City Gardening (part 3): Where did that come from!?

Volunteers. Not a word you normally associate with gardening. I can tell you my kids aren't garden volunteers. After about 10 minutes on any backyard project they generally lose interest.

However, volunteers are one of the things that make gardening so interesting.

Two years ago while in my friends backyard, that's all food and no grass (so awesome), I first heard the term volunteer (for you avid gardeners don't laugh too hard at me, I know I can be slow). In gardening terms that means something that grows in your yard that you didn't intentionally plant.

volunteer sunflower

I know what you're thinking - weeds. No one asks them to come in and they are constantly showing up. But no, not weeds. Volunteers come from things you already have (or had) in your yard like seeds from your flower or say a tomato that fell somewhere you didn't notice. Next thing you know the following year there's a tomato plant growing in the middle of your coneflowers. Or rhizomes, which are roots sent out from your plants (in my case strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries) that send up a stalk in a new location.

volunteer vine tomato with an American lady butterfly

Finally, you can also get volunteers from your compost. Anything you put into compost that had seeds can end up growing in your yard. Seeds are tough and resilient. They don't decompose well. That's a good thing. I also tend to throw my Halloween pumpkins into the garden, especially in my front garden, to enrich the soil. It usually takes two springs and I'll have pumpkins growing...and then comes the task of figuring out how to manage them, because large pumpkins take up a LOT of space.

This year I have more volunteers than ever. I have 5 sunflowers I didn't plant, but had to have come from the bird seed (this is a first). I also have 2 small gourd plants, or little pumpkins, for the first time, which are awesome.

the gourds that tricked me

At first I thought they were yellow squash because the plant leaves and flowers look the same. I plant yellow squash every year (because they're fun to grow - I also found out it is on the top 10 list of plants that are grown with GMO's), so it wasn't a surprise to see a plant that looked like yellow squash. However I had one growing in the middle of the grass and another in the middle of my native wildflower garden - no where near where I had planted them. I transplanted the one in the grass to the yellow squash box and was confused when the squash came up round (I was a bit slow in figuring out what was growing OK?).

My last volunteers were tomato plants. Last year I grew several and more than ever. So this year I ended up with over 8 tomato volunteers. Some grew bigger and faster than the ones I started from seed back in early March, others came up quite late and I pulled them because there's no way with the short growing season in Chicago they would produce.

volunteer sunflower whose pollen feed the bees and seeds are now feeding the birds

Volunteers can be a lot of fun, it's like a miniature science project...I love to see what survives, what endures, what just has to live! However there's usually not enough room in a small city backyard for all volunteers. The challenge is to choose what survives. Wouldn't it be great to have a bigger yard!

What volunteers did you get this year? What are your favorites?

Alexandra Gnoske is a Nature Lover, Writer, and Environmental Expert.

Spring Has Sprung! Backyard Gardening

It's a funny time of year - have you noticed anyone acting crazy - or crazier than usual?

It's Spring Fever - seriously, that is a real thing (just ask my sister, she's a psychotherapist). The barometric pressure is changing, the Northern Hemisphere is tilting towards the sun, we are all getting more sunlight and Vitamin D, birds are mating, and plants are stirring.

Tomatoes in window-box for Chicago backyard garden

It's the perfect time to prepare for your back yard garden. If you are planting by seed you should be getting started. You can also buy larger plants from your local nursery in early May to make sure they are ready to pick before summer's end.

I just had to post today because I wanted to share my picture of the tomatoes that just popped up in my window garden - I planted them 10 days ago. It's really happening!

Hope you're getting your garden ready too!

Alexandra Gnoske is a nature lover, writer, and environmental expert.

Backyard Garden 2013: Day One

Okay, okay, so it's not that exciting - to most people.

Today, March 11th, in the midst of the windy flurries of Chicago, I planted the first seeds of my 2013 Chicago back yard garden...because I'd like to start harvesting tomatoes before Labor Day (I hope!). The seeds went into indoor planters today - and sit in my window box.

At the end of the month I will start the cucumbers and yellow squash and in April I will start the pole green beans. All of these seeds are organic of course and will be nourished in part by my compost and vermiculture (or worm poop).

Last year was my first attempt to start my garden by seed indoors (this of course doesn't include the perennials). This year, based on germination rates and their rate of growth once seedlings, I am planting at different times. The green beans went crazy and twisted all around each other before I could get them outside, so they are getting planted last.

I bought a few other seeds, including onions and lettuce. Not sure when I will start those or where I will put them...but that's part of the challenge and the fun of back yard gardening!

Hope to have some seedling pictures to post soon.

Enjoy the last days (feel like weeks) of winter....

Alexandra Gnoske is a nature lover, writer, and environmental expert.

Reusing, Recycling, and Juicing!

Squash from the garden & leftovers from the kids' lunches

When you have children you inevitably have lots of waste. They create extra laundry, don't finish their food, bring home lots of papers from school, and grow like weeds and make cloth and shoe shopping a regular chore.

I try to manage our waste, so in my house I was able to get our family of five down to two bags of garbage a week. I realized a lot of garbage was food, and so in an effort to not eat all of their left-overs I decided to compost. That has been working well, and our garbage went down to one bag a week. However, I prefer to get the most use out of a thing, like reusing before recycling. Especially when things are still in good or even great condition.

Recently we bought a juicer for our 11th wedding anniversary (steel). I thought it would be like many other kitchen items, cool but rarely used. I've made a good effort though and have been juicing every day. But one of the best parts about it is when my kids get home from school and I unpack their lunches. Any leftover fruit (pears, apples, pineapples, strawberries) and any leftover veggies (carrots, celery, green beans) gets put to the side to add to my juice.

As a backyard city gardener I especially appreciate the juicer (and blender) as you never want to see all that work and patience in the garden end up in the garbage or even compost. So when my kids don't finish their snack, whether it's strawberries or tomatoes, I don't panic, I just juice it.

Any parent knows that wasted food is like money down the drain. And any juicer knows that it takes a lot of food to make a glass of juice. This has turned out to be a win, win, win for me and my family. I've saved money, saved food, and produced less waste (there's always plenty of compost material already)...good for the pocket-book, digestive tract, and environment!

NOTE: this also works well for making smoothies in a blender if you don't have a juicer, minus the veggies. Toss the unused fruit into the freezer to keep it from decomposing if you aren't ready to blend right away.

Alexandra Gnoske is a nature lover, writer, and environmental expert.

The Great Outdoors 2012

I know there's a blizzard outside - at least in Chicago there is.

Female American Kestrel, our smallest falcon

But I can't help thinking about the great outdoors today. Because of the unusual weather this winter the bulbs are already popping through the soil and the birds are singing (well they were singing a couple of days ago). I even saw a female Kestrel setting up her nest by the church on Thursday. So I'm all worked up about getting ready for Spring - from planting seeds in the window box, to fixing up the strawberry patch, getting the outdoor compost going again, and planning my birding excursions for Spring Migration. Spring is on my mind...and getting outdoors!

(I had my hands in the worm compost the other day too - there's nothing like fresh soil to get your head into the mindset of Spring.)

I just finished this great book - "To See Every Bird on Earth" by Dan Koppel about his father's birding obsession. He was a big lister and saw over 7,000 different species of birds. Then I watched "The Big Year" with Steve Martin, Jack Black, and Owen Wilson all competing to see the most birds in one calendar year...I am so excited for Spring! If you you love birds and are all bundled up this weekend, pick up the book or movie, for some great entertainment and inspiration.

Me, I could never be a big lister - or competitive about birding. I love being outside so much but it puts me in a peaceful mood and I slow down for the moment. I can't imagine racing around and turning away from a bird once identified to chase another...although I do like seeing as many birds as I can. I enjoy a stillness, a oneness with nature.

Whether you can feel it or not, Spring is around the corner. So clean those trowels and get those starter seeds ready. The birds are already preparing! Get ready for the Great Outdoors.

Why My Kids Love Fresh Picked Green Beans

My great uncle had a farm in Kenosha, Wisconsin and my family would help him on weekends. He sold the farm when I was very little but I will never forget the many sensations of picking green beans and eating them fresh and warm (and a little dirty) right in the field.

That memory never left me and it’s why, even though I grew up a city girl and my parents didn't grow food, I always wanted to. So when we bought our house the first thing I planted the next year was green beans. 

I didn't realize how well I had described my personal experience of eating fresh picked green beans until my children picked ours. All three of them snapped the bean in half, smelled it, and took a bite...they all smiled, made little yummy noises, and declared how wonderful it was.

It was like I was watching myself out in that field years ago when I saw my children do exactly the same thing. But I realized what I had done. My memory was so strong and I was so passionate about it I must have described what I did and how I felt several times that summer while I tended to the green beans. My kids almost had no choice but to act the same way (a little scarey how well I had brain-washed them).

3 Berry Juice, our strawberries & raspberries, neighbors mulberries

Now we have cherry tomatoes, strawberries, raspberries, and yellow squash (little gourds too, but not for eating). My kids get excited about anything I bring in from the garden. But I'm even more excited because I know I'm sharing something special with them, my love of gardening and growing my own food.

I greatly increased the chances that they will grow their own food and flowers by sharing with them, especially when they were only toddlers and preschoolers. They understand that food grows from the soil; that water, sun and insects are a part of growing food; and they can do it.

Anything you want your kids to value or do, introduce it at an early age and let them see you doing it. Young children learn most from modeling. They copy their parents. My kids bird watch, drink water, and poke around the yard because that's what I do (I won't mention my bad habits they've copied).

I was lucky to have that farm, if only for a brief time. That was all it took. But you don't need a farm to instill the love of gardening. You just need a window, a pot, a seed and a model!

Composting: Just Do It!

So I'm a bit of a perfectionist. We've lived in the same house for 5 1/2 years, and for the first four I kept walking around the yard thinking, "What is the best compost set up for me?" I kept walking around and thinking about it, mulling it over, and walking around some more. I mean really - I needed to compost - as it was becoming apparent that a good portion of my garbage was food. So I kept thinking about it.

Compost Caddy

Finally my girlfriend walked up with a compost bin one day and said "just do it already!" (She had already given me a Compost Caddy to put my scraps inside indoors before transferring them outdoors....she's a really good friend!).

Yeah. So I started putting all of my yard scraps in this compost bin outside. And being paranoid, living in Chicago and a half block from the river I thought if I put food scraps in there I'd get rats - even though my girlfriend (who works at Green Home Experts) assured me I wouldn't. Still, I couldn't believe it. So in went the yard waste, but what to do with all the food waste?

It would be simple to get a worm bin. So that's not what I did of course. I started putting my food into the Compost Caddy (last August) and guess what? It filled up. Now what to do? Of course I figured it out. Take the outdoor garbage can, poke holes in the bottom to drain the compost tea, and set it up by the flowers so they can benefit while I make soil in the can!

My 'real' compost bin

The first night the raccoons got in there so I put some bricks in. That solved that problem. Being the excellent researcher I am, I researched nothing. So it was getting a nice sloppy goo. The nearby chrysanthemums seemed to love it. Winter came and I still kept filling it up. Amazingly the goo also shrunk down, and continued to do so. I realized at one point I should be putting some "browns" in there to balance out the nitrogen/carbon levels.

Finally, I was at a green social event and met Amber, one of the original Urban Worm Girls - yes, I really met her in person and she's very nice, even with all her celebrity. She said I might want to cap that garbage can and get back to the real compost bin. Definitely put in more paper and see if you can get soil to develop...and by the way, get a worm bin. This I can quote, "that's the fastest way to make soil."

My 'garbage can' composter

So what did I do? I capped that garbage can (after putting in more paper-like material of course). Yes, I'm determined it will yield me some soil, hopefully by next spring. But my food scraps were piling up again, and my real compost bin was hiding in the midst of a perennial jungle and looking like the leaning tower and I just couldn't get near it without a machete and a guide...so I bought another 32 gallon garbage can and started my experiment all over again. Opposite corner of the garden by my prized purple cone flowers. This time I'll add paper-ish or browns from the beginning! Yes, I'm doing it right - for me at least.


I'll get a worm bin soon...maybe next year.

The Lazy Summer

It's been a rather lazy summer for me. Instead of signing up for dozens of events and focusing on work, I took the family to the Grand Canyon and that started a downward spiral of doing as little as possible and enjoying myself, my family, and my house.

When we were at the Grand Canyon there was no wifi and my phone died so I was totally disconnected for a week. No Face, no updates, no twitter, no texting. Instead we had camping, cooking outdoors, hiking, birdwatching, amazing vistas, and serious road tripping. It brought me back to a time that seems like forever ago, before children, before the pressure to work, make deadlines, pay bills. A time when I lived off little and enjoyed life at my own pace.

But who am I kidding? It is all about perspective. At each stage of life you find pressure - things that seem so overwhelming and important at that time, that later look so insignificant. (Remember that pimple just before your High School year book picture? Thought you were going to die!).

BALANCE
A challenge many parents face is finding that elusive balance. Isn't working or pursuing your business goals - isn't that for the good of the family? Isn't it for you? So when people say you need to take time for yourself, isn't going off to events, networking, speaking, etc. for you?

I'm not going to pretend I have the answer. But I've decided this is the lazy summer. I've been playing with my kids, 'working' in my garden (one of my greatest joys), riding my bike to work and ditching my car, reading the 'Harry Potter' series with my kids, taking Zumba and getting back to running, visiting friends and going on dates with my husband.

My 3 kids aren't in camp. I like them to get bored because that's where imagination blossoms (as well as learning to get along, having time to do chores, and I really don't like the pressure of driving them around to meet camp schedules). Right now they are working on a Littlest Pet Shop video. I don't know if they'll pull it off, but they are having fun setting it up and they are happily working together.

Here's to having a wonderful, lazy summer - as lazy as you can be, anyway!