May, 2022

In which we discuss goings on about the garden and scream at the sky

It’s May, folks.

Winter and Carnival and any chance of frost are firmly in the rear-view, and the soil is warm enough that the seeds dropped at the end of last Summer are beginning to germinate — weeds and non-weeds alike, as well as plenty (most) plants somewhere in the middle.

We've got spots around the garden carpeted with little skullcap (Scutellaria lateriflora), malabar spinach (Basella alba) and holy basil (Ocimum tenuiflorum) volunteers, respectively. Mulberries (Morus alba¹) have been dropping for almost a month, and I expect to see volunteer mulberry seedlings popping up sometime soon. The blackberries (Rubus spp.) are ripening, which I’m particularly psyched about. We’ve never grown them before and, being originally from the PNW, i’m still just blown away by thornless, non-invasive blackberries. It seems almost too good to be true.

Tons of stuff is in flower right now (borage (Borago officinalis), yarrow (Achillea millefolium), nasturtiums (Tropaeolum majus), feijoa (“pineapple guava,” Feijoa sellowiana), clover (Trifolium spp.), marigolds (Tagetes erecta), calendula (Calendula officinalis), Mexican tarragon (Tagetes lucida), oxalis (Oxalis spp.), feverfew (Tanacetum parthenium) and much more), and plenty others have already set seed (mustard and other brassicae, thistles (mostly Cirsium spp. I think?), cilantro (Coriander sativum), ashwagandha (Withania somnifera) etc etc).

A lot of other things are just in full, active and lush vegetative growth right now. This includes lemon balm (Melissa officinalis), elderberry (Sambucus canadensis), malanga (Xanthosoma sagittifolium), our more protected collards and kales (Brassica oleracea), Indian lettuce (Lactuca indica), cucumbers (Cucumis sativus), tomato/peppers/eggplants (Solanum/Capsicum spp.), squash vines (Cucurbita spp.), bananas… the list goes on and on. The weed pressure is really starting to pick up too.

We’ve already weathered some of the lighter, more whimsical waves of weeds — thistle (Cirsium spp.), cleaver (Galium aparine), bidens (aka “blackjack,” “hairy beggarticks,” Bidens pilosa) etc. — and are now pushing into the territory of the more hardcore, no-joke, perennial and vining weeds.

We don’t have a problem with cat’s claw (Dolichandra unguis-cati) in our little corner on the edge of the 9th Ward, thank goodness. I’ve been seeing it creeping in other neighborhoods for weeks now. What we do have is buckwheat vine (Brunnichia ovata), which is made no less burdensome by the fact that it is really a pretty cool plant. A weed is an unwanted plant, and I do not want buckwheat vine. We also have a great deal of bushkiller vine (Cayratia japonica), as does ever other 2 square feet in the city. We’ve made some pretty good progress with these vines during our 4 years on this lot, but we’re far, far, from eradicating them. We couldn’t anyway, as of course we share a block with a number of other lots who would have to be cleared of them as well, as both plants travel by long, reaching, underground vines, undaunted by fences. But we keep them at bay, however more careful we have to be now that our lot is more tightly planted, and we can no longer just rip on those roots, in whatever direction they may go.

Pests haven’t been so bad yet this season. We’ve had some waves of aphids, sure, but nothing crazy. I have seen the first inklings of leaf foot bugs (sucking on the mulberries), and i’m bracing for later on in the summer when we cant hardly compete with them for any of our fruiting crops. I have sworn to myself though that we will keep them under control this year, disallowing them from breeding within the confines of our lot, at least. I will certainly let you all know how that goes…

[Late breaking news: we’ve now, as of the very end of April, got a pretty healthy population of boxelder bugs (Boisea trivittata) in the sticks and duff around the garden, as well as of yellow margined leaf beetles (Microtheca ochroloma on the older brassicae (especially the various mustards etc in our cover crop mix)]

May Day! May Day!

This email will go out on May 1, which happens also to be May Day.

May Day is a multifaceted holiday celebrating both the change of season/cyclical rebirth of nature, as well as the history of labor and leftist organizing. These dual aspects are sometimes referred to as May Day’s Green and Red roots, respectively. There is much to be said about the Red root, certainly, and I encourage all of you to read about it and to familiarize yourselves with that history — but this is a gardening newsletter, and we are going to focus on the Green.

Human culture is chock-a-block with Spring festivals. They are conceived of in different ways — some are celebrations really of the end of Winter, or of the height of Spring, or the advent of the planting season, the last freeze/first thaw, or simply of the dividing point between the year’s only two seasons: Winter and Summer (or Cold and Hot, Dead and Alive, Dark and Light etc).

May Day specifically, according to its most often cited lineage, descends from an ancient festival celebrating exactly that: the end of Winter and the beginning of Summer. In this particular conception, May 1 would be the first day of Summer (which helps somewhat to explain how Midsummer ended up in June). According to this history, the day was relayed through the centuries from culture to successive culture, from disparate European tribes to the Roman empire, to Gaelic and Germanic pagan cultures at the far reaches (and yet somehow also the center?) of “civilization.” This story tends always to maintain and emphasize a cultural Whiteness and a kind of idyllic pre-Christianity associated with the holiday.

Such appeals to Whiteness and antiquity and a “noble, ancient Paganism” or some other sort of “lost, former glory” are often stirred up and utilized by bad actors. The Nazis, in their own attempt at appropriating May Day, made use of both roots (Red and Green), resulting in some truly weird ideologically mis-matched artifacts.

The people swept up by these types of argument tend to be motivated by a sense that we mostly share — a sense that something of great value has been lost from Olden Times. But what we recognize in May Day as something lost or missing will not be found in returns to tribalism, nationalism or racial pride. It is the cultural mechanism exhibited in May Day, rather than its particular cultural content (May Poles, alpine meadows, fair maidens, “pure,” “unspoiled” primordial European-ism and the like) that is of real value.

What we are missing today is that very means of marking the time — the recognition of Cycles, Rhythms and Ritual as a means of coding and interpreting information. A Wheel of Time, rather than History as an Arrow, an Arc or a Stopwatch (whether counting up or down).

That lost philosophy of time and history is no less true than the currently predominating Linear theory of Time as an Arrow. Anything that we can think or believe is born entirely out of one or another philosophy of interpreting the universe and our experience thereof anyway, there is no “objective” way to know the universe without one sort of lens or another.

Knowing this, we can make conscious decisions about how we will interpret our universe. The Universe as a Cosmic Wheel is on full display in our gardens (remember: This is a Gardening Newsletter) every day of the year, and all the more so in May. The seeds of last summer are beginning to germinate. New birds are beginning to sing. The cool weather gives way to the steam and musk of Summer. Later in the month (on Mothers Day, specifically), the termites will swarm, and we will all hide in our homes and turn off our porch lights.

That is the rhythm — our work is to provide the ritual. Some rituals follow naturally and by necessity: we start our seeds, we harvest our Winter crops, we observe and assist new births among the animals. Other types of ritual may require a little more creativity. In some cases, we have access to old rituals from a previous era. We may return to these, or perhaps some of us never quit them to begin with. But I, maybe selfishly, am more inclined to expand, reform, add to and fine-tune rituals within the culture of today, or indeed to invent new rituals and a new culture as we go.

A healthy amount of Ritual in society serves to catch everyone up to speed, brings cultural knowledge up to a reasonable minimum. It allows for a greater and more meaningful depth of improvisation within the natural and cultural strictures of Rhythm and Ritual.

I can’t prescribe for you what your Rituals ought to be, as I don’t know your circumstances or history, nor do I know what you might find meaningful or useful. And don’t get it twisted — such rituals must be useful, must serve some real purpose. That’s not to say that they need to be strictly instrumental. Far from it. The use they serve will very likely be more abstract or, dare we say, Spiritual.

Some such spiritual functions include:

• Lamentation or Mourning

• Thanksgiving

• Atonement

• Catharsis

• Closure

• Commemoration of Birth or Death

…or any other such meaningful impulses — anything else that makes us want to Cry Out to the Sky. Ritual is just that, in a manner of speaking: Crying Out to the Sky. And those Rhythms we are looking to identify are what gives that Sky its shape, and reveals it to be something distinct from, and much larger than ourselves.

I, for one, am starting this newsletter as a kind of Ritual. What you’re reading right now is my Screaming at the sky. And not only that, but it is a ritual that will help me (us) to identify more natural Rhythms and Cycles in the process.

By writing down what has happened in our gardens during a particular month, and attempting to forecast what will happen in the next, we are creating a written record of those Rhythms as we observe them. We may return to old reports months or years in the future and compare them to what we see around us at that time. In this way we can not only identify patterns, but can also (more importantly?) note any changes in said patterns as time wears on, and the climate goes more and more haywire.

So, i’ll see you in a month. I cant wait to report what we’ve witnessed and learned from the gardens around us. I hope that this has been useful to you.

And now, a report from the farm’s other half, and our resident bee correspondent:

Bee Tender

By Maggie 

For a few years now, our friend Colin (of Honey Wild²) has been tending a hive at Too Tall. A few weeks ago, I had the immense pleasure of attending their beekeeping skillshare at Speak Easy Farm. It was such a wonderful class — Colin has a beautiful approach to their craft, tending hives scattered across New Orleans at various farms, nurseries, and gardens. One thing that I especially loved from that day was the idea that throughout history, across the world, family units have passed down the role of beekeepers through each generation, with each beekeeper taking on the task of providing the family with honey. This tender idea was what ultimately pushed me to finally take the plunge and seek out getting our own hive — I want to be able to provide honey for my family, real and chosen. Plus, Colin made beekeeping seem accessible, doable, and such a treasured task. 

The bees at Too Tall are plentiful, and they are an integral part of the ecosystem we support here. After class, we hatched a plan to split the hive in order for us to begin tending a hive of our own. The hives Colin prefers are long rectangular boxes, which truthfully remind me of a small coffin. But the structure is resilient and hasn’t had any issues in the two most recent hurricanes (Ida & Zeta). Prior to splitting them, we checked each frame to take note of the comb, honey, queen and queen cells, drones, nursery cells, etc. We were able to locate the queen and so moved her frame to the new hive, along with 4-5 other frames that had lots of bees, leaving as many queen cells as possible in the original hive (I think we identified between 6-10). We added new/empty frames until the new box was filled.

The new hive was placed at the base of an oak tree, about 20 yards from the original. Colin placed some brush at the entrance of the new hive to help prevent the bees from returning to their old home. Simultaneously, Colin strapped a swarm box in the mulberry tree next to the oak (side note: the mulberries are poppin’ right now! Eat some!), about 12-15 ft above the ground because spring is a time when bees swarm and we’re hoping to catch a swarm to pass along to another bee-tender. 

As of right now, a couple weeks after the hive split, the queen is still in the new hive AND bees had taken up home in the swarm box. I’ll keep y’all posted!

Orchid Corner!

As I am writing this, Maggie and I just got back from Belle Danse Orchids and Tropicals, where we purchased our first ever orchids (Brassocattleya Richard Mueller × Cattleya purpurata; Oncidium Jamie Sutton × Oncidium Honolulu; Dendrobium Caesar × Dendrobium Samarai; Rhyncholaeliocattleya Hawaiian Charisma), as well as a pitcher plant (Nepenthes sp.) just for good measure. We’ve decided to become Orchid People. On the one hand we are doing so because Orchids are simply and objectively Amazing, and on the other hand because, speaking for myself, I really miss the days when I was brand new to gardening and knew next to nothing about plants. I want to try and re-approximate that with Orchids. I want to have everything to learn. I want to go to an Orchid Society meeting and be a total novice among experts and savants, and to fall in love with each of them.

Now, we’re about a million years off from becoming an Orchid Nursery, but we’re gonna start by keeping these babies alive. I’ll be looking up even the most basic of questions, and probably will listen to some orchid podcasts or something? I will report back here in 1 month, and I’ll let you all know what progress or mistakes we’ve made.

Plant List for May, 2022

NOTE: This is a list of plants that we expect to have for sale at some point during the month of May, not necessarily May 1st - 31st. Also, remember that we are a small-batch micro-nursery, and we do run out of things. That said, here we go —

VEG:
Callaloo
Cucumber, Calypso Pickling
Cucumber, AR Little Leaf Pickler
Cucumber, Straight Eight
Eggplant, Ping Tung Long
Eggplant, Poamoho Dark Long
Eggplant, Louisiana Long Green
Eggplant, Rosita
Eggplant, Morden Mini
Eggplant, Rosa Bianca
Eggplant, Aleppo Black
Eggplant, Tsakoniki
Malabar Spinach
Molokhia (Egyptian Spinach)
Okra, Clemson Spineless
Okra, Burgundy
Pepper, Aji Dulce
Pepper, Aji Limon
Pepper, Ostra Cyklon Paprika
Pepper, Mini Belle
Pepper, Fatalli
Pepper, Scotch Bonnet
Pepper, Thai Dragon
Pepper, Jimmy Nardello
Rainbow Chard
Squash, Cushaw
Squash, Cucuzza/Gagootz
Sweet Potato Slips
Tomatillo
Tomato, Black Cherry
Tomato, Lollipop Cherry
Tomato, Matt's Wild Cherry
Tomato, Everglades Cherry
Tomato, Homestead
Tomato, Amish Paste
Tomato, San Marzano

Herbs (culinary and medicinal):
Ashwagandha
Anise-Hyssop
Basil, Genovese
Basil, Thai
Calendula
Catnip
Chives
Comfrey
Dill
Echinacea
Fennel, Bulb
Fennel, Bronze
Fennel, Wild
Fevefew
Lemon Balm
Mexican Tarragon
Mint
Mullein
Nettles, Stinging
Oregano
Parsely, Curly
Parsley, Flat Leaf
Rosemary
Rue
Sage
Skullcap
St. Johns Wort
Thyme Valerian
Tulsi
Wild Dagga (Lion’s Tail)
Yarrow

Flowers/Natives/Other:
Bee Balm, Spotted
Borage
Calendula, Flashback
Celosia, pink
Coneflower, native
Galangal
Ginger
Gomphrena, pink
Hibiscus, Roselle
Hibiscus, Cranberry
Indigo (Indigo suffruticosa)
Marigolds, Crackerjack
Moringa
Nasturtium, Empress
Nasturtium, Alaska
Nasturtium, Jewel
Pigeon Pea
Swamp Sunflower
Tithonia
Turmeric, Red
Turmeric, Black

Zines/Resources available at Too Tall:

(chicory.) plant zines #1 & #2 

Dirt Nerd: pink, green, yellow, blue 

Not Our Farm’s Worker Zine 

Lobelia Commons’ Earthbound Farmers Almanac 2022 & 2021

LSU Extension’s mail-in soil tests (not for lead/heavy metals)

1. Note: Louisiana does have a native mulberry, Morus rubra, which you’ll see around, but at least here in Orleans parish it’s far less common than the more aggressive M. alba, which is most easily distinguished by its glossy leaves

2. Honey Wild sells honey and occasionally beeswax, teaches bee classes, and does hive removals. Currently you can get their honey by calling them at 504-867-9955, and soon you may be able to find it at local plant sales and markets.