Lawns for Poor Soils and Lazy People

I have heard your cries from the wilderness of weedy yards, poor soils, and bad weather! I'm here with the ultimate solution to all your yard problems that costs you less than $10. Yes, that decimal is in the right location.

How would you like a lawn that's nearly maintenance free, dark green, and smells like heaven when you mow? One plant will grow easily even in the most adverse conditions, spreads on its own, and has the benefit of being useful: Mint.

Yes, I said mint. Doesn't matter if it's spearmint or peppermint. Your choice. One or two packets of seeds or small plants will do the job because mint is an invasive plant. It spreads on its own. Don't just throw down the seeds and walk away. A little effort on your part now pays big dividents later. Take the time to make sure your little plants survive one year, and they'll spread their seeds all over your yard, making more plants over time.

Yes, this could take a year or two. You can step up the process by buying more mint plants and setting them in various places throughout your yard and let them establish themselves. (That means don't mow over them for a year.) Let them sow their seeds and give you lots of baby mint plants for free.

This works even in cold climates, though you end up treating the mint plants like annuals. They'll die back, but at least the snow covers them until spring. It should still work. I did this as far north as Virginia with excellent results, so I'd love to hear from those in harsher climates.

Gardening Comments -- Lazy Gardening

It's hot out there! Who wants to sweat and weed? Not me! Then again, I don't have to.

(I see several avid gardeners just fainted at my sacrilege.) Nope, I don't have to weed. Much. Why? Because I took the time to prepare *before* my weeds arrived.

1. I use Square Foot Gardening methods to create my garden ONCE. Not once a year. Once. These slightly raised beds, properly dug and using landscaping fabric, are more than adequate to stop many weeds, moles, and allow me to work standing up. The soil in them is new, fresh, and mixed by me. I'm starting with the most friable soil possible, and it will stay that way because I'll never walk on it. The 4' square garden is small enough for me to reach in the center to pluck a weed or pick a vegetable without stepping inside the square.

2. I planted only what I needed. We're three adults in my household. Two "weed eaters" as my DH calls Dante and I, and one who'd be a full time carnivore if he could. One 4'x4' square more than adequately provides us with salad greens (3), bell peppers (1), squash (1), cherry tomatoes(1), zuchinni (1), and green beans (1). Reminds me, I really do need to get the pumpkin seed (yes, just one) in the ground so I have a fresh pumpkin for Thanksgiving. Why should I plant more than I need, waste seeds, and then end up "thinning" --which is essentially killing 90% of what I planted? Therefore, if there's supposed to be one squash plant in a certain location, everything else that appears around it is a weed seedling to be yanked while small. I'm also aided by the layers of black and white newspaper and mulch wherever I didn't plant in my flower beds. A short stroll in the early morning with the dog and a small bucket in my hand, and my weeding is done.

3. A new practice I've just enacted is adding the Jerry Baker system to my present gardening scheme. His tonics may be witches' brews of beer, dish soap, cola, ammonia, and other odd things, but they work. They REALLY work. I have the proof. I have two banana plants in my yard. Both get equal amounts of sun and shade. One has been getting a regular dose of the tonics, the other I keep forgetting because of its isolated location. Banana plants are heavy feeders, and they require a lot of nutrients. I've fed neither any other fertilizer but the tonics. The Jerry Baker plant is twice the size of the other, even though the other is older and in a better location to get more water!

Here's another reason to be lazy: Jerry Baker and many other gardening experts tell you to water early in the morning before the sun gets hot. I do. Because Jerry's formulas only need to be applied once a week, and you do them in rotation, I'm only out in the garden in the very early morning once a week to apply this week's tonic, stroll around for a fast weeding, and I'm back inside before the sun is over the treetops.

Even mowing is done after 7 PM, when the day has begun to cool. We have a huge lawn, so we mow in sections. The front yard is done on Friday. Immediately after DH or Dante are done with that chore, I'm out there with the Thatch Buster tonic, breaking down the clippings to give the nutrients back to the soil. Whew! We're done, and back in the house to enjoy the scent of freshly mown grass from our chairs in the Florida room. We'll repeat on Saturday and Sunday evening. Mowing late gives the cut ends of the grass time to heal before the scorching sun burns the injuries. I don't have little brown ends on my grass, and it's thicker and lusher than my carpets.

I really urge you to get the books, "Square Foot Gardening" by Mel Bartholomew and "The Impatient Gardener" by Jerry Baker. They'll change the way you garden from a chore to a happy reward.

Litha Recipes-- Cookies

Drop cookies are the easiest cookies to make! No rolling, no cookie cutters, and you can vary the recipes easily. Keep this recipe page handy, and you'll cover most Sabbats. If nothing else, the plain old recipe does the trick when you just can't think of anything.

I recommend the Pineapple-Coconut Cookies for Litha.

Lena

Litha Recipes-- Quick Breads

Okay, so I own a bread machine and I'm okay with yeast breads. However, not everyone has the time, money, or knowledge to make yeast breads.

These breads are quick breads and therefore much easier to cook. Note the Carrot and Zucchini Bread. What's more sunshine-like than pineapple and carrots?

Also, note the apple bread. Keep this for Mabon.

Lena

Litha Recipes-- The Drinks

What can be more fun than serving some great food and drink that matches and celebrates the season and the Sabbat? To this end, I'm posting easy, fun and cheap ways to put great seasonal goodies on the table to match the time of year and the Sabbat. Do you have to serve these only on the Sabbat? No. Definitely not!

First up, the drinks.

Note the milkshakes and the many flavors you can achieve with different flavors of ice creams and additions like candy, cookies, fruit, and spices. Use your imagination, or simply suggest to your guests that each person bring their choice of a pint of ice cream, one fruit, and/or one cookie or candy they'd like to have in their shakes.

Or, perhaps you'd like something with a bit more of a sunshine feel? Try the Orange Breakfast Nog. That recipe only serves two at a time, so be sure to have plenty of buttermilk and orange juice concentrate.

More tomorrow!

Walk Like An Egyptian Contest

My friend Cynnara Tregarth is having a contest! It's a treasure hunt, so here's the lyrics:

All the Japanese with their yen

The party boys call the Kremlin

And the Chinese know (oh whey oh)

They walk the line like Egyptian

All the cops in the donut shops say

Ay oh whey oh, ay oh whey oh

Walk like an Egyptian

Walk like an Egyptian

Litha- Pickling for Beginners

As the fruits of the summer harvest come in, why not preserve them for later? It's not that difficult!

Bread-and-Butter Pickles

Free Pickle Recipe - Bread-and-Butter Pickles
"From the National Center for Home Food Preservation website."
BREAD AND BUTTER PICKLES

6 lbs of 4 to 5-inch pickling cucumbers
8 cups of thinly sliced onions (about 3 pounds)
1/2 cup canning or pickling salt
4 cups of vinegar (5 percent)
4-1/2 cups of sugar
2 tbsp mustard seed
1-1/2 tbsp celery seed
1 tbsp ground turmeric
1 cup pickling lime (optional- for use in variation below for making firmer pickles)
Yield: About 8 pints

Procedure: Wash the cucumbers. Next, cut off about 1/16-inch of the blossom end and discard. Cut them into 3/16-inch slices. Combine cucumbers and onions in a large bowl. Add salt. Cover with 2 inches crushed or cubed ice. Refrigerate 3 to 4 hours. Add more ice as needed.

Combine remaining ingredients in a large pot. Boil 10 minutes. Drain and add cucumbers and onions slowly reheating to a boil. Fill jars with slices and cooking syrup, leaving 1/2-inch headspace. Adjust lids and process according to the recommendations. For more information see Table 1 or use low-temperature pasteurization treatment. The following treatment results in a better product texture but must be carefully managed to avoid possible spoilage. Place your jars in a canner filled half way with warm (120º to 140ºF) water. Then, add hot water to a level 1 inch above the tops of the jars. Heat the water enough to maintain 180 to 185ºF water temperature for 30 minutes. Check with a candy or jelly thermometer to be certain that the water temperature is at least 180ºF during the entire 30 minutes. Temperatures higher than 185ºF may cause unnecessary softening of pickles.

Variation for firmer pickles: Wash cucumbers. Cut 1/16-inch off blossom end and discard. Cut into 3/16-inch slices. Mix 1 cup pickling lime and 1/2 cup salt to 1 gallon water in a 2- to 3-gallon crock or enamelware container. Avoid inhaling lime dust while mixing the lime-water solution. Soak cucumber slices in lime water for 12 to 24 hours, stirring occasionally. Remove from lime solution, rinse, and resoak 1 hour in fresh cold water. Repeat the rinsing and soaking steps two more times. Handle carefully, as slices will be brittle. Drain well.

Storage: After processing and cooling, jars should be stored 4 to 5 weeks to develop ideal flavor.

Variation: Squash bread-and-butter pickles. Substitute slender (1 to 1-1/2 inches in diameter) zucchini or yellow summer squash for cucumbers.

Table 1. Recommended process time for Bread-and-Butter Pickles in a boiling-water canner.
Process Time at Altitudes of
Style of Pack Jar Size 0 - 1,000 ft 1,001 - 6,000 ft Above 6,000 ft
Hot Pints or Quarts 10 min 15 20

This document was extracted from the "Complete Guide to Home Canning," Agriculture Information Bulletin No. 539, USDA. Revised 1994.

Litha Activities

One of the most simple things a single pagan can do is pickling and preserving. At this time of year in the south, crops are just beginning to come in. That includes cucumbers and that means pickling!



Don't be scared. Pickling is actually quite easy. Here's a website to help you learn.

http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/how/can6b_pickle.html