Tag Archives: heirloom

Quarantine Garden (aka I’m bAAaaack!)

22 Sunday Mar 2020

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What a time to be alive! Amiright?? Seriously, though, who would have guessed we would be trying to make it through a real life PANDEMIC? Pandemic is also a fan-favorite party game, great for isolation. Full disclosure: CFO, myself and the family ALWAYS LOST when we played up at the lake. I try not to dwell on that too much.

In these social distancing times, I am turning towards the garden. I realize my social media presence has been choppy, so I will do my best to stay on top of things. But please don’t put too much faith in that. After all, Monkey is 2 years old now, which is prime time for him to jump off a ledge into a pile of leaves or something. All eyes on the wild child.

I do have a very ambitious garden planned this year, with a priority on preserving the harvest. We invested in a CSA box through Village Farmstead, located just down the street from us, in an effort to ensure fresh, local produce in the trying times of raising a child, and we will continue that this summer.

We begin the year with seeding three varieties of onions (Flat of Italy red, Yellow of Parma, Minnesota Winter bunching), Blue Solaise leeks and Zebrune shallots. I started these little ones in January under grow lights. As they grew, I maintained their manes at ~4 inches, continuously clipping them back. This caused them to produce thicker stems from what I could tell. They are out in the greenhouse now (as long as we stay above freezing), and I will plant out in early April after we top the beds with compost. Additionally, I’ve been feeding these guys fish fertilizer once a month, which is the smelliest, most vile concoction that permeates the whole house with dead fish for about 3 days. Lovely.

Onion seedlings in trays

A Year of Backyard Food: A Study

01 Sunday Jan 2017

Posted by in Cost Cutting, Garden Concepts, Garden Inspiration, Garden Plan

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INTRODUCTION

Its that day once more, that day the ends the annual cycle of time, also known as my sister’s birthday. Happy birthday sis! It’s a pretty popular event; people all around the world celebrate by drinking profusely, declaring how the next year will be the one, and making out at midnight. I prefer to celebrate by eating dinner around 6pm and falling asleep promptly at 9pm once again disappointing CFO. He’s a party animal.

I’m not one for making these so-called resolutions, because I feel that it is a system of preplanned failure. If you ever bought a gym membership in January, you are not my people. But I respect your choices. I prefer to think upon the last year and note what worked, and what didn’t, and make some informed decisions of how I might make better decisions going forward. For example, last year I evaluated how much I have zero interest in cleaning my house, and how I have lots of interest in paying people to do it instead. That’s a “resolution” I am happy to keep going in 2017.

When it comes to the garden, I think about what worked, and didn’t work a lot in January. Mainly because its time to order seeds and get planning. One of my goals from last year was to keep track of what I grew and what I harvested. I was sure that growing food in the backyard is a financially stable way to eat better, but I have no evidence to support the statement. I wanted to do a season-long very unscientific study to prove my point, mainly to CFO, but also to the 22 people that might read this post. I am happy to say that not only did I complete my project, but also I am here, on December 31 to report the results.

HYPOTHESIS

Growing vegetables in one’s own backyard provides a cost savings over purchasing the same food in a grocery store. I know this might seem obvious, but food in this country is shockingly cheap. I felt as if my work was cut out for me.

METHODOLOGY

In order to report the findings as accurately as possible, I had to consider the costs to grow said food, as well as the market value of the food I harvested. I factored in all of the things I use to grow food: cedar for beds, compost, seeds, transplants, fertilizer, mulch, water, and also the grow light system I purchased to start my own. The only thing I did not include was labor. I mean, let’s face it. If I weren’t willing to donate my time this whole adventure would be pointless. I also think that the time I spent in the garden probably equals the amount of time I would otherwise navigate the produce aisle at my local store, which is about as easy to shop as a new IKEA during the grand opening.

For the harvest itself, I had to find a way to quantify the value of what I had, and the only way I could think was to compare it to the USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service produce commodity averages. This is an average of the countries produce costs at retail, and is published weekly. It worked pretty well for the common items, but for those odd duck veggies I grow (parsley root anyone?), I had to get more creative. I found an online co-op that published produced prices daily, and used that for a reference. Also, because I practice the general “organic” growing system, meaning I do not use anything on my crops that requires a gas mask, I opted to compare the produce to the organic rates. I know, I know…kind of unfair because I don’t normally buy organic produce, but I grow it and this is my study.

DATA ANALYSIS

The grand total of my garden expenses was…. $1284. Yikes. Last year had some expensive costs to be fair: CFO finished building the remaining garden beds and I invested in a growing system for the basement. Ideally, those two purchases will not be on-going costs. Using cedar, the beds should last 10 years, and since I received 3 shipments of broken growing lights, the supplier sent me about 12 bulbs at no cost in order to maintain his positive EBay rating. I should be good for a while. Based on annual expenses like seeds, compost, mulch, etc. I realistically spend about $250 a year, which seems much more reasonable. Maybe this wasn’t the best year for my study. Meh.

In 2016, I grew a total of 87 varieties of 54 different fruits and vegetables. I began the harvest the week of April 17 with asparagus, and ended the harvest the week of Thanksgiving with sage, kale, and Brussels sprouts. That’s 8 months of food! That’s a win in my book. I had some winners and some losers. I was giving away tomatoes, squash, basil and berries, but the melons and eggplants eluded me due to my unpreparedness with the late cabbage and unwieldy tomatillos. My peppers were a flop again for the third year. But I won’t be giving up on them just yet. Overall, I think this year was my most successful garden year. I figured out the watering system and my rotation and spacing scheme worked out very well. I didn’t have any problems with transplants because I grew them self. In order to properly assess the produce harvest, I used a kitchen scale, and weighed 470 lbs of vegetables for a grand total cost of….

Drum roll please…

$1250!!!!!

And yes. I know that is $34 in the red.

RESULTS

So okay, I technically didn’t make money on the garden, but if you consider I “spent” $34 for 470 lbs of vegetables, many of which are still stored in my freezer or canned and in the pantry in various forms, I think I did pretty darn good. And what a fun project. At its height, the garden was astounding, and received comments and questions from the neighbors (possibly some grumbling and complaints that I tuned out) and also kept me outside for a good chunk of the summer. I got to make farm dinners for family and friends that visited, we grilled vegetables I didn’t know could be grilled, and reduced our grocery expenses to the point where I could justify buying lobster for dinner. I even liked keeping track of all the produce; my charts and files have provided me solid information to make better planning for next year. I think I will keep this going if I can.

CONCLUSION

I conclude that 2016 was a good year in garden for me. I have already started plotting the changes and new vegetables and varieties to try, and making my informed decisions to better myself.

Next year will be…the Year of the Salad (because I have 10,000 lettuce seeds to start).

I hope you have a wonderful New Year and have grand adventures in gardening!

The Life Changing Magic of Squash Soup

19 Monday Sep 2016

Posted by in How-To, Not a Garden Post, Nutrition and Diet, Recipes

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There are a few things that were introduced during my lifetime that can be considered truly life-changing…the internet, smart phones, fourth generation antihstamines, and some others. These are really great and all, but today I am reminded of a two other “discoveries” that have significantly changed my life, specifically in regards to the autumn season: no-peel winter squash and the immersion blender.

The pureed squash soup is like the elixir of fall. There is something about that warm, slightly sweet orange silky squash liquor served in a big bowl or just a mug. Its something I look forward to every year when I see the piles of butternut squash and pumpkins at every store in town. Every season, I make up batch to kick off the shorter days and cooler temps. I have tried many a recipe, and have come up with an adaptation that works for whatever I have on hand. The only real requirement is that you have squash, and a preheated oven at 425°F.

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See that pretty dumpling above? This is the ultimate of winter squash (in my opinion). This little nugget is the French heirloom potimarron squash. The name is a combination of two words: potiron (pumpkin) and chestnut (marron), and the flavor is a delightful marriage of the two as well. It is by far not only my favorite winter squash but also my favorite pumpkin, hands down. This squash is also called red kuri or hokaiddo or onion squash, depending on where it is grown. Beyond the flavor, the best part is that this is a thin-skinned squash which means…NO PEELING (enter sounds of crowds cheering! alarms blaring! fireworks exploding!)

If you have never experienced the wonder of not peeling a winter squash, I implore you to get on this. My first no-peel squash was a delicata I received in a CSA box many moons ago, and it was an eye-opening culinary experience to be sure. I looked for that squash for years in two different cities, and nary a grocery stocked it. I knew the solution: grow my own. While I intended to grow delicata squash my first year of the garden, the seed company I was using only had it available in their membership program, which I was not a part of. Instead, I found their potimarron in the seed catalogue which said no peeling was required so I took a chance. I have never looked back since. Granted, these do not store well because of the peel (two weeks at best; probably why there is no commercial presence), but two weeks is about all I can hold out for anyways.

So let’s get started on this special soup journey. To start, take the little squash and just cut of the top and bottom, scoop out the seeds and strings (save for the broth later), cut into chunks and mix with a little olive oil, salt and pepper. Easy like Sunday Morning.

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To flavor our soup, I like to use this combination of pear, tomato, garlic, and leek. But you can also use apples, onions, ginger, peppers, anything. I happen to not have any leeks on hand, but I do have sweet onion. The combination of sweet and savory really enhances the sweetness of the squash but not in an over the top way.

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Cut the vegetables in half so they are all roughly the same size, removing seeds and stems. You can peel anything that requires peeling, but I tend to be a no-peel advocate if I can get away with it.

 

Just like with the squash, toss in a little olive oil, salt and pepper.

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Lay everything out onto a large roasting pan, and stick in the oven for a good 30 minutes at 425°F, or until the squash is nice and tender.

While that is roasting, heat up 6 cups of broth (chicken or vegetable or whatever you have) to boil. I am woefully out of my homemade broth, I have some bullion cubes that will do fine in a pinch. To enhance the flavor, you can add the squash seeds and guts to the broth, reduce to a simmer, and let it mellow until its time to add the vegetables and then remove.

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The thing about a squash soup is that it needs to be pureed. Chunks of squash and other vegetables in a bowl of loose broth would just not translate the same way, nor be as beautiful or delicious. The flavors have to marry to make it truly enticing. Typically, this is done by using a blender in batches and you see directions that suggest at any time the hot soup and chunks will explode in a furry of chunky orange projectile blender vomit if not done properly. I have no intentions to clean squash off my ceilings, thank you very much.

Enter the greatest kitchen utensil since the slow cooker: the immersion blender. This bad boy is not just a God-send, it’s a life-changing soup instrument. It also reduces post-soup making cleanup by 5 dishes, which in and of itself, is a gadget worthy of an extra trip to Bed Bath and Beyond.

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Once your veggies are roasted up, just pop them into the simmering broth (after removing seeds/guts). Hook up that immersion blender, and BLEND BABY BLEND.

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Look at that…

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Golden colored…

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Lovely silky and smooth…

At this point, you could just add a big straw and be done with it. Or you could add a few enhancements. I like to top each bowl with a handful of crumbled gorgonzola and some chopped hazelnuts. You could also do a dollop of whole milk Greek yogurt and a drizzle of maple syrup. You could also do a sprinkle of fried sage and prosciutto. You could also do sharp cheddar and apple chips. Whatever floats your boat.

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How every you top it off, you won’t regret it. Simple, sweet and savory, no-peel immersion blended winter squash soup. If only every day could be like today.

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…and Repeat.

Life-Changing Squash Soup

Ingredients

  • 1 potimarron squash, about 3-4 lb., stemmed and seeds and strings removed and set aside (can also substitute butternut, pumpkin or acorn but peel these first!)
  • 2 medium pears (or 4 small), stemmed and cored
  • 2 medium tomatoes, halved
  • 1 medium onion (or half large), chopped into wedges
  • 3-4 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 tsp salt
  • 2 tsp pepper
  • 6 cups chicken or vegetable broth
  • 2 oz. Gorgonzola or blue stilton cheese, crumbled
  • 2 oz. chopped hazelnuts

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 425°F.
  2. Cut squash into small wedges, toss with half the olive oil, and half the salt and pepper. Arrange squash, skin-side down, on a baking sheet.
  3. Toss prepped pears, tomatos and onion in remaining olive oil, salt and pepper. Arrange on a second baking sheet skin-side down.
  4. Put both sheets into the oven for 30 min. to roast.
  5. Heat broth in a large pot to boil. Add reserved pulp and seeds to broth, and reduce to simmer. Let simmer until vegetables are done, then remove pulp and seeds and discard.
  6. Add roasted vegetables to broth. Use immersion blender to puree entire batch to a consistent texture so that there are no lumps or large pieces. If you want a thinner soup, add water as needed.
  7. Serve immediately, and top with scant crumbled cheese and scant chopped hazelnuts to taste.

The Mystery of the Green Cucumber

06 Saturday Aug 2016

Posted by in Cost Cutting, Garden Inspiration, How-To, Recipes

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Poona Kheera cucumbers start out white, turn yellow, and finally brown when mature. They are edible at every stage.

For the last few years I have been growing a variety of cucumber called Poona Kheera, which is an Indian variety that looks more like an elongated potato than a cucumber. They don’t look so delicious, but they have a really crisp, refreshing flavor that is great for slicing and eating. I have been using the same seed packet since 2014, so you can imagine my surprise when this summer, some of my cucumbers popped up green.

I have no idea how this happened. I tried to do a little research on the well-regarded internet, thinking cross-pollination may be at fault, but from what I gather cucumbers will only present mutt-like fruit during the second generation of breeding, not the first. Weird. I guess it is possible a stray seed fell into my seed packet during the packing stage. Or, this plant is a natural cross that happened on the farm and made it all the way to Wisconsin just to be discovered by me! These are heirloom, open pollinated varieties after all. Truthfully, I will never know, but none the less I am taking credit as the Discoverer-on-Record. I present to you….

Green Mystery Cucumber

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The fun bonus part in all of this is I now have two varieties of cucumbers to experiment with, and since my Indian variety are for fresh eating, my mystery cucumber is for…PICKLES! Which are my absolute favorite way to strip the cucumber of nutrients, pack them full of delicious salt, and top every sandwich-like food.

I tasted these very traditional-looking cucumbers, and their flavor was bland, to be nice about it. They were crispy, yes, but nothing special. This quality makes them a great candidate for a boiling water bath canner. Cucumbers did well this year, so I have a quite a few pounds of these green mysteries. I experimented with two recipes I found a recipe in the Ball Preservation Book that requires, a dill fermented pickle and one that is described as making phenomenal grilled cheese sandwiches. Umm….SOLD. IMG_20160723_202112

I don’t have reprinting rights, but you can look it up: Cucumber Sandwich Pickles. These are a sweet pickles, and I made 5 pints from 3 pounds of cukes. Because I have little patience for holding out on tasty things, I popped a jar the same day, and we enjoyed a delicious, if not unique, gouda and pickle grilled cheese dinner.

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My fermented dills are a true experiment, in that I have never done this before. It didn’t seem too complicated. It called for something called “pickling spice,” which was $4.23 at the grocery store, but the ingredients were all spices I have in my pantry so I whipped together my own mix.

  • 2 Tbsp whole mustard seedsIMG_20160731_111308
  • 1 Tbsp whole black peppercorns
  • 2 tsp whole caraway seeds
  • 1 tsp whole dill seed
  • 1 tsp red pepper flakes
  • 1 tsp ground ginger
  • 1 bay leaves, crumbled
  • 2 cinnamon sticks, broken
  • 6 whole cloves

I combined this with fresh dill and 2 garlic cloves, and packed a jar with pickles and topped with a salt solution: 4 quarts water, 1 cup 5% vinegar, 0.75 cups iodine-free pickling salt. To keep the good stuff below the liquid level, I topped it with a brine-filled freezer bag and its now hanging out in my basement.

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To be continued…

Oh Internet! Lest We Forget

27 Sunday Mar 2016

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There was a time once, back before free two-day shipping and cat videos, back when a high-speed connection allowed for ten minute coffee breaks during page loads, and back when surfing mandated a prior notice to family members in case they tried to make a phone call while you were chatting on AIM. Those days are gone, but not forgotten, because some things don’t change. While the internet was somewhat of a major sensation in the first decade of the millennium, my mother, a very dedicated physical therapist, thought to use it to find a larger patient a mobility walker and entered “obese walker” into an internet search bar.

Take a minute.

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Ponder what else “obese walker” could drum up in an early 2000 Internet search.

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It wasn’t a medical device.

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Porn. It was pornography. See, some things never change. Can you believe the Internet is STILL full of porn? It’s just more expensive and probably more vulgar (I assume).

I thought of this story as I was searching for light fixtures to begin my new challenge for the year: indoor seed starting. How do you find the best options and types for grow lights? Simple. You Google search “best grow lights.”

Take a minute.

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Ponder what comes to mind when a non-vegetable gardener someone says “grow lights.”

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Weed. It was marijuana growing supplies. The funny thing about modern day internet, is that nothing is lost and now my poor husband will probably have to contend with unwanted pop-up “recommended” items on his Amazon page until I can dilute the search history. Woe is the life of a gardener! He did ask, “What did you think you would find if you searched for “grow lights”? Errmm…as a smart woman I struggle to answer that.

Please friends, save your self the trouble and search for this “T5 fluorescent lights, 6400K.” T5’s are supposedly the closest to actual sunlight, and that’s all we really want: you, me, our seeds, and the friendly neighborhood dealer.

I am starting out small, and purchased two Hydrofarm fixtures, each containing a single tube. These were about $50 a piece on EBay from a third-party seller. I like them, they are easy, but truthfully all of these are made in China so please don’t have high expectations. Upon arrival, one of the light tubes was broken. I contacted the seller, he had the manufacturer ship me a replacement. I got two fluorescent tubes. Both broken. I again contacted the seller, but by this time, I needed more light. My broccoli starts had gone to sprout stage. The only one happy about this was the rabbit. While waiting for the replacement of the replacement, I decided to order a set of T5 tubes from a different company, one with a stellar shipping reputation and promptly received 5 unbroken T5 tubes. Four days later I received four replacement tubes form the original supplier, all unbroken. And now I have ten grow lights. Some folks may think there is more going on in my basement than tomatoes.

Because everything looks the same at this stage, you will have to take my word for it. In the little trays I have broccoli, kale, cauliflower, cabbage, celery, celeriac, and asparagus to add to my asparagus bed, and just started are my tomatoes, peppers and tomatillos. All heirloom varieties, specifics located in the 2016 Garden Plan page. I found a boatload of these little coconut coir pellets on closeout over the winter, and bought them out. In total I got 200, at about $0.06 a piece. That beats the going heirloom transplant rate of $5/plant in this area. I used coconut coir pots last year, and had the best kale harvest yet, so I am curious to see how my little green family will do. I started about twice the number that I want to plant out, in case there are any poor performers or seedlings that just don’t make it in this world. Ironically, this is how real farmers did family planning back in the day. Take a look!

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A Year in Review

23 Wednesday Dec 2015

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It’s been three months. THREE MONTHS since I last wrote about my beloved, now departed, food crops. Three months sure seems like a long time, but truth be told, not much has changed. El Niño has made for a weird winter experience. My chives actually started to flower in November, after dying back, like little green and purple allium zombies. Its now December, temps still above 40°F, and I swear my dwarf pea plants were just a hair taller. I don’t like to think about what this will mean for spring, but I suspect we will get some late frosts, so I may plan conservatively.

Speaking of spring, and plans, two of my favorite things, its time to start the garden planning for next year! Right on schedule, now that the 2015 garden has wrapped up (though I won’t put it past the arugula to keep it up for another month), seed catalogs arrived. With my highlighter, and excel spreadsheet open, I spend a good 2-3 hours salivating over the photos and started crafting the next unobtainable garden expansion. The big out door project for 2016: a fence. This is not necessarily a project that CFO has high on his list, but if I have learned anything over the last three years of marriage, its that if I haphazardly start a project that is way over my head and skill ability and has the potential to do bodily harm, he will generously donate his time and skills to get it done. I am really looking forward to my new fence.

I am also looking forward to trying out some new veggies this year and some new methods. In 2015, I spent approximately $170 on seeds and starts, which is quite a bit. About $100 of that alone was just tomato, eggplant and pepper transplants because the first round were sun-blasted to death, and I had to buy doubles. I am not going to lie, being frugal chic, that hurt. A lot. For 2016, I have decided to take that $100 and invest in a set of grow lights and a heating pad and try to see if I can make a go at it. I have started broccoli and kale in the plastic greenhouse with great success, but that just won’t work for the tropical plants, and in the long run paying $2 for a packet of tomato seeds that will last 4-5 years, versus $5 for a single transplant just makes more sense, even with the added set up and electricity costs. Plus, starting seeds in February will give me way more to blog about than the not-surprising observation that nothing is going on.

I will be trying a few new things this coming year, specifically some new vegetables to supplement the fall diet: rutabagas, turnips, root parsley, and celeriac. I am going to expand my summer squash repertoire to beyond zucchini, hopefully get a few melons growing, and try out some fava and lima bush beans. With my new fence, the sky is the limit!

As for the 2015 garden, it was a great success overall. To break it down, here are the year’s Top 7 BEST AND WORST from the garden. Why 7? Because that’s how many I came up with.

2015 BEST OF THE GARDEN

  1. Basil – I planted 3 types: Genovese, Thai and Mrs. Meyer’s Lemon. The Genovese was OUTSTANDING with leaves the size of my hand. It was the kind of basil you dream about, if you dream about those things. Delicioso! The Thai basil was my second favorite, and I generously added it to every stir-fry made, and it took the meal beyond all expectations with its spicy flavor. The lemon basil was a small-leaf variety and had a nice subtle lemony hint and made a great summery addition to grilled vegetables and fruits. All varieties grew like gangbusters and I had fresh basil right up through the end of September.

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  1. Lacinato Kale – I planted 2014 seed, and surprisingly, these did better this year than the year I bought the seed. I had three plants, started in the greenhouse in coconut coir and they got huge by October when I harvested the rest. Lacinato kale is one of those cut-and-come-again plants, and is a great fall performer.
  2. Beets – Planted varieties of Chioggia and Golden Beets and both grew superbly and tasted divine. Even CFO, who tells people he doesn’t like beets, was a fan of both varieties. The fact that they are so astoundingly beautiful doesn’t hurt either.

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  1. French Breakfast Radish – Seeing as how I wrote an entire blog post about these little gems, I think its safe to say these were one of the standout picks for 2015. I will definitely be growing these guys again, and may be I will only speak français while eating them as we prepare for a Paris visit in spring of 2016…oh la la!
  2. Carrot – The mighty, mighty carrot. I STILL have carrots in the fridge from the last harvest. These little guys store great! I had three varieties in 2015: my standard, Scarlet Nantes, the fun purple Dragon, and the white Jaune du Doubs. All three grew large and relatively straight, with minimal pest issues. The Jaune du Doubs was nice and sweet, but I didn’t mound the tops so the ends were slightly green and bitter, but overall a great variety.
  3. Five Color Silverbeet Swiss Chard – always a knockout, I don’t even know if this should be a “success” when I am convinced there is no way to mess this one up. I had 12 plants, and daily had 24” leaves to pick. I made some great stuffed chard this year.

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  1. Lettuce – Talk about overkill. I guess I decided that CFO and I were going to eat three salads a day, because that’s how much of the stuff I grew. In total there were twelve (12!!) varieties over six square feet, but I couldn’t tell you which was which if my life depended on it. Most of it was in a mixed bed, and I just cut as I needed, not giving mind to what it was. It was all good and tasty. I will say that I am not going to be ordering any new lettuce seed any time soon. The favorite still remains the Mantilia butterhead.

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2015 WORST OF THE GARDEN

  1. The White Walkers, AKA Devil Deer, AKA Thieves in the Night, AKA Bringers of Sadness, AKA Hungry Hungry Hippos, AKA Starving Family of Eight…you know, the deer that ate everything. While technically they are not a vegetable, they prevented me from growing vegetables so I included them.
  2. Pepper problems – After a rocky start with killing my pepper starts from too much heat, the plants grew and gave me exactly 2 hot Black Hungarian peppers, and 4 small King of the North sweet peppers that promptly dropped off the plants. Seems I have still not solved the pepper plant mystery.
  3. Blue Jade Corn – I bought seeds for a rare blue miniature sweet corn, but had poor pollination due to wind and predators. I had about 8 small ears at one point, and then no ears. I wonder what it would have tasted like…
  4. Rapini (Broccoli Raab) – My first attempt at growing this was not so successful. I didn’t do my research, started too early, and allowed it to be crowded out by big brother De Cicco broccoli. But, I am not giving up on this guy just yet.
  5. Purple of Sicily Cauliflower – The plants did well, but I just never got any heads. I think I started these ones a bit too early, and the temperatures were a little too chilly for the temperamental cauliflower. Ms. Jessica tells me the leaves were tasty.
  6. Tendercrisp Celery – My first (failed and uninformed) attempt at celery. Actually, I shouldn’t say “uninformed” because I knew that celery was a picky plant and I ignored intelligent advice. My bad. Lesson learned. Next year I will do right by you, Tendercrisp.
  7. Prize Pac Choy – This was the second year I tried this one out, and while technically not a failure, I have always been unimpressed by this plant. There is one invisible insect that just loves this green, and the plants always seem to grow a little leggy and don’t form great heads as described. Once the seed is gone, I may start to research a new variety.

So there it is, some old, some new, and more adventure to come. The other fun part of next year’s garden is that I have acquired a new helper. While we are still debating whether his form of fertilizer is really what is needed in the garden, he is showing promise in the squirrel and chipmunk control department.

This is Jack, our little discount puppy we got from the shelter. He and big sister Jessica share a love of carrots, and each other.

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Happy Holidays and May 2016 bring lots of love, fun, friends, and gardening!

Sucessful Absentee Parenting: A How-To Guide

25 Saturday Jul 2015

Posted by in Garden Concepts

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This summer has been a whirlwind of activity, so much so that all the activities have pulled me away from the garden during a critical time in my garden’s life: adolescence. This year, CFO and I elected to take a summer vacation which is a rarity for us. We are more in favor of enjoying the 12 weeks of decent weather in southeastern Wisconsin, and saving big trips for the less desirable months. This month, however, we could not pass up the chance to head to Hawaii. My presence was required in Honolulu for work (yep, you read that right, my job is amazing and pays me too), and CFO was able to sneak away from his job to join me afterwards to prance about and see amazing things that I had previously only seen on movies like Jurassic Park (not surprisingly, filmed in Hawaii). Thus, I was away for most of July.

July, not surprisingly, is arguably one of the more crucial months in a young plant’s life. The once small seedlings grow up so fast and if you blink, or spend the month in Hawaii, you will miss it. While I am a self-proclaimed lazy gardener, I do tend to dote on my beds probably more than what is healthy. I like to visit every day, talk to them, brush their leaves, check for soil dampness, encourage them when they look wilted and depressed, pick out any weeds that are being bullies. You know, all the typical helicopter-parenting stuff.

When I left for my work assignment, I arranged for a babysitter via a watering timer on the drip irrigation system. I had been watering for 6 hours every 4 days, but the timer can only handle 4 hours, so I scheduled it for 4 hours every 3 days. I thought that would be appropriate given an unknown rain schedule. I tested this in the week leading up the the trip, and apart from putting our house drinking water supply at risk due to improper water backflow protection, everything was looking good.

I left for my trip on a Saturday, and I am going to be honest here, as soon as I touched down on the island of Oahu, my mind rarely went back to the garden. I was more focused on things like this:

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Sunset in Waikiki

and this…

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Sparkling waters of Hanauma Bay

and this…

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Waipio Valley on the Big Island

and probably this…

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Hiking across a lava lake, new life growing out of the hardened lava.

oh, yeah, and the work too.

I completely put my babies out of my mind, until the day to fly home arrived, and I touched ground in Milwaukee. Naturally, I assumed that much of the garden would have suffered, and I was willing to make that sacrifice. I mean, traditionally farmers had lots of kids crops in case a few disappeared, right? To be quite honest, any sacrifice in the garden I think was worth it, and I would probably make the same sacrifice again if pressed (or asked, or hinted, or…I would go back literally this second, sell my house, and live in a van selling pineapples and coffee beans).

So, you can imagine my surprise when I was greeted home by a bounty of food in the garden, so large and overwhelming, that I questioned if the secret to a successful garden was to just stay away. I spent a good portion of a day after my return bagging the edibles that were bursting out of the beds.

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From top left, clockwise: Giant from Italy Parsley, Amish Snap and Golden Peas, Genovese Basil, Lemon Basil, Dill, Cilantro

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Front left, clockwise: Mizuna, Mantilia lettuce, Winter Density lettuce, Five-Color Silverbeet Swiss Chard, Chiogga and Golden Beets, Pak Choi, Sage, De Cicco Broccoli Florets

Most of this didn’t fit in the refrigerator, so much is destined for freezer storage, like the shopping bag full of chard and the raspberries (not shown). CFO was very concerned about the raspberries, which are his favorite in the garden, and also a favorite of the birds. Fortunately for him, we have so many berries that even the birds cannot handle the task of eating them all. Unfortunately for me, I have to spend days in the raspberry patch picking them all by hand, enduring thorns in my skin. Granted, I would have done this anyways.

I get asked somewhat often, what my secret is, what is the magic, to my garden. My little absentee experiment has solidified the fact in my mind that, clearly, I am not a secret underground master gardener and the concept of a “green thumb” or a “black thumb” is utter nonsense. I doubt very much that my singing or brushing does anything for the plants, and quite possibly annoys them. What I do know is you can’t do much damage when you stick to the winning trifecta of compost, sun and water. All together. All the time. No exceptions. You may send me the $50 consulting fee at your convenience.

Here are some photos that I snapped in the days after my arrival to demonstrate the results of my absence/compost/sun/water experiment and Hawaiian escapade. What were immature leafy plants when I left, are grown-up vegetables when I got back.

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Black Satin Blackberries beginning to ripen

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Gorgeous, juice raspberries ready to be piled onto Angel food cake, topped with fresh whipped cream.

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Black Hungarian hot pepper. When I left, blossoms in the double digits were on this little plant. Alas, only one pepper came through.

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Chocolate Beauty bells coming right along.

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Beautiful Empress of India Nasturtium. Edible flowers, and tasty, per Ms. Jessica Rabbit.

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Whoops! I forgot to thin these Hollow Crown Parsnips before my trip. Looks like bunny food to me.

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Large-sized Chadwick Cherry Tomatoes. Still green, but full of possibilities.

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Not surprisingly, the Five Color Silverbeet Swiss Chard is hanging in there just fine. Chard everyday.

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Lovely Little Fingers Eggplant blossom. I have five eggplant plants, various heirloom varieties, all with lavender blossoms right now.

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Tough to see, but Black Beauty Zucchini are growing in numbers. Still small, but I suspect not for long.

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Lots of Poona Kerna Cucumber blossoms on the vine.

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One of the best parts of summer! Climbing French pole beans ready to pick, I also have Sultan’s Golden Crescent pole beans on the trellis.

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Looking forward to this one! Blue Jade Sweet Corn silks have started. I hand-pollinated these to be safe, as we have a large corn field a block away.

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Luscious Lemon Basil, bring on the cocktails!

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Fragrant Thai Basil, with lovely purple blossoms.

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The cream of the crop: large-leafed, bold, Genovese Basil. This will make some badass pesto and Caprese salads.

*Sigh* Time to let them go, and plant my fall seeds before it gets too late in the year.

My Month in Radishes

08 Monday Jun 2015

Posted by in How-To, Nutrition and Diet, Recipes

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Radishes. Ahhh, the spring radishes. What a delight! One of the first vegetables in the garden, seed-to-harvest in 30 days, this makes them great to interplant with any longer-season vegetables like squash. I did that, and by the end May had radishes,

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I have so many radishes, that even Jessica is all radished out.

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This, from an animal that literally did a backflip when I first gave her a bowl of the greens. So…time to get creative.

What does one do with so many radishes? First, don’t toss away those greens! If you are, you are missing out on a really SUPER food. Radish greens, like beet greens and turnip greens, are not only edible, but packed with vitamins and minerals. Actually, the greens have more Vitamin C than the roots. They have some kick to them and are more in the flavor category of arugula than beet greens. If you like that, use wherever you would use arugula, but if you don’t like that, use like cooked spinach or chard. Or try these:

Radish Top Soup 

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Sautee one cup chopped onion in 2 Tbsp butter, add 3-4 medium peeled, diced potatoes, cook for 5 minutes, add 3-4 cups chopped radish greens, cook 1 minute, add 4 cups chicken or vegetable stock, bring to a boil, cover and simmer for 30 minutes (until potato is cooked). You can add seasonings that you want, I used minced garlic, red pepper, black pepper, and salt. I also added a can of white beans for more protein. Once cooked, puree with an immersion blender. If you want a thinner soup or don’t like the consistency of a bean soup, you can leave out the white beans, and add cream to taste after blending. Great when served with bread to dip.

This soup is surprisingly tasty. CFO balked at it when I made it, but then mistakenly put the left over cold soup on his salad the next day instead of the avocado dressing I made, and said it was a fantastic salad dressing before realizing his mistake. It was both my proudest moment as a home cook, and my weirdest.

Radish Top Pesto 

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Now we are talking! I love pesto. I mean, reeeaallllyy loove pesto. Its on the same level as Italian cured meats, olives and wine. The greatest hits. Pesto literally means ground or crushed, and, while traditionally refers to Genovese basil, garlic, pine nuts, Parmagiano-Reggiano and olive oil, can really be made with anything. I like to swap up the vegetable (try parsley, cilantro, artichokes, anything green, anything purple!), nuts (almonds, walnuts, peanuts, pistachios), and cheese (umm…just kidding don’t do this). I always have some form of pesto on hand in the freezer for those quick dinner nights. Pasta, pesto, boom. Its also a great way to preserve too much of a good thing.

For this pesto, I used 4 cups radish tops, 2 cloves garlic, 1/2 cup mixed almonds and pistachio kernels, and grind in a food processor. While processing, slowly stream in extra virgin olive oil until the mixture becomes smooth. It should be thick, but still have some movement to it. Add salt and pepper, and 1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese, and briefly blend to mix. If the flavor is too bitter, you can add a splash of white wine vinegar or a pinch of sugar to mellow it out. Or more cheese. Can’t go wrong with more cheese. Top pasta, vegetables, pizza, spread on sandwiches, eat with a spoon. So good.

Now for those radishes. Raw radishes are divine, but you can also cook them. However, the absolute best way to eat radish roots, and this is proven by the French, is with butter and salt. I swear, you will no go back. But you might have to, because this way significantly increases your butter consumption. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Petit Radis au Beurre Sale (Breakfast Radishes with Salted Butter) 

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Soften some butter, dip radishes into butter, sprinkle with sea salt. Enjoy! You will feel 85% more French after this experience.

For something more challenging:

Pickled Radishes 

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I made these after a friend recommended them after I complained to her of not knowing what else to do with radishes. This recipe was simple enough: thinly slice about 2 cups of radishes and place in glass jar. I used a mandolin and nearly lost a finger, but I got very thin radishes. I recommend this method but strongly discourage texting and slicing. Mix 3/4 c white wine vinegar, 3/4 c water, 2 Tbsp salt, and 3 Tbsp honey, bring to a boil on the stove to dissolve the salt and sugar. Pour over radishes. Loosely top, let cool about 1 hour, then place in fridge. Full pickling will take about 1 day, and these babies should always be stored in the fridge, and eaten within a week. No one wants botulism.

Keep in mind when you open the jar, it will be pungent. I think these taste phenomenal, but unfortunately, CFO does not. I did learn through this radish ordeal that he hates anything pickled that is not a cucumber. So, not only do I have a bucketful of fresh radishes to eat, I also have a pint of pickled radishes.

Tonight, I will be trying out some roasted radishes, which will go along with salad as we enter the Month of Lettuces.

Happy fresh eating!

Spring, to the Lackadaisical Home Gardener

26 Sunday Apr 2015

Posted by in Garden Concepts, Garden Plan

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Can you believe it is just about May? I should say, do I believe it is just about May? I wouldn’t think so based on the cold front blast this past week that reminded me what it looks like when it both rains and snows at the same time (if you don’t remember, it usually looks like hail). This chilly weather was a bit detrimental to my garden, but those little seeds always pull through.

This week things are finally coming up spring, as the temps slowly rise back into the 50’s. And, as such I am enjoying my daily morning walkabouts with glee. I have this little routine I like to do in the morning:

  1. Wake up grudgingly to the alarm at 5:30 am
  2. Go back to sleep for at least 8 minutes
  3. Hear the coffee grinder whirling away (CFO’s most important responsibility)
  4. Roll out of bed
  5. Pick self off floor
  6. Four minutes later find my self in the kitchen with cup of coffee
  7. Sit on couch drinking said coffee
  8. CFO goes upstairs to ready himself for bacon-bringing-home job
  9. Head to mud room, fill up 3 gallons of water in buckets
  10. Circle the yard in light dance steps watering things that grow and smiling like an idiot

For the last step, I generally start at my poor man’s greenhouse, walk to the back raised beds, loop around the fruit trees, come back to the herb garden, around the deck to the hydrangeas, bleeding hearts and turtle heads, up front to the asparagus, bulbs and hostas, then finally to the berry canes. The whole process takes me about 30 minutes and gives me a chance to see how things are progressing, and identify problems early on.

Today was a most exciting walkabout because real evidence of green growing things can be seen and now I know the fickle vixen we call spring is here for real this time. I am the first to admit that I am the laziest gardener there is. Not because I am lazy, per se, but because I am already busy and AWOL 50% of the time because of my bill-paying job, so I try to balance garden chores to get maximum reward, with minimal effort. So some of you might have full on industrial supplies of spring lettuce at this point in the season, but since I nearly exclusively plant from seed and do nothing special to my soil or environment other than compost and bird netting, growth tends to be about as seasonal as it gets. Take a look at my future dinner guests.

Leafy Greens

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Bloomsburg spinach sprouts and fast growing Apollo arugula. Leafy greens will be the first homegrown meal this May. I also have four types of heading lettuce, mixed leaf lettuce, and endive planted out.

Peas

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Peas don’t mind a little cold weather, in fact, it may have encouraged them. If I blink, these little guys will be seven feet tall and falling overthemselves. Next week I will be trellising. Here we have Golden Sweet peas and Amish Snap peas in the back.

Herbs

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The chives are looking lush and tender already. These are always the first to emerge. You can’t kill a chive plant. Chives are the hydras of the plant world. Cut off one head, and two more will grow. But, they make fantastic flowers that bees and other pollinators enjoy, so I plant en mass where I need a little pollinator loving.

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Not surprisingly, there is nothing here in the herb garden but vermin. I have not actually planted herbs yet because the deck will need a coat of sealant, and it’s not exactly a fertilizer, if you get my drift. Once the deck is sealed, I can build up the soil and put in the herbs. I hope to have some success this year, though with the new squatters that have moved in and enjoy their late night parties, one cannot predict. I did manage to catch one of them up to no good.

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Truthfully, when I first caught him in one of my new vole traps, I had a complete freak out because I realized that I had planned to set traps, but I had not planned for what I would do if they worked. I panicky called a friend, drove this little guy to the lush manicured neighborhoods of a nearby town, and we released him to the wilds of Milwaukee suburbia. I promised he would be reunited with his family soon, because, well, I’m ordering two more traps to beef up security.

Orchard

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The cherry trees and pears have swollen buds, signaling the start of lush vegetation. The cherry blossoms are in full display in our nation’s capital, but here they won’t arrive until May on my little tart (cherry).

Asparagus

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Now this is some real magic. I still have another year left to baby this little patch of goodness, but I love seeing asparagus shoot upwards in the spring. Most people have no idea how asparagus grows or where or why or what, but as a plant it actually looks nothing like you would expect. Once the stems shoot up past 8 inches or so, the little asparagus tips we are accustomed to will actually produce branches with feathery, fern-like leaves. I have two varieties here, Purple Passion and Jersey Knight, both hybrid all-male varieties that should not produce berries (yes, asparagus makes little red berries). If maintained, this should provide 20 years of homegrown asparagus in the spring. Are you writhing in excitement yet?

So there it is, there is the progress on the homestead. The compost was delivered a week ago and both garden beds are moving right along. I get a compost/topsoil mix delivered by a local compost facility. Its not organic, it’s not blessed by Buddhist monks, and doesn’t have buried cow heads and moon dancing or anything fancy. It’s good old fashioned compost made by vegetable and plant material collected from around the county. But it grows good food and I don’t have to add anything except, well, more compost. Check out the garden plan for what I’ve got in the ground right now.

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Playing in dirt. This is spring to me.

This is spring to Jessica.

This is spring to Jessica.

Dogs, Voles, and Other Vermin

31 Tuesday Mar 2015

Posted by in Garden Concepts, Garden Plan

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The snow finally melted (again) this past week, the sun came out, the rains began, and I am getting the itch, really bad. It’s now the end of March and I have not gotten dirt under my nails since October. Friends, that is what we call a dry spell. As you can imagine, the first opportunity I had to schlep on my garden boots and explore, I did. And guess what I found? Vermin, big and small.

Over the past year I have had a less-than-lukewarm relationship with my neighbor, let’s call him (or her!) Jason, like in Friday the 13th (and lets hope that is not said neighbor’s real name). Jason got on my bad side initially because he refused to keep his dogs (2, plural, large) in his yard. His dogs, true-to-form, prefer our wild, weedy lawn for their business over Jason’s golf course manicured green. I get it, from the dogs’ perspective, but as a dog-less landowner I desperately want this to stop. It causes a level of rage I usually save up for outlet shopping sprees. And yes, I have asked Jason to kindly keep his dogs on his property. He said he has been trying to retrain them. I guess “retrain” means let-them-out-unleashed-when-I-think-you-are-not-home. Because, all evidence is against his training technique. When the snow melted there was, ahem, “evidence” of the dogs being on my front lawn, in the back lawn, in my garden, under the fruit trees, in the berry canes, and pretty much everywhere except on HIS property. Being as how I am such a pleasant neighbor (false) and I am not going to complain to the city (CFO won’t let me), I decided to take action into my own hands.

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Don’t worry it’s not poisonous. And, more importantly, it’s garden safe and orangic. Critter Ridder is a mixture of red pepper, capsaicin and black pepper, a combination that tends to turn away dogs, raccoons, coyotes, and other damaging critters. I hope it works, because my Plan B is to kidnap the dogs, retrain them MY way, and collect the reward money when I “find” them.

The one critter that Critter Ridder may not be effective on is the almighty vole. Yes, gardening compatriots, there is such a thing as a vole, and it is shrouded in mystery and invisibility, but it does this to your grass:

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Truthfully, I thought this was evidence of snakes under our deck, which is far more terrifying. A little helpful advice from family and Google, I have learned that these are mouse-sized terrors to anything with a seed, bulb or grain. Fortunately, their selected spot is home to the butterfly garden, unfortunately, it is only paces away from the herb garden. Action is warranted.

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In the same purchase order as the Critter Ridder, I got myself two Havahart live-traps. Why, you ask, don’t I just poison/drown/snap-trap them and be done with it? The same reason why I am not allowed to pellet-gun the chipmunk as he reclines on our deck: I showed CFO too many internet pictures of voles being adorable. I plan to catch and release these guys. No decision on whether release will be in Lake Michigan or a nice park. Check back in a few weeks.

In other news, the slow melting of the snow has caused a delay in my compost delivery, which means a delay in planting the raised beds. I estimate I am only a week behind, but that week is one less week of fresh produce. To compensate, I put some cole crop seeds (broccoli, cauliflower and kale) into coconut coir cups with a bit of soil/compost mix and set those into a $20 metal and plastic tower, a poor man’s cold frame/greenhouse, if you will. Hopefully in a few weeks I can pop these into their future homes when the compost finally arrives to fill the beds. Time is the cruelest vermin in the garden.

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I am already planning for the inevitable onslaught of cabbage worms.

Spring is here when Jessica looks like she lost a bar fight.

Spring is here when Jessica looks like she lost a bar fight.