Fresh fruit

Despite the unseasonably cool spring, our perennials are back in business. The strawberries are coming in strong. In several weeks, we'll be able to pick them for breakfast! Our blueberry bushes are in bloom too. Even the Bluecrop variety that was attacked by nasty white grubs (and which we left for dead last summer) has made a miraculous recovery. Of course, every garden delight comes with a downside. In this case, the blueberries attract mocking birds that wake us up, steal our fruit and attack our tomatoes...Oh well, that won't happen until at least mid-June when the berries begin to ripen.

First flowers of the season will soon turn to fruit

This bush, attacked by white grubs last summer, has made a stunning recovery

Bird feeder: unfortunately local mockingbirds love our blueberry crop

Broccoli survives the winter snows

To my surprise, the purple peacock broccoli I planted last summer survived the winter's frost and snow

So, I harvested the florets, rinsed them off and prepped them for the steamer.

The broccoli made a nice side dish with my salmon salad sandwich for lunch. Not as sweet as the fall harvest, but still tasty.

Spring Awakening

It's still frosty outside, but spring is in the air. Just look at my hyacinths, already peeking out of the dirt. For the second year in a row, the bulbs are on track for early blooming.
Well, it'll be nice to see the pretty purple flowers and inhale their sweet fragrance whenever they reach their peak.
Seeing the green shoots has put me in the gardening mindset. Can't wait till I'm pulling up the weeds and planting my vegetables.

Bully for Bloomberg's ban on Styrofoam

Mayor Michael Bloomberg plans to offer up a new proposal to make NYC more environment-friendly: a ban on Styrofoam. Well, as my readers know from previous posts, I'm a bit of a recycling nut so I'm all for it. McDonald's was shamed into doing away with the non-biodegradable packaging years ago. I think New York's coffee shops and delis should do the same. But even more exciting for me were the last lines in the New York Times story saying that food recycling could be coming to NYC. Dumping food into landfill is such a waste - pun intended! I already separate my food and bring it to the green market for composting along with hundreds of others every week. It would be a real step in the right direction if NYC makes composting a reality for all New Yorkers.
"He will also propose taking the first steps toward city collection of food waste for composting, starting with a pilot program on Staten Island," the Times story says. Can't wait till it hits Manhattan! 

Recycling e-waste in NYC gets a boost

I am posting this notice because I support recycling. If you are in NYC and want to learn how to recycle your e-stuff, check out this event.

COUNCIL MEMBER GALE A. BREWER AND

LOWER EAST SIDE ECOLOGY CENTER

WANT YOU TO RECYCLE TODAY

FOR A BETTER TOMORROW

                        WHAT: Electronic Waste Recycling Event

                        WHEN: Sunday, January 27, 2013, 10AM-4PM, Rain or Shine

                        WHERE: West 63 Street between Central Park West & Broadway, Manhattan

On Sunday, January 27, 2012, Council Member Gale A. Brewer, along with the Lower East Side Ecology Center and the West Side YMCA, kick off the New Year with a free e-waste recycling event. This event will provide individuals, non-for-profits  and businesses with the opportunity to safely recycle electronic items, including working and non-working computers, monitors, printers, scanners, keyboards, mice, cables, TV’s, VCR’s, DVD players, phones, audio/visual equipment, cell phones & PDA’s.

All are welcome to attend this free event. There is no limit on the amount of materials that can be dropped off, and a tax deduction is offered. For more information contact the Lower East Side Ecology Center lesecologycenter.org or (212) 477-4022 or Council Member Gale A. Brewer office at (212) 873-0282.

Recycle your plastics! Here's how and why

I received a request to publish this graphic showing how recycling plastic can save resources and eliminate waste. Sadly, not enough of us make the effort. According to the table below, college students are less likely than those over 40 to get involved. Well, get on it people. Recycling just makes sense! Whole Foods is a great place to drop off your plastic bags, yogurt cups and other #5 plastics that NYC does not currently collect. It even accepts the corks from wine bottles. Best Buy takes CDs and jewel cases. See you there!
For more information about this graphic go to OnlineEducation.net

Broccoli flowers

Oops, I forgot to harvest this purple peacock broccoli floret, and lo and behold, it blossomed! But no worries. I steamed it up and ate it anyway, along with some less mature shoots, and it was delicious.

Sandy, Nor'easter knock out my garden

Last two bell peppers

After a hurricane and blizzard, I guess it's safe to say the harvest season is over. Just don't tell my lettuce or broccoli plants, they're still growing. Some of the herbs are plugging along too, though the basil was whipped away by high winds. I pulled the last two bell peppers from the vines before Wednesday's nor'easter, and frankly I couldn't believe they survived Sandy!
But all in all, it's time to shut down the watering system, clip the rose bushes and close up shop.
It was a tough season. Our tomatoes had too many problems to list. Okay, I'll list a few: Rust disease, blossom drop and all around lousy production. The broccoli, though still trying, never amounted to much. The cucumbers failed. Even the pepper plants were under-performers. Only the Japanese eggplants came through in a meaningful way.
So, what's an urban gardener to do? Why look forward to next spring of course. We've already decided to go back to our old faithful tomato varieties of Brandywine, Cherokee Purple and Aunt Ruby's German Green. Just one season without them proved how valuable those strains are, at least in this growing zone. The newbies we tried out -- the Azorean Red, Black from Tula and Green Zebra --  just hated the heat. We had an early spring harvest and then nothing until October! I may try broccoli again, but I'll wait until fall; it prefers cool weather. And I'll remember to plant Kirbies instead of cucumbers. The smaller fruit seems to do better in pots.
I know it seems like a long way to planting season, but it's never too soon to start looking forward to it.

More grief in the garden

Sometime in August, after the heatwaves broke and the weather got back down to the low 80s, our tomato plants perked up again. Flowers bloomed and tomatoes formed. None got more than the Green Zebra, which sprouted some 15 egg-shaped orbs.
I plucked the first ripe one on Monday. It was quite delicious and I was looking forward to enjoying the rest, a kind of booby prize to finish off a disappointing season.
Well, not so fast. A gusty wind storm knocked almost all of them off the vine.
Figures...Still, we have been getting a nice end of season harvest, including plenty of Angora sweet cherries and even some of the beefier Black from Tula and Azorean Reds, though the current cold snap could curtail that trend.

A Fig Tree Grows in Brooklyn

Fig trees are growing in Brooklyn? According to this New York Times article they're sprouting fruit all over the borough. Well, then, why not plant one in Manhattan. Sounds like a great addition to my already overflowing urban garden. I'll be on the lookout for a sapling come next spring!