Merry Christmas

Boston Public Library, originally uploaded by tpl108.

Taken on the steps of the Boston Public Library, this is the statue, "Science," which, along with "Art," stradles the library's entrance.

Columbus Avenue Christmas

Columbus Avenue Christmas, originally uploaded by tpl108.

Looking inbound. Christmas can't last forever and neither can my fascination with Christmas lights.

More Christmas Lights

Christmas Lights, originally uploaded by tpl108.

Christmas Lights

Christmas Lights, originally uploaded by tpl108.

There is still very little to report from the gardening front. The last bit of rosemary was harvested and dried. The sedum finally petered out early in November, but have already set the beginnings of what will be impressive growth in the spring.

In the meantime, enjoy this picture I took in my neighborhood last night.

Church of the Covenant

Church of the Covenant, originally uploaded by tpl108.

Boston Public Library

Boston Public Library, originally uploaded by tpl108.

Make Way for Ducklings

Make Way for Ducklings, originally uploaded by tpl108.

Wellesley College

Wellesley College, originally uploaded by tpl108.

Hibernation

Frosty Japanese Maple, originally uploaded by tpl108.

With a few cold nights telegraphing winter's impending arrival, there are fewer and fewer items to write about. A few mums aside, most everything is dormant. As such, until spring, my substantive posts will taper off in favor of pictures. I hope you enjoy and keep checking back -- just don't be dissapointed in the lack of new content.

The Management.

(Incidentally, this photo was taken this morning as temperatures were in the upper 20s.)

Happy Halloween

Jack-o-Lanterns, originally uploaded by tpl108.

Flower and Bee

Flower and Bee, originally uploaded by tpl108.

Compost Heap Swells with Infusion of Fresh Leaves

Even a modest yard can be innundated with leaves in the height of autumn. With more or more municipalities placing restrictions on yard waste collection, disposal of leaves can be a real hassle. While oak leaves tend to mat and break down slowly, most leaves are well-suited for composted. If a fistful of leaves crunches and breaks apart, it'll be good for compost.

Dead, brown leaves are relatively high in carbon (C:N 60:1) and will require a good amount of greens to provide some nitrogen to speed decomposition. If it's not too late in the season, grass clippings should fit the bill. My town's recycling center is a gold mine for getting clippings. I like to kick it there ands covet my neighbors' lawn clippings.

Incidentally, the garden fork in the picture is my new favorite tool. It's perfect for turning compost, digging holes in rocky soil, and scaring teenage hooligans.

Extra credit reading assignment: wonderful article on how composting does its thing.

Jennings Pond

Jennings Pond, originally uploaded by tpl108.

Autumn in Eastern Massachusetts

South Natick, originally uploaded by tpl108.

Euonymus alatus

An otherwise uninteresting plant during the spring and summer, euonymus alatus also known as a burning bush gradually turns from green to a brilliant red with orange-hued berries. A common plant, especially when one is atuned to spot it, euonymous alatus is considered by many to be an invasive species. Recently, Botany Photo of the Day profiled the rather similar euonymus europeanus.

Thoughts of invasion notwithstanding, this plant grows at a fast clip, around 13 to 24 inches per year. It is a an easy plant to maintain as it tolerates a wide range of soil conditions and enjoys everything between full shade to full sun. Come winter, feel free to hack away as this euonymous tolerates heavy pruning. It'll still love you come April.

Images of Fall on the Grange

Grange Experiences First Light Freeze of the 2006 Season

Above and Below the Ice
Originally uploaded by Reciprocity.

Early this morning, under a clear sky with calm winds, the temperature slipped below freezing for an hour or two, foreshadowing the close to this year's growing season. In anticipation, tender plants such as the oxalis and Christmas cactus were moved into the relative shelter of the garage. Hardier perennials such as the herbs were allowed to weather the cold unsheltered.

Steam Denotes my Success at Composting

steamy walk
Originally uploaded by elfis gallery.

Composting is great because it reduces waste and returns beneficial nutrients into your garden. Oh yeah, the whole thing runs on garbage, too. Unless it hatched baby seals and pandas, it'd be hard to find something more environmentally friendly.

None of these things interest me. Indeed, they are nice and I do get a warm hippie-crunchy-kashi-good-friends sort of feeling, all without having to vote or convert my car to run on the remains of chimichanga and french fry oil. But, I care about none of that. What gets me excited is the idea of getting my pile so hot that it would smoke.

Ignition. On one cold morning I turned the pile and it was smoking like Cheech and Chong at a glaucoma support group. This is really neat stuff. The pile is shrinking and steaming and I couldn't be more pleased with nature. Nature, you're back on my a-list, but you're a rainy day away from the b-list.

Meserve Holly

This ilex meservae ("Blue Princess") went into the ground last week. It is a remarkably hardy plant, withstanding temperatures as low as -30 F, and tolerating a range of conditions from shady to sunny and from wet to dry. These traits combined with its relatively quick growing habits should help establish this as a great foundation plant. To help these plants along, a small amount of Holly-Tone was scrathed in to the soil around the plant.

Also known as a Blue Holly, this plant is a hybrid of a hardy Japanese Holly with a more traditional looking English Holly. Not suprisingly, to get these red berries to set on female plants, a male plant needs to be within several hundred feet. It is best to plant at least one male along with several females. Both male and female should be of the same variety to ensure that both sexes are in bloom at the same time.

Reader Mailbag: Thoughts on Grass Clippings in Compost

wet grass
Originally uploaded by mosippy.

A reader writes, "Granger, you're a freakin' genius. Cast some knowledge down from the mountain on me. [Here's my question:] I've actually been adding grass clippings as browns...I pile them up in the back yard, let them dry out of a few weeks and then add them. They are all brown and dry by them...do you think that is bad? Also, I worry that grass clippings lead to increased weeds in my garden plot...any thoughts?

I have done a lot of research into composting and how it all works. Extension services have produced some really informative pages on how to get started. Cornell, in particular, has a great page on the science of composting. Understanding how compost forms is a good way to work through problems.

Here's what I think. The phrase, "browns and greens," is kind of misleading. Color, while a good rule of thumb, isn't determinative. Coffee grounds are a green, for example, and one of the best greens out there. So, the color of your grass shouldn't matter. What is important is its carbon to nitrogen ratio. Fresh grass typically has a C:N of between 10:1 and 20:1. (I've seen varying figures reported) It seems that anything below 30:1, which is the ideal C:N ratio for compost, is a "green," while anything above is a "brown." I think of browns and greens this way: if it burns, it's probably a brown.

Now, so what "color" is dead grass that's perhaps a few weeks old? That's hard to say. I suspect that perhaps some of the nitrogen has been extracted while it sat and that if added to a pile it wouldn't heat it up like fresh clippings would. That's just a guess, but I don't know if it'd really serve the purpose of a brown. It might. I just don't know. (I'd love to know how it works for you)

Regardless, I don't think it's a bad practice. If the end result is compost, then don't sweat it. Alternatively, you could add it to the pile right away and mix in some super browns like sawdust. I got a giant bucket of sawdust and it was a breeze to work in. But, then again, you might be producing more grass than you can compost at once. I tend to leave my clippings on the lawn. After a week, they've either broken down or been whisked away with the wind, scattered to the four corners of my neighborhood.

For the second part of your question, you might get seeds in your compost. This is a genuine problem. However, if you hot compost the high temperatures should deactivate the seeds, alleviating any problems there. Cold composting, done over a year or more, might accomplish the same thing, but I'm not too certain on this point. In the end, I think the benefits of using aged and mature compost outweigh the risks of stray seeds.

As an aside, I scored some major grass today. A lawn service crew that was working on my neighbor's yard gladly filled up a giant bin of grass clippings for me. My pile keeps getting hotter by the day. Fascinating stuff.

My Compost Heap: "That's Hot"

coffee for compost
Originally uploaded by seanorama.

If a good ratio of greens and browns are mixed together, bacteria within the pile start to get to multiply and begin eating the waste inside. So, even though morning temperatures are in the high 40s, the bacteria in my pile have the temperature dialed in at over a hundred.

Green stuff -- leafy, moist, and high in nitrogen -- serves to heat things up, while brown stuff -- woody, dry, and high in carbon -- slows things down and keeps the pile from going anaerobic, which is marked by foul odors. Browns are easy to find. Dead leaves, shredded paper, bark can all be had in good quantities. Large amounts of greens are harder to find. Thankfully, Starbucks offers plenty of greens in the form of used coffee grounds. Along with grass clippings and kitchen wastes, they are an excellent source of greens.

How to Build a Compost Bin (Inexpensively)

Brush, trimmings, and grass clippings piled up in my yard and it became clear that I needed to compost. The only thing stopping me was the cost. Unbelievably, composting bins cost around $75-$100. That seems like a lot of money to spend on a something that essentially holds garbage.

Luckily, plans for bins abound on the internet. Here's how I did it. A good bin should 1) hold about 3'x3'x3' of waste, 2) be easy to move, 3) have plenty of ventilation, 4) and be easy to open so that you can scoop out your compost. There might be some other important characteristics but this seems to hit the highlights.

Items:
2 rolls of 36" by 5' galvanized hardware cloth. Home Depot sells this stuff. It's usually in the fencing aisle (way down near lumber) and it looks like really sturdy chicken wire. It comes in rolls of 5' and 25'. 25' seems like overkill. We'll just "sew" our two 5' together. Also, don't get chicken wire. Although it is a bit cheaper you'll probably have to put stakes in the ground for support. That's a pain. Also, shoot for the 1/2" hardware cloth. 1/2" denotes the size of the holes.

1 small roll of 18 or 20 gauge wire. You may not even need this. My hardware cloth was bound with wire already, which can be used to fasten the rolls together.

Tools:
Needle nose pliers. Try to use a pair with a wire cutter built in, which most will have.
Gloves. The ends of the hardware cloth are sharp. Wear a sturdy pair of gloves.

Step One: Roll out both rolls of hardware cloth.

Step Two: Carefully fold back the unfinished edges so that nothing pointy sticks out. Note that the hardware cloth has a finished edge and an unfinished edge.

Step Three: Align the two recently folded edges and tie them together with wire. Put ties every couple of inches. We want this be sturdy. Wire it down firmly.

Step Four. Prop it out so that it now looks like a bin.

Step Five. Stitch the two other edges together loosely. This should be firm but relatively easy to undo when you want to move the pile or really get at your compost. (You might just want to wire it firmly anyway and simply lift the whole bin up instead of opening it.)

This should just about do it. It's no engineering marvel but it gets the job done for about $12. Pictures to follow.

Early Morning

Hunnewell Forest
Natick, MA

Lycoperdon pyriforme

These mushrooms, which I think are Lycoperdon pyriforme, were on the side of steeply sloped bank under a canopy of oak trees located in the Hunnewell Town Forest in Natick, Massachusetts. There were a few large clumps about a foot or two wide.

Sucker.

For those who've wondered just what a sucker looks like, gawk at this photo. This is a tomato plant sucker. As you can see, it's a new stem growing between two pre-existing, and more established, stems. Some people like to pinch them back. Others don't. But before you even have to make that decision, here's what you need to look for. This is a determinate variety of tomato, so I think I'll keep the suckers on and see what happens.

Garlic Chives

The garlic chives are in bloom this week. Last year the plant didn't flower at all. Here's a neat rule of thumb I found on garden web, which explains this plant's relatively slow growth. The rule with perennials: first year they sleep, second year they creep, third year they LEAP.

Lettuce, Day 29: On the Rebound

Despite being nearly devoured by vermin, the lettuce has come roaring back. We just might get a salad out of these plants after all. We'll need to harvest the lettuce quickly because it will turn bitter in the heat.

Tomato Plant, Day 29

Warm weather and bright sunshine ushered in lots of new growth and even brought out a few flowers. As you'll see the plant grew quite a bit. So long as the temperatures remain below 90 during the day and below 70 at night, tomato plants will set fruit. Virginia's cooperative extension has a great page on tomato culture, which explains fruit set more. Apparently, optimal fruit set happens when nighttime temperatures are in the 60s.

Herbs, Day 1

Last year we focused on vegetables but, given the uncertain future of the grange, this year we're concentrating on smaller projects, like these herbs. Planted in this container are rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis), oregano (Origanum vulgare?), and woolly thyme (Thymus psuedolanuginosus). This type of thyme isn't edible but should fill in (and hopefully not crowd out) between the other herbs. All of the herbs are perennial, so I just might be able to keep them going until next year if they overwinter indoors. Here's a good link to a herb page maintained by NC State.

Tomato Plant, Day 21

Record-setting rainfall, cold temperatures, and high winds have characterized the past three weeks on the grange. These aren't the conditions that get tomato plants growing. As a result, this plant has grown very slowly since being planted last month. After ten or eleven straight days of rain, it appeared that it would never come back.
So much for getting a jump on the season.

Conditions are to set improve later this week with temperatures forecast to hit 80F over the weekend. That should really help this guy along.

Animals Maraud Grange; Granger Ponders Retaliatory Scorced Earth Policy

While I don't think I've actually seen a yeti, though I may have on the red line somewhere between Park Street and Charles, I still like to believe it exists. Similarly, while I've never seen a rabbit or analagous mammal in my slice of the urban jungle, I pretend that they have a lair somewhere, perhaps deep in the sewer.

They do exist and I have proof. They must or else my neighbors have lost all maner of decorum. On Friday night something ravaged my lettuce, felling it in its prime. The damage: one plant completely uprooted, two plants mauled. Bunch of animals in this neighborhood.

Water, Water, Everywhere

Many days of rain on the grange will be followed by more even more rain and perhaps a touch of small-stream flooding for excitement. Despite the rainy weather, the lettuce is doing well, but the tomato plant has more or less stopped growing. Tomatoes apparently require warm weather. So much for my plan to get a jump on the season. With several inches of rain predicted for the weekend, the tomtato has been moved under the see-through acrylic patio table. That'll learn it.

Romaine Lettuce, Day 1

Along with the tomato, we planted six romaine lettuce plants. The lettuce was a real winner last season and it should do well this year. Lettuce doesn't need a whole lot of space to grow. A one gallon container is plenty big.

Lettuce does need cool temperatures, which might pose a problem depending on how May shapes up. Last May was fairly cool, with only 91 growing degree days reported. If things get too hot the lettuce will send up a seed stalk, which will make the lettuce bitter. The nice thing about lettuce is how hardy it is. Even when nighttime temperatures plunge into the mid-30s the lettuce will simply take it in stride.

The plants from the nursery seems to be a few weeks along and might give us a first salad in about a month. Check out last season's lettuce results here.

Getting a Jump on the Season: Grape Tomatoes, Day 1

Despite my landlord's inexorable march toward transforming my gardening space into full-time parking, the Frange defiantly welcomed its first tomato plant of the season. Oddly named a Grape Sweet Olive Tomato, this was one of the only tomato plants available at the nursery. It's way too early for tomatoes in New England, but the idea is that if the plant is brought indoors on cold nights, it will be able to get a jump on the traditional Memorial Day weekend starting time for tomatoes. Until things heat up, and evening temperatures begin to stay above the mid-40s, the plant will repair back to the warmth of my kitchen every night.

UPDATE: This plant performed quite well in a container. While not as prolific as other varieties, it was a solid producer. The fruit wasn't quite as olive shaped as expected, but they were'nt perfectly round, either. The flavor of the tomatoes was generally good but not spectacular. All in all, it tasted like a regular cherry tomato bought at a megamart. It didn't have the extra sweetness of other varieties like Super Sweet 100s.

So, You Want to Grow Tomatoes in Containers

If you're a renter or even a homeowner with more blacktop than soil, gardening can still be in reach. With a little common sense growing tomatoes in containers is simple and super rewarding. As a city kid, farms were places where people went to get poop on their shoes and discover strange allergies. Not to get too hippie-granola, but being insulated from the production of the food supply robbed me of the joy of growing food. Growing tomatoes in containers is a great introduction to gardening. And, remember, we're growing tomatoes. This isn't rocket science or even learning how to set up your voicemail.

Containers
See my earlier post on what type of container to get. For cherry tomatoes, five-gallon buckets are a good starting point. You can certainly go bigger, but don't go smaller. Your plants will suck and cause you to lose face at the next rotary meeting.

Soil
Don't cheap out with soil and don't dig up some dirt from your backyard. It, too, will suck. Growing plants in a limited amount of soil means you'll have to make that soil kick ass. Spring for a big bag of potting soil. It's made to drain efficiently and will do just fine in a container. Be careful not to get garden soil. It's made for God's green earth, not Home Depot's orange buckets. I've had great success with Miracle-Gro's potting soil. It's not the cheapest stuff, but it's got fertilizer built in, which should last for a month or so.

Plant Type
Go with something small, especially if this is your first time out. Stay away from varieties that connote monumental proportions. They've got names like Big Boy, Beefsteak, Mortgage Lifter, et cetera. (I'm sure it can be done, but it could be quite a lot of work for a small harvest.) Choose something in the cherry variety. Sungold and Supersweet 100 are solid choices. Sungold, especially, is very popular and is the, ahem, gold standard for those who run in the cherry tomato crowd.

Seed or Transplant?
Transplant. You'll save a lot of time with a transplant, but you'll be stuck with what your plantmonger is offering. Transplants obviously cost more than seed, but, all in all, they are cheaper than a trip to Starbucks or Dunkin' Donuts, depending on how you sway. Stay away from large plants. Get in early and snatch up some plants in those blister packs. They are cheaper.

Determinate or Indeterminate?
Either or is probably fine. Determinate plants grow to a preset size whereas indeterminate plants keep going until the liquor runs out or the cops break up the party. I have had good success with both. Don't sweat this too much, but realize that indeterminate plants require a bit more work in the form of pruning and general maintenance but they'll keep putting out fruit until the frost.

Gardening Tools & Accessories
Get a few basic things but don't go overboard. Get a hand trowel and possibly a cultivator (that's the thing that looks like a claw). Those are probably all the tools you need to get. A watering can might be nice, but a hose or old milk jugs work just as well.

You'll also want fertilizer. Working with so little soil, the tomatoes will suck nutrients out quickly. Miracle Gro, which gardening snobs (yeah, they do exist, just wander over to gardenweb and read some posts) love to hate, gave me good results last year. It's pretty cheap but not exactly organic. If you can swing it, explore some more natural ways to fertilize.

Stakes will be essential and you should get some. Your tomatoes can't really sprawl about so you'll have to stake them up using string. The bamboo ones will probably last a season. Metal ones will last until rusted through. Plastic ones will be here until kingdom come but might fail under the pressure well before that. It's a classic tradeoff between price and performance. Bamboo is the cheapest and is a good starting point.

Timing
Generally, you'll want to plant when there's any threat of frost has dissipated. However, you've got portability on your side. If you plant a bit too early and the forecast calls for frost, simply bring your containers inside into a garage, basement, or living room. Return them to the outside the next morning. This will allow you to get a jump on traditional gardeners. Of course, the more containers you have the more impractical this becomes. If you're not sure ask the sullen teen behind the counter at the garden center for some advice.

Advantages
Containers give gardeners superb control over soil conditions and pests. Encased in plastic, soil-borne insects won't be much of an issue. Other insects, like hornworms, will have to be dealt with.

Disadvantages
Containers dry out quickly, especially once the heat of summer sets in. Watering will be a at least a daily chore, if not twice daily. Plants also don't get lots of room to spread out and grow until their genetics start throwing on the brakes. Lastly, large tomato plants in containers tend to act like sails and must be weighted down.

Tools of the Container Garden Trade: 5 Gallon Containers

As pizza is to a pizzeria, containers are an essential part of any container garden. My favorite container is the standard five gallon utility bucket, which can be found at just about any hardware store for only a few bucks. They are incredibly durable but extremely ugly. It's a cruel tradeoff. Before using, be sure to drill a bunch of holes in the bottom, otherwise water won't be able to drain out. A drill seems like the easiest way to do this. I've heard of people heating screw drivers to punch holes. That's dumb. Get a drill and do your work over a sheet of newspaper so that the carved out plastic doesn't go everywhere.

Springtime Crocus

Teel Street, Arlington, Massachusetts
March 29, 2006

Flowers on Thorndike Street

Arlington, Massachusetts
April 20, 2006

Dividing Chives

These garlic chives are very hardy. They survived the entire winter outside and then began sending up new growth in mid to late Februrary. Started from seed sometime last June, they've become quite rootbound. They are so packed in that water slips right through the container. This is a perfect time to divide this plant.

Having never done this before, I improvised and used a bit of commonsense as my guide. After wetting down the root system, I used a trowel to divide the plant into quaters. Without a doubt, I was tearing apart roots, but this is a resilient plant and it should transplant nicely.

Once the plant was divided up I rounded up several sizes of containers. It's hard to say just how deep of a container this plant needs, so it'll be interesting to see how it does in a range of sizes. Mixing together old soil from last year with some new stuff, the chives were set flush with the new soil line. Finally, I mixed up some Miracle Gro and gave them a good watering.

Chives supposedly bloom in May or June, so I've got my fingers crossed. Either way, they look great in a pot. Here are the finished results. I hope they will begin to spread out and fill the containers.

Useful Tips for Starting a Container Garden

Tulips
Originally uploaded by tpl108.

With spring still a month away and the growing season even further, now is a good time to start thinking about starting a container garden. With that much time to plan and, more importantly, procrastinate, just think about how many episodes you can secretly watch of Project Runway. Damn you, Santino! Brother man, you're a gutsy designer but when will you ever get with the program?

One: Size up your land. Engage a surveyor to plot your land and plant several handsome oak trees. Luckily, if you're thinking about container gardening you most likely have a patch of blacktop. Perfect. No need to hire an expensive surveyor, which means more money you can sink into your garden or waste at dog track. When sizing up your land, think about how sunny or shady it will be. How sheltered is it? Are there trees or houses that will cast shadows in the morning or afternoon? Also, is there easy access to a hose?

Two: Go get some containers. Just how big a container should be is a source of endless debate. At left are plenty of links if you want to join in on the fray. Use some common sense and you'll be fine. The bigger the plant, the bigger the container should be. Lettuce will do fine in small six-inch container but a cherry tomato plant needs at least a five-gallon container. My favorite place to get a container is Home Depot. For a few bucks you can get a sturdy five-gallon bucket suitable to handed down as an heirloom to your kids.

Three: Drill holes in your containers. The folks who make these paint buckets and storage bins are sticklers for detail and almost never install drainage holes in their product. Fools. As such, use a drill and a big drill bit and punch a whole mess of holes in your new container. This is an important step. Excess water needs to drain away otherwise the plant will, for lack of a more scientifically-accurate term, drown and die. Think about all the rain each plant might get. Without holes that water would have no where to go.

More later.

Mid-Winter Update: Most Plants Still Dead, Future of Grange in Doubt

Alewife
Originally uploaded by tpl108.

Despite the recent warm-up, winter is alive and well here in New England. A cold front should whip through tomorrow night, sending temperatures back to appropriate seasonal ranges.

Nevertheless, there is one plant that has gotten the jump on every other in the grange. The chives, which were planted in a pot last season and never got much attention, have begun growing in earnest. While it has a been a fairly mild winter by New England standards, chives' ability to withstand cold is certainly remarkable. My landlady even tipped the chives out of their pot, perhaps in the belief that they should have been thrown out at the end of the season. Ah, renting.

In related news, said landlady's designs to turn the already humble grange into a parking lot have cast a pall over this upcoming season's plans. In all likelihood, this winter-time hiatus will continue through this upcoming season and into 2007. Oh, what will the sponsors say!