Verge Garden- Part 6- Progress Report

The Verge Garden has largely turned out to be all that I thought it would be*.  When the Mrs and I step out of the Subaru Outback (cause you can't live in our neighborhood and NOT drive a Subaru Outback), we tred upon the fresh herbs and the wafting aromas of chamomile, thyme, pennroyal, and oregano harken us back to the days of yore.  Seriously, I think that little bit of aromatherapy helps with the hangover.

Here's how it looks today:

If you're considering recreating such a garden at your locale, I can especially highly recommend three plants in the garden which have performed exceedingly well.

The Pennroyal, shown above, grows like gangbusters and smells like mint when you crush it.  It has a nice low growing habit.   It is very dense as well, which makes it resistant to weed infiltration.

The Mazus Reptans, shown in the center above, is also a really fast spreader.  We're past the blooming stage, but it has a nice delicate white flower.  No smell, but it is also very dense.  It truly looks like this in full bloom.

The Lawn Chamomile, on the corners above, is incredibly dense, like Kentucky Blue Grass.  A great smell when walked on.  It doesn't flower, or not much, according to sources, but looks like this when it does.

Overall a success.  *Although the neighbors, despite my assurances to the contrary, are afraid to step on the plants.  But I guess that's just a way of reserving the parking spot in front of our house without resorting to orange plastic cones like those trashy South Philadelphians.

Earthtainer- What I would do if I had Sunlight

I read this article on Friday from Slate which outlined the author's experience with the Earthtainer III.

Sure, it sounds like a horrible sequel to an already middling movie combining Eco-friendly principles with high adventure and adrenaline packed action*.  But no, its just a tomato growing system that anyone can use.

But best of all, its not for sale.

Ray Newstead, the quintessential full frontal nerdity champion, who is an executive for some semiconductor company, figured out how to build the ultimate self watering tomato pot out of basic Rubbermaid storage tubs and readily available hardware.  He even spent years testing his own specially mixed growing medium for perfect tomatoes. 

Ray Newstead

And he put the instructions for how he did it online.  For free.

Here you go:

The Earthtainer III

I don't have enough sunlight anywhere in my yard to try this.  But one of you readers must.  I want to hear how it goes.

*AKA, The Day After Tommorow

Earth Day and Good Friday

A brief link to this article from Philly.com talking about the popularity of the reusable bag on Earth Day.

The best quote?:

Not every reusable bag is environmentally equal. A nonwoven polypropylene bag, for example, would have to be used just 11 times to make up for the negative effects of a plastic bag used one time, according to a British Environment Agency study that compared bags. A cotton bag, however, would have to be used 131 times.

Why would a cotton bag have to be used so much?  Because the energy that goes into its production is significantly higher... check this article from Daily Mail and the quote: 

Using a thin plastic bag - made from a plastic called high-density polyethylene (HDPE) - equates to generating 1.57kg of carbon dioxide, the greenhouse gas that scientist believe leads to global warming according to the report. A cotton bag would have to be re-used 171 times to emit the same level of CO2.
Cotton bags typically made in China have a greater environmental impact because of the water and fertiliser required in their production, as well as their transportation and greater weight.

As with most things marketed to us for sale as "Green", its actually a load of crap.   Buy less, consume less. 


Also, Earth Day shouldn't be allowed to overlap with Good Friday.  Jesus totally loved his creation, but that's just putting the cart before the horse.

Verge Garden- Part 6: Planting

I'm not going to bore you with the details of how to plant things.  If you came to this blog looking for that, you're bound to be sorely disappointed.  Instead, I'll just show you the more or less finished product with a breakdownof what went into each bed.  Here's the planted Garden:

 

Each portion has a perennial ground cover in the center surrounded by four perennial herbs that will release a pleasing aroma when stepped upon.  As previously mentioned in yesterday's post, the garden beds resemble a cat burial ground more than anything else.  Hopefully the "burial" mounds will settle in time and look a little less like a Stephen King plot device.

Mazus Reptans Alba surrounded by Nutmeg Thyme.

Antennaria Dioica surrounded by Pennyroyal

Mazus Reptans Alba surrounded by Lawn Chamomile

Sedum Spurium Red Carpet surrounded by Roman Chamomile

Sedum Spurium Tricolor Surrounded by Orange Zest Thyme and Mother of Thyme

Veronica Repens surrounded by Creeping Oregano.

Verge Garden- Part 5: Planting Beds

Now that all the plants were purchased, the Verge Garden strip could finally be built.  I decided to go with the more thoughtful and considerate option B plan.  No Poison Ivy and half the work and cost.

The first step was to scrape off the top layer of sod.  This was incredibly easy and I just piled it all into my large tupperware bin thing that I use for transporting dirt in our Subaru.  (Sigh...yearning for the days of having a truck.)  Unfortunately, I did not anticipate that sod weighs about twice as much as dirt.  So when I tried lifting the mother into the back of the wagon, I think I ripped all the sinews in my inner elbows.*  Unshovel half the dirt back into the bed, dump the first sod load, reshovel and dump the second load.  Oi.

 After scraping off the top layer of sod, I spaced my brick paths evenly along the lot line. Using a trowel, I excavated to the proper level, poured a smidgen of sand down, and started laying bricks.

The further I got down the row, the tighter the space between the edge of the curb and the edge of the concrete sidewalk became.  Fortunately, I had my father's rubber mallet and masonry hammer to fit the tightest bricks into place.  Yet it still was no easy task.  Much swearing and brick chips in the eye were enjoyed.

After getting most of the way done, I realized that the proportions of the planting beds reminded me of a stray cat cemetery.  But, turning lemons into lemonade, I remembered that there are a lot of dead stray cats around our neighborhood (because of the bus route) and realized, hey, what makes better fertilizer than dead stuff?  So, collecting all the roadkill in a two block radius, I piled one into each planting bed, and covered them with 6 inches of soil.**  6 cats that finally have a final resting place.  Amen.

And now we have a beautiful, albeit, slightly morbid Verge Garden Strip, ready for all the groundcover and rock garden plants I purchased.

 

*  Yes, I know, lift with your back, not your arms.

**Just checking to see if you're reading carefully.  It's like those stupid standardized tests where they make you read the passage and then see how many relevant and irrelevant*** details you can remember.

*** Not that dead cats are irrelevant, mind you.  I find dead cats in the city to be extremely relevant, mostly because there's too many strays and I attribute very little value to their life.  So, its the one time I rooting for Septa.

Russell Wholesale Gardens

Yesterday was the annual trip to Russell Wholesale Gardens.  I've linked to it many times before but it bears repeating because this place is amazing.  I was headed there to pick up a few more perrenials and the plants for the Verge Garden.  But you never know what you'll find at Russell's.  Because look at the size of this place:

 And that's just one of the area's you can visit.  It's huge and they have 10 varieties of anything you can imagine.

The difficult thing about Russell's is that it isn't for the newbie gardener.  You arrive, park your car, and go into the trailer and pick up the "Location List."

The Location List has the names of all the plants on offer that year with what aisle you can find them in.  It's much like picking up some furniture at Ikea.  Except instead of Swedish, you theoretically have to know Latin.  The list is hand numbered every year and is prone to mistakes, so you may or may not find what you're looking for.  However, you always stumble on something you weren't expecting and didn't know you needed, such as this Ranunculus.

Furthermore, if you end up finding the specific cultivar in the right aisle... it may look a little less... verdant... than the stuff at the Home Despot.

But that's actually probably better.  Most of the stuff at the big chain gardening centers is "forced", which means to put the plant in artificially warm/moist/sunny conditions to cause it to grow ahead of its appointed time.  Thus the item on the shelf looks pretty, but it's like putting a baby on anabolic steroids.  I've tried that, and trust me, it never ends well.

So, you may come across a pile of Verbascum 'Southern Charm'.  Which is one of my favorites... and it looks like this:

And there's no pretty picture guides, so unless you knew that it will eventually turn into this:

you're not likely to be as excited as I was, for a quart container for only $2.99.

After you fill the wagon, you cart your purchases back to the trailer to checkout...

 And then of course, you remember the Herb greenhouses, of which there are SEVEN...

Varieties of every herb imaginable, stuff I've never seen used in any cookbook or homeopathic quack treatment.  Basils in every color.  Mints for Tea, Mints for Mojitos, Mints for Cats.

 Gazillions of herbs, and they're only $1.40 a piece.  At that price, you are tempted to buy 50 of them.

 Which brings us to the last point about Russell.  Go in there with a budget.  I feel really good about my three trays of plants for $100... that's 15 one quart perennials and about 50 herb pots.  But that was me restraining myself... HARD.

Greenbo Railing Planters

Designers, douchey as we tend to be, do have a purpose in the world.

Coming up with ingenious ideas like this.  So simple, so needed, so sweet.
Greenbo Railing Planter

My cousins have a cabin in Maine that sits 40' above the ocean with nothing but a simple cable railing to obstruct the view.  In some ways, its a shame to put anything in place to obstruct that, but I could also see two simple Greenbo planters off to each side, floating effortlessly, trailing succulents perilously (although not really) in the ocean breeze.

Which Brand of Paint Should I buy?

I've always had an affinity for Benjamin Moore paints.  In retrospect, I'm not exactly sure why.  I felt like they performed better and lasted longer and had better coverage per gallon than anything you could buy at the Home Despot.  My wife on the other hand, has always been very turned off by the high price tag.  She is a sensibly frugal woman.  And good with a roller.  And hot.

So a recent March 2011 article from Consumer Reports grabbed my eye.  Here's the link, but of course you have to be a subscriber to access any of the important info.

(I know SOME people who like to split online subscriptions between three or four users by all using the same sign-in/password.  Those people are immoral.  They have access to great info to write blogs about, but no scruples.  The House Rules is not advocating such a practice, but if anyone has an online subscription to Zagat...)

Anyways, to give you the juicy tidbits, while Benjamin Moore was #2 for semigloss, #3 for flat/matte, and #5 for satin/eggshell, It was the Behr Premium Plus Ultra brand that scored #1 in all three categories.  Additionally, the VOC's (Volatile Organic Compounds) which we've all been taught to fear and despise like Nuclear Power and Nancy Pelosi, were approximately one half to two thirds lower in the Behr paints than the Bmoores.

But you get what you pay for, right?  WRONG.  At a range of $48-51 per gallon for the Benjamin Moore and a range of $31-34 for the Behr, a clear winner emerges.  AND, if the $30/gallon range is even too high for you, the next step down from Behr, the Premium Plus (Not Ultra) scored in the same range for only $18-25 a gallon.




















The moral?  My wife is usually right.  And we're going to try Behr for while.  Which, begrudgingly, of course, means going to the Home Despot.  But as previously implied, my morals are available to be compromised.

Verge Garden- Part 4: Plant Selection

The weather has turned warm again (again) and this time I'm actually going to get my hopes up that winter is over and I can begin gardening.

I've compiled a list of species for the Verge Planting Strip Garden.  I'm focused mostly on herbs* for two reasons...

One, as they're stepped on in this highly trafficked zone, they'll release a refreshing aroma to cover the odor of pitbull excrement and weed.  (I'm kidding.  I really like the smell of weed and I don't want anything to cover it up.)

Two, at Russell Wholesale, they're extremely cheap, $1.50 for a 3" pot I believe, and they propogate rapidly, making them a cost effective filler solution.

Anyways, here's the shopping list:

Antennaria dioica `New Hybrids'

Chamaemelum nobile*

Chamaemelum nobile `Treneague'*

Corsican Mint*

Pennroyal (English)*

Mazus Reptans Alba

Sedum Spurium Red Carpet

Creeping Lemon Thyme*

Nutmeg Thyme*

Veronica Repens

*The other primary reason I highlight the Herbs is that this posting will be the first time the Mrs. sees the shopping list.  She has expressed concern over the gardening budget this year.  (Rightly so as I have no impulse control whatsoever when it comes to food, gardening, drinks, nicotine, and sarcasm.)

Verge Garden- Part 3: Inspiration

Once recent comment on the Verge Planting Strip Garden post, cited "There's no way in hell that'll work.  People will walk all over it and everything will die."

I now direct your attention to Greenwalks.

It's a whole blog dedicated to parking strip planting.

From Greenwalks Blog

I mean, look at that Helleborus.  Her pictures are total garden porn.

Invasivore in the City

Not long ago, I wrote a post on “Stink Bug Eradication Techniques” which to my surprise has been my most popular entry in The House Rules.  To summarize, Stink Bugs took over the Eastern Seaboard about 10 years ago as an invasive species from China with no local predators.  In my blog, I encouraged readers to do the most natural thing imaginable and find a way to reduce the stink bug population, not through pesticides or a rolled up newspaper, but by making them into dinner.  Pate, Tacos, whatever.

Recently, I stumbled across this article in Slate which regarded the invasive Red Lionfish in the Florida Keys as a similar, but delectable menace.  It’s almost too beautiful to eat despite the great recipes in Lionfish Cookbook:  The Caribbean’s New Delicacy.

 The Red Lionfish

But that was just the tip of the melting iceberg.  Wit a little interwebbing, I discovered that unbeknownst to me, my idea was trending, and now there’s a term for this big ol' group of crazypants:  Invasivores.

In the wake of my post, other bloggers must have caught the same idea, including The Compact , Dot Earth  and Take Part.  Okay, I have no way of knowing that they got the idea from me, but what is the internet for if not unmerited hubris?

So what’s an invasivore here in Philly supposed to tackle?  Well Canadian Geese and Starlings are among the top 10 most costly invasive species in the US.  Garlic Mustard and Zebra Mussels are rapidly overrunning Pennsylvania’s waterways and forest undergrowth.

But when I think of Philadelphia, the most irritating,  loathsome, and possibly yummy options that spring to mind include:

 The Northern Snakehead

The Rock Pigeon

and I would be remiss if I didn’t mention

The Feral Cat

I need to pull out my copy of the Scavenger’s Guide to Haute Cuisine.  I know he had a chapter on Squab (Baby Pigeons) but I can’t recall if there was anything on Feline Pot Pie.