PHS Annual Flower Show

There is a tradition in Philadelphia that saves the city & surrounding suburbs from going Postal on the world. Just when you have lost all patience, crabby is your daily mood, losing interest in even getting up in morning, AND to make it even worse, you have a reality check & decide you can't got some place sunny & warm this winter, THE FLOWER SHOW ARRIVES!!!!

Always late March, for one week. Different theme every year, so it is like a mini VaCa to chase the blues a way. Hawaii, Great Britian, Art in Flowers have been some recent themes. It's an international roster of exhibitors: florists, landscapers, horticulturists, novice & hobby gardeners,colleges & universities, workshops, and vendors for all things GREEN. 

    

    

The Convention Center space is transformed to a magical space. On visit is usually not enough to see everything.

    

 I was part of an exhibition once. Well,my quill   I made was! A college friend was part of a garden club that early exhibited in the show. One year in the 80's their arrangement was tropical so the group used my ocean-themed color quilt as the backdrop to their display. They won!

The show is filled with garden & flower enthusiasts from everywhere also. City is filled with tourists & their is a certain buzz for that week. Remember EVERY HUMAN is SICK OF WINTER! 

So everyone is very bubbly, walking around with huge smiles & prone to talk to anyone. So in this manner we met visitors from Iowa in a steak shop where we had gone for lunch separately. After hours spent over 4 packed days, talking non-stop about all sorts of GREEN topics, comparing each other's gardens, showing photos from our smart phones, discussing what projects we have planned & now want to try after being inspired by the Flower Show, we have become the BESTEST OF FRIENDS! 

Gardening can be solitary. Maybe the actual doing it. But the joy & pleasure we all get from doing it, becomes something to share with other like minded people. Get us started talking about it and we can't shut up!

     

And the Flower Show is the Mecca for all this lovely passion, whether for hobby or for a career.

THEY DIDNT FREEZE!

SUCCESS! The low tunnels & cold frames worked! Yea!

   

 

    Escarole lettuce

    Radicchio 

   Chard  wild arugala

   Russian kale & califlower

   

   Cabbage & Kavolo Nero( black kale)

   

   Lettuce

   

   

    

Call me CHEAP!

Gardening can be done CHEAPLY!

Yes I am declaring my self "Princess of the Do-It- Cheap Gardening"! 

I learned from my father, the "King" of above that method. I used to wonder why he was "bringing home trash all the time", and things from jobs he did. And of course he learned this method from his father. When they came from Italy ( my father was 11), they bought a South Philly row house on one of those super narrow streets more suited to a Fiat than a Ford pick- up truck. Their garden behind home was a small square but with the heat of sun & brick walls, they grew a lot in that small space. 

When I started gardening on a bigger scale than window boxes on a deck, I realized the beauty (ha!), rather,  the smart, wise & inventiveness of doing this. Mostly it's done for why not save some cash? Also, things happen in garden & then you can just reach for something right a way vs having to go to a store.

For the struture to keep the cloths off the vegetables as they GROW, you need hoops. My hoops are made of old election signs repurposed & free. The fabric that raises temps about 10-15 degrees that I bought. Also bought fabric staples to anchor cloth to ground but also use bricks, stones too. And Dollar Store cloths pins to attach fabric to hoops.

I wanted more windows this year so whenever I was out driving, I kept my eyes open for them someone trashed or workers at home that didn't want to take them for scrap metal. Sure enough, last fall I had collected 8 windows! And boy do they work as a quick cold frame.

2013 Word of the Year

Taking Selfies increased 1700% in 2013!!!

But nothing new! Pictures of ourselves have a long history in photography, starting from the invention of photography in the 1800's.

Andy Warhol could be called the "King" or "Emperor of Selfies".  Or at least their biggest ENABLER. He used to give friends a bag of dimes in Manhathan & they would all go & take pictures of themselves ( selfies) in the 10 cents each photo booth in black & white. No denying that Eddie Sedwidge is the "Queen of Selfies"!

I did that a lot too. A friend & I made it a ritual every time I would go visit her in NYC and even when I lived there, we always made a stop at our favorite store in the East Village to "do a photo". We even had props to use in the booth. Those were black & white too. It wasn't so much about a self-portrait but about capturing the memory. Ours weren't a dime but TOTALY worth it for a dollar!

Now photo booths are every where it seems which is a good thing. They can be rented for any party, wedding, college event or even permenantly in restaurants and these shots are usually free too.

While today's SELFIE taking can get annoying as everyone is doing, some day, as with ANY photograph, no matter how taken, will be a window to the past and special memories.

A GREEN Selfie

Not really to into this current craze or trend or ephemera, but these I had to take.

2014

2013

Tiny seeds big plants

It's pretty darn amazing magical even that some thing so small can turn into something SO BIG, even HUGE at times.

In the tiny seed category are Radicchio seeds.  There are numerous varieties of radicchio & most here only know one, the ball snapped one you find with crimson red & white stripes. It starts out green and gets that 2-tone color by bleaching out the leaves, either manually some how by grower or by to growing tight on itself so that the center is a round ball shape no longer green!

This year I planted this variety. Look very closely, tiny seeds on left on soil.

 

They grew to this by June, bottom & left.

Another tiny seed I planted was for Chicory lettuce. I have a mix of 4 different types.

Putting in more plants

Still too cool to start the super hot loving plants of summer. "Estate" in Italian. But I have been busy putting in other plants.

Rainbow Swiss chard

I put in seeds of white chard also. And new this year a green chard that you harvest when it looks small leafed like spinach. Looks like it too. It's so a "cut-and-come-again" variety. Meaning pick some leaves & it will still grow to produce another bunch. Italians love Swiss chard. "Bietola" is what it is in Italian. Did you know chard is in the same family as beets?

I put beet seeds in near chard. They are near each other because I got to fence the planeted area in & cover the tops ( with selvaged screens) because chard & beets are SUGAR CANDY TO DEER!! 

This is my temporary solution for the night till I finish the rows to go under cover till main fence done. Is this two temporary protection fences? 

All this work & angst is because my deer fence is not repaired yet. No time for that as getting stuff in ground is priority. They only want these two now to eat if they jump in at night. 

This is the family right outside my property fence!  See all the GREEN  less light from the shade? This is why in summer they hang out in park munching away during the daylight! 

Based on my last three yrs gardening, I know I got till BEFORE July 4th week to get fence back up. Why you ask? Well the day lilies my father planted behind our garden in park plus the ones I've added the last 5 yrs when I divide them,  bloom right around July 4th. So when the deer find & EAT the lilies off, that's what puts them too close to my garden & they think about getting in! If deer think. They just might act- be propelled by stomach signals. All annoying is what it is!! But that's a whole other topic for another day.

Leeks 

Gotta GROW again! Haven't grown in 4 yrs. These are "candy" to humans! Have you had them cut into thin slices, sautéed with some garlic in EVO : extra virgin olive oil ( the ONLY thing I use from Racheal Ray!), add a good splash of white wine; any type just a good tasting one, add some "al dente" cooked thin spaghetti, with some of the pasta water, stir & cook down a tad, then taste for salt & pepper, add a spash of cream, stir more while adding grated Parmesan cheese, plate & top with fine chopped Italian parsley and  ENJOY! The best damn easiest pasta dish to make & chow down.  And that's one reason why I must plant leeks again!

I dug a trench this year. Plant them in that. So as they grow you can cover the lower part with soil to bleach the bottoms white as they grow. Seedlings are very thin. 

Best way is to dig a deep thin hole, lay a plant in, then use a watering can "to water in" ( wet soil runs around the seedling) them to plant easier.

Now I got the leeks, chard, & beets all planted & proper temp fence/cover on!! Yea!!

That's my raddicchio growing.

To be continued....

When DOES it REALLY START ??

I'm talking SUMMER. 

On the calendar it is June 21. Summer Solstice. Longest day (light) of year. But plants don't read a calendar or do astrological charts. So how do they know? Soil temperature, warmth of sun, hours of daylight, & temperature of day: am, pm, overnight. With rain (for some of their water needs) thrown into the mix. 

My seedlings became small plants. Hardened them off & put in the ground. Common wisdom says that by Mother's Day, they can go into the ground. One has to watch, though what is night time air temps and also how warm the ground is, especially when putting seeds in to germinate. Some vegetables do better to put in ground vs started inside as a plant.

I started picking in May & June what I planted in spring this year. These plants whether started from seeds inside to plant seedlings in ground or just direct seed, like the cooler growing conditions of this season.

Radishes

Bok Choy

I said I wasn't planting any kind of peas. You really have to plant a lot to make the harvesting amount pretty decent. Plus require lots of staking & string as rows This is why they cost a lot at markets. But LOVE fresh peas. Just raw are pretty yummy too. Have you tried?

Well, I ended up planting seedlings of peas & seeds of snap peas. I have for many years grown multiple types & colors of peas; in purple fun to look at & easy to see to pick, and snow pea pods in addition to the snap. Their colored flowers add a special element also to the garden. 

Pea seedlings going in some compost & manure.

Peas in ground

Snap peas I spouted first ( overnight in water)

Snaps in and you can see my strawberries coming in nicely to the right. I started with 10 plants of Ever Blooming strawberries & 6 years later... A BIG harvest ahead this year for sure.

Snap peas I shelled to eat to way: peas fresh in a salad & and in pasta. And pods stir fried

Fava beans!!

Italian flat leaf parsley 

 And my cold frame plantings last year survived the winter really well Love when I lift the lid covers & peek inside for the first time!  Very rewarding to have things to pick & eat or cook with before that magical numer 6/21 on calendar: radicchio, rosemary, chives, oregano, flat parsley. 

This dandelion plant over wintered on it's own. 

It's getting hot & GREEN again!