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By feral, on February 19th, 2012%
 I took down our Christmas lights yesterday — just got tired of waiting for the winter to come… Seriously, I don’t think it’s coming this year. I got seedlings to start and don’t want them to be confused. This weather has confused enough plants already. I’ve seen foot-tall daffodils and tulips around the city yesterday. To me, this absence of cold and snow in February feels a little bit like the morning of a sleepless party night: even though it was fun to be able to run around in lighter clothes, to avoid gloomy and slushy days, and not to freeze my ears off, I’m a little worried — what if my garden didn’t get enough rest for the new season?
You know me, I worry about things like that… Especially after hearing that the canals in Venice froze… Yesterday I learned that the rest of the world is a big climactic mess too, according to this map (which I stole from this Huff Post article).
 Except for Brazil, Tibet, and Kazakhstan… Those seem to be the only 3 places . . . CONTINUE READING → winter blues and greens
By feral, on May 27th, 2011%
 I mean our building on 43rd Street. Yesterday afternoon they safely arrived on location.
I would love to be able to say that their relocation occurred without any incidents but the truth is that en route I murdered a cute, albeit dumb, woodchuck on the Taconic. The stupid thing was standing by the side of the road and decided to pull Anna Karenina on me (no, I was not driving a train) at the moment when I had no time to react. I realize that it was a suicidal woodchuck and that I did the right thing by not trying to maneuver my way out of the middle lane in a 3-lane traffic. But it’s still a pretty unsettling feeling to run over a furry living creature, and I’m still sad.
At least the seedlings didn’t see anything from their boxes. That’s good because I don’t want to expose them to any additional shocks just before transplanting.
I have my work cut out for me for the following few days and it’ll involve some intensive digging. Although the official last frost date here is May 15, Memorial Day weekend . . . CONTINUE READING → seedlings have left the building
By feral, on May 22nd, 2011%
 And it’s time to push out some content after an extended blogger’s block!
Last couple of weeks all of my energy was consumed by the grading marathon and other end-of-semester matters but now I’m officially ready for the summer. Whenever it decides to arrive.
While we’re waiting, let’s reflect on what I’ve done so far. This list has no particular order.
Peas — I planted most of them around St. Patrick’s Day. Thought I’d never see them again but they surprised me several weeks ago with some confident and strong shoots. I had to quickly improvise some trellises. To protect the young shoots from my resident rodents, I placed some plastic bottles, cut off on both ends, around them. Onions — planted in April and already sporting some nice green shoots. James’ rhubarb is already pretty enormous. Last weekend we had to remove its giant flower stalks to ensure it doesn’t throw all of its energy into seeds. When spring is as cold as this year, rhubarb tends to bolt (go to flower -> seeds) early, which stops the growth of its edible (stalks) and poisonous (leaves) parts. . . . CONTINUE READING → grades are in, peas are up!
By feral, on May 11th, 2011%
This is what the feral windowsill looks like these days — busy.  As do I — only less green.
The main purpose of this post is to let my dear e-diary know that I have not forsaken it. So, what’s been happening? Seedlings are growing, and some of them are getting ready to move upstate come weekend. My semester just ended and I’m marking finals, papers and calculating grades. It’s not as fun as gardening but someone has to do it.
In the nearest future, you can expect me to report on the following notable matters:
My latest obsessive-compulsive gardening weekend 10 days ago. My latest obsession with stinging nettles and what I’ve been making with them. Coping with my old and new medical conditions — seasonal allergies and PNS. I’m not kidding, PNS is a real thing and stands for pine nut syndrome. Yay, one more dietary restriction! Believe it or not, but there’s actually a connection between both mentioned conditions and the nettles. Some thoughts on my recently concluded plant-based diet experiment. What did I learn from 2 months of veganism and what shall and shan’t I . . . CONTINUE READING → my busy sill
By feral, on July 8th, 2010%
 Here’s one last shot of Mr. Tomato before we ate him. This is how he’ll always stay in my heart: red, plump and juicy. He smelled really nice too and tasted so sweet in his immediate reincarnation as insalata caprese. Thank you for being a friend — the way every good friend should be: good-looking, pleasant to smell, and delicious.
PS: Not to steal from Mr. Tomato’s farewell fanfare, but I also had a near-sublime experience with my first cucumber earlier today. It might have been the best cucumber I’ve had so far. Nicely chilled and drizzled with a little vinegar, oil, dill, sugar and salt. I usually find cucumbers pretty boring compared to tomatoes but this one was somehow absolutely exhilarating. Almost forgot to mention, it was thinly sliced.
By feral, on July 7th, 2010%
That’s right. Yesterday we returned from upstate and drove right into a 101 feels like 104. My weather app has 5 separate alerts for NYC regarding the heat and the air quality. The Big Apple turned into a Giant Melting Pot, and not in a good way.
 Speaking of pots, not everyone is complaining about the heat. Appropriately, my potted cayenne peppers love it: they turned bright red over the weekend and are celebrating like little communists on parade. They must have confused their holidays but, from a purely botanical perspective, I’d rather have them red than red-white-and-blue.
 I planted the seeds (from my last year’s cayenne harvest) in late February, and here we are. Their siblings in the garden are still green but they don’t have to be fully ripe to eat. I sliced one up finely and mixed with a little rice vinegar, sugar, salt (fish sauce works even better) and cilantro to make a really nice sauce to drizzle over stuff.
Hot peppers are perennials in hot climates; you . . . CONTINUE READING → you know what’s really hot right now?
By feral, on July 2nd, 2010%
  Just a few photos from yesterday. These are supposed to be Laguna Gladiolus that I bought as bulbs from Hirt’s Garden on Amazon but mine (on the left and below) look quite different from the picture on the website (on the right)… Although still very pretty.
It’s supposed to be really hot in the city this weekend, so I’m a little concerned about my glads, although I did water them abundantly before leaving. I decided to leave Mr. Tomato on the vine for a few more days; so, I’m worried about him too now.
In the meanwhile, we’re back in Canaan. Bar-ken gave Jackie a shiny new oil pan, and she is back with the family.
The voles keep racing through the garden but seem a little bit less fearless now that they have less weeds to hide under. Also, I saw a little garter snake today — hopefully, it’ll eat some slugs.
 ![]( "laguna gladiolus 2") . . . CONTINUE READING → gladioli on the terrace
By feral, on July 1st, 2010%
 Started from a seed in early March, he’s been slowly blushing on the terrace outside our bedroom window over the last couple of days. And today he turned almost perfectly red! The first tomato of the season!!! I’m very excited and take his early arrival as a good omen for this summer — after my entire tomato jungle fell victim to the late blight tomatocide last year.
 Sadly, it is also the only tomato on the entire plant — I guess the amount of soil in the pot wasn’t enough to support more fruit. So, Mr. Tomato is a little lonely. Perhaps we should throw him a nice bar mitzvah and invite his friend Liza?..
Here are a few other questions I have:
What does one traditionally do with the first (and, so far, the only) urban tomato? Does it look ripe enough? It looks to me like he could use a little more time on the vine but if we’re going upstate tomorrow, I don’t want to leave him alone for the entire long weekend.
![]() . . . CONTINUE READING → Mr. Tomato is here!
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