the urban field guide

I was really surprised to see this article in the style section. I love it. There’s also a link in the article to a short video on how to can. From NY Fashion week to canning. Maybe culture really is in a shift.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/27/dining/27cann.html

I’m also pretty excited about the Yes, We Can project happening in the Mission in SF right now. Just click on the image to link to their site for more info. Unfortunately the work shifts are full but you can still seasonally buy apricot jam, pickles and tomatoes for a really good price. And it’s just a great, smart idea so make sure to get over there !

   I thought that since I mentioned below how I was eyeing the mullein in the traffic circle that I would write about it a little bit. This picture is the beauty getting ready to bloom in said circle. Mulleins are really easy to grow. They thrive on being neglected if left in a sunny spot with aerated soil. They will quickly reseed an area and you will be left with a high drama, highly useful part of your garden.  

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Over the last few years the city has cut a hole into the asphalt of almost every other intersection in my neighborhood. They built large planters to serve as traffic circles as an alternate plan to the speed bumps and road blocks they have everywhere. The speed bumps and roadblocks are still there, but hey – now we have these great traffic circles. The city gave some money to neighbors that were willing to plant the circles but they do not do any maintenance or watering. It’s completely up to the neighborhood to keep these circles going. 

Most of the circles have food in them. The first picture has some dinosaur kale and swiss chard and there is even a tiny fig tree growing on the other side. The one above has corn, artichokes and an enormous mullein plant that I’ve got my eye on for harvesting during the smoggy/foggy summer months. The one near my house is planted with tomatoes, zucchini, cucumbers, corn and oddly – horseradish. The neighbor across the street is hardcore and every morning loads buckets with water onto her little red flyer wagon and hauls it down to the waiting plants. It is a beautiful spectacle.

      This was the impulse buy at the nursery. You know how it is, you go into the nursery to get something specific and then a plant just suckers you in. Then you’re in line with it. This is how I wound up with the Italian Tree Tomato. I kept reading the tag: ‘Trellis tomato grows up to 25 ft. Prune heavy for tree like appearance. Heavy yielding medium sized red globes’. The skeptical side of me was, well skeptical. The jack-in-the-beanstalk side of me was all for it. And the Italian side of me was hungrily envisioning bowl after bowl of medium sized red globes. 

The picture above is after it had been in the ground for a few days. I have to admit I was a little disappointed. I’d been picturing a foot a day growth. I am secretly hoping that I will have to ask my upstairs neighbor to help me pick the tomatoes.

I suppose the plant should come with a warning that tomatoes just don’t grow that well in the SF Bay Area (damn fog), but I will keep documenting it’s growth with the help of my pal the gnome. Unless of course someone kidnaps the gnome.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garden_Gnome_Liberationists

Oh, and the crazy lady bamboo sticks surrounding the plant are my feral cat/frenetic squirrel barrier. I am happy to say that with the exception of a few squirrel impasses it is working well.

Two men picking loquats from the tree located out in front of a check cashing place at a busy intersection. The tall one picked and the other held open a plastic bag. Picked until it was full.

Loquat syrup is used in TCM to alleviate coughing and wheezing. It has a really great name – Pi Pa Ye. The syrup is made from the leaves but you can also make a tea. Just be sure to either put it in a cotton bag, or scrape the fuzzy part off of the leaf first or you may wind up coughing more!

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/21/garden/21poison.html

I came across this article while drinking my coffee and it made me smile. Yes, I’m an herbalist and an acupuncture student and I drink coffee. I am a mass of contradictions, it’s true. I love that she made a writer’s office in the garden and nailed books to the walls of the garden so they would flip their pages with the wind. How beautiful, right?

Years ago my partner and I lived in an old storefront that was wonderful in it’s own right but also had some things going against any kind of substantial garden. It was next to a bar (glass shards), not so far from the I280 freeway (soot) and shook as the BART train rumbled under it (I don’t want to know what kind of bad things rise up from the BART tunnel). So, no food. We made it a poisonous plant garden. I’ll have to hunt around for photos to add. There were a few non-poisonous plants that we rescued from their finicky owners, but there were plenty of bergmansia (angel’s trumpet) and castor bean plants for the feral cats to frolic in. I loved that garden and when I saw this it inspired me to start devising some more sinister plots. 

Hello and welcome!

I am taking a hopeful jump here.

Now let’s talk about  some plants.