The Plot That Got Away

That little rainy spell really got the weeds growing! Maybe it’s more productive to think of these weeds as biomass production for future compost… 

One good thing about very moist soil is that weeds are easily pulled, so during breaks in the weather, I have been doing just that: pulling and piling weeds, preparing next season’s compost. 

While many weeds are easy to pull, a few are tenacious enough that I prefer to smother them: cover the overgrown area with newspapers, several sheets thick and moistened so that they stay down. Then cover the newspapers with grass clippings — or even with pulled weeds. By next spring, this area will be weed-free, nutrient-rich (from the decomposed grass clippings and weeds) and ready to plant. It takes several months for this weed-killing effort to work, but it’s worth the wait.

Jean English is the editor of MOFGA's, The Maine Organic Farmer & Gardener.   

Blueberry Meditations

For about half an hour a day for the past month or so, usually in the evenings, I’ve enjoyed my blueberry meditation period, quietly picking fruits from our eight highbush blueberry bushes. The process is simple:  get a quart container, stand at the plant, set part of your brain to “blue or not blue” mode and, while you pick, let the rest of your mind drift. Breathe in the outdoor summer air, breathe out your troubles.  Antioxidants aren’t the only healing properties of blueberries!

Balancing Bugs in the Asparagus Plot

Several weeks ago I agreed with Sandy Oliver’s sentiment noted in this blog: that dining on homegrown asparagus makes one feel like royalty. After a few weeks of asparagus every night, though, I was ready for the spinachy life of a pauper.

We persevered. Steamed asparagus, sautéed asparagus, asparagus casseroles, scrambled eggs and asparagus, asparagus in salads… Seeing a pound of organic asparagus selling for $6.99 imparted a new flavor to these dishes…for another week or so.

Leek Appreciation

Everything’s happening at once now. The azalea outside the kitchen window bloomed just as the hummingbirds returned—or was it vice-versa? Asparagus is on the dinner plates every night. The little hoophouse (last year’s Mother’s Day gift) is a sea of greens. But it’s the leeks that have gained my renewed appreciation this year.

A couple of weeks ago, while visiting my daughter in Montreal, I decided to make potato-leek soup for us and, not having purchased leeks in years (since they grow in my garden), I went into sticker shock at the checkout. I thought the price was a whopping $1.49 per pound; it turned out to be a whoppinger $1.49 per leek! Canadian! And these were somewhat tired-looking, old, non-organic leeks.

Come to find out at the Camden Farmers’ Market last week that that’s not an unusual price—but the farmers’ overwintered, freshly-dug, organic leeks looked a lot cleaner, crisper and whiter than those in Montreal (known, otherwise, for its abundant fine food).

So, how fortunate that we had such a good snow cover last winter: The dozen or so leeks that I didn’t get around to digging in late fall are still in the garden, ready for some spring soup, spiked with a little sorrel, perhaps. (I’m really excited about the beautiful ‘Red Veined’ sorrel that Johnny’s sells and that I’ve just started growing)

How fortunate, too, to have a little flat of leek seedlings, started on the windowsill in February, to plant out this spring. I will have to leave some in the garden this fall to overwinter—maybe under hoops covered with double layers of row cover, a technique that Eliot Coleman suggested trying with various crops at last year’s Common Ground Country Fair.

Jean English is the editor of MOFGA's, The Maine Organic Farmer & Gardener.