Tag Archives: urban gardening

Dirt2Table: A Great time of year!

Don’t you love it this time of year? I certainly do. Everything from the buds swelling on the fruit trees, dandelions blooming, willows and others flowering, to the birds getting more active, it sure feels like spring.

seedlingseparation
I just hope that a late frost doesn’t get some of our fruit trees this year. As you may know if you read these columns, the Fairpark Community Council is hosting it’s First Annual Get your garden STARTED Plant Sale. We are starting dozens of varieties of peppers and tomatoes. Lots of heirlooms as well as several varieties of Basil. In fact, as of March 7th some of the Lettuce Leaf basil is already up from seeds planted 8 days ago.

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Dirt2Table: Siberian Elms

dirt2tableSo, its the middle of February, still a couple of more months until the ground can be worked, and the early crops seeded. Right? Well, maybe not this year. I tilled up a small area last
weekend, and this weekend, on the Fifteenth, I will be planting peas, salad greens and
onions. On February 15th!!!
In addition to being able to plant some seeds this early, I have noticed the trees waking up
early too. This might turn out bad for our fruit trees, if we get a late frost when they are in bloom or after they have set fruit. We can only hope for the best and wait to see.
Speaking of trees, Siberian Elms come to mind. This is a fast growing tree that a lot of folks around here call a Chinese Elm. You know, it comes up from the seeds in the spring like gang busters. The trees can be seen all over our neighborhood in the early spring covered in bright green seed clusters long before any leaves have come out. Although I am not too fond of all those little trees all over
1598my yard every year I have learned to look forward to that time when the seed clusters are still bright green, before they turn brown, fall off the tree and blow into my garden. That is because those seed clusters, called Samaras, are some ofthe best salad greens I have ever had. I strongly recommend that everyone take the time to collect a few handfuls of these Samaras from the trees in our community. If you don’t have one in your yard, you can ask your neighbor if you can have some of theirs, or just go for a walk along the River Parkway Trail, since at
least half of the big trees along there are Siberian Elms. Look for a small tree or
a low hanging branch that you can pick some of these tasty greens off of. You
won’t be sorry you did, they are delicious.
Read more about eating Samaras at My Urban Homestead website: