Back at it!

...and were back at it again. After moving to Fort Collins, CO, we've finally settled in and made a little time for some gardening. Let the new gardening adventures begin.

I keep hearing that Mother's Day is when you start planting tender warm season plants, like tomatoes, eggplants, squash, etc. That's going to take some major patients, since I could probably already be harvesting tomatoes in Austin right now. Today we decided to get started with more cold tolerant plants and get some compost in.

We decided to start with this bed first. It was already here, but was piled full of brush, leaves, was pretty weedy, and had a chicken wire fence around it. Now its cleaned up, old fence tacked to the back fence as trellis, and ready. I am planning for a pretty big garden over time, but this seemed to be an appropriate starting point for this Spring...but, first things first...

...I was sick of throwing vegetable waste into the trash, and I needed a place to put all those leaves, so I built our first compost box. One problem, the crux of this blog is missing. I forgot the shoes in my compost back in Austin, damn. Still trying to figure out how to get them. Anybody want to go over there and dig them out for me? I am actually hoping I can find a way to get them back, one so the blog can continue and they would make a great inoculate.

We planned out the design a bit on paper and then started laying it out on the ground. Added compost where we were planting today and then had to add a small walking path to make sure there was room to move around, but also remind me where things are.

Its hard to see here, but today resulted in planted red candy apple onions on the far right, candy onions on the far left. We also seeded radishes (easter egg on the left and French breakfast on the right) and lettuce along the front and planted garlic in a small space just behind that. A native butterfly and humming bird wildflower mix is seeded on the far right and left edges, and finally we seeded small patches of marigolds in the middle. We didn't plant potatoes today, but prepped the area for planting tomorrow.

Here we have Yukon gold on the left and red potatoes on the right. I chopped them up, making sure each piece had at least one eye in it.

And then shook them in fireplace ashes and let them sit over night to callus up a bit. I read about this method a while back and have had pretty good success the last couple of years. 

And then called it a day. What a better way to work through the transition of Texas gardening to Colorado gardening with a Lone Star (yes, moved here with us and saved for a special occasion). So, here's to learning how to garden in Colorado! Cheers!

2012 LIVESTRONG Austin Marathon: Race Report

The real anxiety I had about the race began on January 22^nd, the day after my first long run in Colorado when I felt a new painful feeling in my Achilles tendon. I have a few theories on this since it was never bothering me (mainly running the entire 21 miles on a nice, but completely concrete, running trail that circumvents Fort Collins) but that’s for another report. It continued through the week and I couldn’t complete the following weeks 10-mile recovery run, nor could I get past mile 9 miles on our last 18-mile long run. I was doing the workouts during the week, but after not even getting through half of a long run I decided I needed some time off and let my foot rest. Not running more than 10 miles for three weeks before the race made me a bit anxious. I am not one to talk much about my injuries, but since it was the foundation of my thoughts through the race, I thought I would give the backstory.

Race morning was great! Not only was I excited about the race, but I had also been gone for a month and was super excited about seeing my running friends, and show off my beard to Chris. Julie and I had a nice breakfast, my trusty bagel, peanut butter and banana sandwich. Julie and I arrived at Rogue and it was great to see everyone and that eased the nerves a bit.

The race started out great. Stephanie, Julie, and I as usual ran together. Before the race started, actually weeks ahead while studying the map I decided to break the race into 5 sections: Start through Congress, down First St. and to the turn on Caesar Chavez, then Caesar Chavez to the Rogue Cheer station and beyond to crossing Mopac, third section being Mopac to the corner of Great Northern and Foster, then Foster to Duval, and finally Duval to the finish. The final section got split into two, but more on that.

     1.    The Congress beast to Caesar Chavez:

The Congress hill wasn’t too bad. It definitely got the blood flowing and the sweat dripping, but not too shabby. The past couple weeks I could feel my Achilles tendon start to get aggravated pretty quickly after starting, but today I didn’t even know it existed until the top of Congress. Maybe adrenaline, maybe the rest helped. It was nice seeing my family waiting at Oltorf and Congress. It meant a lot for them to get up early and make it to the beginning. At this point, I was thinking, hopefully the map and directions I gave them works, and they can figure out all the planned stops. Going down first was nice, good crowd support and I started feeling like I was getting in the groove. Again, saw the folks at Whataburger on First and Barton Springs. I guess they were figuring out the route.

     2.    Caesar Chavez to the second crossing of Mopac

I have done many races down Caesar Chaves as most people from Austin have done. So, this was a pretty familiar section. The LIVESTRONG cheer station at mile 9 was pretty awesome. Lots and lots of people and it just kept going down the road. The lady on the Mopac ramp holding the sign “Your running for me” who obviously had gone through some chemo therapy choked me up a bit, it reminded me we were doing a cancer charity run and a lot more people have gone through harder shit than what I was doing.  So, then we were there…the hills of Tarrytown, supposedly the hardest part of the course.  On the profile it’s the part that seems to just keep climbing mile after mile. F*$k it, it they weren’t so bad…until I finished them and realized how gassed I was, holy crap, they were bad. The Rouge Cheer station at the top of the Exposition hill was pretty awesome. Seeing my folks again, Bobby, the rest of my running group who had already done their marathons or weren’t running for various reasons was really nice at the top of the biggest hill on the course.  I don’t have much to say about this section of the course, except it was the most talked about section and I didn’t think it was that bad. But the rest of the race was about to get a whole lot worse, yet somehow fun at the same time.

     3.    Mopac to Great Northern and Foster

This was also a pretty familiar part of the course, as I like to ride my bike over here a lot. I was impressed by the neighborhood crowd support. It was also cool to see my boss from the Wildflower Center sitting outside his house cheering.  This section of the course was when I started feeling quite fatigued. After crossing Mopac we were passed by Tori and Katie. It was great to see them again as they were not at Rogue in the morning. I could also tell Julie was feeling good and was holding back just to run with me.  Oh I must say, we lined up a bit in front of our pace group (4:25) that we planned on running with just because of the way the crowds worked at the stop. They passed us on Bull Creek and Julie and I managed to pick up the pace and stay with them for the next 4-5 miles. This gave me some confidence that I may be getting tired but I’ve still got some left in the tank. Great Northern sucked! That road just sucks…on a bike and on foot.

     4.    Foster to Duval

I had figured this section would be the worst for me. Not just because of the mileage it is at, but it just meanders through neighborhoods that I am not familiar with. I thought it would be boring and hard…and it was! I hit THE wall on Foster and told Julie to go on. I was determined not to walk, but was going to slow down a bit and I could tell she was ready to pick it up, and she did. I thought I could get through the wall and maybe catch back up to her. I bitched and moaned and ran and bitched and moaned and ran. It was a lot harder to break through that wall than I thought it would be…I am not sure I ever really did. A few cool things happened on this section, a few of the folks in the crowd had great signs and said some great encouraging things, a man ran by me singing opera (obviously his way of getting through the pain) but it was greatly appreciated by me, and everything else started hurting. My Achilles was getting to the pain threshold where I would have usually stopped during a workout, but it managed to hang on until my other foot started hurting, my quads started stiffening up, etc, etc, etc. So, instead of it being a nagging pain in the ass it just fell in with all the other aches and pains, which was actually quite a relief. Also, I came around the corner on 51^st and Cam’s family was there with some Gatorade and Gu with caffeine, and I had been jonesing for some caffeine for the past hour. The Gage family was saviors! I realized I wasn’t catching Julie and was ok with it. I was so proud of her at this point.

     5.    Duval to Finish

Turning on Duval was such a relief. I had been looking forward to that intersection since the moment I started, maybe even two months ago. I was a lot more tired than I had expected and still hadn’t made it through the wall. I watched a video of Steve Sisson talking about how the race will not go how you expect, and this was apparently obvious. I thought seeing Duval would be an energy booster, but it was still a long, long three miles. Within the general group that I was running with 4:30-5:00 groups, carnage was taking place. People falling out, stretching, cussing, moaning, walking, all around me. Just plain carnage! This was not good for the psyche, but again my family showed up on Duval and I ran into a group of friends that I was not planning on seeing. Big spirit booster! My 5^th section was broken into two so…

     6.    San Jacinto to Finish Line

Since the beginning of training, San Jac back from Double Daves, by the stadium until MLK has been a bugger for me. Not sure why but I always struggle there on the way back into the shop. So, that little section had become my nemesis. It was apparent running down Duval I still had this portion ahead of me and I was beat. So, I told myself to get there, beat the nemesis and then I would be finished. When I got here I knew I had done it before and I was going to make it, still hopefully without walking. Again, another friend I wasn’t expecting was sitting on a bench cheering. So, Coach Bobby had talked about and done some cheesy things, and I thought the whole “running in your teammates” thing was super cheesy until about San Jac and 21^st, and man did I want a teammate to run with me! I couldn’t think of a mantra while on the road, but now after the fact I realize that I was probably saying over and over “where are they, where are they, where are they”. Seeing Daniel coming out to run up the final San Jac hill was an amazing thing. Another lesson learned, Bobby’s cheesiness works. Trust the coach. The Finish Line: not sure I can describe how I felt finishing my first marathon. Great, but in extreme pain? That’s probably the best way to describe it. I didn’t think I would be in that much pain after it was over. But hanging out and drinking beer with my teammates was fabulous, and it was a nice excuse to take a pedicab for the first time even though I have lived in Austin for 4.5 years.

According to most I talk to say 20 miles is physical and the last 6 is mental (in more ways then one). Bobby talked about dedicating the last 6 miles to someone or something (again, thought it was cheesy) and I ended up doing the same thing. Here is the breakdown:

6:   Our troops and that they get home quickly and safely. I started college two weeks before 9/11 and things have changed a bit. I have had 37 friends and/or acquaintances go to either Iraq or Afghanistan. All have made it home safely or are still there. I hope this trend continues until it’s all over.  Probably the whole race should have been dedicated to them.

5:   President Obama. Yes, I love our president.

4:   I was hurting and frustrated at this point. I didn’t dedicate this mile to anyone, but I did bitch in my head about a certain political party that I will not mention so not to offend.

3:   Was for my Rogue teammates. Without training with them, drinking with them, and learning from them I couldn’t have done this. I have been amazed since day one that a group of folks that otherwise have nothing in common can be such good friends just based around running.

2:   Was for Julie. She has amazed me through the whole training and kicking my ass during the race earned herself her own mile.

1:   My family. If they can see me do this then maybe they will be inspired to get in shape and be healthy.

Last 0.2: That section was for me. I feel like I deserve the last 0.2 all to myself.

Lessons Learned:

       1.     People go through worse things than this.

       2.     Trust the training.

       3.     Trust the coach and his cheesiness.

       4.     My wife can now kick my ass in running!

Harvesting Onions & Using Food From the Garden

We finally got to harvest some of the heirloom scallop squash. 

 

Eggplants should be producing fruit soon.

Its hot and its really really really dry so things have slowed down. Maybe more pictures next time.

New Growth, New Pest, and Unexpected Guest

Its Spring, maybe already Summer! Unfortunately its already super hot. We have had two 100+ degree days in downtown Austin, already and its not even May.

For the most part I have our Spring garden in, minus one little area where I am planning on planting eggplant. Now, just to find time to run to the nursery and get some eggplant transplants.

If you remember, I am not planting tomatoes this year (squirrels=too frustrating), so I am planting a lot of corn in order to trade with friends at work for tomatoes. The Gentleman's Sweet Corn is starting to grow in my new raised beds in the front yard (http://urbancomposter.blogspot.com/2011/04/new-year-new-garden.html). The front middle bed was just planted with Dakota Black Popcorn. I had to stagger the planting of the sweet corn and popcorn so the sweet corn wouldn't cross-pollinate with the popcorn and make it starchy.

I am trying to stagger my plantings of Inca rainbow sweet corn in order to have corn most of the Spring and into the Summer. You can see the first planting is starting to send up its inflorescence, while the new corn in front is just starting to get big. The bare ground is planted with seed but it is not germinating, so I am going to take the corn plants that were thinned from the front boxes and plant them in this space. After the corn has run its corse I will plant this space with okra. Two heirloom varieties that I will save to write about later.

The heirloom yellow scallop squash is making its debut. I have heard from the grapevine (friends at work) that scallop squash (aka patty pan) are some-what resistant to squash vine borer. So-far-so-good. Hopefully I am not jinxing myself.

Garden from afar.

First major pest of the year, cucumber beetles. They are devouring my potatoes plants, and I am trying to figure out how to slow the carnage (any ideas?). Last year I had the same problem (http://urbancomposter.blogspot.com/2010/05/food-is-coming.html). Today I tried using a hand vacuum with no success so just reverted to a trusty bowl of soapy water and hand picking. I think I knocked them back a bit, but all it takes is another swarm. I think it will be an ongoing battle until the potatoes are ready for harvest. I just need to be vigilant and not let them get so prolific they move to my squash and corn. BUT...

...yesterday I found this guy devouring a cucumber beetle. Unfortunately by the time I got my camera he either ate it or let it go. I am assuming some sort of assassin bug (anyone out there have an idea?). There are way more cucumber beetles eating my plants than he knows what to do with, but hopefully my culling today will let him catch up and do his duties. This guy is the only reason I didn't do a full spraying of neem oil.

For the unexpected guest,  but a much welcomed guest. Three snake herb (Dyschoriste linearis)
 plants showed up in the Dora memorial garden (http://urbancomposter.blogspot.com/2009/12/eulogy-for-dora.html) I thought I wrote about this bed when it was created, but I guess not. I will have to have a blog dedicated to the Dora Memorial Bed. Back to the snake herb...They are growing right up next to the little bluestem clump I brought back and planted after digging it up where I buried Dora, so I can only suspect they are stow-aways. Since I just spent money buying this plant at my work's plant sale for another bed, I will welcome them with open arms in the Dora Memorial Garden.

And for a final thought, one of my favorite Texas natives, the purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea), is about ready to bloom in the Texas Native bed. Can't wait till these guys are in full bloom.

A new year, a new garden

Spring has arrived, and my much neglected blog needs some attention. I am going to try and blog more this year and have some guest bloggers chip in with some thoughts. Here is my garden so far. I am excited about this year's garden. I started everything from heirloom seeds and have some good thought out plans for the entire Spring and Summer. Here is hoping the squirrels will leave me alone and maybe it rains a little. 

First thing you will notice is that I have given up on tomatoes. I am growing a lot of corn in hopes to trade some neighbors and coworkers for tomatoes.

Overall view of the set up this year. I extended some growing room by removing some of the walkways and adding soil. Corn on the left, scallop yellow squash in the middle, peppers, potatoes, chard, sorrell, and onions on the far right, and eggplants will go in the front.

Potatoes have been planted since early February, and are doing well. Looking a little wilty here, because it is so damn hot outside already. No cucumber beetles yet, but I have been seeing them around. Its just a matter of time.

Onions have also been planted since early February.

I've got one unknown bell pepper, 2 King Arthur bell's, and 2 Serranos planted so far. Awaiting some more pepper transplants from my parents.

I am trying to grow some corn in succession so I can have it through the Summer, and then plant okra in its place as it goes. This is a heirloom variety called Inca rainbow sweet, a multi-colored sweet corn.

I added three raised beds in the front yard to offer more space in my limited sun. The two outside beds are planted with Gentleman's Sweet Corn, a heirloom variety that looks like normal sweet corn. The middle bed will be planted with Black Popcorn, another heirloom corn, in a few weeks. I have to stagger the plantings of the popcorn with the sweet corn so they don't cross pollinate and make the sweet corn starchy. The spouse loves popcorn, so hopefully I can come through for her needs.

The front trellis is planted with red Asian long beans, and they have just started to pop up. I grew the green variety last year and it was a lot of fun. Imaging foot long bean pods! The back trellis is planted with Christmas Lima beans. A heirloom variety that I read about in "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" by Barbara Kingsolver (strongly recommended).

I am excited about my nopals putting on lots of new pads. I planted this spineless prickly pear for food a couple years ago, and I think it is finally big enough to harvest a pad here and there.

In the Texas native garden, the bluebonnets are blooming nicely. Not much of a display this year in the TX native garden since we have not had much rain at all, and I refuse to water this garden. That's the  point of planting natives! But none-the-less, with no water I still have flowers, with more to come.

And the mealy blue sage is blooming nicely. This one will last all summer!

Homegrown/Local Dinner

Quick post about my dinner tonight. I have been bad about posting pictures from my Fall garden, but in the meantime, here is a cool dish I made tonight using all local food or food from my garden.

Roasted acorn squash, mashed purple califlower with garlic and cilantro (all from Johnson's Backyard Garden -- jbgorganic.com). And as a side, greens (dino and tuscan kale & mustard greens) and bell peppers from my garden.

The salad was mixed lettuce, arugala, and sweet plum tomatoes from Johnson's Backyard Garden.

Julie said she like it so it must have been a success!

I will try to get some pictures of my Winter garden posted soon.

Mid Summer and Squirrels Wreak Havoc!

Squirrels have left their mark and made me do some "rearranging" of my vegetable plans. Summer heat has started to slow things down, but I am still having fun. The peppers have been doing well and I planted some okra hoping it can make it through the summer. Fall garden plans are brewing, and I am starting to get the itch. I just need to get through the next two months of Central Texas heat!

Our cantaloupe at the top of the trellis is swelling up. As with most things in my garden the ones that try to develop down low become breakfast for the squirrels. I find a new half eaten cantaloupe somewhere in my yard, weekly.

This is what it has come too. A tomato hut. While building this I realized I would pass the "South Austin School of Architecture". I'm pretty proud of this ridiculously tacky and ugly structure. It is working quite well. I did learn the hard way that the squirrels can chew through the netting, so now I am not only trying to play urban farmer but have to play urban rancher and walk my fence-line every morning to check for holes and do a patch work that rivals the overall quality of the structure itself. Ha.

So the story goes like this. I built the tomatoes structure and dusted off my hands, held my head high, and retired for the night pretty satisfied that I had done something major to beat the squirrels. I woke up the next morning only to find the squirrels gave me the middle finger and completely ravaged my corn patch. They peeled open and ate EVERY ear of corn that had formed and completely annihilated EVERY corn stalk. It literally looked like a tornado had come through. There were corn plants all over the yard and garden, and ears laying around half eaten. It was bad! But not a time to give up. I planted some peas and beans in that spot. It gets quite a bit of shade this time of year, so I thought maybe they would survive summer. We shall see.

Sorry for the blurry pictures and lack thereof. Its hot! Cheers.