gardening

in the spring, i sifted my compost pile and dumped the sifted compost into a pile in the middle of my backyard, which gets the most sun. i leveled it and planted stuff right in it: carrots, kale, lettuces, and spinach. just finished eating the carrots last week.

when these early spring crops were done, i planted herbs: lemongrass, 4 varieties of basil, then later, green bush beans. i put down a spiral of soaker hose.

it's definitely pesto time, and the beans are laden with tiny beans. will be making lemongrass tea as well, experimenting with using it in stir fries and curries.

a few weeks ago, i found a brief set of instructions online for creating a no-dig garden: layer 10-20 sheets of newspaper, 3 inches of alfalfa hay, 8 inches of straw, and 4 inches of compost. dust each layer with bone and blood meal and water it. plant right in the compost.

that's pretty inspiring! digging is extremely laborious, and renting a tiller is expensive. an easy way to create planting beds sounded like just the ticket for a fall garden. so i've been working on that--dreaming, planning, picking up supplies.

local tips: you can get free newspapers from ecology action, the recycling center at 9th and i-35. you'll have to dig in the paper recycling binds.

you can get bales of alfalfa hay and coastal hay at callahan's general store for $13 and $9 respectively. to get the right ratio, you probably need 3-4 bales of coastal hay to 1 bale of alfalfa hay. if you can keep it dry, it lasts for a long time, so you can just use what you need.

the natural gardener in oak hill has a variety of organic fertilizers and the best selection of veggie transplants i've seen, especially this time of year. i got feather meal in lieu of blood meal (which stinks), bone meal, and mineral mix, as well as a bale of pine needles. their acidity will eventually lower the pH of my soil. it's pretty alkaline in austin, though i haven't had my eastside loam tested.

i'm inspired by the garden at eastside cafe. i'd like to get some of that stiff fencing they use on some of their beds. it looks like sturdy wire panels, cut down to size. holds the layers in nicely. cutting the wire to fit looks labor-intensive, though, so i'm still checking this out. i need something 15 inches high. of course the no-dig garden will shrink rapidly but 15" will hold mulch in place. if anyone has any ideas, please comment!

this morning i mixed fertilizers to make enough for 100 square feet and fertilized the existing plants and planted the transplants i bought yesterday at the natural gardener--red- and green-stemmed malabar spinach, a patio tomato, two california wonder bell peppers, and italian parsley. i mulched it all with pine straw. i put layers of newspaper around the edges and covered that with coastal hay and watered, for a path that will suppress weeds and eventually become humus that i can turn onto the beds.

i feel satisfied when i look at it out my kitchen window now, and also dream of the future garden.

the travis county extension service has a list of proven varieties for austin and a vegetable garden planting calendar.

based on that, i just ordered seeds. i can plant kentucky wonder pole beans, straight eight cucumbers, amaranthus cruentis, and summer crookneck squash as soon as they arrive, in empty spaces in my existing garden.

i plan to have the no-dig extension of that bed ready for planting september 1. i ordered chioggia beets, scarlet nantes carrots, rhubarb chard, lolla rossa looseleaf lettuce, forellenschuss romaine, bloomsdale spinach, and evergreen white bunching onions, all for planting in september.

i'll also be buying heads of texas white and elephant garlic to plant and buying transplants of the brassicas: broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, chinese cabbage, cauliflower, collards, kale, and kohlrabi, or as many as i have room for.

i plan to visit boggy creek farm next weekend to check out what they're planting and selling, because they grow nontraditional varieties that do well in austin.

so i'm reactivating my gardening gene. it will be fun to make and watch the garden change. nature does the most elegant work!

most of the cost is up front, and i'll be eating from this garden for months. the experience, though, is priceless--the fresh air and exercise, the great organic food, the learning, and the sense of connection to the earth and its abundance and mystery. chow, y'all!