The Master Gardener Demonstration Gardens

Tucked behind the big red barn in Derwood, Maryland is the Montgomery County Master Gardener Demonstration Garden.  I like to choose a quiet afternoon to visit this favorite spot of mine and I leave with lots of great ideas.  The Master Gardeners who maintain all the well-loved bits and pieces of this demo garden are always trying new things and planting different kinds of vegetables. It's an excellent place for gardeners of all levels of experience to visit.  My last visit was on the day of their bustling open house when I gave a talk on growing and cooking Asian vegetables.  Good thing the speaker before me was running late because I got to take a quick tour led by my friend Erica who blogs at Rogue Eggplant and also on the Grow It Eat It blog.  Check out all there is to learn:

In this African Keyhole Garden, made with the free compost bins our county provides, a central tower is continuously fed with kitchen scraps.  The compost that is created provides nutrients for the plants growing around it.  

Below: a lush headstart on spring vegetables using hoops and row covers.

The cute Children's Garden below is filled with plants with animal names.  

Straw bales, pallets, and plants growing inside!

Above: a lovely little pond.  Below: a theme I somehow missed, but it sure is well-marked, isn't it?!

A beautiful, colorful salad table!

Below: one of several beds maintained by special groups.

The annual spring open house is a wonderful event with plant sales, casual tours of the demo garden, experts on call to help with plant issues, workshops, crafts and activities for kids and tons of giveaways like seeds and this adorable popsicle stick pre-labeled and stuck with seeds below - ready to just push into the ground and grow!

Asian Crops at Muirkirk Farm

Muirkirk Farm is a research farm affiliated with University of District of Columbia.  I've made a connection with the good people who run this through the Master Gardener program out of UDC's Cooperative Extension office.  I'm thrilled to be someone they feel they can call upon for consultation because geez - look at the work they've done this season!  It's amazing.  Flats of Asian greens...

Dried red noodle beans above.  Turmeric below.  

And this is just their fall initiative.  Can't wait to see what's in store for spring and summer next year!

The Library of Congress Asian Vegetables Talk

This afternoon, I gave a talk at the Library of Congress.  It was a pretty spectacular experience being in these lovely buildings in the city.  We're really close, but don't get to DC nearly enough to take advantage of all the amazing FREE things to see and learn about in the museums and other government buildings.  After a talk (that I think I possibly jammed too much into - but appeared successful nonetheless - I used my "don't look a gift horse in the mouth strategy"), we strolled to the Jefferson building.  In the photo below, there is a peek between the tree and the building at the top of the capital.  Darn camera phones - you probably can't see it, but the photo was a cool one.  

The architecture and ceilings of this building are gorgeous!  Below, a beautiful mosaic section.  

My husband was taking a little tour of the city during my talk.  He was excited to show me what he found at the information center - a digital marquee with the details of my talk!  He said, "You'll never see that again...".  I was like, gee, thanks.  But what I think he really meant was that the opportunity to talk at the Library of Congress was pretty special.  

The Jefferson building was spectacular - and not just because of the Gutenburg and Mainz bibles.  I particularly loved all the portraits and quotes about books throughout this building.  

This is Tsai-Hong.  We went out for some bi bim bop afterwards.  Always seen it, but never tried it.  YUM! YUM!  I met Tsai-Hong today for the first time.  She arranged this 2 part program.  The first part was sort of a gardening 101, my talk was the second in the series.  She is obviously smart to know a gardening program would be successful, but she's also witty, sweet, and warm.  A kindred spirit you recognize upon first glance.  And...

...she's a grower of bitter melon - a WHITE variety!  This is super cool and I can't wait to try it.  My parents will flip over this one too.  This is where, if I weren't so tired, I would wax poetic about heirloom seeds, and the freaking specialness of this white bitter melon which someone saved seeds of, passed along, and scattered throughout the world among friends, and which in fact, could possibly outlive us.  I'm doing a poor job with this explanation, but I'm sure many of you know exactly what I mean.  

A virtual visit to my table at the DC State Fair

It was so fun to host the Asian vegetables demo table as part of the DC State Fair at the Barracks Row Fall Festival. In the top photo, you see clockwise from the top: flowering chives, my cutting board which I used to show people how to prepare these vegetables for cooking, bitter melon peeking into the scene, the long speckled fuzzy melon, the Chinese long bean, kabocha pumpkin, and the little gourds I've been talking about recently. I did have some things to sample, like chrysanthemum tea and winter melon soup (you can see a big wedge of the giant winter melon on the right of the table in the photo with the green shirt guy).  My little one, who ate all day long from the awesome assortment of artisan pie, cupcake, and ethnic food trucks, is sneaking some of the taro chips I had out for sampling in the photo above.  She spent the day tagging along with her older sister and sister's friend, both of whom were very watchful and tolerant today!

Above, people are trying samples, checking out the veggies and the guy in the green is checking out the free seeds basket!  Those went quick!  The visitors were mostly city folk and had lots of container/balcony gardens.  I directed them to the malabar spinach, which vines and does well in containers.  People with community garden plots took home tatsoi (aka rosette bok choy or flat cabbage), to plant now for a fall/winter crop.  Gardeners who took home other seeds have to wait till spring.  Below, I have taro chips and the three brown taro roots underneath.  These don't grow well in our zone but taro is everywhere these days (dim sum, bubble tea, pastries, etc.), so I thought I'd share.  In the middle is lemongrass that I plan to root.  I also demo'd how to actually use lemongrass.  I love that stuff!!!  On the right are luffa gourds.  The shorter, fatter one is a smooth (aka sponge) luffa, at eating size.  The two longer ones are angled luffas.  The pom-pom'd thing is a sponge I made and gifted one year.  It has a luffa sheet on one side and terrycloth on the other.

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In other goings on... above, the DC State Fair peeps are awarding the prizes for the best photograph contest (there were so many fun contests at this fair!!!!).  I think I heard an announcement that Kenneth of DC State Fair and The Indoor Garden(er) made up postcards for the runners up (the guy in yellow in the photo above is happy about that!).  I thought that was such a sweet prize to put together for the runners up.

My daughter and her friend bummed pies off of the DC State Fair's Best Pie leftovers rack.  Michael is an extra happy camper because his shirt is signed with x's and o's by the Washington Redskins Cheerleaders.  Rah! Rah! Rah! for a great day at the fair!

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If you've been following my ramblings, you know my father is obsessed with little bottle gourds this year. He's going to freak out when I show him this arrangement I spotted at Whole Foods yesterday with the little bottle gourd anchoring the decor!

helicopters everywhere!

Helicopters are flying overhead all over the place! When I received the message below from Sandy, our DC Cooperative Extension Agent, I became acutely aware of the abundance of maple seeds all around my neighborhood. Her Tip of the Month was very informative so I thought I'd pass it along... Thanks Sandy!

A SEEDY START TO SPRING. Throughout the city I have noticed a strange look and color to many maple tree canopies. Upon closer inspection the cause is clearly due to most maples having a very seedy appearance! Due to the incredible warm, dry weather this spring, maple flowers were fully pollinated, which in turn means every single MAPLE SAMARA or winged seed, whirligigs or maple helicopters, is currently under development. This extreme seed load and their subsequent development and ripening, is expected to result in sparse, dinky foliage development on maple trees this spring. Normal leaf development is slowed and reduced by the quadrillion maple seeds ripening, using most of the stored resources of the tree. The seeds mature, turn brown and then fall off to cover every square inch of the earth, easily filling and plugging all rain gutters. However, the anxiety is most intense after the seeds fall because there is no apparent reason for the "thinning canopy" and lack of leaves. Many will be concerned about the overall health of their trees, while others erroneously associate heavy seed production with the last hurrah of stressed, dying trees.

Maple trees are capable of producing many seeds each year, but the limiting factor tends to be the weather, specifically those quick freezes and frosts after seed set. Without some type of freeze or frost to kill or injure these developing seeds, the die is cast for scores of samaras to rain down from the trees. This year just happened to be one that favored maple seed development. Remember that heavy seed production is not necessarily a good indicator of tree health nor should it be used as an indicator of impending tree death. It just means that well-timed freezes are needed to reduce the seed numbers, or hope for a really strong wind to blow them all to the neighbor's yard!

Left Fork Farm - ginseng and other herbs

Last week, I got to tour this lovely piece of land that Left Fork Farm owners Emil and Eva call "a paradise in the hills of West Virginia". On this farm, the earthy retired-from-government-jobs couple grow lots of "seng" in addition to many other medicinal herb plants. I shouldn't tell you where to set your Garmins though because one thing I learned is that ginseng, also known as "forest gold", is susceptible to theft, being such a valuable crop. But, despite the high price that roots may fetch, it's sort of complicated. Some other facts I learned...

• Ginseng is picky about growing conditions. Mostly shaded mountain land is best.
• Ginseng is a tonic and adaptogen. See here for more about health benefits.
• Ginseng needs to be "hunted". Look for indicator plants such as ferns, to help guide you to areas where ginseng may thrive.
• You need a permit to dig. Theft is the number 1 problem for big growers. Ginseng must be sold to buyers, who will ask for paperwork proving where the roots were harvested. If roots are stolen, growers will inform buyers who will keep an eye out for the stolen roots.
• The couple sum up the process of growing successfully in a few steps:

1. Find the right land.
2. Plant 6,000 seeds the first year.
3. Wait 7-10 years.

In other words, it's not easy! While Eva and Emil wait years for a significant root harvest, they stay busy in other ways: harvesting berries for juice, which yields a high price; harvesting mature roots and leaves to make tinctures for sale. Eva's ginseng tincture was a popular item for those on our tour. Of course, the couple seems to have found a use for everything growing on their farm...

This was a stream that our bus had to cross in order to get to this middle-of-nowhere property!


Can you imagine if this were your backyard?!



The vegetable garden and a gigantic patch of holy basil. At the end of our tour, we got to have some cookies and Eva's holy basil tea. It was interesting and quite good - sort of cinnamony, but with a very different aftertaste.



Above and below: this is the black walnut operation. The couple has been collecting black walnuts...



The black walnuts are opened with a corn husker. The nuts are washed and sold in portions as you see below. They also crack the nuts and sell the fresh walnut meat to area restaurants. The outer green rind of the black walnut is made into a tincture that is given to dogs as a dewormer!



Herbs drying in the drying house...


The process of making Eva's concoctions...




Ready for sale!