In the Garden Online

Moving--Please Update Your Bookmarks/RSS

nospam@example.com (Colleen Vanderlinden) — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 08:44:40 -0700

Finally, after the past several months of bloggy weirdness and Susan's hated "session-hash" error messages, we've made the move to Wordpress. The new address for my blog is http://www.inthegardenonline.com. Pretty straightforward, eh?

The feed address has changed as well, so if you are an RSS subscriber, please subscribe to the new feed.

The Problem With Gardening

nospam@example.com (Colleen Vanderlinden) — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 08:52:27 -0700

I've been reading Allan Armitage and Joe Lamp'l's takes on the state of gardening. In his post, Gardening is a Four-Letter Word, Armitage reflects on how often he hears that gardening is dead, that style matters more than substance, that the younger generations who are now at the center of marketing campaigns are just not interested in plants, but, instead, want a plant, any plant, to do a particular job in the landscape. He remarks that trouble is brewing, and he's right.

Joe Lamp'l responded to Armitage by correctly reflecting on the state of gardening on television: good shows can't get the funding, can't get the sponsors to keep them afloat. Networks want makeover shows with young, hip hosts who may or may not know anything about gardening. Newspapers are cutting home and garden coverage so heavily that you're lucky to find a garden column in your local paper. I know my paper of choice, the Detroit Free Press, bought out its garden columnist and hasn't replaced her.

What these two insights from garden/media pros have shown me is simply this: we need to change the way we do things. Gardening is not dead; it simply needs to be brought into the 21st century.

Where We've Gone Wrong

Let's think about this. The problem is reaching younger consumers---those first-time homeowners and young professionals who just don't seem interested in gardening. What we do know about these younger consumers is that they tend to be high achievers; they're better educated than preceding generations, and they are generally described as over-scheduled: read, busy. Great, so this just reaffirms what we already know, they don't have time to garden. But one other characteristic of Gen-Y that seems to get overlooked is this: they are exceptionally tech-savvy.

Guess where we find them: on the web. These are the Twitterers, the You-Tubers, the Digg-ers, the Crackberry addicts. Yet, what do we have on the web to offer them? Garden blogs (which, while great, are hardly big enough or flashy enough to reach many of them), a handful of really good garden-related web sites, and a whole lot of badly-designed, badly-written garbage that passes as gardening advice. Umno wonder they're turned off to gardening?

So why are we worrying about newspapers and television when our target is on the web? It's because that's what we're used to, it's the way it's always been done.

A Different Way

Let's change direction for a moment and look at a couple examples of failed television concepts that became web successes, thanks to the ability to reach this demographic.

Consider Leo Laporte and his online technology network TwiT.tv. Way back when, in the mid to late nineties, Laporte had a few shows on cable. The channel went through a series of transitions, starting out as Zdnet, then TechTV, and now, G4. Somewhere along the line, the powers that be decided that no one wanted to watch some forty-something guy (no matter how congenial he was) tell us how to use technology better. His shows were discontinued. So what did he do? He started doing podcasts, and he grew from a couple of small podcasts to a virtual network of shows. He makes a living at it, too. Colleague Kevin Rose (of Digg fame) also has an online network that shows video podcasts, Revision 3.

Consider an example that is closer to our own situation. Unless your name is Norm, it's unlikely that anyone will sponsor your woodworking show on television. Yet there are plenty of woodworkers out there looking for instruction, community, and inspiration. Enter Marc Spagnuolo, the Wood Whisperer, who had a singular dream of working full-time as a woodworker, yet couldn't get by on the sporadic pay. He started a small video podcast about woodworking in 2006, and his life hasn't been the same since. He makes his living full-time by putting together his podcast and working on the related website and blog. He is sponsored by some of the biggest names in woodworking, including Rockler, Festool, and Powermatic. He's managed to reach a wide audience, including plenty of those pesky Gen-Yers, simply by meeting them where they live.

What This Tells Us

We need to take a step or ten out of our comfort zone. We need to realize that, for our purposes, newspapers and television are dead. And do you know why? Because at their heart, TV and the papers must cater to the lowest common denominator to survive. Is there any other explanation for why there are so many reality shows on television, yet you can't find a decent show about horticulture to save your life? Why does every paper I've ever read have a gossip section, but not a column about gardening? But the web--the web is never-ending, and there is a place in it for all of us. We might have to give up the comfort of high-production-value shows at first, and I can tell you for sure that we'd have to start a show without sponsorships---they'd come later, after we show them some real numbers, after we prove that we've reached Gen-Y on their home turf.

85% of people polled still claim to garden at some level---much higher numbers of aficionados than either technology or woodworking are able to claim. If they can reach their audience, and get those necessary sponsorships, then we can, too. We simply have to leave behind our newspapers, our reliance on television, and the perceived domain of little old ladies in straw hats. It is time to enter the 21st century. If we can't do that, we have only ourselves to blame for the waning interest in gardening among our younger peers.

Sunday: What we are doing so far, and why it's not enough.

Wordy Wednesday--On Finding the Time

nospam@example.com (Colleen Vanderlinden) — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 10:30:12 -0700

photo by gracie @ morguefile

It's possibly the biggest obstacle to following your dreams of writing that novel, or submitting that article, or working on your dream of writing poetry: "I don't have the time."

"Maybe after I'm retired."

"Maybe after the kids are all in school."

"Maybe when I'm finished with my degree."

"Maybe....."

The problem with maybes is that they are just another form of excuses, wrapped up in the guise of rationality and reality. No one has the time for writing. No one. Writing is like anything else that's worthwhile; you must make the time to do it.

Stephen King certainly didn't have the time to write when he was starting out. He wrote in the laundry room of the trailer he and his wife lived in while working at a laundry and finishing his degree. He snuck in minutes and hours to write even though he was dead tired. He made it work.

J.K. Rowling wrote the first Harry Potter book by letting her infant daughter fall asleep in the stroller during a walk and quickly ducking into a coffee shop to scribble as much as she could before the baby woke.

Steve could have easily said "forget it---I want to relax!" Jo Rowling had every right to say "I haven't slept in a week--I'm going home to take a nap while she sleeps!" But they didn't. They sat, and they wrote, because they had to---because something inside burned more fiercely than the need for sleep, or free time, or whatever else they could have been doing at the time.

When you want to write, you make the time.

Michigan-based novelist Loren D. Estleman wrote a book a while back titled Writing the Popular Novel. In the chapter in which he advises about developing a writing routine and finding a place to write, he wrote this:

"...hours are made of minutes strung together, and in the end no one can tell if they came all in a lump or piece by piece over the course of a year."

I had this taped above my computer for a long time, and it still runs through my head when I start whining that I don't have time to write something I've been meaning to write. No one is saying that you have to block off four hours a day in which to write---I can't think of anyone who can manage that. But can you devote fifteen minutes to it? Can you give it a half hour while you're eating lunch at your desk? Can you scribble that novel out in longhand while you wait for the kids to finish up with hockey practice or ballet rehearsal? Can you get up a half-hour earlier? Can you go to sleep a half-hour later?

If the answer is no, then you don't really want to write. It's that simple.

So, what are you going to do, today, to work toward getting started on that novel/poem/article/book proposal? You can do it. If someone like me, who has very little willpower and zero time to go to the bathroom let alone write articles/blogs/books can manage to fit it in, you can, too. I know you can.

Gifts for the Gardener---Are They Kidding??

nospam@example.com (Colleen Vanderlinden) — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 11:06:45 -0700

So, I'm working on the obligatory "Holiday Gifts for the Organic Gardener" article right now for my About.com site, and I also happened to get the latest issue of Horticulture in the mail over the weekend. Some of you have probably seen it. On page 21, they have a piece titled "Dig It: Gifts to Give" that features nine gifts that one might consider for a garden-addicted friend or family member. Most of the items are, admittedly, quite pretty. Some, including a weather station and solar-heated bird bath, are very practical. Nothing amiss here.

Until one gets to the bottom row of photos. There is a very cute charm bracelet featured. The charms consist of a watering can, shovel and hoe, rose, etc. Cute. Then you read the description:

Photo courtesy magnums.net

"Gardener's Bracelet has 14K gold charms, $995."

Nine hundred and ninety-five dollars. Very close to a grand, and easily over a grand after you add taxes and shipping.

Wow.

First off, it makes me marvel at the budgets some people apparently are able to enjoy. A thousand dollar gift to one person? I suppose that between a husband/wife this would be possible, but it usually involves something with a diamond or other precious gem.

And then I realized the true source of my agitation: if someone ever spent a thousand dollars on this particular gift for this particular gardener, they would deserve a swift smack upside the head. Lovingly, of course.

A thousand dollars??!! Do you know how many yards of compost or mulch that would buy? How many seeds and flats? How many pairs of Felco pruners or seedling heat mats? You can buy a small, inexpensive greenhouse for less than a grand. If it were between a greenhouse for my seed-starting obsession and a pretty little thing I'd probably lose as I rushed around after kids and in the garden, I'd easily take the greenhouse. No-brainer.

Maybe I'm being too practical (I've been accused of that before...won't be the last time) but I just don't understand what kind of gardener would prefer this pretty but very useless trinket over actual garden-related stuff.

Me...I asked for heat mats and a pair of #2 Felcos for Christmas, to which the husband said "that's so practical. Don't you want something else?"

No way. When the practical parts of your life perfectly intersect what brings you unending joy, I'm pretty sure you're one of the lucky ones. I know I am.

What do you think? Am I being too practical? Would this be the kind of gift that turned you on? And, if you received it, how many of you would eBay it for cash to buy garden stuff?

On Ebay, and The Great Heirloom Tomato Seed Bid-War of 2008

nospam@example.com (Colleen Vanderlinden) — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 15:58:36 -0700

I haven't been very active on eBay. I just didn't think of it much when I needed to buy something (I know, I know...where have I been the last five years or so?) Anyway, a while back, my husband checked a woodworking book out of the library that he really liked. It was sold out on Amazon. BetterWorld (which I buy a lot of our books from) was out. So, I tried eBay as a last resort. And I got the book, and the husband was happy and surprised, and it was wonderful.

Then I started getting interested in collecting McCoy pottery planters. I put in a bid for a nice sized planter, and I won. This eBay thing is actually kind of fun.

Hey----didja know they sell plants and seed on eBay??

And this is where the story really begins. I saw a lot for six packs of heirloom tomato seeds, including some fairly rare varieties, for a price that I could not pass up. I put in a bid, and waited.

And someone else bid.

So I put in another bid, and waited.

And that brazen bidder bid again (doesn't he/she realize how badly I need these seeds?)

So, I bid again.....well, it just keeps going on. We're up to double the original asking price on these seeds with two days left to go, and I'm starting to wonder how high I'm really willing to go. How much is in my Paypal account again?

It does bring to light some interesting facets of my personality: obsession, competitiveness, and, maybe, just maybe, a slight sense of entitlement (get your own damn seeds, Mr./Ms. e*****e!) Either way, this does offer up some more interesting ways to survive a long, cold Michigan winter. I only hope my bank account can keep up with me.

Do you eBay? What's the best thing you've gotten on eBay, garden-related or not?

The Nichols Garden Nursery Catalog

nospam@example.com (Colleen Vanderlinden) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 14:53:03 -0700

I love this catalog. Love it. Even though there are no glossy photos, even though it's small and I misplace it more often than I'd like to admit--I love it. You can tell it's written by people who really enjoy what they do. I especially like that just about every item has a suggestion for how to prepare it in the description. So often, I look through a catalog and see a veggie or herb that interests me, and the next thought I have is "but what would I do with that?" and generally I end up moving on. The Nichols catalog solves that little problem for me. (Devious of them, isn't it?)

I'm also geeked about getting it because it marks the official beginning of the 2009 garden catalog season. So, instead of being depressed that my garden is just about done for the year, I can spend my vast amounts of free time (yah right) dreaming about next year's garden, making lists, and comparing prices. I've already lost an hour of work time today thanks to Nichols, I may as well kick back, get the highlighter, and go to town marking it up. Not a bad way to spend a cold, rainy, Michigan afternoon.

To order your catalog, or download a PDF of the catalog, visit the Nichols Garden Nursery site.

Rockstar Crops: Swiss Chard

nospam@example.com (Colleen Vanderlinden) — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 08:52:19 -0700

I have to say it: swiss chard has a permanent home in my garden, and in my veggie-loving heart. I can't kill it. My kids can't kill it. Drought can't kill it. Snow can't kill it!

It has been the one constant, reliable crop in my garden this year. It was a disappointing tomato year for me in general. Zucchinis were, well, zucchini-like in their progeny, which gets tiresome after a while. My kale did well, until the cabbage worms found it and I didn't get around to picking the little buggers off of the plants. The beets absolutely sucked this year. They were puny, and woody, and not even the greens (which I love) could redeem them.

No. This year, my rockstar crop was swiss chard. And I'm not exaggerating when I say that I haven't been able to kill it. I've had the same healthy row of chard growing in my veggie garden since early April. I've been cutting away the outer stalks from the plants about once a week, and they've kept growing happily. The baby kept me busy this summer, and I didn't get out to water as often as I should have. Other than looking a little wilty, the swiss chard marched on. My kids have "helped" me harvest by pulling on the stalks, uprooting entire plants. I stuffed them back into the soil, and they were fine. We had one inch of snow on Monday, and my chard is still growing happily.

The only problem is--I'm the only one in the house that likes swiss chard.

I've mixed it into meatloaves, pasta sauces, and stir fries. They'll eat it if it's disguised, or if I can convince them it's celery (a vegetable they all love and I can't stand other than in Thanksgiving stuffing). But to eat it my favorite way, sauteed with garlic in a bit of olive oil and served with some shaved Parmesan---they won't even touch it.

So, now we come to the problem of having a rockstar crop that one person in a family of five will actually eat. I have this row of chard. Not a huge row, but more than I can eat by myself before the winter weather finally does it in. I hate to waste food. So I started looking into ideas for dealing with my chard.

More Recipes

I found this recipe over at The Cleaner Plate Club, and I'm definitely going to try it---my kids have yet to meet a winter squash that they haven't liked (yet they won't touch chard....I hated squash as a kid!)

Ingredients:
3 cloves garlic
1 small delicata squash, seeded and chopped
1 bunch red-stemmed chard, chopped, with stems separated from leaves
A half cup chicken broth
1 Tablespoon Balsamic vinegar
Kosher sea salt and pepper to taste

Directions: Clean chard by soaking in water and swishing regularly. Pat dry. Separate stems from leaves. Chop stems and leaves. Sautee garlic in a little olive oil until soft, but do not overcook. Add delicata squash (note: I have learned that delicata is the one squash that you dont need to peel, so long as you are cooking it long enough. A beautiful discovery for a lazy cook like myself!). Sautee just until they start to get a little soft. If at this point, you fear that you are going to burn either your squash or garlic, feel free to throw a splash of the broth. When you can get a knife through the squash, but its still firm, its time to add the chard stems. Sautee for about a minute, then add the broth.

Let simmer for for about 4 minutes, until the squash is nice and tender. Your quantity of broth will be reduced, but the flavor will be pulled right into those vegetables. Add leaves and balsamic vinegar and stir.

Cook until leaves start to get wilty, adding salt and pepper to taste.This one makes a nice side dish.

(She's got several ideas, including turning this recipe into an awesome pasta sauce---the site is definitely worth a visit.)

I'm going to try this tonight---I'll let you know how it goes. What I like about this is that I should be able to use up quite a bit of chard if I make it a couple of times.

Another thing I'm going to try, if the chard makes it to Thanksgiving, is this awesome swiss chard and artichoke dip from In My Kitchen Garden (she's obviously as in love with chard as I am!). It seems like the perfect thing to bring to my mother-in-law's Thanksgiving dinner.

Freezing Chard

If I can't use it all before I lose it, I'll have to harvest what's left and freeze it. The best way to do this is to first figure out how you are going to use the chard---do you want just the greens, or do you want the stalks, or both, or what? It is probably a good idea to have at least a couple bags of just greens in the freezer for those times you want to make filling for raviolis or any other recipe that calls for fresh greens. The rest can be a combo of stems and leaves.

Wash the chard well, and cut the stems into roughly 2 inch pieces. Blanch the chard for ninety seconds, remove to a bowl of ice to stop the cooking. Once they are cold, drain them well and put them into either zipper freezer bags (remove as much air as possible) or use one of those nifty little food vacuum systems, and freeze. They should be good for six months or so. By then, you'll be growing a new crop!

So, that's how I'll deal with the glut of chard. Any other chard recipes to share? And what are you still trying to "use up" before the weather has its final say?

Wordy Wednesday--Essential Reading for Writers

nospam@example.com (Colleen Vanderlinden) — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 08:39:23 -0700

Photo by pukalski/sxc.hu

Okay, so I'm still in a daze about seeing my book cover yesterday, so I've got books on the brain today. I'm one of those people who thinks "if I have a problem, there's a book out there that will tell me how to fix it." So far, I haven't been steered wrong on that. Whether it's cooking, gardening, caring for cats, parenting, pregnancy, or how to collect McCoy pottery (my latest obsession) I inevitably turn to a book.

But the most meaningful books have been the ones that have helped me as a writer. More than just telling me "how to write," (because no one can really tell another person how to do that---we each develop our own mojo given time) these books inspired me to get my butt in gear and see myself as a writer. You might be surprised with some of the selections, because they generally deal with writing fiction. But, when it comes down to it, writing is writing, and no matter what we write, the first step is to apply ass to chair and get to work. Each of these books, at different points in my life, have helped me do just that.

Top 5 Books for Writers

5. Wild Mind
/Writing Down the Bones
by Natalie Goldberg
These are actually two separate books, but everyone I know who has read them has a clear favorite. Both are good, but I liked Wild Mind best. Goldberg focuses on trying to make you see yourself as a writer---getting past inhibitions each one of us has, keeping your hand moving, and breaking through your insecurities. She focuses on important issues like being specific vs. generalizing---for example, not "tree" but "gnarled old red oak." This was probably the first book that really made me get to it, and I still have my old dog-eared, highlighted copy above my desk.

4. Bird by Bird
by Annie Lamott
If you only take two things away from Lamott's book, the ideas of the "one inch picture frame" and taking it "bird by bird" are enough to give you a lifetime of inspiration. I never would have gotten through either the About.com hiring process or the co-writing of the book without keeping "bird by bird" in mind.

3. If You Want to Write
by Brenda Ueland
If You Want to Write is basically Wild Mind with a less-hippie tone to it. I actually have this book on tape and used to listen to it while I was jogging.

2. Sometimes the Magic Works
by Terry Brooks
While this is a book about writing fiction, Brooks has plenty to say about things like outlining, developing a writing schedule, and revision. More than that, though, he lets us peek into his life as a writer--how he got started, how he's felt working on different projects, and the ups and downs of his career. Part how-to, part memoir---this book just generally inspires me to keep going.

1. On Writing
by Stephen King
You might think this is a book for fiction writers, based on King as author, but it is so much more. If you want to write, and intend to take it seriously, this is a must-read. Like the Brooks book, this is part memoir, but King also gives plenty of solid information for how to develop yourself as a writer. One thing I loved is that he finally says it flat out---writers need to learn grammar. He totally rips the whole notion that it's okay for a writer not to understand grammar, and he makes sure we understand that anyone can learn the basics. This is my favorite quote from the book, and I have it printed out and stapled to my bulletin board above my desk:

"You can approach the act of writing with nervousness, excitement, hopefulness, or even despair--the sense that you can never completely put on the page what's in your mind and heart. You can come to the act with your fists clenched and your eyes narrowed, ready to kick ass and take down names. You can come to it because you want a girl to marry you or because you want to change the world. Come to it any way but lightly. Let me say it again: you must not come lightly to the blank page."

So, there are my top five books to help get into your writing groove. Are there any that I haven't mentioned that have really done it for you? Tell us about them!

Oh, and if you're looking for something more immediate, Dee at Red Dirt Ramblings has a beautiful post up today, titled Always Learning, that perfectly expresses why writers are so lucky to do what they do.

The Book Cover

nospam@example.com (Colleen Vanderlinden) — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 14:43:10 -0700

The first byline. The first long-term assignment. The first newspaper interview. The first time you see your name listed as an expert in a book. I've experienced all of these firsts, and each one was full of joy, disbelief, nerves, and the inevitable fact that even after your moment of "fame" life doesn't really change. You're still the same person you were the day before, changing your kids' poopy diapers, dealing with morning sickness, folding laundry and figuring out how you're going to get everything done.

Now I have a new first to add to the list: the first time I saw my name on the cover of a book. Take a look:

(Note: This is from the publisher's website. The book is not due out until Spring. I still have to go through galleys and edits in the next couple of months.)

This is one of those moments I've dreamed of for as long as I can remember. I can't really describe what I'm feeling. I'm happy, thrilled, in fact. But a big part of me is saying "how in the hell did you manage that?" I don't think it's any secret that writers tend to be pretty insecure when it comes to their profession. When I got the About job, I thought "are they crazy?" When I got my editing job, I thought "they don't even know how badly I can mangle the English language." When I've been interviewed, I've never failed to think "who the hell wants to hear about me??"

For today though, I'll let myself float on Cloud 9. Until I sit down to write an article, and begin to wonder again "do you really have anything worth writing about?"

The Rest of the Front Garden

nospam@example.com (Colleen Vanderlinden) — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 10:42:27 -0700

While the sunny section of the front yard is well on its way to looking fabulous, the shady side is coming along more slowly. The front of my house is north-facing, and the shady side is inhabited by a fairly large birch tree. The bed up near the house gets very little sunlight---maybe three hours or so in the early morning. The lower part of the lawn is in dappled sunlight for most of the day, with some weird little areas that manage full sun. Suffice to say, it's driving me crazy.

The beginnings of a garden...

On one hand, it gives me plenty of opportunities to play with woodland and other shade loving plants. Right now, the bed near the house holds a bleeding heart, ostrich, royal, and japanese ferns, a few hostas, siberian irises (in the sunnier parts), astilbe, and some daylilies that bloom surprisingly well given how little sun they get. In the area that gets part sun, I planted some euphorbias (including the brand-new 'Jessie,' which I'm trialling in my garden this year), irises, more daylilies, and a few black-eyed susans.

The main trouble I'm having is that I want the two sides of the yard to look like they belong together. So far, I've managed to use a few of the same plants on each side of the yard, so that will tie it together somewhat. It's something that will evolve over time. I know I want to add more ferns to the shady side (my husband loves ferns), as well as more astilbes and some tiarellas. I'm waiting for some pink bleeding heart seeds (courtesy of Jenny from the ITGO Seed Exchange) and those will fill out the shade garden nicely. I also want to diversify the hostas in my garden, which gives me the perfect opportunity to put an order in over at Plant Delights.

So, there it is, the good, the bad, what's working and what's not working so well. The more I devote my back yard to vegetable gardening (more on that another time), the more I appreciate my front yard. Not that there won't be edibles in the front yard---I will be incorporating plenty of edibles into the sunny-side garden and in containers on my porch (which is now pretty sunny---so glad that awning is gone!) The sunny side will also give me the opportunity to grow more herbs, including some very pretty bronze fennel that Kim sent me a while back and some fernleaf dill that is also on its way from Jenny.

Maybe the best thing of all about this change is that planning for next year's additions will keep me plenty busy over the winter, poring over my catalogs, trading on the seed exchange, and writing all of my lists. I'm so glad I finally got moving on it. It gives me more places to play in the garden. By next fall, most, if not all, of the grass will be gone. Then what?

You know, that hell strip is looking pretty bare.....