Anne Baker

Pineapple babies

Posted by: Anne Baker in Dig It on Aug 31, 2009

You know those pineapple tops that you hack off when you buy a fresh pineapple to cut up for your oh-so-fancy-tiki-drink or your upside-down cake? Oh wait, you use a can of pineapples for that?

OK. Never mind. Article over. Later.

Oh wait, you DO use real pineapples now and then? Ok then. Now we're talking tropical fruit. In our semi-tropical climate. Which is why I'm writing this article. So you can save that hacked-off pineapple top and turn it into another pineapple that you grow yourself. You can take that top that you normally throw away or compost (because you do that already. uh huh.), root it, and produce another entire pineapple fruit in a year. Cool, right?

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Pee in Your Garden

Posted by: Anne Baker in Dig It on Aug 15, 2009

Really? Is that the title for this article? No way. Really?

Yeah. It is. And I aint sayin' for you to go out there and do it. It's a noun in this case, not a verb.

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Orchids Alive

Posted by: Anne Baker in Dig It on Aug 15, 2009

Oh the beautiful orchids...their exotic tropical flowers and their architectural stems really can make a room look instantly swanky. And then you gotta figure out how to deal with them to keep them alive. Too bad the folks at the store or your friend that bought it for you didn't give you any care instructions for when you take it home. But don't panic! Orchids with their fancy looks and reputation are actually one of the easier plants to care for. They are tolerant of abuse and are less work then a lot of houseplants.
There's just a few tricks to keeping orchids healthy. Here's some simple tips so that you can either revive that shriveled one you have by the kitchen sink or to take care of that new one you are gonna confidently adopt since you read this article:

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Urban Garden Focus: Born on the Bayou

Posted by: Anne Baker in Dig It on Jun 16, 2009

Over by the brackish waters of Bayou St. John sits a lot near the Parkway Bakery and the Animal Eye Clinic where Musa Eubanks has his household garden. I dropped by on Super Sunday where Musa had spent his time killing Leaf-footed Bugs while watching the Mardi Gras Indians strut their stuff in feathered finery across the bayou. What a combination! I interviewed Musa as the sun set over the nearby waters and asked him about his gardening ventures.

The garden was created on the next door lot that he had purchased post Katrina as the location for his new home, which is being built in a "green" fashion just a few hundred feet from his current residence and former home to his pre-Katrina business; Laid Back Bicycle Tours. Musa has had a history of showing folks around town and along Bayou St. John on recumbant bicycles and kayaks, but has retired the business (even more laid back!) to focus on his own homesteading. The garden is composed of several raised beds constructed of cinder blocks filled with organic potting soil as well as a few strategically placed fruit trees. Musa has installed irrigation to most of the garden beds with shut off valves and soaker hoses that help slowly release water directly onto the soil under the mulch, making water bills less costly.

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Hot times in the city garden

Posted by: Anne Baker in Dig It on May 18, 2009

It is starting to get sticky round here. Sticky arms, sticky legs, sticky clothes. Even the pair of garden gloves are sticky when gripping tools in the sun. Welcome once again to the hot, humid summer in New Orleans where perspiration only acts as an adhesive instead of a cooling function for the body. With the sticky feel, it tends to have one take the option of recesssing indoors behind fans and air conditioning. Often. And to take more showers for de-sticky-fication.

Anyhow, heading into the garden to pull weeds or fight pests tends to be less and less appealing as the heat intensifies. As a result, that springtime lust for all things blooming and fruiting seems like a memory. Yet, the garden that you planted in the passion of 70 degree weather keeps on keeping on. For better or worse.

That same springtime planted garden often gets worse as the summer progresses. But why? Because with heat comes insect pests, and combined with the humidity, plant diseases abound. That once lovely task of irrigation during lovely weather in a lovely flowering garden tends to be less lovely while you sunburn and feel sticky. So wanes that springtime schedule that the landscape was used to (you know you wanna get inside to ac world, dontcha? Dontcha? Uh-huh.) and so that can really put the garden at a strain. And when plants are stressed, they are more susceptible to pests and disease. So the problems begin and that garden becomes more of a hassle than a pleasure. Now what to do?

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Local Gardening Resource: Green Parrot Nursery

Posted by: Anne Baker in Dig It on Apr 06, 2009

At first I didn't see it. I didn't think they even had one. Why would the owner name his business "Green Parrot" without a freaking parrot? Did he have some wierd bird fascination? Maybe he just thought the name was exotic and tropical and people would just somehow "get" it.

And then it happened. The eardrum piercing squawk that completely rattled my head and stopped me in my tracks. I knew it! A parrot! Never doubted them for a minute (Uh-huh. I'll go with that). I spun around and surrounded by plants, I spied the Eclectus Parrot hanging out and eyeing me in his big ole cage in the lathe house. Quite green and very parroty. As it should be.

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Pushing Up Daisies

Posted by: Anne Baker in Dig It on Feb 04, 2009

It's that time in one's life where one realizes that the blooms are fading. A time where one ponders the decisions they have made and the weathering that they have gone through that gave them the character and look that they have now.

Yes. Knowing that as we all age, we are just not as vivacious as we used to be. As the season comes closer to the change and we prepare for the end sometimes there's a struggle to just keep on keeping on.

And that's what topdressing is for. It's way cheaper than a hospital bill or a cemetery plot, and those plants you've been tending all through the cool season just need a lil boost of fuel to get them perked back up and into production again. Topdressing basically means giving fertilizer mid season, usually termed for adding on the "tops" of rows along side the annual plants. Topdressing is primarily aimed at annuals that have used a good amount of their early fertilizer resources and is used to replenish any gaps. This usually means providing more Nitrogen which gets used quickest by the plants as well as getting watered down or naturally changed into a form unusable by the plants. It happens.

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Southern Sustainable Ag in Chattanooga

Posted by: Anne Baker in Dig It on Jan 26, 2009

There are mountains here. Real hilly mountain lookin ones. As a New Orleanian in TN, not only am I missing home cooking (we all know the challenge of food in other cities as a New Orleanian) but flat ground and warm weather.

The good thing is that Chattanooga's Convention Center that I am attending a conference in is just about 50 feet away from the door of the hotel and has a great heating system. Oh, yeah, the conference? It's the Southern Sustainable Agriculture Working Group's (SSAWG's) Annual Conference, and it's got sessions galore about agriculture issues. For example there are presentations on food justice and social justice or on community organizing and youth mentoring around sustainable ag. Better organic growing and sustainable practices from using mushroom compost and crop rotation to using black plastic mulch and raising exotic fruit are offered. Smart livestock management, breeding, and grazing practices are presented. Stories from different cultures, countries and their practices and preparations around their communities' raising and cooking food are told from the diverse speakers that are attending. There's farm tours and market tours, and good locally produced food at the meals. In addition, there's a whole giant room full of booths with resources to offer or to sell from organic fertilizer producers, to tools, seeds, organic clothing and homemade soaps, to research information, grant opportunities, cattle breeders and small farm website folks. What more could a farm and garden nerd ask for?

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New Year's Greener Garden Resolutions

Posted by: Anne Baker in Dig It on Jan 09, 2009

The garden is the place to make those New Year's resolutions really stick. Why? Because the challenges of weight loss and other resolutions can get harder as the year goes on. In the garden, simple changes to make it more sustainable can go a long way and once done, can make a big difference for a long time. Consider these for making your garden more eco-friendly:

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Urban Farmer Focus: Marilyn Yank

Posted by: Anne Baker in Dig It on Jan 02, 2009

The little farm tucked into a corner between an unassuming shotgun and a breakfast joint in Mid-City has certainly turned some heads with it's colorful crops and straw mulch. It sits on the corner of South Cortez and Cleveland Streets, and on the edge of the growing space, there's a sign that explains the purpose of it: to act as an example of how folks can put vacant lots into use for food production. By that, the access to local fresh produce is increased, and underused lots are cleaned up and become a valued resource and communal space for the neighborhood.

That particular lot, named "Little Sparrow Farm" by the caretaker Marilyn Yank, is currently growing organic vegetable crops like kale, Swiss Chard, beets, lettuces, and edible flowering ornamentals such as nasturtiums and borage. Carrots, peas, are on their way, and the borders around the fenceline have been thoughtfully planted with colorful flowers that give curb appeal and bring in beneficial insects. Marilyn brings the harvests home and shares with neighbors and friends the veggies of her labor. Because she lives nearby she was glad to mention that it could be easy for her "stroll over in her pajamas" in the morning if she wanted to, and it makes the tasks of gardening less of a chore because of the tiny commute. The high profile corner across from the Ruby Slipper Cafe and just a block down from Mandina's Restaurant (a food tradition since the 1930's) has been a popular site for people stopping by, watching the evolution of the garden, all while admiring the food and flowers that has inspired folks to consider growing gardens for themselves.

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Pineapple babies

Pee in Your Garden

Orchids Alive

Urban Garden Focus: Born on the Bayou

Hot times in the city garden

Local Gardening Resource: Green Parrot Nursery

Pushing Up Daisies

Southern Sustainable Ag in Chattanooga

New Year's Greener Garden Resolutions

Urban Farmer Focus: Marilyn Yank

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