Side Salad Garden

This is more or less for the visual, though the text explains more. What's important is the concept of packing a small garden into a small space, like this tiny little side yard.

You can do this in a pot, and have salad greens even in winter if you do this now. Give it a chance to get going before the cold winds blow.

Craft- Air Dry Your Flowers

Isn't this just the prettiest way to air dry your flowers? And who says it has to be just the flowers? Bundle up those herbs and get them hung, too.

Gardening- A Perky Pot Filter

I've been "caught" plenty of times without my landscaping fabric, which is stored in a shed far from where I do my potting work. That big old roll is a monster to lug anyway, so this is a wonderful alternative.

By the way, my friends! Now is the time to get out the file and sharpen up those shovels. It will soon be time to dig bulbs for the winter and separate your perennials that have crowded each other to death.

Mark your calendars now with your first frost date and be prepared! Start saving those onion bags and old nylon stockings to hang your bulbs safely for winter storage in a cool, dry place.

While you're at it, start putting aside money for that bag of fall fertilizer. It's almost time for that final fall feeding in the Zones north of 6. You'll want to do this soon, if your first frost date is looming. Don't make your garden friends starve this winter because you were lazy.

Prepare for Onion Braiding

Have you a few onions to spare, either from your garden or your pantry? If they're from your garden, it's time to pull them as soon as their tops begin to wither. Weren't you a smart witch to plant them?

If they're from your pantry and you have a few sprouting, that will do if you hurry. Plant them in a pot and treat them as a houseplant for a few weeks, allowing them to sit outside and feel the heat of summer's last rays. When they too wither, it's time to pull them.

We'll braid them next month as one of our crafts. I've even a lovely charm to chant, thanks to Pauline and Dan Campanelli's "Wheel of the Year." (Credit where credit's due!)

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- 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.