our Book in a Bag program. We are committed to working with the schools to improve literacy and education for all of Jamaica's children.

Check our work at Great Shape! Inc. on the web. Great Shape's been in the mix for 20 years in Jamaica.

Into the Kitchen

All the greens are coming in full force now, this is my pick off the porch, 6 kindsa lettuce, huge spinach (6" x 5" lvs!) and the star-flowered plant in the foreground, chickweed (Stellaria media)--it's best harvest time is right now. You can also use it to make a healing salve by simmering gently in olive oil, strain after steeping, and add some melted beeswax to make it 'gel'. Read Jethro Kloss' classic, and one of my main references, "Back to Eden, the classic guide to herbal medicine, natural foods and home remedies" for more info.

I made this Green Goddess dressing with some chickweed and....

1 cup yogurt

3 T. olive oil

1/2 cup mixed herbs: chickweed, parsley, thyme, oregano and basil, all fresh off the porch

2 T. lemon juice

1/4 t. salt
1 sm. piece green scallion or some chive and a sm. piece garlic

Put it all in the blender and 'grind' on low till blended and smooth. If it's too thin, add some nutritional yeast.

Onto greater heights, fresh pickles! I'm practicing now to get my chops by harvest time when cukes will be begging to evolve into pickles. Here I blanched cauliflower, carrot, asparagus and garlic then packed loosely into jars with chunks of jalapenos. In each jar are also mustard seed, bay leaf, salt and peppercorns.

Into the heating brine of water and white vinegar, I added sprigs of dry purple basil and got this pretty color. Bring to a boil and pour into clean jars.

Here's my recipe:

12 carrot slices

3 cloves garlic

partial head of cauliflower

Blanch these for 2 minutes. What that means is get a large pot of water boiling, then throw in everything at once and time it. As soon as time's up, drain and put veggies into a bowl of ice cold water to stop the cooking, this keeps them crispy.

Into a quart jar put:

1 teaspoon pickling salt

5 peppercorns

1/2 teaspoon mustard seed

1 bay leaf

Now pack loosely into the jar(s) the veggies along with about 8 nice big fat jalapeno peppers, sliced into 1/2" chunks.

Into a pot, put:

1 cup water

1 1/4 cup white vinegar

Heat this to boiling, then pour into the jar. Put the lid on, seal, cool then put in fridge. Eat the next day, and these will keep for weeks in the fridge.

Easy breeezy!

Porch is getting crowded. It's time to put the tomatoes into the ground, but yesterday only got up to 48 degrees! Buy all the starts you want and have room for now, and start planting, 'cause May 15 is the magic date for putting in the warm weather crops we crave all winter long. You've got 2 weeks now to make it happen, so don't delay (note to self).

Signs of Change

A quick tour of my neighborhood with spring in full swing. Most of these pix are on my walk to the garden.

Check the saddlebags of pollen on this bee enjoying the camellia; encourage more bees with hives if you can do it or small block kits for mason bees. Get info at any nursery; advocate for urban hives in your town. We need those pollinators more than ever---they've taken a big hit with all the pesticides, herbicides, pollution and development. We are allowed to keep bees here in Portland, and chickens, but no roosters in city limits.

Here my friend is making good use of deck space and nice big crocks for growing a variety of salad greens, peas and other green crunchy treats, and soon tomatoes....right outside the kitchen. Brilliant!

I like this--converting that sod by the curb to a planting of poppies in front of the painted poppy fence. Note the smart straw mulch for weed control, water conservation, and building soil, plus it's way prettier and more balanced pH than that boring brown prickly bark mulch. But that's just my opinion.

Change is here! This was just like a driveway, and now look at the raised beds they just put in, bursting with potential. Yes we can!!! I walk by here all the time---watch for progress shots.

You probably know this view by now, yep, I'm walking up to our beautiful community garden. The wild mustard in the foreground is a nice spicy wild food right now. Add those beautiful yellow flower stems to any salad or stir fry. Try some of these wild foods right now, they're so perfect in spring, and traditional blood purifiers for spring. Each wild food has its best time--it's important to know when to pick what part and how to eat it, but it's not hard to learn.

How It's Lookin 4 Floors Up

The quality of my movie isn't the greatest, but the better versions were too big to upload, so until the technology catches up, this will have to do. Enjoy!

Changin mi tune...

Our first 'strictly from yard' salad, that's right, it's mid-April and all these greens came from the garden so far. Lettuces, spinach, and a few tender radish leaves, ummmm, nuttin better. I'm picking these every day now, sweet!


This is what I'm changin my tune about....I've always been lovin the challenge of making marginal land productive again, and sometimes that's a lot of hard work. But often it's the difference between having a garden and not. Usually you can get permission to work a wasteland, right? Wasteland to showcase---do something beautiful.


Now here's the latest approach that I'm singing about. I finally realize what a bargain bagged planting mixes are! Don't have any good land to work? Invest $10 in soil and some food for it and you've got land! I used to resent buying dirt, no more! I just dug out the weeds, mixed up a nice batch of dirt, chicken manure, lime and veg food in the wheelbarrow and laid it down---it's another row to plant now. And if you've got a fence like we do here, all the better. Put the peas in close to the fence, and make it wide enough for a couple other things. Here are potatoes, shallots, garlic and broccoli.


I worked this section for the first time last summer and put beans in, now it's full of lettuces, garlic, and I hope peas soon (I think the slugs might be eating the seedlings). It's truly amazing how quickly land can come alive again with organic methods. I'm talkin bout the life beneath the surface especially, you bring a little life energy, air, water and humus into the area and word spreads fast.

Porch Views

And here's a look at the porch as it is today, snow peas emerging on lower left, baby tomato plants getting some outside air, and greens poppin.

Now here's some catnip juicy enough to tempt any kitty into adjusting her attitude.

My prize habanero! From the plant I brought inside for the winter; now the plant has aphids and mi reddi fi tun it out to di yard! Dis one cyan fix di rice n peas nice.

A big pot of Pac Choi---I'll thin and eat as they grow.

Nice pot of radish. Had to get tough on the cute little birdies who come visit. They ate all the first leaves, they're so smart, they know what's good. Lucky for us both, the best part is underground.