Sunday, April 28, 2013

Dandelions - a pretty flower in disguise of a weed

One of my Facebook friends, David Hobson, who writes about gardening and its occasional accompanying angst, reminded me in his comments about suburban-ites and their continous battle with the yellow weed. A while back when in a gardening mode, the advent of Spring and summer was a continuous challenge to sustain a yellow-free lawn and control dandelions, as shared in an ICanGarden.com column. Most likely people reading this will relate. Right?

In Spring, a young man's (or woman's for that matter) fancy likely turns to thoughts of - gardening! All through the winter months our gardening endeavours are confined to those beautifully, illustrated photos in landscaping magazines, or the order forms in seed catalogues. At long last, the season of re-birth has arrived, and we feel impelled to get moving. It's time to sharpen the mower and hand shear blades, feed the laws, rake the grass, and get started on all the other tasks which go along with achieving a beautiful, picturesque garden. 
   
Upon reflection, you have to ask yourself the real reason behind all the work put into achieving a weed-free, green lawn and colorful display of flowers. Search down deep inside and the answer is obvious: we want our garden to be better than our neighbors. What reason other than ego, would impel us to spend a fortune of money on a variety of products like grass seed, flower and grass fertilizer, manure, weed killer, insect control stuff, for such a short period of time? In the winter, did you care that your next door neighbors had more snow on their property, than on yours? Or that their shovel was bigger or newer? Of course not, because there is nothing to be gained in a display of snow, right?     The ideal lawn for most of us is one that is a rich shade of green, weed-free, and without any crab grass. Heaven forbid there should be any sign of this dastardly, wild specie which has a way of cropping up when you least expect it. Worse yet, are the dandelions which make our lawns their number one place to call home. They have a habit of moving into a neighborhood, settling in with ease, and are not concerned with their social position among the cultivated blooms.     In my opinion, these delightful, happy flowers have acquired a bad reputation over the years which is undeserved. What's wrong with them anyway, I ask you? It's just a case of snobbery, due to the common manner in which they grew. Gardeners won't tolerate them because they aren't genteel and refined like the snobby roses, or the fussy impatiens and their ilk, who are considered to be among the pedigreed variety. Dandelions prefer to sprout wild and free, wherever their seed may fall. A point in their favor is that they are accessible to everyone, regardless of social strata or financial situation.     Maybe we should learn to co-exist with them since they are not ugly flowers aesthetically, and are easy to cultivate. They do not discriminate between good lawns and bad lawns, and will flourish everywhere with a vengeance. How do we repay them for their undying devotion, showing up in our lawns year after year?     As soon as the first splash of yellow peaks through the grass blades, we whip out our sprayer, fill it with dandelion slayer stuff until they are wilted into submission, but never forever. They may succumb to the various extermination methods temporarily, but dandelion roots run deep. Once they decide to dig in, it's almost impossible to get rid of them, permanently. So, why try. Think of all the money and energy which could be saved having to travel back and forth to the garden centre, to purchase flowers. Dandelions will just be...there. This crop doesn't require watering, they love all types of weather, and are low maintenance plants. Once neighbors adapt to their presence, you'll be the talk of the neighborhood.  "My blank-blank, what a beautiful crop of dandelions you have this year. So healthy and yellow," people will comment enviously.  "Yup, best crop ever," you'll respond proudly. "Lost your weed killer dispenser, eh?", they'll say, in an attempt to pump you for the inside scoop on the success of your new crop.     Let's learn to co-exist with all the weeds which grow in harmony side-by-side the dandelions, since they proliferate in such large numbers, anyway. Why waste all our energy on their elimination when we could be doing other things during the summer like...hmm...repairing the snow blower, perhaps?  

Monday, April 15, 2013

The Lettuce Project update: day 3 and day 4. Signs of life?

Let's see now...so where were we? Or should we say - where are we now? Whatever.

Here is the day-by-day progress report, although readers might find it repetitive. Got up at 7 a.m. on Saturday, April 13, to bring in the paper but couldn't avoid a check on what I hoped was progress to report. Uttered a lot of " hmmmmm's" and "uh-huh's"...and then changed the water. Why you may well ask, did I change the water? Seemed like a good idea. What happens, say, if lettuce prefers pure, clean, tap water as an incentive for growth? Didn't want to take any chances so 'L' - that's what I've named the lettuce to personalize our relationship - now has daily changes of water.

Sun. April 14: Actually, toying with the idea of adding photographic images of my stump with roots immersed in an inch of water in a plastic container, to the blog page. After further thought, took three photos of the aforementioned lettuce from different angles and my findings are that it looked the same from all angles and really didn't merit photos - yet.

Mon. April 15: Not sure if it's wishful thinking but just may have detected little white shoots growing on the side of the stump not immersed in water. Perhaps they could have been there all along and went unnoticed...however I'm believing they are a positive sign that things may be progressing. After glancing into the container, my husband asked me when am I going to throw L away.

"It's growing! Can't you tell?" I reacted, rushing over to point out what I believe to be teeny shoots.

"Looks like it's turning brown," he responded. "Time to throw it out. It's gonna smell."

"The roots look very healthy," I said, swishing them around in a circular motion with my fore-finger. "We have to give them a chance to send a message to the lettuce stump to grow."

"Here's my message to them. 'Grow or out you go'!

There is hope in my heart that tomorrow will be the turning point. Visions of soft green lettuce leaves in a delicious bowl of salad inspire me to keep going. Tomorrow L will receive a musical treat in the form of Vivaldi's Four Seasons, "Spring." Let's just hope the other plants don't get jealous.



Friday, April 12, 2013

The Lettuce Project: Day 2

7:30 a.m.  At time of first examination, which would be 7:30 a.m., the lettuce roots look like... lettuce roots. I'm thinking of moving it up to the next shelf where they/it (are roots plural or single one wonders) would receive some direct light. Actually, I'm not sure if they should even be in direct light... Maybe the light will cause bacteria to form or something... So many questions and so few answers. Anybody want to jump in here and offer an opinion?

See...that's the enigma of undertaking a project in which one has little or no experience. True I've grown lettuce in the garden, which quickly went to seed, but that was a long time ago. The issue, as I view it, is whether leaves can be produced via a hydroponic lettuce that was but is no more. The lettuce by the way, was very tasty if that means anything. Will report back later.

Noon  Decided to move lettuce container to top shelf of plant stand. After conducting a cyber search focusing on the subject  - "how to grow Boston lettuce in water" - it seems, according to a few people who have tried this, achievable, although it was with romaine lettuce and celery. Didn't mention, though, whether it was hydroponic lettuce, which could make a difference. Thinking further and in my mind, growing it hydroponically would make it more feasible. Then again - what do I know? Came accross a YouTube video of someone who is or was successful and managed to achieve another lettuce out of it. I would be satisfied to grow a few leaves, never mind a lettuce, although eating another salad from a former salad would be nice.

The container water looked to me on the yellow-ish side although maybe that's as a result of some plant food added to the lettuce by the lettuce growers. Changed the water and will see if it makes a difference.

Thinking back to the vegetable gardening days, we shared our veggie output with local critters that enjoyed suburban gardens (skunks, rabbits et al) and used our veggies as an extension of their dietary needs. At least this won't be an issue. And so we wait for something to happen.

Maybe on day 3...




Thursday, April 11, 2013

The lettuce project: day one

First post of the season and the weather people are calling for snow and/or freezing rain. Then again,  given their accuracy rate, we'll wait to see if it materializes. Doesn't really matter one way or the other since I'm in a sort-of growing state of mind. This could be as a result of walking through a garden center and seeing fertilizer and related garden products out on display. Condo living has replaced my garden, which is most likely the reason for my growing itch.

Recently bought a hydroponically-grown Boston lettuce at a supermarket with a root system attached. I really like Boston lettuce in a salad but what attracted me was the large root wound around in a circle wrapped around the lettuce base to fit into a plastic top. The accompanying blurb on the top reads: "one fresh living lettuce", which got me thinking as to the possibilities of reproduction of the lettuce type. Decided to do an experiment.

After removing the leaves, cutting off the top and keeping a small piece of the core, I immersed the roots in water in a plastic container, covering the entire root system. I'm hoping that the end result down the line will result in new leaves if not an entire new lettuce (don't I wish!) . It's now sitting on the second shelf of my plant stand beneath my two house plants, which have primo space. After all, they've been there a lot longer but they could be displaced temporarily, if the need arises. Already I'm concerned that perhaps the water needs some type of fertilizer... Problems already...

I'm calling my undertaking: "the lettuce project" and will supply daily updates here as to the progress - if any. Having never grown a lettuce in this manner before, I'm open to suggestions and help from blog readers. That is, if anything happens. We'll have to see.