Posts Tagged ‘Garden’

April is staying true to its word, showering our land with the right amount of skywater to encourage vibrant greens and the early bloom of summer color. This weekend, the Beach 91st Street Community Garden held its season kick-off meeting, and I finally had the chance to touch the earth. Free compost from the Queens Botanical Garden (Queens Rep! Thank you!) was the afternoon task. I shoveled out the top three inches of soil from my garden plot and replaced it with rich compost. The scent of pure earth! I was amazed by how […]

The time is now. The ground is thawing and the first bulbs of spring are breaking through the surface soil. What do you want your garden to look like this year?  What do you want it to yield? Think about edible landscaping, where food plants double as beautiful design features. Consider garden themes: like planting a tea garden, herb gardens, or a culture garden inspired by your heritage or in honor of someone else’s. Think outside the garden box. Make sketches of your veg layout and keep a garden journal to house […]

My thought was that winter would be weird, lonely, and slow. I’m not sure about the weird and lonely part yet, but it’s definitely not slow. I’m slammed with graphic design work, which is awesome (cha-ching) but also very, very stressful. Freelancing is a cycle of feast or famine. I’m at feast. On top of that, I’m doing numerous other things, like being an art teacher at Rockaplay; being a columnist; trying to be a good daughter, visiting my parents weekly; selling a car, helping friends cat-sitting; remembering to shut off […]

The warm colors and intricate textures of an autumn garden are often overlooked, but not by nature enthusiasts, earth lovers, mystics, and our witches. We see the world in a different way. We see the big beauty in the small bits. We know the less popular and tainted hold more wonders. Just the other week, while puttering around the Beach 91st Street Garden, I spotted a songbird feeding on a spent sunflower, its seeds neatly tucked into their own little compartments. How is that even possible? A sleepy grasshopper rested […]

A few folks from the Beach 91 Community Garden reached out to me with a great question: “What can I plant in the fall?” There are many cold-weather crops we can plant for harvest before the frost, especially now in late September, as well as options for early summer harvests. It’s a common misconception that our growing season here in NYC is short.  Learning beyond the typical spring-summer vegetable plantings is a fun challenge. You will become a better gardener for it. Wanna give it a try? Make soups or sautées with […]

Some years our garden harvest does better than others. Why? Many factors come into play, including weather, temperature, soil, planting time, pests, and the gardener’s consistency and effort. I’d like to share about what’s happening in my garden: The parsley in my plot overwintered. Other gardeners mentioned that theirs did too. It’s not the best sign as it means we had another mild winter. I use all parts of the parsley plant in my red sauce and in homemade dressings. This is a lovely dressing recipe from my friend and fellow gardener […]

Apart from cultivating delicious foods and discovering the secrets of gardening, an integral appeal of participating in the Beach 91st Street Community Garden is the sense of community it fosters. Over the years, from my initial membership to assuming a leadership role, the garden has provided me with a unique avenue to connect with individuals in Rockaway whom I might never have crossed paths with otherwise. Our group is a sea of cultures and age ranges, yet we find ourselves united by our shared love for the soil. Fred monitoring […]

Sip echinacea tea on a chilly fall evening, taking a pause to enjoy a quiet moment. I’ve been puttering around the garden. There’s so much to do, see, smell and enjoy in the fall. I’ve discovered a landscape of mushrooms under the oak hydrangea and other mushroom villages nestled below the brush. They indicate a healthy garden because mushrooms thrive in rich, organic soil. I’m not a mushroom expert but I take pleasure in investigating the funny little things. With the cool autumn season and consistent rain, the fungi appear […]

When life gives you green tomatoes… fry them. I’m getting a hunch that most of my beefsteak and heirloom tomatoes will not ripen. You may be feeling this too. We had a slow start to the summer, temp. wise. I remember 4th of July weekend was the first time it hit above 80 degrees. Large tomatoes need time, about 100 days to ripen. It’s likely with the slow start this summer, larger breeds may not make it to cherished red. Tomatoes ripen due to a combination of factors. If the […]

So, you have more herbs growing in your garden than you know what to do with right? We can dry, store, and save for our winter soups but fresh is best. This may be the number one reason why we love to garden – seasonally harvested foods just taste superior. There are many ways to incorporate the vibrant flavors of herbs into our meals. Some take time though. This summer, I’ve been using herbs in a simple way. And that is the Sicilian way. The core of Italian cooking emphasizes […]