As my green thumbs turn the page

Disclosure: I swear I am not getting paid for the following.

I do a little gardening on the balcony, and although I adore my Sunset Western Garden Book, it's not the world's most useful book for garden trouble-shooting. And I have great need of trouble-shooting: why the hell can't I grow rosemary? What will it take for my mint to stop dying off? Why doesn't my balcony look gorgeous?

Gayla Trail's You Grow Girl: The Groundbreaking Guide to Gardening didn't provide me all the answers I needed, but it made me feel better about the occasional wilting, withering or drooping plant. It's definitely a beginner's primer, but there are parts of gardening where I'm a beginner.

For example, Trail does a great job explaining how one can bypass chemical fertilizers and pest controls without making the organic-gardening process seem overly complicated for the casual chive-grower. She's also a lot more realistic about the constraints many of us urban gardeners face -- like not even having a yard at all. Those of us who occasionally get frustrated at garden features where the subject sighs about the unfairness of only having a tenth of an acre to work on will find something to like in this book.

Gayla's also the moving force behind You Grow Girl. Bookmark this site when you're doing your homework for your own garden. If you entertain idle fantasies of living off your garden at some point, I also recommend reading "Semi-Semi-Sustainability Without Real Intention" in the SFGate Cultureblog (kind of linked to the SFChron's June 1, 05, "Diet for a Sustainable Planet") for one take on the whole venture, then check out Path to Freedom to see how some Pasadenans are doing it.

Comments

[Mary]

As a first-time gardener in my newly acquired yard, I need information like this. I have a HUGE garden plot all fenced off in my backyard. Honestly I have no idea how big it is, but let's just say that I have 2 tomatoes, 2 green peppers, radishes, and basil planted back there and they take up so little of the available space, it's not even funny.

Anyway, the Tiny Tim tomatoes are actually starting to turn red. The Arkansas Traveler has a couple of tomatoes growing on it. I've already lost one growing green pepper for touching the plant and the pepper just fell to the ground. Now the other plant has a TON of blossoms on it. Maybe I'll get a pepper out of it yet!

The basil is growing like a weed. I've pulled leaves for salads a couple of times a week, trying to keep it from going to seed per a friend's instructions, and thoroughly enjoyed it. That one I wish I had in a pot on the deck and closer to the back door.

On the deck, I have rosemary which is growing fine, but I have no idea what to do with it. I haven't found my cookbooks yet and haven't had time to surf Cook's Illustrated to find something to cook with it. And I also have a Variegated Ginger-Mint plant that the squirrels LOVE to lounge in so it's only growing out one side of the pot. But it's beautiful and I love to just rub my fingers on it. Again, no idea what to do with it.

So I've bookmarked the site you referenced and added gardening books to my Amazon wish list! Wish me luck!!

[Lisa]

Mary, I'm so glad you mentioned this because I've been looking for a housewarming gift for you!

In re: rosemary ... it's very good with pork. Which I don't eat anymore, but that's my loss. Try this recipe to start:

INGREDIENTS:

2 pork tenderloins, about 2 pounds
3 tablespoons fresh rosemary, or about 1 tablespoon dried
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cloves garlic, halved
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400°. Line a baking pan with foil, spray with cooking spray and place in oven. Trim fat from pork tenderloins and butterfly the meat, cutting them nearly in half lengthwise. Open the pork tenderloins and lay out, pounding to flatten with the palm of the hand or the bottom of a heavy skillet. Chop rosemary if using fresh. Rub pork tenderloins all over with cut sides of garlic halves then olive oil, then sprinkle rosemary on both sides.

Remove baking pan from the oven and place pork on hot tray. Return to oven and roast for about 20 minutes (about 155° to 160° internal temp). Remove and let stand 5 minutes, then slice.

Rosemary roasted pork tenderloin serves 4 to 6.

***

Generally speaking, if it's good with garlic and lemon, it's good with rosemary. Yum!

[Garden Decorations Fan]

Thank you for the relevant information and resources regarding garden trouble-shooting. Perhaps more importantly, for those of us who honestly entertain thoughts of living off our garden someday, you provided resources offering a needed level of "reality."