Botanical Interests iPhone App Review

When I bought my first iPhone a few months ago, one thing I did right away was look for cool garden related iPhone apps. I was disappointed with the options, so I was excited to learn that Botanical Interests, one of my favorite seed companies, had released an app a couple of weeks ago.

The short version is I love it. It's totally worth $5.99 and you should go out and get it real soon.

When you launch the app you are presented with options to:

1. Browse seeds by Vegetable/Her Categories
2. Search for seeds based on sun requirements. You can even limit to Heirloom or Organic seeds, warm versus cool season, perennials etc...
3. See your lists of Favorite seeds
4. Get Tips and Information about growing particular vegetables, attracting bees and seed starting. I learned the history of tomatoes from this app!

Each seed variety you find in the app has all the information you'd find on the Botanical Interests website including the image on the actual seed packet, time to maturity, growing needs and how and when to start the seeds. I really love that this company is committed to educating gardeners. As one of the owners pointed out on a YouTube video tour of their facility, not all of us were taught to garden by our grandmothers and mothers.

Stuff I loved about the app

• Very user friendly.
• Very informative - this thing could be your one resource for seed starting, I think.
• Because I can essentially seed shop from my phone, I'm much more likely to buy from Botanical Interests. I love seed catalogs as much as the next person, but they are bulky which can be limiting.
• I'm thrilled that this company recognizes that many gardeners are young and hip. We want to garden like it's 2009 and making seed shopping available on our fun gadgets helps us do that.
• The direct email and phone links to Botanical Interests are cool too.

Stuff I like to see them add to the app

• I want to be able to order directly from my phone.
• Flowers! The app is limited vegetables and herbs so far. I hope they expand this to include their entire seed collection.
• Seed tracking. I'd love to be able to find my seeds on this app, buy them from the app, then load in the date that I planted them and get some sort of progress report along the way of what my seeds ought to be doing according to my zone. I believe that this sort of addition would make people buy this app, even if they never bought a single seed from Botanical Interests.

Botanical Interests iPhone app is super educational and user friendly. And if you like seed starting, I'd bet you have thought the same thoughts that I have before. If I wouldn't look like a crazy person, I'd carry all my seed packets around with me at all times. This iPhone app sort of makes that possible.

Gardeners Against Climate Change

first vegetable garden

That's not the name of a real organization, that I could find anyway. But if you're a gardener, you are helping with climate change whether you intend to or not. Come to think of it, somebody ought to start that organization. If you do, please send me an invite!


Preface: this blog post assumes that you already "believe in" climate change and that it's not still up for debate in your head. We've come too far to still need to convince people of this. I won't spend my time on it.

I know I'm biased but I would challenge anybody to tell me an easier way that a regular ole person can take action against climate change than to start a vegetable garden in the backyard. I don't have a bunch of impressive statistics stored in my head that I can throw out to convince you about the negative impact of those store-bought green beans on the planet (they are so easy to grow!), but, I'm sure there are hundreds of other bloggers who are participating in Blog Action Day today that wrote about how many "food miles"one person (or family) racks up each year. I just know that emissions from trucks used to transport produce from God knows where to our kitchens pollutes the air. And that pollution destroys the ozone and so forth. And anything I grow in my own vegetable garden doesn't do that. It's that simple.

There are lots of folks way richer than me that are doing a lot of fancy stuff to fight climate change like buying expensive hybrid cars or solar panels for their house or installing elaborate rain collection systems on their property. The list goes on. And while a I applaud these folks (and covet their fancy anti-climate change ammunition), it's simply not within my means at this time. (someday!) But what is within my means is growing a few of my own fruits and vegetables out back. And in turn reducing the amount of produce I need to purchase from the grocery store therefore reducing my family's pollution impact and yada yada yada.

Don't have a yard for a garden? Find a community garden in your area and rent a plot. They're cheap! And great!

Allergic to gardening? Try these...

• Find a farmer's market and start shopping there (local food!)
• Find a community supported Agriculture farm and buy a share (local food!)
  

I know that my little vegetable garden isn't going to solve the world's climate change problems, but it's what I can do to help. It's what suits me. If you know me very well, you know that I have a real problem with inaction. I need to be doing something towards a goal or a cause or a problem or whatever. It frustrates me to see people encounter a problem and just sit around thinking about how to solve it all while the problem grows out of control, rather than getting to the business of solving it. Or at least working in that direction! So, let's stop debating and take some small steps as individuals to make a difference. Gardening is what I'm doing to fight climate change. What are you doing?

Where I Spill My Guts

I have a good friend who says she can always tell how I'm doing by my garden blog. "If you're blogging, everything's good!" She's right. The amount of blog posts you read here is directly proportional to how good things are in my life, or how bad.

This gardening season (well really all of 2009) has been filled with extreme ups and downs and honestly there have been chunks of time where I've struggled with regular ole day-to-day things.

Last October my now late father-in-law was diagnosed with lung cancer. We entered 2009 in a heightened state of anxiety about his health and impending death. No matter how much we tried, it was impossible to feel normal. It was a dark shadow that followed us every step.

Early in the year I helped plan and coordinate a get-together here in Chicago for a bunch of garden bloggers. It was hard work and there were a lot of bumps along the way but the worst thing about it was that, when it was over, I was simply glad it was in the past. It really changed the way I view garden blogging and if I had a time machine, I'd have stayed in my cave where everything/everybody is happy. Don't get me wrong, I met some fantastic people that I'd likely never have met, but still...

In April I married my favorite person in the world. We never thought we'd do it but somewhere along the way things started to change. I started thinking I didn't want them calling my mother to ask her what to do if I was on my death bed. His father was dying and we suddenly realized that we only had a little more time if we wanted him to be there. And we did. So we did. Surrounded by amazing flowers and the people who love us the most.

My father-in-law died in July just three short months after our wedding. He suffered terribly. So much so that when he finally passed, we were relieved because he wouldn't have to suffer anymore. That we didn't have to watch him suffer anymore. That lasted for about two hours. Since then it's mostly been hours stringing into days of sadness. Watching my husband be this heart broken is the worst thing I've ever seen. We miss him so much. We miss his laugh. He was one hilarious dude and I'm thankful that my husband has his sense of humor. The most important thing in the world to him was his family. And that has made me see family in a different way. It's so stupid that it takes the death of somebody so wonderful to see the simplest things.

I planted a garden in his memory. In it are a Japanese maple (because they are unforgettable and so was he), a sundial that I bought with money he gave me and a couple of coneflowers (a Tennessee and a Coconut Lime) because they are still my favorite, and they remind me of a good day I had this summer with friends.

The other great thing that happened this year was that J and I got our community garden going. We built and rented a dozen or so raised beds and we've gotten started on our 501c3. It really is a dream realized but I can't help but think it would feel real different were it not being filtered through 2009 crap. I've had a hard time staying motivated about it and it has shown in my dedication (lack of) this summer. I can't wait for next year. I know it will feel better.

OH - and there was that trip to Las Vegas for my tasty tomato. I still can't believe it. We're holding that trip in our back pockets until it seems possible to actually have fun again.

Just to make things a little more interesting, I also changed jobs. I'm still with the same organization. Now, I'm an "IT guy". It's a change that really needed to happen for me to be able to spend more time with my family, and my gardens (personal and community.)

These things are just a snapshot. There are more extremes but they are far too personal to write about here. I feel more guarded than I used to about what I write on this blog. A side effect of the events of 2009.

This year gardening has not provided me the peace and solitude that it usually does. It has basically dragged me along kicking and screaming. I've walked over tomatoes that fell in my path from lack of support. I hear them crunching beneath my feet and my mind waffles between the dread of the million volunteers I'm liable to have next year and wishing that I even gave a shit. It hasn't been fun. And the other morning when I looked out the window to see the first frost on my weedy backyard grass, I thought about the ripe eggplants and tomatoes still on the vine but all I could think was, thank God it's over.

It may seem like it, but I'm not sitting over here having a pity party. Outwardly I'm totally holding it together. I just don't have much inspiration to write, or grow these days. And it shows in my blogging. I'm ready to put this season, and all its extreme highs and lows to bed.

EDIT: THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR KIND COMMENTS. I'VE HIDDEN THEM AND CLOSED FUTURE COMMENTS ON THIS POST FOR PERSONAL REASONS.

Planting Bulbs Helps Support Our Community Garden

Besides gardening at my own house this summer, I've also helped get Forest Park Community Garden up and running and gardens are flourishing there as I type.

We're still raising money to have water access at the community garden. Our plot renters have hauled water in jugs throughout the summer and we are committed to fix it so that they don't need to do that next year.

If you are planning to buy bulbs this fall, please consider ordering them through our fundraiser with Flower Power. 50% of what you buy will go directly to the community garden. This fundraiser runs through 10-23-09.

If you do make a purchase, please visit my blog next spring and let me know how your bulbs are doing. We can compare notes - I'll be planting them, too.

To shop for bulbs through our fundraiser please go here.

Volunteer Cantaloupe

Alternate Title: The Cantaloupe That Almost Wasn't


Not long after I completed the kitchen garden expansion, I started seeing what looked like little squash plants growing all along the walkway between the new raised beds. While I thought it was kinda cool that these free plants were accidentally growing in my garden, I wasn't excited about the potential of battling the dreaded Squash Vine Borer on all these plants. There were like 10 of them!

I mentioned these squash looking volunteers to my friend J and she reminded me that last year she had something that looked like volunteer squash that grew really big but never developed any fruit. Just what I need, a non-producing space-hog. I ripped out all the plants, except one that was growing toward the front of the garden because I have a little more space in that area and I was able to work around it without too much trouble.

Week after week I watched this plant grow bigger and bigger, taking up more space and eventually covering the entire walkway in the front of the kitchen garden. Flowering like crazy, not producing a single fruit. And every day I had the same internal debate with myself, my selves arguing back and forth about whether or not it would ever produce anything and how much of a moron I was for letting it keep growing while I stepped over it and around it in the garden.

Then, one day something grew out of one of the flowers. And Holy Smokes it's a cantaloupe! I've got about 8 volunteer cantaloupe growing in the walkway of my garden, and now my backyard. The plant is about 15 feet x 6 feet. It's huge and it has now invaded the raised bed with the green beans/eggplant/cucumber.

I tried to grow cantaloupe from seed last year but it only produced one fruit that never became ripe. I don't recall ever disposing of it so it's entirely possible that I just left it in the garden to decompose and the seeds were subsequently carried to this area by some critter. Year before last I did successfully grow cantaloupe on the other side of the yard - maybe the seeds came from there. Or, maybe the dirt/compost I purchased by the yard had cantaloupe contamination.

The season is already winding down in Chicago. It's only 64 degrees today. The leaves on the volunteer cantaloupe are turning yellow and short of a garden miracle, I don't see how the fruit will have time to ripen. But, it sure has been fun watching this thing grow out of nowhere.

Big Gaudy White Hibiscus

More Wordless Wednesday

Tomato Contest: Winner!

On Saturday I entered the Show Me Your Tomatoes contest hosted by this awesome Tapas restaurant called Cafe Ba Ba Reeba. I'd first read about the contest on Chicago Garden and since I had what I thought was the ugliest tomato (one of the contest categories) in town growing in my backyard, I decided to enter. And since there were two tickets to Las Vegas being awarded for the Tastiest Tomato, I thought I'd be crazy not to enter that, too. I've got 18 tomato plants growing in my garden for God's sake! I bought some from our community garden, some from Chicago Tomato Fest plant sale and a few from Jewel grocery because they sold organic heirlooms again this year and, well, they were right there while I was shopping. I had no choice!

Big Ugly is a Brandywine tomato grown organically by Forest Park Community Garden for their plant sale. I didn't do anything special to this particular plant and if you've grown Heirloom Brandywine before, you know they have a tendency to get pretty mutated. But, the flavor! Holy smokes they are amazing. In the days leading up to the contest I had a lot of fun showing the picture of Big Ugly to people and watching them grimace. My husband was so creeped out by it that he would only agree to go to the contest with me if I "covered that thing up so that he didn't have to look at it again."

I'd planned to enter a Heirloom Mortgage Lifter (I'm growing it for the first time this year) for the tastiest because I think the flavor is really interesting. But, Saturday morning when I went out to harvest the Mortgage, I was horrified to find that there was not a single ripe one that didn't have some flaw. Thank you, squirrels! But, I did find a couple of nice looking Heirloom Cherokee Purple (pictured above) tomatoes. I'm growing them for the first time this year, too, but the problem was that I had not tasted the Cherokee Purple myself. The first ones were literally just ripe on Saturday morning. So, while I'd read that these tomatoes are one of the most delicious heirlooms you can grow, I had no personal evidence of that.

Cafe Ba Ba Reeba has hosted the Show Me Your Tomatoes contest for four years. We found all the staff extremely warm and friendly and we'll definitely be going back there for dinner soon. The judges were Lyle Allen, Executive Director of Chicago Green Market, WGN's Mr. Fix-it, Lou Manfredini and Doug Tomek, owner of Uncle Dougie's. All very nice gentlemen and as I watched them taste the tomatoes, I could tell that they really love and savor tomatoes, just like me.

Just before the judging started, I was admiring all the entries in the various categories (Ugliest, Famous, Biggest, Heaviest and Tastiest) when a lady asked from her table "which one is yours". When I pointed out Big Ugly, she said "yep, that's the winner!" I was pretty confident.

Then, after I thought the entry deadline had already passed, a lady walked by me with a really big crazy looking tomato and I groaned "oh boy, I may have some competition."

Let me just cut to the chase - they did not call my name for ugliest tomato. This late entry won that prize and dinner for four at Cafe Ba Ba Reeba. I was pretty disappointed and to be honest, just wishing they'd hurry up and finish so we could go home (it was really cold on Saturday and we'd been sitting there freezing for a couple of hours by then.)

When they called my name for tastiest tomato, it was like I'd won the lottery. I screamed and my husband jumped up and high-five'd me. As I walked toward the front to claim my prize (round trip tickets for 2 to Las Vegas including 3 nights/4 days hotel stay and dinner for two at Cafe Ba Ba Reeba, Las Vegas), the judges and the restaurant owner seemed really happy. "I would like to introduce the 2009 Tomato Queen." They put a leaf tiara on me and snapped a couple of pictures of me and the chef. I really never dreamed I'd win for tastiest. In my head I'm still a novice gardener - I'm lucky to get anything to grow much less grow something that is tastier than like 15 other tomatoes probably grown by much more experienced gardeners. It was the happiest my husband and I have been in quite a while. And it's been a rough few months so we really needed this.

A word of advice about tomato contests - know the variety you are entering! The girl who won for Heaviest Tomato was asked what variety it was by the crowd and she said "I have no idea." I didn't think too much of it until my husband told me later that, after I won and somebody in the crowd asked me the variety; they were all "well at least she knows what kind it is!"

I don't think I've ever won any contest where skill was involved. It's an amazing feeling, especially considering it involved a tomato, the most perfect food on the planet.