Planning Next Year's Garden

My mind is spinning with plans for growing two gardens next year - one at home and one at my parent's property again, for the larger, rambling viney plants like squashes and pumpkins.

My goal for 2012 is to start all of my plants from seeds, which adds quite a bit more complexity than I have previously dealt with when growing a garden. Now I must take into account frost, germination rates, soil temperature, and making sure the seedlings get enough light and heat so they don't become "leggy" and weak.

So far, I am planning on growing nearly 40 different varieties of plants next year. Some I will order online from various companies, and later this month I will pay a visit to Baker's Seed Company in Petaluma, CA.

One of the seeds I am most excited to grow is the Yellow Taxi Tomato. When we went to the Ferry Pier Farmer's Market in San Francisco this summer, I couldn't resist this array of heirloom tomatoes:


I bought a sampling of several types of tomatoes, and when I got home, laid them out for a taste test. My favorite, hands down, was a yellow tomato called Taxi (second tomato up from the bottom left in the picture). It's not one that is commonly carried by seed companies, so I had to do a bit of hunting on the internet, but today I ordered my seeds from Reimer Seeds. This vibrant yellow tomato is sweet and almost acid-free, and produces tomatoes early, after just 65 days! I can almost taste them now.

Here are the other tomatoes I've got a hankering to try my hand at:

Seeds I Saved From 2011:

Black Krim Tomato: My absolute favorite tomato I have grown this year, this was the first to start producing and gave me wonderful rich, slightly salty fruit all summer long. This one is prone to cracking at first, but it was such a good producer that I didn’t care.

San Marzano tomato: This Italian heirloom paste tomato is supposed to be the best for making tomato sauces, and also great to dice and use in a salad or salsa. Yields were good last year, so I saved some seeds for this year.

Seeds I Got for Free:

Riesentraube tomato: I got this cherry type from Baker’s Seeds for free with my last order. Description: “The sweet red 1-oz fruit grow in large clusters and the name means "Giant Bunch of Grapes" in German. It is probably the most popular small tomato with seed collectors, as many enjoy the rich, full tomato flavor that is missing in today's cherry types. Large plants produce massive yields.” Massive yields are good, free is even better!

Seeds to Buy from Baker’s:

Green Zebra Tomato: I sampled this one at Farmer Dan’s table at the West Sac Farmer’s Market and it was sublime; I knew I had to try growing it at home. “Beautiful chartreuse
with deep lime-green stripes, very attractive. Flesh is bright green and very rich tasting, sweet with a sharp bite to it (just too good to describe!). A favorite tomato of many high class chefs, specialty markets, and home gardeners. Yield is excellent. The most striking tomato in our catalog, a real beauty.”

Cour di Bue Tomato: Of course, gotta have your standard red slicing tomato, and I chose this heart-shaped beauty. “This Oxheart type Italian heirloom has been a favorite in Italy for many years. Beautiful 12-oz. fruit have a delicious sweet taste; similar to the shape of a heart; great for fresh eating or cooking. Large vigorous vines. Hard to find.”

Black Krim and San Marzano Tomatoes from 2011 garden

My Loftiest Goal for 2011

It seems that my life is continually coming full circle. Some of the earliest memories I can recall are of helping my mom in the backyard garden: digging in the soil with a small trowel; examining worms (until I saw an episode of Star Trek in which worms were served for dinner and decided they were an unspeakably disgusting species); and picking sweet red strawberries, which we sliced and served over angel food cake with whipped cream. Ok, Cool Whip. (It was the 80's.)

Again, just after graduating college and shortly before leaving for my two year sojourn in Hong Kong, I vividly recall preparing my parents’ garden for a spring garden. Sitting in the dirt, talking with my dad about life and what was to come: this image played through my mind innumerable times as I adjusted with difficulty to life in an urban Asian city of skyscrapers and cement.

In the past year, I have re-discovered a sense of amazement in gardening- the sense of wonder at the potential of one tiny seed, the beauty of crumbling black rich earth, the fulfillment of participating in growing your own food. One of my most lofty goals for 2011 is to grow or glean as much of our own food as possible; to can, preserve or share whatever excess we may incur. For this, we will need access to more than just our apartment patio container garden.

So past months have included many concerted efforts to amend the soil in my parents’ clay-like garden plot, which hasn’t produced anything worth eating in years. Manure, fallen leaves, and green matter have all been added to the area, and lush green grass now covers most of the plot - a very promising sign. This week I put in my order for heirloom seeds. It’s not even February, and I am already itching to see what I can coax out of the earth and into my belly.

What will you plant this year?

Three Greatest Novels.... Ever?

Last year, I purchased a used copy of Tolstoy's "War and Peace". It has been sitting on my shelf ever since, both beckoning and threatening. I wanted to read it when the weather got colder, as winter and Russian literature always seem so well-suited for each other. The time has arrived, and I have begun reading this behemoth classic novel. This ties in with one of my goals for 2010- to read at least 3 daunting, great novels. These novels will be daunting in both length and content, but this year I would like to spend time with truly great minds.

But which 3 novels to read? I found the following list of the greatest, most influential novels of all time, and I am pondering which selections appeal to me. I must have some interest in the novel itself, lest I fail in my goal. Don Quixote, The Brothers Karamazov, Moby Dick and Madame Bovary... Oh my! Any other suggestions? Joyce is right out - I understand that Ulysses cannot be read without extensive cliffnotes. No thanks! But for now, I shall content myself with Tolstoy.

http://www.adherents.com/people/100_novel.html

"I cannot live without books." -Thomas Jefferson

In January of 2009, I set a goal to read two books a month throughout the year. In order to accomplish more with the limited time available to me, I began regularly visiting the public library and checking out books on CD. I accomplished so much more once I started taking advantage of my daily work commute, which is an hour round trip.

Now that December has arrived, I reflected on the books I have read this year, which will soon total 23 (just need to squeeze one more in this month!). Here are my top book picks out of the books I read this year:

Best Cross-Cultural Reads:
The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan: Profound insights into the mother/daughter relationship as well as Chinese culture, Chinese history, and what it means to be an immigrant.

Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri: Indian-American author Lahiri also astounds with her insightful glimpses into relationships of all kinds, but particularly those of family, and her examination of the meaning of exile and isolation.

Best Light Reads:
Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert: A 30-something career-woman deals with her divorce and depression by spending a year living in Italy, India and Indonesia. In each place, she explores a different theme and writes a book based on what she learns and experiences. Who wouldn’t want to live that (vicariously)?

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver: The prominent writer Kingsolver buys a n old home on a fertile plot of land, moves her family to rural Missouri, and spends a year eating only what they can produce and grow themselves (or barter for with other locals). Anyone interested in the locavore movement will love reading about each season and how Kingsolver survived it all.

My Life in France by Julia Child: I listened to this one on CD, and it was delightful. Julia’s unique personality shines through as she describes in her own characteristic way her experiences moving to France as a middle-aged military wife, the sensual experience of eating her first French meal, her battle to perfect her technique as the only female chef at the Cordon Bleu, and finally her years-long effort to write a veritable "Bible" of French cooking.

Best Psychological Thriller:
Crime & Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky: Here is a thrilling murder-mystery with depth, that dares to question: What is the effect of isolation upon the human mind? If a crime is beneficial to society, is it still morally wrong? How does an imperfect human in a corrupt society and a fallen world find redemption? Not only is the plot interesting, but the book is fascinating from a historical, philosophical, religious, and social perspective, particularly when compared with the author’s own life.

Best Historical-Fiction Read:
The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende: Similar in style to the magical realism of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, this novel follows several generations of a prominent Chilean family and reflects the tumultuous, fascinating history of the country.

Best Inspirational:
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho: The wonderful, brief, deceptively simple parable that catapulted this Brazilian author to international fame. You can’t help but love this book and its message, which empowers and makes readers believe in following their dreams.

Most Overrated:
The Time Traveler’s Wife: I hated the characters in this book. Not a single decent human being amongst them. The two main characters were equally horrible people and their relationship was based solely on lust. Neither person developed any moral, spiritual, or in any other depth from start to finish. By the end, I just wanted them all to go away.

Next up: War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy. I have an odd quirk that only allows me to read certain books when it feels seasonally correct. Russian literature and winter weather have always seemed to go hand in hand! Then again... I need one more quick read before the end of the year in order to meet my goal... Any ideas?