So I'm in Columbus for work. Turns out it's a lot easier to garden here than I imagined... There are groups dedicated to this stuff, it's legal to raise chickens near the city and DIY culture of raising your own food for fun and/or profit seems to be thriving.
I'm moving soon from a 400 sq ft studio to a house in Franklinton area of Columbus. I will be gaining reasonably cheap rent, a backyard, access to Columbus Idea Foundary maker space, cool opportunities to volunteer with Franklinton Gardens - a great turn-an-empty-lot-into-garden organization.
So I'm cautiously optimistic - since my previous backyard gardening adventure sort of became a pain and became overwhelming - I am hoping I have learned from that. One thing I know for sure - I would kill for garden fresh cherry tomatoes! They were delicious!
Looking forward to growing a salad - greens, tomatoes and basil. Hopefully more if I can.
The problem that I have is that after finding out that I'm moving to this, less than stellar area of Columbus, I'm being called a 'homesteader'... And while for some it might bring visions of wide open land and Laura Ingalls Wilder - in my head I see Puritans kicking out the local Native tribes... Is that weird? It's funny... part of the reason that I also liked the area is that when I drove by mid-day by a school there I saw black and white kids outside - and they were playing together. Oddly enough, it's not that common of a sight in Columbus...
In any case, I'm hoping my little garden experiment works out this time - I figured if I'm going to live in Columbus, I want it to be interesting. Neither the suburban living or drunken downtown living somehow offered the same possibilities.
Saturday, May 17, 2014
Thursday, July 14, 2011
So this is urban farming - (with a yard)
I am seeing more people starting blogs again. And I also see them updating them. So I think I should start doing the same!
I will figure out this pictures and blog thing soon...
This urban gardening thing actually came true after we thought we killed everything. And I thought stuff that was growing was just very organized weeds.
We planted lettuce, tomatoes, arugala, cucumbers and peas. Also onions from bulbs and 2 just starting blueberry and blackberry bushes.
You can see leafy lettuce on the bottom, arugula on top, potential growth of cucumbers and peas to the right of that and below are onions and right most corner, carrots that didn't come up for more then a month.
And then there was freaky hail! I guess mother nature was pissed at something!
Hail was size of golf balls and broke many windshields. The next morning it was fun to drive by the local auto-glass repair shop and see a huge line of cars.
Our garden didn't escape the wrath. When we came home, the yard was covered in icy balls. It was almost surreal - it was humid just during the day and coming home to ice on the green grass was just... weird....
The weather damaged a few things in our garden. The leaves on tomato plants were damaged. The peas suffered the most and had the very bottom portion ruined and dried up. Both peas and cucumbers were knocked off their climbing posts. Eggplants had their flowers knocked off - but the big one above survived!!
This is the size of hail.
Keep in mind - this is after the hail fell and we came home - so it was already melting on the grass for about an hour...
Mother nature was sure pissed.
We thought our whole garden was gone - this is after hard work of planting, building and securing our garden.... But we got lucky. Cucumbers were knocked off but lived and recovered quickly. Tomatoes recovered as well. Peas were the biggest hit. Onions were not doing that great either so hail wacking them didn't help.
The Recovery -
Peas are back! We planted them because the package said they are easy to grow... They were right for the most part. Peas like to climb - they have little tenacles that attach to posts - kinda cool and it makes peas! I like the ones that you can eat in a salad so I eat them whole and I don't think any actually made it to the salad bowl... They were all eaten in the garden!
Our garden is recovering... You can tell that most of the climbing plants were knocked off the posts. Arugula flowered and stopped making leaves as much - but the ones that were there had a more intense flavor.
TO RECAP SOME STUFF - AND SOME LESSONS
Once we found out that tomato plants can go up to 6 feet in height we built this enclosure. The green poles hold up the leaves of tomato plants especially when they have heavy tomatoes on them. We planted big beefstakes, roma and grape tomatoes. Only 3 out of 12 survived that we grew inside so the other 3 we just bought pre-grown at Home Depot.
Growing the saplings inside was a cute idea but it took more work, and didn't really deliver when we replanted them. In Chicago, weather is weird. And so when the frost hit it
probably killed them or made them weaker. But only tomatoes, other stuff just kept on growing!
It took a while for cucumbers to pop up and look like cucumbers...
View of our garden. Home Depot had special climbing contraptions that just go into the ground. We planted peas and cucumbers near them. I could have sworn I have seen cukes climb but it was also when I was very little... so I hope I remembered correctly.
It was a happy day when we finally saw a tiny tomato!
I have never in my life seen tiny cucumbers, or knew how they come to be. They come from cute little yellow flowers and are very pointy!
We will have a whole salad growing in our garden after all!
Since only a couple of the cucumber plants survived they were replaced by eggplant - one Italian plant and one Japanese.
Well we thought we killed them all since "awesome" Chicago weather turned from 70s to 50s and 60. In MAY!
I was filled with doom - well it's our first garden... we can't really expect much. Neither of us grew had lawns much less gardens in recent past, so hey we gave it a good try. BUT - things survived! Maybe not all of them, but we watched in amazement as lettuce grew, arugula grew. Peas made their shoots and their tenticles to hold on to climbing posts and fighting with cucumbers, which we also attached to climbing posts.
I think over all the 'frost' made all the veggies stronger. Everything grew like weeds! Tasty, delicious weeds!
More updates, pictures and lessons to be posted soon... For now, I need to learn how to place images where I want them :)
I will figure out this pictures and blog thing soon...
This urban gardening thing actually came true after we thought we killed everything. And I thought stuff that was growing was just very organized weeds.
We planted lettuce, tomatoes, arugala, cucumbers and peas. Also onions from bulbs and 2 just starting blueberry and blackberry bushes.
 |
| Eggplant- first ever! |
Hail was size of golf balls and broke many windshields. The next morning it was fun to drive by the local auto-glass repair shop and see a huge line of cars.
The weather damaged a few things in our garden. The leaves on tomato plants were damaged. The peas suffered the most and had the very bottom portion ruined and dried up. Both peas and cucumbers were knocked off their climbing posts. Eggplants had their flowers knocked off - but the big one above survived!!
Keep in mind - this is after the hail fell and we came home - so it was already melting on the grass for about an hour...
Mother nature was sure pissed.
We thought our whole garden was gone - this is after hard work of planting, building and securing our garden.... But we got lucky. Cucumbers were knocked off but lived and recovered quickly. Tomatoes recovered as well. Peas were the biggest hit. Onions were not doing that great either so hail wacking them didn't help.
Peas are back! We planted them because the package said they are easy to grow... They were right for the most part. Peas like to climb - they have little tenacles that attach to posts - kinda cool and it makes peas! I like the ones that you can eat in a salad so I eat them whole and I don't think any actually made it to the salad bowl... They were all eaten in the garden!
TO RECAP SOME STUFF - AND SOME LESSONS
Once we found out that tomato plants can go up to 6 feet in height we built this enclosure. The green poles hold up the leaves of tomato plants especially when they have heavy tomatoes on them. We planted big beefstakes, roma and grape tomatoes. Only 3 out of 12 survived that we grew inside so the other 3 we just bought pre-grown at Home Depot.
Growing the saplings inside was a cute idea but it took more work, and didn't really deliver when we replanted them. In Chicago, weather is weird. And so when the frost hit it
probably killed them or made them weaker. But only tomatoes, other stuff just kept on growing!
It took a while for cucumbers to pop up and look like cucumbers...
View of our garden. Home Depot had special climbing contraptions that just go into the ground. We planted peas and cucumbers near them. I could have sworn I have seen cukes climb but it was also when I was very little... so I hope I remembered correctly.
It was a happy day when we finally saw a tiny tomato!
I have never in my life seen tiny cucumbers, or knew how they come to be. They come from cute little yellow flowers and are very pointy!
We will have a whole salad growing in our garden after all!Since only a couple of the cucumber plants survived they were replaced by eggplant - one Italian plant and one Japanese.
Well we thought we killed them all since "awesome" Chicago weather turned from 70s to 50s and 60. In MAY!
I was filled with doom - well it's our first garden... we can't really expect much. Neither of us grew had lawns much less gardens in recent past, so hey we gave it a good try. BUT - things survived! Maybe not all of them, but we watched in amazement as lettuce grew, arugula grew. Peas made their shoots and their tenticles to hold on to climbing posts and fighting with cucumbers, which we also attached to climbing posts.
I think over all the 'frost' made all the veggies stronger. Everything grew like weeds! Tasty, delicious weeds!
More updates, pictures and lessons to be posted soon... For now, I need to learn how to place images where I want them :)
Friday, October 15, 2010
Well.... Due to 2 jobs and all that I haven't made anything... BUT...
Things attempted and sometimes finished are
Fruit bars from scratch
Pie crust and pie from scratch
Cat/dog clothing (one traumatized cat model)
Sewing clothing - mixed results
Learning to program (making a program is "making" technically)
Things I am determined to make from scratch ----
Wood furniture
Clothing
Making more food that's more delicious
At the new place - gardening! (brown thumb will be hard to overcome)
Living in the city surrounded by convenience will be hard to overcome....
:)
Things attempted and sometimes finished are
Fruit bars from scratch
Pie crust and pie from scratch
Cat/dog clothing (one traumatized cat model)
Sewing clothing - mixed results
Learning to program (making a program is "making" technically)
Things I am determined to make from scratch ----
Wood furniture
Clothing
Making more food that's more delicious
At the new place - gardening! (brown thumb will be hard to overcome)
Living in the city surrounded by convenience will be hard to overcome....
:)
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Why make stuff anyways? Why not just buy it?
After realizing that I was spending a lot of money on food that was making me sick I was pissed.
I was never handy, crafty, or good in the kitchen. But I thought I needed to be - making stuff was fun, occasionally practical, sometimes economical, and everything was just interesting to try!
I started with the basics - food.
As I spent more time cooking very simple things I began to appreciate the efforts of home-makers of years past- real food made from scratch is Hard!
But not suffering from food poisoning or feeling horrible from eating fast food all day made it almost worth it..
And a trip to a farming town in Michigan made me think about what else I have been missing.
I decided I needed to get better at cooking, making desserts without nasty dyes and additives.
How about sewing, knitting or even making stuff like candles or jewelry, or even a small robot.... umm... yes... all of those things are related in my head...
What else have I been missing? Is it worth making something when I can just buy it for cheaper?
Is it really going to help me save money or will just make me feel better about myself? And is it really practical?
Well I am determinted to find out! (This was written in 2009... yeah it took me about 2 years to actually put it in practice... But 2011 have proved to be an awesome year so read on!)
I was never handy, crafty, or good in the kitchen. But I thought I needed to be - making stuff was fun, occasionally practical, sometimes economical, and everything was just interesting to try!
I started with the basics - food.
As I spent more time cooking very simple things I began to appreciate the efforts of home-makers of years past- real food made from scratch is Hard!
But not suffering from food poisoning or feeling horrible from eating fast food all day made it almost worth it..
And a trip to a farming town in Michigan made me think about what else I have been missing.
I decided I needed to get better at cooking, making desserts without nasty dyes and additives.
How about sewing, knitting or even making stuff like candles or jewelry, or even a small robot.... umm... yes... all of those things are related in my head...
What else have I been missing? Is it worth making something when I can just buy it for cheaper?
Is it really going to help me save money or will just make me feel better about myself? And is it really practical?
Well I am determinted to find out! (This was written in 2009... yeah it took me about 2 years to actually put it in practice... But 2011 have proved to be an awesome year so read on!)
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