Central Park: Something for Everyone

Central Park in Cumming, GA has something for everyone with a great social atmosphere.

Trails

We've been going to Central Park quite a lot lately now that the marathon training is in full force.   The one mile paved trail is convenient for easy days and recovery days where I run three miles or fewer. Anything more than three laps around the loop becomes mind-numbing.

The park has a few hills that are great for building leg muscles, which will help with speed in the long term. There’s an insanely steep hill on the south end of the park heading down towards the creek. Look for the lone weeping willow. The more gradual hills are towards the southeast. I’d run up and down these with my husband a few times each week for about two weeks.

Mountain Biking

I’ve gone mountain biking with my husband about four or five times here. The trails aren’t labeled very well anymore since park staff is rearranging and rehabilitating some parts of the park. Generally speaking, most of the course to the northwest of the park is green. Going southbound is gets into blue territory with a challenging patch under the trees in the southeast corner of the park. I hate this area. Repeat: hate.  It’s riddled with roots, rocks, gravel, and death-inducing pump tracks that have sharp pointy rocks at the bottom and slippery roots at the top. Real mountain bikers generally like these challenging parts, though. I just want to cry. *Sorry hubby*

Image by Kurt Picker

I’ve never touched the black trail. Myth tells me that it’s a cardio challenge up a huge mound that use to be a landfill. The mound rests in southwest overlooking water purification center. The hillsides are steep and the path is narrow in some places.

Disc Golf

The park staff recently rerouted the disc golf course. Chaos ensued. People who like the old path are still taking it, generally working in the opposite direction of those who are following the new course. Overtime, I think people will get use to the new arrangement but for now it’s a cluster-mess of flying discs.

Quite a few pro players come out to test their skills here. It’s a decent challenge, with a variety of terrain and obstacles to overcome. Most of the trails do not interfere with pedestrian access to the park, which I like. As a rookie disc golfer I like being able to practice without the fear that I’m going to knock someone’s head off.

Facilities

The onsite gym is great for exercising on rainy days. It does require a membership,  though,  which is competitively priced to other gyms.

The facilities are maintained quite well from what I’ve seen. As far as complaints go, some request more short term storage for those who simply want to walk the indoor track, take a class, or play basketball without having to leave valuables in their car or on the sidelines. The lockers are in the upstairs weight room, a short trek away. What? If you’re at the gym to exercise, why complain about walking upstairs to the locker rooms? It’s called exercise.

Atmosphere

The best part about Central Park is the active atmosphere.  There is always a decent crowd of (generally) kind and good-spirited folks.Seeing people of all ages walking, jogging, playing disc golf, soccer, football, softball,  baseball, and cheerleading is really encouraging. It makes you want to be more fit!  The people-watching also makes the repetitive runs around the track more entertaining.

If you live in Forsyth County, you should definitely check it out!

Winter preparations for spring gardening

My little plot isn't fit for winter gardening. It gets zero sun. The good news is that I can focus my free time elsewhere (maybe learning sign language, touching up my Spanish, home decor, and marathon training). 

More good news? I have time to prep the garden for next spring. I got such a late start gardening this year. It will be nice to be ahead of the game in 2014. I've compiled a list of ways to prepare your garden for spring. Hope it helps fellow beginning gardeners!

Image via terrysliceoflife blog

End of season sales The end of the warm months is the ideal time to scope out season clearances. Many stores get rid of their inventory in preparation for holiday decor. They will certainly want the old inventory gone in time for next spring's arrivals. These sales will allow you to stack on up durable goods at discount prices: gardening supplies, tools, fertilizers and mulches. Buy a few bags of fertilizers each month, spreading out the costs of starting the new garden.

Clean house Remove any plants that have reached the end of their lifeline. Removing them prevents mold, pests, diseases, viruses, and all sorts of nonsense from working their way into surrounding plants and soil. Toss old plants into the compost bin unless they've already bolted/seeded.

Ground cover While ground cover isn't necessary, it is a great soil conditioner. Many gardeners prefer alfalfa and soybeans. Both add nitrogen to the soil and their presence prevents erosion in winter rain, frosts, and melts. This is particularly helpful for raise beds that aren't reinforced with wood or plastic.

Image by Cyndy Crist

Mulch the beds If you aren't using live ground cover, consider mulching your plant beds. It's best to do this after the first frost; in theory, it keeps the ground temperature even. If the ground is frozen, it will stay frosty. You'll have fewer pests trying to burrow in it.

Continue composting The composting process slows down in the cool winter months but it will continue nonetheless. Keep adding to your compost heap or bin and turn the compost every four to six week. In late winter, blend your compost into the soil so that it will acclimate. Without this settling time, an unbalanced compost may continue to breakdown around your young plants and seeds, which can cause more harm than good.

Add garden buddies Don't forget to add earthworms and ground beetles to help micro processes continue in your garden. Don't worry about them freezing. That's rare here in the southeast and when it does get nippy they just burrow down further into the soil.

Image via todayshomeowner.com

Sterilize your pots and containers This is new to me. Remove old plants from your containers, empty the soil, and clean them with warm sudsy water. This way, they don’t carry old diseases to your new transplants or seeds.

Tool preparation Take a few days during the cold months to sharpen your tools and repair any equipment. Do as much as you can indoors, of course. By investing a little time here and there, you will be in tip-top shape for spring without much effort.

Dia de los Muertos at Bone Garden Cantina

Unfortunately, I have to recant my glowing review of Bone Garden. I Googled their number and then called to ask about reservations for four. The woman hung up on me.

I went to the website and read that they don't accept reservations, only call ahead for parties of 8 or more. This info isn't available on their Google listing, which is what I used. Even still, the hostess hung up on me like I was supposed to know. She could've just told me the policy instead of being an ass. 

That little even conjured up every other rude thing that a server has done during our past visits to Bone Garden. There were quite a few, actually, including a server who insisted that I ordered a beef taco when I didn't. I understand English and Spanish. I wouldn't have ordered a meat that I don't eat. the list continues...

 I guess that's the drawback to edgy restaurants. Some staff mistake their coolness *rolling eyes* as an excuse to be rude to their patrons. Oddly, patrons keep them in business. Asi es...

My husband and I threw a house party for Dia de los Muertos last year. We weren't prepared for it this year (didn't even think about it until Halloween) so we opted to head out for the night.

Bone Garden, a locally owned Mexican restaurant in Atlanta, has parties each year. We love the place so it was our first pick. It gets packed early so my husband had the good mind to schedule our double date for 5pm.

We started off with chips a guacamole (always a good call) and a round of drinks. My husband took advantage of the special, a mini jarrito that is filled with samples of tequila throughout the night. It's a good way to try new tequilas without committing to an entire shot of something that might rip the lining from your throat. The rest of us had cocktails.

Sad news: my absolute favorite drink, Pancho Villa, was taken off the menu, disowned and discarded! That's because few people understand the glory of tequila's smokey cousin, Mezcal. Think of it this way: tequila is a party girl in a miniskirt that talks too much. She's fun for a while but, ha'mercy, you'll need a break. Mezcal is that chick's sexier older sister. She's got a hint of mystery, an air of refinement. You'll want to party with her all night and well into the next day. It's that good.

But since most folks like cheap dates my favorite Mezcal cocktail was taken off of the menu. They replaced it with a margarita that has mezcal in it but it's just not the same. I thought that was the start of a bad night. Fortunately, I was wrong.

The food was stellar as always. It's an a la carte menu, giving guests the opportunity to sample and savor a variety of options without ending with a heafty tab. Between the four of us we had: a pollo barbacoa quesadilla, carne adobo taco, barbacoa de chivo (goat) taco, lemon shrimp empanadas,chicken machucada empanada, spicy chicarron sope, almojo de ajo sope, a burrito (don't remember which)...probably some other stuff...ending with mexican hot chocolate and churros, and rice pudding. There was not a single complaint at the table. All of the food was spectacular.

The atmosphere alone is worth the trip. On a daily basis, there is Day of the Dead artwork everywhere. And I think it's a requirement that the wait staff have at least five visible tattoos. Just seeing them walk around can be pretty entertaining if you're into body art. In honor of the celebration, they amped up the Dia de los Muertos decorations and the servers painted their faces. It was creep-tastic! About midway through the night, three ladies in sexy red costumes danced on top of the bar. It was mild enough for general audiences but it still added to the party atmosphere.

Oh, and we got a sugar skull that we named Paco! He's currently on our mantel. I don't have the heart to eat him...though my husband took a bite out of the back of his head. Poor little guy.

Next time you're searching for Dia de los Muertos plans--or just fresh Mexican food in Atlanta--keep Bone Garden in mind.

Or not, if you're determined to get good service. Geesh I hate when good restaurants don't live up to their reputations!

Apps and Gadgets that help me train for the marathon. Got any suggestions?

http://ericajarrell.wordpress.com/2013/11/05/apps-and-gadgets-for-training/

I'm in training for a half marathon. Follow me on my other blog!

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Cute Lil' Weapons of Mass Destruction: Organic Garden Pest Control

Battling bugs can be a source of stress and discomfort for gardeners, particularly folks like me who really, really, don't like killing things. There's no way around it so lets dig into some tried and true (and some disappointing) ways to get rid of garden pests.

Healthy plants have a better resistance towards pests than plants that are drought stricken, water logged, or otherwise fragile. Taking care of your garden from the root up is its best defense against viruses and even some bugs. But even the healthiest plants aren't indestructible meaning that organic gardeners must retreat to a limited tool belt of insecticides and covers to defend the garden.

Insecticidal Soaps

I began with insecticidal soap. I have not noticed a huge difference amongst the brands that I've tried. Many use the same active ingredients and offer comparable performance. Rain is the biggest challenge that I've run into with insect killing soaps. Most products I've found can't be used in rainy weather for obvious reasons. If your area goes for a week of overcast weather and rain, a significant amount of damage can be done to your vegetables. There isn't a whole lot you can do about it other than try to pick off each and every little bug by hand. Depending on the size of your garden and your personal responsibilities, that's not always an option.

To date, my veggies have seen the likes of Safer Insect Killing Soap
Natria Insecticidal Soap by Bayer, and Garden Safe Insecticidal Soap. Natria was my least favorite, maybe because I associated it with big pharm and not because of its performance. They were all fine when used properly. I noticed the slightest discoloration on my tomatoes when using Safer but I might have applied it when too much daylight is available, which the label warns against.

One application of insect killing soap lasts for about one week without rain or...a plague. Application can be tricky. The little jugs are the most economical but then you must dilute them yourself and buy your own sprayer to apply it. The bottles that can attach to your garden hose cost more but they are also more convenient. The downside is that you can't spray the underside of leaves easily when using the water hose. The force of the water may also knock off flowers, buds, and tiny vegetables.  Buying a little hand-held spray bottle lets you get under leaves but it takes forever. Literally, forever.

Safer Garden Dust has been my absolute least favorite. Does it work? Yeah...it kills bugs. But the challenge is applying the powder properly. The power comes in this poorly-designed container that releases the product in uncontrollably thick puffs. It's not even as consistent as a baby powder bottle, which would make more sense. Consistency matters. If you apply too much, it will burn your plants. If you apply it with too much access to sunlight, it will burn your plants. The best success is applying it after sunset by dumping it into a bowl and brushing the leafy vegetables with it using a makeup brush and quite frankly that's too time consuming. I only do it to a few plants on my patio simply because I've already bought the stuff and don't want it to go to waste. I won't be buying it again.

Floating Covers

I haven't tried floating row covers yet but it is definitely on my list for fall, especially since I've got a lot of leafy vegetables in the works. These row covers not only protect against legged and winged pests but they can also minimize the viruses that the bugs can carry. My tomatoes got mosaic virus and I really don't want that to happen again.

Apparently there are a variety of fabric choices and application options. When I begin, I will put up a separate post about what I choose.

Has anyone tried a homemade organic bug killer that they'd like to share? I would like to try that with my floating cover method for the fall!

Soil preparation: surprisingly complicated and interesting

My little garden stressed me out through the beginning of the season! I can recall nights when the rain was pounding down and I lay in bed hoping that the entire garden wasn't washing away down the hill. I don't have enough Creek or Cherokee in me for a proper rain dance (>20%, meh) and even if I did, I don't know the antirain dance. Controlling the rain wasn't an option so I switched my focus to soil improvement.

Georgia clay is tough to work with: crappy tilth, no drainage, and it forms crust like concrete. Roots have a hard time developing in its solid encasement. When wet, leeching pulls nutrients from plants, leaving them weak and yellow. I wonder how Mississippian tribes managed to grow anything down here. They certainly knew a few secrets I haven't figured out yet.

For the fall, I'm focusing on expanding my understanding of soil. Ideally, I would have the soil tested for $15 through the local UGA Cooperative Extension Office. Unfortunately, they said it would take about 5 weeks to get the results back. It's already early September and I would miss a big window of fall sowing if I waited on the results. Ugh. Rookie timing mistake, again.

I used a few online resources to test the soil myself. I concluded that I need sphagnum moss and a bit of vermiculite to promote drainage and better tilth. I overturned the rows about 1' down, added in about 1.5" of moss and a dusting of vermiculite, then overturned it all and mixed it in with the shovel. I broke up the chunks even finer with a rake. I may need more but it's a start.

I added homemade compost that has been prepping for over 6 months. It's lovely, crumbly soil with a slightly sweet smell. That's a good sign. The downside is that I added eggshells and they break down at glacial speeds. They're finely crumbled and I don't think it will be a big problem but the little white specks look strange in the soil. When the shells do break down, my children and I will have a nice bit of calcium in the soil.

To keep the rows tidy and to minimize erosion, I'm using Master Mark terrace board to uphold my raised beds. In the future I want to upgrade to a more aesthetically pleasing wood but for now the plastic will do. I still feel like I'm testing this gardening thing out and I don't want to turn the garden into a money pit.

Within each bed, I'm placing more emphasis on leveling the soil. It's common sense but I didn't pay much attention to it before. Being on the bottom of a hill is tough enough without having raised beds that slope. With the border in place, I can level out each bed so it acts as a separate terrace.

When it comes to excess water, more hours of sunlight would definitely help. The house is the biggest cause of shade during the day and it ain't going anywhere. Cutting down the large trees near the garden would certainly let a few hours of sunlight through... but cutting down trees for a garden just doesn't seem right. The trees keep our energy bills lower in the summer and they're good for the cleansing air and all that. Hacking down trees for the sake of a small veggie garden is backwards. And I like trees.

Hopefully the soil amendments will be enough. Next up, sowing time!

By the way, if there are any more experienced gardeners who would like to contribute their two cents, please do! I'm always eager to learn from those who've walked this road before.

Let there be life!

By July the organic garden was doing fairly well. It wasn't easy getting there, though.

This is one of the larger harvests of the month. Humble beginnings!

The weather gods are against me. Days of 90+ degree heat have been intermittent with deluges. The soil started to erode in the frequent downpours, exposing some plants' roots along the perimeters of the rows. I hadn't amended the soil properly beforehand so what wasn't eroding near the edges began to form puddles near the middle. It was a hot mess.

I knew this would happen, to an extent. Georgia's clay is horrible with water management but in my haste to get the garden started I figured it would be okay for the first season. (My mother had a beautiful flower and shrub garden. Veggies couldn't be that different, right? Wrong.)

As a short term solution, I bought topsoil and added it to the rows. The chunky little bits of wood slowed the erosion and minimized the puddles at the surface. The added soil also covered the exposed roots. Once the weather became a bit more merciful, I added liquid fertilizers and diligently applied insecticidal soaps to fend off critters that tried to take advantage of the fragile plants. Shame on them!

Slowest. Change. Ever.

The quick-fixes worked long enough to let the batch of plants produce some promising fruit. The Bonnie Patio Tomatoes--so named because the plants only grow 3 feet tall and can fit in a patio container--were the first ready to harvest. Our tomatoes are DELICIOUS and they're still giving fruit now at the tail end of August.

The Bonnie Red Bell Pepper and Bonnie Yellow Bell Pepper plants consistently bare large fruit (5+" long and about 6+" in diameter) but they take weeks to change color since they aren't getting as much sunlight as they should.  When they finally change, they are very flavorful and I love their brilliant colors. So delicious and lovely, in fact, that I refuse to cook them. We only eat them fresh so we get the full enjoyment of the nutrients and color.

Next, the Sweet N' Neat Cherry Tomatoes by Park Seed that I started from seeds began to mature. They produce the cutest little cherry tomatoes and I get 10-20 per week. I slice them in half and pop them over salads and omelets.

The herbs were most difficult to grow outdoors, surprisingly, but I'm not sure why. First problem: Georgia heat can be a beast. Second problem: the seeds are by Weeks Seed Company, a small business without a very strong reputation. Third problem: they seeds were stored at this local nursery. Only God knows how old they might've been. So many of the seeds were duds.

Nom nom cherry tomatoes!

I did manage to get some decent chives and parsley out of the bunch. The basil hasn't matured yet (my fourth try) and the cilantro hasn't gotten beyond a few small leaves and scrawny stalks. I know better what to do when the cooler months arrive.

My Sweet Rainbow Blend Peppers and Cayenne Blend Peppers, both grown by seeds from Park Seed, will be the last to mature. I know Alejandro is excited about the homegrown cayenne and I personally can't wait to add the multicolor peppers to some sort of sautee or stir fry. More to come!

Giving organic gardening a try

During my time in the Peace Corps I learned a bit about gardening. It was mainly from my neighbor--whose name escapes me after three years--but she was a senora with a heart of gold. She maintained an immaculate, quaint garden and her husband herded a few cattle and horses. Aside from Jesus, they were probably the best human beings ever created.

There was something about the peace of their household and the contentment on their faces each day as they settled down to a homegrown meal...I'm convinced that there was something to this gardening thing. Health was a clear benefit. They were pushing 90, quick as whips, more fit than 90% of the folks at my LAFitness, and aside from a few smile lines you couldn't tell that they were ancient.

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Years later, with my own little house in the burbs and two acres of land, I've got a chance to try my hand at gardening. At the tail end of March, after several late frost, I realized that I has already lost precious time.

My husband jumped into overdrive. We selected  a plot of land on the side of our house that is about 20x20. It's elevated on three sides, like a giant raised bed, supported by retention walls made of railroad ties. (It was part of a gift from my father-in-law and fiancee at the time because they knew I wanted a garden.) Georgia clay sucks, so I took a shovel and turned over the dirt at least a foot deep throughout the entire area. Then we rented a tiller to loosen the soil even more. Finally, we made three rows about 4 feet wide with 1.5 foot aisles in between.

It's not the perfect spot but it is the most perfect spot that we had available. The plot rests at the bottom of a hill so water sometimes drains down. We drilled holes in the retention wall and lined the area in the back corner with stones so that the water could drain out.

The space gets about 4 hours of direct sun and the rest of the time it's partly shaded. Again, not ideal, but it was the clearest space near the house and we didn't want to cut down and uproot lots of trees.

So...we had our garden. It wasn't until the beginning of April that I put down the first few transplants that I purchased at Home Depot: 3 determinate Bonnie tomato plants, 2 red and 1 yellow bellpepper plants also by Bonnie. They made the space feel more authentic while I waited for my seeds to germinate in the soil. Not knowing how quickly spring would turn into scorching summer, I planted lettuce, spinach, and chives. I also planted red cabbage and collard greens.

Just as the first leaves of lettuce and spinach began to peak above the soil, the weather changed rapidly. Two weeks of intense heat were followed by a flash flood that caught the entire county by surprise. The newly sprouting veggies didn't stand a chance. The one row of lettuce that did make it through the deluge fried in the sun the next day. The transplants and a few heads of cabbage were the only survivors.

I had another batch of seeds germinating indoors so I was able to pull out the goners and replace them with some plants that might stand a chance. I also sowed a few more seeds directly into the ground.

Only time would tell.