Local Events of Note

Tuesday, February 27, 2007

As the snow melts away...

Here are a few upcoming events of note, for gardeners in the D.C. area:

The Chevy Chase Citizens Association's Garden Club will meet on February 28 (tomorrow!) at 7:15 pm in the Chevy Chase Community Center located on Connecticut Avenue and McKinley Street. The meeting is open to everyone -- new and experienced gardeners alike. This month's meeting features plant pruning tips. Next month's meeting (March 28) will feature tips on backyard vegetable gardening.

Orchid Family Day will be held at the Smithsonian's Natural History Museum on Saturday, March 3 from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm. Check the U.S. Botanic Garden for details.

On Saturday March 10, the U.S. Botanic Garden will offer a once-a-year Open House, allowing the public to go "behind the scenes" to see the collection of plants not currently on display. Here's your chance to talk to the growers and find out their secrets!

Casey Trees is offering free Citizen Forester classes on the Planting and Care of Trees. Learn how to plant trees in an urban environment to ensure their survival. Practice what you learn during a Saturday morning tree-planting session. No previous experience is required. For more information, visit Casey Trees.

L'Academie de Cuisine is offering a class called Planning Your Garden, on April 28 from 9:30 am to 12 noon. Learn how to grow herbs, edible flowers, and vegetables. Then enjoy lunch made with seasonal herbs. Yum! Register at L'Academie.

Finally, check out the cool flower photos -- yes, dying flowers can be a thing of beauty, too -- at the Museum of Natural History. Transitions: Photographs by Robert Creamer is going on now through June.

(Local readers, is a list like this helpful? Do you know of other local gardening-related events, exhibits, or resources to add to this list? Drop me a note at: calendula1ATgmailDOTcom.)

Snow Day

Monday, February 26, 2007

What a difference a day makes. The daffodils that were pushing through the ground on Saturday are now tucked away under a blanket of fresh now. The only things popping up around the neighborhood on Sunday were... snow people. In all forms. Including this one, adorned appropriately with a traditional carrot nose. Winter is still here. For now.

Green Thumb Sunday, Three Seasons

Sunday, February 25, 2007

Three seasons, all captured in a single spot of a neighbor's yard yesterday.


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Gardeners and nature lovers share their photos on Green Thumb Sunday.
See who else is participating.

Time to Plant Peas

Thursday, February 22, 2007

On my commute into work this morning, I observed a definite change in the air. The covering of last week's snow has receded in most places, leaving a patchwork of small icy islands tinted with a grayish cast of the city's dust and dirt. In the seas of freshly revealed, chocolaty brown earth, the daffodils are pushing up like buoys marking the pathway to our next seasonal destination: spring. The signs are becoming more evident each day, and on this morning in particular, I thought to myself, It will soon be time to plant peas.

Fast forward through the day and find me again on the reverse commute home. On the bus, I pulled out the Home section of the Post and my eyes fell immediately to the article on page five, Growing Peas That Please. Not only did the article confirm my morning-commute hunch, but it noted precisely that, "in the region of the nation's capital, the traditional date for English or garden pea planting became George Washington's birthday, which happens to be today, Feb. 22."

I had a hunch. It's time to plant peas.

View the Article: Growing Peas That Please, by Barbara Damrosch, The Washington Post, Feb. 22, 2007.

The Heat is On... The Pepper Seeds

Monday, February 19, 2007

I sowed the first seeds three weeks ago and I only have a few plants to speak of so far. Most of the pots in this photo contain pepper seeds and, after the first two weeks, not a single one had sprouted.


Peppers need warm temperatures to grow well, so last weekend I decided to help things along by setting them on a heating mat. Since then, only one pepper seed has germinated -- one from a store-bought sweet bell pepper. (And that's not all that encouraging, since a few readers warned me that store-bought peppers are probably hybrid plants that might not bear any good fruit.)

In the first photo, in the front row from left to right, are dahlias, calendula, and a pair of leggy red chard plants. Lastly is the lone red bell pepper plant.

Cookin' Thyme

Friday, February 16, 2007

I am happy to report that it's not all dead herbs around here. The garden, even in the cold weather, is still giving us a steady supply of fresh thyme and oregano.

I used a bunch of thyme to flavor up one of my favorite veggies as of late: fennel. This is fennel caramelised in a sweet brown sugar sauce, resting atop a bed of creamy polenta dotted with savory crumbles of blue cheese. The recipe is in Donna Hay's Off the Shelf: Cooking from the Pantry, which features dreamy food photography that makes my mouth water every time I look through it. My photo doesn't quite do justice to how good this meal tastes. It's crunchy and creamy, savory and sweet, all rolled up into one.

Fennel is a vegetable we're going to try growing in our garden this year. We're starting it from seed, so I imagine it will be a while before we get our own tasty stalks to include in a dish like this.

To Kill a Rosemary

Saturday, February 10, 2007

A lot of people find their way to my blog when they type in a Google search for something like, "rosemary plant root rot," or "how to save a dying rosemary plant." So if you've come here looking for advice on how to grow a rosemary plant successfully, well, all I can say is, I am sorry I cannot help. I am no good with rosemary. And this photo is perfect proof.



What I can tell you with confidence is how I killed mine. So here goes: How to Kill a Rosemary in 7 Easy Steps.

(I could make it an even 10, but why drag out the agony?)

# 1. Leave your rosemary plant in the small pot you bought it in, so the soil dries out quickly and the roots get all cramped. Neglect is key here.

# 2. Since the soil in the small pot dries out so quickly, give it LOTS of water. Water it about every other day. Keep the plant's feet wet.

# 3. Ponder why the leaves are turning brown. Then keep watering it. (Brown leaves = dry plant = needs more water, right?)

# 4. Remember that when your previous rosemary plant died, several people informed you that it's a Mediterranean plant that doesn't like to be in soggy soil. So...

# 5. Change course and resist every urge to water that browning rosemary plant (even though the needles are now falling off in handfuls, the soil in the tiny pot is parched to a crisp, and the plant looks generally mangled). No matter how bad it gets, whatever you do, do not water it for at least a whole week. Just don't do it!

# 6. Allow (lighthearted) argument to ensue with your spouse (the spouse who bought the dang plant in the first place!) about whether the near-dead rosemary is getting too much or too little water. Example:

Husband reaches to pour a glass of water on the severely ailing plant.

Wife yelps, "No! Don't do it!" as she nearly tackles him to pull the glass of water away.

Husband raises eyebrow and exclaims, "But look how dry it is!"

Wife, in her Know-it-All voice speaks up, "But it's a Mediterranean plant. It likes to be dry. We shouldn't water it so much!"

Husband, with a glance of disbelief and his down-to-earth tone, says, "Um, Babe, if even the newest part at the top of the plant is crinkling up, I think that means it needs water."

And... you guessed it... proceed to add more water.

# 7. Concede that rosemary plant is dead.

The politics of putting an UglyRipe tomato on your plate

Wednesday, February 07, 2007

Yesterday's Washington Post Business section featured a front-page article on the politics of bringing UglyRipe tomatoes to our dinner plates. The UglyRipe tomato is a not-so-perfect-looking tomato, said to be the answer to all those gripes uttered about store-bought tomatoes that "taste like cardboard." The beauty of this one, apparently, is in the taste buds of the beholder.

My tomatoes -- Ugly, but not UglyRipe

The UglyRipe is a large, irregularly lumpy tomato developed from a French heirloom variety by a Philadelphia entrepreneur who is determined to give us a tomato that tastes good, even if it looks, well... ugly. For years, this unhandsome invention never made it to our grocery store shelves because the Florida Tomato Committee (yes, there is such a thing, and UglyRipe tomatoes are grown in Florida) said the fruits didn't comply with standards set five decades ago to "assure the quality and uniformity of the Florida round tomato."

Who cares if they're not perfectly round! As long as they taste good, right?!

Now, after years of wrangling involving a team of lawyers, lobbyists, congressional representatives and PR people, the creator of the UglyRipe tomato will finally get his chance to show us what all the fuss was about. UglyRipe tomatoes are coming soon to a store near you.

Read all about it:
Forbidden Fruit No Longer, by Cindy Skrzycki, The Washington Post, February 6, 2007.
It's Ugly, and Coming to Your Grocer, The Washington Post, January 24, 2007.

Say it With (pesticide-free) Flowers

Monday, February 05, 2007

Want to give your True Love something special this Valentine's Day? Want to show your animal attraction, too? Consider giving your Sweetie a bunch of pesticide-free roses from Organic Bouquet. And better yet, order them on behalf of Friends of the National Zoo and they'll get ten percent of the proceeds to benefit animal care, conservation, and zoo visitor education.

And what's not to love about giving a little support for that cute (and fast growing!) panda baby, Tai Shan, and his parents, Mei Xiang and Tian Tian (whose every amorous romp you can watch on the Panda Cam when it comes time for mating season)? And if panda cuteness just isn't enough to convince you, how's about that adorable baby elephant (who's actually five year's old now but still a real charmer)?

Show your Valentine you're a real animal (lover). Choose something special from Organic Bouquet!

First Sprouts

Friday, February 02, 2007

The first tender greens have begun to emerge from last Sunday's seed planting. So far I see the tiniest hints of marjoram, tarragon, dahlias, and these -- how fittingly -- calendula.