the fourth annual riboff

…if you’re reading this, you’re invited…

this saturday, july 26th friends and neighbors will unite for the love of pork.

and potato salad,
and jello molds,
and scotch eggs,
and baked beans,
and broccoli casserole,
and strawberry shortcake,
and caprese salad,
and cornbread,
and mac ‘n’ cheese,
and deviled eggs,
and tofu curry,
and fruit salad with marshmallows…

to enter the riboff competition, be at 1230 traver on saturday.
have your ribs ready at 6:35.
sidedishes and desserts at 6:50.
for more details on the food competition: the riboff website

if you just want to come to witness
the no-holds-barred deviled eggs vs. deviled eggs,
and to enjoy good food & good company, then do.
bring a dish or drink to share, or some donation money
for those who spent time and cash to feed the hungry masses.
lawn games and refreshing beverages will commence at 5 o’clock.

be there, or be hungry.

floor two, please

as a gardener, i don’t often get to enjoy the exhilaration of instant gratification. thursday, i reveled in it…

installing a new garden is an amazing thing–to be there when each little plant goes into the ground, watching them grow a bit each year until the garden is full and flowering with abundance.
but that takes a while.
enter: container gardening.

once i again, i found myself at the lofts of liberty street, beautifying another terrace…and loving every minute of it. what i was looking at was a nice, sunny spot, but a skosh naked…

first thing, picking the pots.
in this case, faux-cement planters for the ornamental grasses and beautiful glazed pots for the flowers. additionally, two hanging baskets and two moss railing-planters because, well, can you even have enough color?

finally, a quick wave of the magic wand and poof…

terrible two

in honor of black dog ko’s second birthday today…

i heart abbott’s

one of my favorite nurseries in the ann arbor area is abbott’s over on scio church road. it’s an old farm and the setting is lovely. they carry all the standard stuff–deciduous and evergreen trees including beautiful japanese maples and interesting varieties of everything else, an alphabet of perennials, and cheery annuals that greet you when you walk in. and then, you start to notice the hidden things–pockets of color and foliage that make your heart happy even through the ninety-two degree mugginess. the rusty words above the entrance remind me of an apartment i had in downtown petoskey with a big bay window (literally, a view of the big bay) that i used to paint important words on in the hopes that someone having a glum day would look up and smile.
speaking of smiling, something about this
bust reminds me of scotthew…hello friend!

i love abbott’s potting shed in the underside of the old barn–all the amazing pots and planters make it hard to not put yourself to work. when i saw a miniature world of bonsai, i no longer could. earlier in the summer, i got a low, sturdy wooden box from a garage sale that an old chess board fit perfectly into. i was using it as a table for the badminton observation area, as it held the two geraniums i over-wintered and couple refreshing summer drinks quite nicely. however, after all the thunderstorms we’ve had this season, each tile of the board came unglued and floated around among my waterlogged gerries and watered-down cocktails. so, long story short–inspiration at abbott’s + bonsai display at produce station + power drill for drainage = my newest obsession…

when i walk around sniffing flowers and adoring plants, i tend to wish i was an unemployed millionaire, so nothing would stand in the way of my gardening impulses…i could surprise friends and neighbors all over town–they leave for work in the morning and return to a newly sprouted flower landscape. or i suppose i could garden undercover of night. good thing the pot & box mobile is black…

past-due haiku

faithful blog reader,
quite a girl, and birthday star
she is bertoni

plucking 101

with planting season nearly behind us, it is officially maintenance time. welcome to the gardeners’ school of how-to. today, we tackle plucking. so grab your sharp scissors and your plucker bucket and let’s get gardening…

before we start: try to look at your subject pot with unbiased eyes. what i mean is, don’t look at your slightly neglected flowers and think about your gardening inadequacies, or how you really should be cleaning out the fridge, or the garage, or volunteering more. there is time for all of that, but for now, you’re outside, enjoying the summer. gardening isn’t just another chore. we love it. so take a second and get lost among your flowers. (after a few years working with people and their plants, i have observed that it can be an emotional thing to work in the garden. oftentimes, a rose isn’t just a rose. it could be from your grandmother’s mother. or maybe the icy blue delphinium reminds you of the lake you grew up on. and never underestimate the power of smell–i whole-heartedly believe i am in hawaii for 4.5 seconds when i smell a plumeria, even if i am in the botanical conservatory in columbus, ohio.) enjoy what you think and feel in the garden. save your stress for when you’re organizing that garage.

first) water! when you water before you pluck, it increases the turgor pressure (think bloated plant cells) which makes the actual plucking (the snap of a petunia arm) easier for your fingers and less stressful for the plants.

second) weed any renegade sprouts out of your potted garden. this doesn’t happen often, but it is funny if it does. i picture life turning into a live-action animated movie where the the tiny maple seedling grows at super speed, bursts through the faux terra cotta urn, and takes a walking tour of ann arbor on it’s seven root-legs, giving shelter to kids trying to keep up with their ice cream cones at washtenaw dairy and taking a nap in west park under it’s uncle oak tree. but i digress…

third) the birds & the bees: annuals (flowers that we have to plant every year) have a mission. they know that as soon as they get pulled from that black plastic cell pack and go in the ground, their time in the sun is limited. so, they are making flowers to make seeds to insure that their children are around next summer. our job is to enjoy the flowers and pluck off the spent blooms regularly. if you want to collect seeds, go for it. but don’t mind my gasps if you have me over…

with most plants you can use your built-in plucker tool–the tip of your thumb and the side of your index finger (and after a few years, your thumb has a flat spot and your index finger a callus.) but some flowers need the snip of the scissors to be sure the cut is clean. your don’t want the wound to be any bigger than it has to be.

fourth) fertilize! i use neptune’s harvest fish & seaweed or alaska morbloom for healthy, natural, and organic plants and flowers. for houseplants and vegan clients, i go for monty’s joy juice. fertilize every other week through the growing season for strong roots, green shoots, beautiful blooms, and delicious edibles.

a note on fertilizers: i realize you may have grown up watching dad spray miracle grow through his hose-end attachment–the zinnias might have been as big as dinner plates, tomatoes the size of a cantaloupes–but freakishly big does not necessarily mean healthy. a healthy garden grows with the process of building soil structure, feeding plants with balanced ferts, and encouraging good bugs and birds. you can still use the hose-end attachment, just fill it with the right stuff. don’t pump your flowers full of a quick-fix! just say (miracle) NO!

now, turn your tassel.
you may go forth and pluck…

westside farmers’ market

for a month now, i have been spending my thursday afternoons in the shadow of the trailer…the zingerman’s roadshow trailer that is. which is a pretty ok place to be–good peeps, great coffee, and bacon. lots of bacon.

pot & box’s booth offers garden-fresh bouquets and magnificent pots of plants and flowers. i will say, it’s the most popular booth for bees…as well as kids (with the exception of the ice cream truck.) to encourage our future gardeners, pot & box has a tiny table set up for tiny people with soil, pots, and easy-to-grow seeds–who among us can’t remember running endless errands with mom? it’s a little break for the little squirts…or am i training 2023’s employees?

yesterday’s featured non-profit organization was dawn farm, a beautiful place for folks needing help with alcohol addiction. the center is a functioning farm–you can purchase hormone-free eggs, chicken, pork, and beef as well as stopping out to meet piglets and other new farm animals. located on stony creek road in ypsilanti, dawn farm is doing things a little differently. in an attempt to change the stereotype of ‘addict,’ dawn farm offers really sharp literature put together by the organization’s president, and they allow other similar organizations to use their images as a service to further their message and goals. additionally, the farm is wonderfully green, and has been for years…recycling everything including rainwater for their gardens, switching over to compact florescent light bulbs and high-efficiency washers…well, just check out this inspiring list of what they’re doing. what also struck me as a perfect idea was that their barn, used for patient classes and farm projects, can be rented out by other non-profits at a great rate, as well as for company events and even weddings. what a great thing, that having a party can help raise money for those who need it.

my first market day, the featured non-profit was huron valley slow food, and i befriended deirdra who told me all about what’s going on right here with the slow food movement. most importantly is the pie event on saturday, july 19th at the ypsilanti ladies literary club. slow food, growing hope, and the homegrown festival are hosting this pie extravaganza–a pie baking contest, a pie walk, pie music, and even a pie-ku contest, for all of us haiku geeks with a penchant for pie. pot & box will be there, and we’ll bring the flowers!
another really cool event coming up through huron valley slow food is dinner in the vineyard: a celebration in support of terra madre. this fundraiser is a benefit that will send 3 of our local farmers, chefs, and producers to the worldwide meeting of slow food in italy in october. the delegates are shannon brines from brines farm; eve aronoff, chef at eve the restaurant; and rodger bowser, chef at zingerman’s deli. tickets are $55 ($45 for slow food members) and include a five course meal and wine tasting. did i mention it’s dinner in the vineyard? get your tickets at brown paper tickets–and love this fair-trade ticketing service!

so, if you haven’t been up to the westside farmers’ market, come next week! what better way to support local business and have a great time? try some hot n’ now at farm to fork, get fresh lamb from hannewalds, and fruits and veggies from seedling–though i can’t guarantee there will be any raspberries left, after anica has her fill…

a2 w2

up north for the fourth

i just returned late last night from a holiday weekend in petoskey,
and what a weekend it was…
sights were seen, friends were hugged, and food was aplenty.

with a little encouragement from fellow black-dog beau, ko discovered his inner lab-ness and is completely obsessed with swimming. i’ve never seen him tired out, until three full days of tennis ball hunting in the big water.

one of my favorite spots on earth is grape hill,
a sand dune north of cross village and just before sturgeon bay.
the climb will wind almost anyone–even an almost-two-years-old pup–
and the view is worth every wheeze.

north side sizzler

this year, we have been working every wednesday at a beautiful garden house on the north side, where i have been gardening for four seasons…in fact, i was sold with the house three years ago. part of the package, i guess.

when i started there, i was working for leaf cantalon, as it was his mom’s house at the time. leaf is an amazing hardscaper. he uses bricks, stones, gravel, wood, even vintage manhole covers & reclaimed cement drainage pieces. really cool stuff. he’s obviously in high demand, but if you have a need for creative, functional gardenscaping, call him at 743-476-4484, and you might squeeze into his schedule.

this property is the kind that makes me so happy to be a gardener. when i can be adopted by such a place it is a wonderful thing–i am so often designing and installing brand new gardens, so to be so small among a towering smokebush or a handmade, hand-painted structure is an adventure.

a well-planned landscape has many rooms, and this one is no exception. you could have at least twelve separate dinner parties simultaneously and each one would be private. well, maybe five. but that’s still pretty great.

as you progress from the driveway, you have four paths to follow–through the woodshed, with newly-added red farmhouse porch swing…along the front sidewalk planted with an abundance of peonies backed by shrubs as a buffer from the local traffic-only street…down the railroad-ties & flagstone stairs to the mud room door (guarded by gus, the resident and oh-so handsome yellow lab) with a wrap-around patio to a wisteria- & grapevine-covered arbor housing a quaint breakfast nook–and i don’t use the word ‘quaint’ often–it is truly quaint…or down the wide steps past the grill terrace to the ahhhhh-inducing backyard.

once you’re immersed in the property, you will notice mallard ducks in the stream, the happiest bees in ann arbor buzzing in the lavender bed (nestled in pea gravel, it’s a little trip to the mediterranean.) a thyme-studded rock walkway circles the lavender, a low boxwood hedge, and the raised herb beds in a formal quadrant pattern. antique bricks to the right form a sunny patio–maybe i’ll just go ahead a call it a piazza–and to the left of the herbs (which are framed dramatically by an assortment of well-established shrubs) you walk through a rustic gazebo made from branches of trees found on the property to the hidden compost bins and pop out onto the lower level of the lawn, greeted by a cheery aqua-hued pair of adirondack chairs chosen by the homeowner.

crossing the yard, which is lush and drought-tolerant from years of organic gardening techniques, a glance to the right reveals the old postcard-worthy barn with wooden letters spelling ANN ARBOR across its roofline, underplanted with a shady garden featuring countless hostas and annuals for color. out the first floor sliding door is the zen-style garden with a japanese maple, tree peonies, deciduous azaleas, and weeping cherry tree sprouting from the gravel floor. the walls that encircle the area are weathered wood slats that hold an amazing climbing hydrangea and self-seeded morning glories.

overall, the property is a combination of traditional garden, modern craft, and simplistic beauty. mass plantings and specimen plants co-mingle among esthetic, practical hardscapes.

makes a sore & sunburned gardener feel that love of nature like a young sprout again…