My eggplants are dying and some of my tomatoes. And my peppers stopped producing. I was starting to think my thumb was black. The symptoms were very strange. Healthy plants suddenly just wilting and then perking up again. The eggplants in particular would grow, produce flowers, wilt and then perk up again. But too late to produce an eggplant. Some of the tomatoes started to do it too.
I was completely puzzled. My tomato plants suffered from little pest damage, were planted in beautiful compost, and had received PLENTY of rain, sun and heat. I really was convinced that I was just a bad gardener and resigned myself to never finding out what I had done wrong.
Then, during a search for blight symptoms for my squash (another story!), I found this from the horticulture department at Iowa State University:
Walnut Toxicity
Black walnut trees produce a toxic material (juglone) that can injure and kill solanaceous crops (tomatoes, potatoes, peppers and eggplant) and other juglone-sensitive vegetables in the garden. Symptoms of walnut toxicity include stunted growth, yellowing and wilting of foliage, and death of susceptible plants. Juglone is present in all parts of the black walnut tree (fruits, leaves, branches and roots). The sources of juglone in the soil include both living and decaying plant material. Rain droplets leach juglone from the buds, leaves, and twigs. The decomposition of leaves and other plant debris by soil microorganisms also releases juglone. Living roots exude juglone into the surrounding soil. Generally, the greatest concentration of juglone in the soil exists within the dripline of walnut trees. Nothing can be done to save juglone-damaged tomato plants. Simply remove and destroy dead plants. Gardeners who have large walnut trees near their gardens should consider alternate sites. If alternate sites are unavailable, plant tomatoes and other susceptible plants 20 to 25 feet beyond the dripline of walnut trees to minimize walnut toxicity problems. Corn, beans, onions, beets, and carrots are tolerant of juglone and can be planted closer to walnut trees provided the area receives sufficient sunlight. Walnut trees that are 75 to 100 feet from the garden shouldn’t be a big threat to tomatoes and other juglone-sensitive vegetables.
Walnut Toxicity! Who knew? Certainly not me! I have three black walnut trees in my yard and one has a dripline that hangs directly over – guess where? Yup, the tomatoes. We’ll just have to wait it out this year and move the tomatoes out to the corner next year! Urban farming certainly isn’t easy – but I’m happy with cuke production as I just canned about 12 pints of pickles!
I hate lawns. I hate green grass, sitting there, doing nothing but waiting to be cut. And then cut again. We have a huge lawn at our new house. So much in fact that the house came with a lawn tractor. And it’s not even nice, golf course style lawn. It’s ugly, cabbagey lawn. So, as part of my urban homestead plan, I have been bidding as much lawn as I possible can “goodbye.”
What’s the point of a lawn? No one knows. I can’t find anyone who can tell me why having lawn is a good thing. In fact, a History of Lawns in America, published by American-Lawns.com tells us that it wasn’t until the American Garden Club “decided” that Americans should have nice, neat little lawns – to go along with their nice, neat “little boxes on the hillside made of ticky-tacky,” that most Americans started to grow them: “Through contests and other forms of publicity, they convinced home owners that it was their civic duty to maintain a beautiful and healthy lawn. So effective was the club’s campaign that lawns were soon the accepted form of landscaping. The garden club further stipulated that the appropriate type of lawn was “a plot with a single type of grass with no intruding weeds, kept mown at a height of an inch and a half, uniformly green, and neatly edged.” America thus entered the age of lawn care.” (more…)
I’m about as crunchy as they come. Just ask my friends. I recycle. I farm. I buy all natural foods. I make my own baby wipes and baby food. I hang out my clothes to dry. I bring my own bags to the store. Pretty much if it’s considered crunchy – I do it. And I love vegetables. Really I do. But I will never be able to be a vegetarian. I’ve been a vegetarian and I truly don’t believe it’s a healthier way to live. “What???” you gasp. “How can eating only vegetables not be the best thing for you?” Well. It’s not.
First of all, meat, fish, and eggs are good for you. The jury is still out on just how good for you dairy is – even organic – but many vegetarians, including the elitist of all vegetarians, Helen and Scott Nearing, ate dairy.
Meat, fish and eggs, when ethically and organically produced, have Omega-3 fatty acids which are important for our immune system and, obviously, protein.
My goal for eating and living is eat healthfully and wholly. Only eating things that grow out of the ground or eat things that grow out of the ground. A veggie burger made of over-processed non-fermented soy chunks is not a whole food. Neither is soy milk. There’s an argument, too, that eating these non-fermented soy products is actually worse for your body than eating a steak.
All day Saturday and Sunday we placed compost thickly over the side yard (we live on a corner lot so most of our yard is on the side) and started planting the tomatoes and peppers I started in March. Eggplants went in as did rows of lettuce, brussel sprouts, more broccoli and cauliflower. We also placed mounds of compost over sod we dug up and planted squash, pumpkins and cucumbers.
Because we have so much yard and terrible grass, we are smothering the lawn and digging up places for the plants. We’ll see how this method works. We are trying very hard to use only hand tools and rid ourselves of gas guzzling machines (yes, getting rid of our mower is next on the list!). We hope to rely on mulching and compost to help us in this endeavor so that maybe I’m not nearly as sore next weekend as I am this weekend!
These photos are from Saturday, but we actually continued the smothering to the path on Sunday with another load of free compost from the yard waste center. If you have a yard waste center near you, check it out, don’t waste your time buying bags! This place is amazing!
What I love most about the Internet is the ability to peek into other people’s lives a little bit and see how they do things (as long as they’ve posted it and allowed us in). I don’t have to travel to California or New Zealand to see interesting homesteads and inspiring gardens.
Here are some of the interesting fences I’ve peeked over recently. Have one to add? Let me know!
Viggie’s Veggies – A single woman on 1/10th of an acre homesteading and working full-time.
Schell Urban Homestead – A family of four living a rural life in an urban setting. They’re allowed to have chickens! I’m jealous…
A Suburban Farmer – Among other reasons, she got her broccoli to survive the winter!
Hip Chick Digs – Not just for the awesome name. This chick digs and grows everything.
I was going to move back to the country. I was ready. I started saving up. Even though I love my new home and my ability to walk or bike almost anywhere, the noise of the city was starting to get to me a bit and I hated not having a ton of room to grow things. Then I saw this family, the trailer for their new documentary and a couple of other videos on YouTube about them and I changed my mind. Immediately. I’m staying put and I’m creating my own urban homestead. You can do it too. Just watch:
The Dervaes family lives in Pasadena, CA. Now granted, I can’t grow oranges in my backyard, but I can grow a lot of stuff. And I will. Just watch. The seeds are already growing in the sun room! Look out De Pere, WI, your historic corner is going to get very veg, very soon! I’ll keep you posted as we dig…but for now – check these people out – they’re my new heroes! Now, if I could only get the city to let me keep chickens….
Get the first two chapters of Michelle’s new book, A Fine Mess: Living Simply With Children, for free! Michelle is the homeschooling mother of 7 children and has lots of humor, tips and hints for living with so many for much less. Want to try it out for nothing? Just email Michelle and put “free chapters” in the subject line.
Bring your own bags – everywhere! This is so simple that it’s criminal that we don’t all do it already. I leave 4 or 5 canvas bags in my car at all times and just grab them when I go into a store. Have a bunch of plastic ones? Well, put them in your car and just reuse those! You don’t need to buy a fancy canvas bag like this one, from Organically Inclined! I wish that when I went to the store I wasn’t the only one around who answers “neither” when asked if they want paper or plastic.
Don’t Buy Things! This is so simple even a baby can do it. Just don’t buy stuff. Don’t go to stores. Don’t buy things that have lots of packaging. If you must buy something – check out Craigslist.org, Freecycle.org or hit your local yard sales and thrift stores (bringing your own bags of course). You’d be amazed at how much money you’ll save by simply not purchasing things…and how kind you’ll be to the planet.
Stay home. Don’t get in the car. Don’t drive away. Don’t go out to eat. Don’t go buy things (see above). Don’t do anything. Sit in a hammock in your backyard. Pick weeds. Do the laundry. Watch a movie. You’ll save gas, emissions and money all at the same time. (more…)
My oldest son, Matthew, called me a loser a few years back. He was 15 then. OK, he didn’t call me a “loser” specifically, but he was talking to a nurse in the emergency room about how he was thinking of going into politics when he gets older. He wants to be the president, he said.
“Hey,” I said to him after the nurse had gone, “I was going to be president when I grew up.”
I really was going to be president. I had every intention of going into politics when I was between the ages of 14 and 18. My intention was to complete college, maybe go to law school and then run for office – with the White House in full-view. To make a long story short, I went to college in DC and in essence found that I enjoyed writing about politics and being an activist more than I wanted to run for an office – and as I pointed out to my son, who was looking at me with much pity – I still have time to run for an office if I so choose. At 34, I am not even yet eligible to run for president…although the clock is ticking louder now than it once did.
“I know, Mom,” he said. “But I’m actually going to do it.” The way he said it, stung a little. He said it with such disdain, as if I had thrown away my dream. Did he just see me as a wife and mother – with no other accomplishments under my belt? Did he think I somehow failed because my dreams at 14 or 15 were not the dreams I achieved?
It’s nice to see that our Presidential family has a frugal side…
The New York Times has reported that Sam Kass, an assistant White House chef who prepared meals for the Obamas in Chicago and is an advocate of local food, will oversee the First Family’s new kitchen garden. Here is a picture of the layout as well as video of the space:
A long time ago, when I lived in a small apartment with two small children, I found a book at a used bookstore called, “The Apartment Farmer.” Within days of reading this book, I turned my small suburban apartment into a small suburban farm. For the cost of the seeds and some containers I found at thrift stores, I grew tomatoes on my little patio in a five gallon bucket. I started seeds in egg cartons. I had peppers of all sorts. You name it, I grew it. I even grew two pumpkins in a huge whiskey barrel -type contraption. I cut down a bucket and grew small cukes, too.
Spoiled by the luxury of a huge garden area in Vermont, I am now faced with a small (in farm terms) yard once again. While I am enjoying the challenges of raising a family green and frugal in the city – I must say that I’ve been concerned about my ability to garden effectively and provide the amount of produce that I once did.
We are fortunate, here in Green Bay, to live very close to the “country” as it were – and a wealth of providers of various produce. But I like to grow stuff. I like the frugality of it. I like the exercise. I like to plant stuff and watch it grow. I like to roam around the garden early in the morning with a cup of coffee and debug a few plants and pull a few stray weeds.
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