gardening – By Alanna Pass

How to be a “Tomato Artist”

It’s tomato time here in the Willamette Valley of Oregon. The only advantage I can see of the hot summers we have been having is that the tomatoes love them. Growing good, delicious, organic tomatoes is an art form and I have gotten good at it- actually a little too good. Frequently I get tomatoes over a pound and they aren’t even the beefsteak variety. But, there are only so many tomatoes the two of us can consume. We have a freezer full now and they are still coming on. Finding the extra homes other than the compost pile has gotten to be too much effort. Next year I will have to go down to three plants. The varieties I grew this year….

Sungold- (cherry tomato- so sweet!)
Amish Paste (Prolific and huge)
Brandywine (the best slicer)
Black Krim (great flavor)

Really, I can’t take all the credit for the success. I’m just conducting a series of variables that I have figured out to be a good “Tomato Artist.” I need to thank the following contributors to my bodacious tomato harvest:

Quality heirloom tomato starts
My partner for tilling the raised beds, hauling manure, and installing a drip system
The sheep up the road for their great poo
The cows and horses down the road for the same
Our composted kitchen scraps
The earthworms and microbes for decomposing the above
The earthworms again for aerating the soil and leaving their casings
The farmer that raised the straw that I much with
The rain
The sun
My own two hands for their labor in planting & tending

To be honest, I am feeling burnt out on gardening right now. There is something so satisfying about growing your own nutritious and tasty food but it is work. Usually this time every summer I swear I’ll take next summer off. Knowing me, come spring the lure of fresh tomatoes with basil and dill will lure me back again.

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The Artful Garden

The Creative Process, Uncategorized

Everything that slows us down and forces patience, everything that sets us back into the slow circles of nature, is a help. Gardening is an instrument of grace.

— May Sarton

It’s hard to imagine that in March my garden was seven big wood boxes full of brown soil, a blank canvas so to speak. Now it’s a tangle of vines and plants that spill over those same boxes. There are five varieties of bushy tomato plants, at least as tall as me. The bean teepee, full of romano beans, towers over six feet tall. There is kale, chard, dill, hot peppers, onions, cucumbers, basil, zucchini, strawberries, beets, cardoons, sunflowers, and marigolds. Two of the beds are now empty, the garlic being harvested earlier in July. The peas have died back and the lettuce and arugula have gone to seed.

Planting a garden is a statement of hope, sowing seeds that bear the promise of food and Garden Basket2.2 flower.

Planting a garden is a creative act, painting with a palette of plants, considering what varieties will complement the other, then executing the plan with hoe and shovel instead of a brush.

Planting a garden is work. The soil must be amended, supports constructed, seeds and starts planted. Then the beds must be mulched, watered, weeded and then harvested. But then the payoff is the abundance of delicious fresh food it provides for the rest of the summer.

Garden Basket3 Planting a garden is an alchemy of human interaction with natural processes.

A garden does not need to be big or complicated. Even a couple of tomato plants on the porch or herbs on the window sill is better than nothing. It’s gratifying to tend plants and watch them grow. For children, it’s an especially enriching experience. To be able to feed oneself and share the bounty with others is powerful. Gardening is an anchor to the Earth. You don’t get that from a grocery store.

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Awakening My Inner Gardener

Photography, Poetry, Uncategorized

It seems like just yesterday I was pulling out spent tomato plants & putting the garden tools away for the winter. But here we are again- Spring and my inner gardener is awakened again.

SEED CATALOGS
They arrive like expected guests
In the days after the New Year
A steady parade of seed catalogs
All shapes and sizes
From varying corners of the country
Filled with beckoning colored photographs
Of fruit, vegetable, & bloom waiting to fill the garden
Ready to awaken the winter-weary to a fresh frame of mind
The possibilities of the planting season.

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