The Green Vine

I have a few updates.  For one, the robin is still at it.  We’re still not sure what to do about that situation, and are just letting it be for now.  Two, it looks like the peppers may finally be sprouting.  I talked to somebody from the seed company where I bought the seeds from, and they said the only way pepper seeds will germinate in 6 to 8 days is if they are at 75 - 95 degrees Faranheit.  For the most part, ours are at 65 degrees Faranheit.  He said it could take up to 20 days if the temperature isn’t ideal, so it looks like that’s what’s happening.  The red bell pepper is finally showing some sign of growth today.  I think we were able to speed it along a little because after my conversation with the guy at the seed company, I covered the pepper pots in plastic wrap to trap in the heat from the sun (the same concept as the low tunnel from a previous post).  The temperature advice was the same comment made by Dale in my last post, so I think the peppers are finally on the right track!  The other update is that my peach wine is finally doing what it should be doing now that I’ve added real yeast to it — it has already created 5% alcohol!  The final update is that I went into the backyard a few days ago for the first time in a while just to assess the situation back there in anticipation of the upcoming transplanting of seeds from pots into the ground (just a few short weeks away)!  There was a lot of overgrowth of weeds and such since I haven’t tended to the backyard during the Winter, but I was also pleased to see that the strawberry plants we planted last year have started to thrive again now that Spring is on its way.  Here is a picture of one of the strawberry blooms:

Strawberries generally take a year to really get going, so while we did get a few strawberries last year, I’m hoping we’ll get a bunch this year (between these and the ones from the CSA, hopefully even enough to have some leftover to turn into wine).  This also assumes that the squirrels and/or chipmunks won’t get to the ripe strawberries before we do, which was a common problem last year.

I had mentioned the weeds in our backyard, which is related to what I wanted to write a little bit about today.  Keeping weeds away from your lawn and the whole concept of lawns in general is something that just boggles my mind.  Why do we choose to get rid of the growth that is naturally occuring around us and replace it with something that “needs” to be watered, fertilized, etc.?  We put so many chemicals on our lawns that we sometimes don’t even feel safe lying down, playing on them, etc.  So what exactly is the point?  I guess it could be beauty, but I personally think that clovers, dandelions, wildflowers, etc. are far more beautiful than manicured squares of green that are the exact same from house to house.  Even if lawns are your thing, there are definitely ways to maintain it that are much better for the environment than what most people do.  For one, having a few months of grass that is burnt/dried during the summer is okay — we really shouldn’t be wasting water by pumping it through sprinklers on our lawn — the grass will come back — mine does every year, and I let it burn to a crisp during the summer (which also means less mowing).  As far as mowing, we really don’t need to be doing that as often either — it’s better for the lawn to let it grow a little long so that it droops down and reseeds itself.  This also means less mowing, which is not only less work but better for the environment if you use a gasoline-powered lawn mower.  I use a reel lawn mower because I have such a small lawn, but if that’s impractical for you, there are also great electric mowers like these (push version and riding version).  Better yet, there are even types of grass you can grow that require virtually no maintenance like this one.  The final point is fertilizing.  The best way to fertilize your lawn is to just leave the grass clippings on the lawn when you cut it.  The decomposing grass supplies all the nutrients the lawn will need — there is no reason to add synthetic fertilizers that are just going to wash into our waterways.  If your grass needs more, there is always the option of adding compost, which will be the topic of my next post!

Of course, I personally think the best thing to do is to turn as much of your useable space into gardens, but at least in front yards, this tends to be difficult when you have a Homeowner’s Association watching over you (as we do).  What I find ironic is that our HOA published the following story in our newsletter, and a friend of mine recently reminded me of it.  Here is a link to it; I would highly recommend you read it — it illustrates my above points in a really humorous way:  http://greayer.com/studiog/?p=1667

Anyhow, I will leave you with some pictures of one of the benefits of letting nature be nature in your yards — edibles!  I collected some dandelions from various places before somebody comes through with a weed whacker — I plan to saute the greens as a side dish for dinner this week and add the blossoms to list of items I plan to make wine out of.  Pictures of both are below.  Thanks for reading, peace.