Spring Garden

Finally, FINALLY I have time to write about the garden! I've been so busy trying to get things in the ground, weeded, prepped, covered, mulched, etc etc. So, here is the update:

One of the new things we're trying this year is corn. Corn! I've never grown corn. I picked a variety from Seed Savers Exchanged called Blue Jade. It is a sweet corn that only gets 2-3 feet high, so it is ideal for containers. And I know corn is best grown in clumps (not rows, per say, unless you clump the rows) so I planted it in the half whiskey barrel we have by the porch. We'll see how it goes.
The radishes are giving such a great burst of color here in this patch. Also planted here are peas, beets, parsnips, and carrots. The carrots didn't sprout. Not. A. One. I don't know why. I think I planted 6 different varieties, and nothing. I'll put in a late batch in a different bed in July, probably, and hope for the best. Everything else did ok in this bed. I'm at a loss.
The two head lettuces I grew this year: Tennisball (right) and Dazzle romaine (left). Aren't they gorgeous? Notice the baby in front. I started a few more from seed, then transplanted them today so when I cut the heads of the older plants, the babies will be established and I'll have another batch coming along.
Another pic of the lettuce. I haven't tried the Dazzle yet, but I'm really happy with Tennisball, which I got from Montecello when we were there a year or so ago.
A flat of things waiting to be planted, including but not limited to tomatoes, lettuce, squash, and okra. Some have been planted since I took this picture.

Also, I have seeded beans and cucumbers, and put in some of the pepper plants. The garlic scapes are starting to show, the red shallots are starting to flower (but not the gray shallots yet), peas are on the vines, potatoes are flowering, blueberries and blackberries are in their infancy, parsnips are flowering (I'm collecting seed this year), and some of the tomatoes are flowering, too!

Tomato Sanctuary

40* last night, maybe 38* tonight. Happy Mother's Day!!

Garden Update

All the purchased tomatoes arrived today. Add those to the tomatoes I brought home from Barbara's and the tomatoes I started from seed and it is Tomato Central Station here.....and the night temps this weekend are supposed to drop to nearly 40* this weekend. So, the INSIDE of the house is going to be a jungle.

But I know it won't last, next week it'll probably be just fine and I can start planting them outside!

There really isn't much else to report. We haven't had time to work on the garage, the asparagus is done for the year, the cabbages have mostly bolted. Potatoes are doing their thing, as are the peas, leeks, etc etc.

Carrots really haven't sprouted and I'm not sure why. I'm going to keep a better eye on their water situation and go from there. Radishes, beets, and lettuce has all sprouted there fine, though. Hm.

I have started in cups the squash, okra, more lettuce, and a few flowers. I will be repotting the fig this weekend, too. I repotted the Korean Red Pine (pine nut tree) yesterday and I'm pleased to report it has new growth on it. Repotted the bay laurel and it has new growth, too.

Flower bed is coming along. I'll hopefully be posting pics soon.

Morel Season 2010

For the past 4 years now we have waited with baited breath for....morel season. Morels. *sigh* How we adore you!
And how hard you are to find! OK, I have more trouble than the average person. I can be standing literally within INCHES of these things and still not see them.Last year was a horrible year for them around here. This year? Fantastic! So far, Matt has gathered at least 2lb.
Yes, Matt has. He can spot them yards away. Yards! Seriously, he's a morel-spotting savant. So impressed. I actually have yet to step into the woods this year to search. Why? I can't find them anyway. And I can be at home, making Rosemary Flower Jelly instead.

Most of our haul we've been dehydrating for later use.

However, the first batch had a special purpose. We'd been waiting on the first batch to make Sauteed Morels with Cream (above). I've had morels with eggs (ick), morels fried in butter and served over steak (just ok). After having this classic French cream sauce with toast, I truly cannot think of any reason to have morels any other way. This recipe can be found on The Great Morel recipe site, and I HIGHLY recommend it.

Sautéed Morels with Cream

15-20 fresh morels or reconstituted dried, cut in half if large
1 large shallot chopped fine
1 large clove garlic chopped fine
2 TBS butter (best with unsalted)
2 TBS olive oil
3/4 cup chicken stock
1 cup heavy cream
salt & fresh ground pepper to taste

Put olive oil in heated pan over medium heat. Add garlic and shallots, stir and sauté until softened but not brown. Add butter until melted then add morels. Stir and cook until mushrooms start to brown, about 4 min. Add chicken stock and cook for 2-3 minutes. Add cream and cook on low until reduced and thickened. Classically served on toast, but the best on grilled New York Strip steaks.

The Asparagus Patch

I was going back looking for pictures of our asparagus patch and realized I'd never posted pictures of it when we put it in! It was a big deal at the time, I was kind of surprised.

Late summer 2008, I purchased old icky asparagus crowns at 50% off at a greenhouse. Some of the roots were moldy, actually. We pitched them, but overall I thought it was a good gamble and got two bundles of crowns. The downside is they weren't marked as to what type they were.

Matt dug two trenches with Kubby the Kubota, roughly 16" wide by 17' long. We tossed the bits of sod out, mixed in quite a bit of compost, lined the trenches with cedar shakes, and planted them in a row. There are 14 plants in each row.

From spring 2009

We really weren't expecting much the first year, we'd heard that it takes a few years to get much out of a new patch. So we were surprised when the patch produced like gangbusters.

Spring 2009 I cut asparagus for about 2 weeks and we got two pounds out. Only 6 months after I put them in.

Fall 2009, I top dressed the whole patch with a goodly amount of homegrown compost. Asparagus is supposed to be a heavy feeder so you need to give them as much good stuff to eat as possible.

Early spring 2010 I took all the dead fronds off.

Spring 2010. We lined the patch with weedguard and mulch, but the ground ivy went straight through it, dammit.

Another view from this spring

It looks as though this year may have already topped last year. There are a few roots that may not have made it, or maybe they're just slow (they're riding the short bus this year).

The precious darlings sprouting!

So far this year we've done 4 cuttings of approximately 8-10 ounces each, which comes to more than two pounds already. We've been cutting for not quite two weeks and will probably cut for another week. And the spears are huge! Most are 1/2 inch or more, many of them are 3/4 inch.

We prefer to roast them with a bit of salt on the grill or with salt and olive oil under the broiler. How do you like your asparagus??

Tiny Tomatoes??

I started my Super San Marzano paste tomato seedlings in the middle of February. It took most of them a week or so to sprout. By the first week in March they were about 3-4 inches high, and the first true leaf started to peek out.

They haven't grown since.

I would think it was something with the variety, but the single Henderson's Pink and the two Kellogg's Breakfast I started a week later have been behaving the same way.

I have watered them normally. I have fertilized them a few times with kelp liquid fertilizer. I moved them outside when the weather was warm and sunny and moved them back inside when it got windy and cool again. I checked a few, their roots look normal.

This week I'm going to pot them up a size, and I will be potting them deeply so some of the stem is in dirt to promote even more root growth. But I'm worried as these little darlings should be ready to go in the ground in a month and they are still so tiny. Also, I believe my seedlings last year were way further along than these.

Any thoughts?

A picture of emerging asparagus

Especially for Mama Pea. :)

Spring Planting

I have this habit of taking pictures of every new veggie sprout and every planting of every veggie....every year. Matt has been making fun of me for this. This year I found myself standing in front of the newly sprouted asparagus bed with my camera in my hand and I had the following conversation with myself in my head:

Repeat after me: you don't need to take pictures of the first asparagus every year.

I don't need to take pictures of the first asparagus every year.

People by now know what they look like. Every year.

People by now know what they look like. Every year.

These aren't the droids you're looking for.

These aren't the droids we're looking for.

Move along.

Move along....Move along!!!

So. Now that I have that out of the way, I can tell you that this weekend I planted kohlrabi (for the first time, too), broccoli plants, and leeks. I also rehabbed two tomato beds that I didn't get to last fall, and I tried to fix the pea beds. Too wet, a lot of them became slug food/homes and some others rotted. I have enough seed to reseed if necessary. Oh, and the asparagus is coming up.

Tomorrow I plan on planting some flowers and such in the new flower bed. I hope to get the potatoes in this week as well as the carrots/radishes.

Matt finished up the rafters in the garage on Sunday, I will have pictures of that soon.

And...it is supposed to be 90* tomorrow. Ick.

Tulips

Little Red Riding Hood:
Red tulip that came with the house. This is only the 2nd time it has bloomed in the 9 years we've been here:

Having a Heat Wave

So, now we're back to 75*. Supposedly going to be 85* on Saturday.

I go from too cold to plant spring veggies to too warm in one week. I'm going to plant them anyway, probably this weekend.

In other news (pictures forthcoming), asparagus is starting to come up, cabbages and broccoli that overwintered seem to be doing well, and peas are planted.

Spring???

Last weekend it was 75* and beautiful.

Last night, it was 25*. We had a pretty decent frost this morning.

WTF???

Bad News From the Bees

Yahoo posted this story yesterday:

Bees in more trouble than ever after bad winter

The not so great highlights include:

• One-third of those surveyed had trouble finding enough hives to pollinate California's blossoming nut trees, which grow the bulk of the world's almonds.

• "There were a lot of beekeepers scrambling to fill their orders and that implies that mortality was high," said Penn State University bee researcher Dennis vanEngelsdorp, who worked on the USDA snapshot survey.

• The losses were extreme, three times higher than the previous year.

• EPA officials said they are aware of problems involving pesticides and bees and the agency is "very seriously concerned."

Among some of the interesting comments to this article:

Einstein said, that from the death of the bees, we had no more than 4 years, until we all died. Thanks Monsanto, for making this verification test possible....3 years, 250 days, and counting...Tick...Tick...Tick...

Interestingly, the following got mostly negative reviews. It's true, though; I don't know why it pissed people off:

European honey bees are an introduced, invasive species responsible for more human deaths every year than snake bites and lightening strikes. It's unfortunate that they have displaced so many North America's native pollinators. Perhaps this will allow those to re-populate and refill their niche.

And....lastly:

The good news is that there are bee raising methods that seem to be working, if they are practiced on a small scale. I know of several keepers in NY whose colonies have remained intact through the crisis. it's too early to tell, but let's hope that is still the case. We've really, as a society, got to start rethinking our love affair with the perfect lawn. The pesticide use, runoff and loss of habitat is a major drive behind many ecological ills. If we lose the bees, folks, we are down to hiring people to do hand-pollination. Wonder what that will do to food prices and availability? Anyone with an interest in this topic should research the small-scale beekeeping methods that are working, and modify practices to help preserve them.

I Spoke Too Soon!!!

Rain! Lots of rain! Water pouring off the hill. Water in the basement. Sump pump set up. Water mitigated.

*sigh*

The float came off the damned sump pump in the middle of the night. Could have been a LOT worse, only 3" of water. So. We have two rugs to take outside to dry out, but it won't be until at LEAST tomorrow because, you guessed it, it is raining AGAIN today. Most everything else is fine.

In other news, I have a post up on my other blog about a woman who takes motorcycle trips through the dead zone around Chernobyl. And I think *I* have problems??

Suddenly Spring!

After the Great Whumping that was this winter, especially February with 40+ inches of snow, March has not only been calm but warm. It appears that for at least a week it will remain that way, too. It's been in the 50s for the past 4 days and it appears that it will remain around there for the rest of the week!

The daffodils are coming up.

The iris reticulatas are coming up.

The rose is showing new growth.

It is really early. Keeping in mind that in the past 15 years we’ve had not one but 2 major blizzards the middle of March, I’m hoping that this trend is not a fluke. As much as I like winter, this spring is a wonderful breath of fresh air.

Tomato seedlings are up, the artichokes are up, the peppers are just starting to peep out. I have cabbages and lettuce to start, and some flowers, too.

End of July Review and Notes To Self

I had meant to post this at the beginning of August, but I forgot and then I didn’t have time and then…well, you know. So here is my Spring/mid Summer roundup:

Peas: I pulled these SPRING pea vines on 8/2. Really happy with the Little Marvel pea. I have no idea if it is because of weather or the variety, but it was still producing when I pulled the vines! Shocking. Note to self: plant this variety next year, too.

Garlic: I already posted about the garlic harvest. However, as some of you know I’m keeping tabs on $$ when it comes to this garden with the hopes of seeing how much $$ I put in vs. how much I will get out. Here is a tidbit: if I had purchased the 156 heads of garlic at the grocery store through the year, it would have cost me $117.

Leeks: I am happy….but. I overestimated my leek needs and while they were staggering in for a while, they started staggering in really quickly and then I couldn’t keep up. I pulled all the rest today and only 7 were salvageable (they got hit by the onion maggot, and if I had pulled them at the beginning of August they probably would have been fine). Note to self: try to find two varieties next year, an early and a late, and try to find 2-3 people to share them with so I don’t have soooo many leeks all at the same time.

Potatoes: Note to self: if you think you have enough straw/hay on top of the potatoes to keep the sun off them, you don’t. Put another few inches on. About 1/4 of my fingerling potatoes had green spots on them. The red potatoes did well, even though the plants looked like hell. I got 3:1 out for both of these.

Golds did VERY well, I think I got 6:1 out of these. Note to self: plant more golds next year.

Carrots/Lettuce/Radishes: I really think I’m going to grow the Baby Ball/Thumbelina varieties almost exclusively from now on. They’re small, quick, easy to pull, easy to know when to pull, and cute….and I’m guessing easy to can. This year I don’t have too many carrots coming up in the first batch but I was overrun with lettuce and radishes. I usually mix the seeds together, then sew them. Note to self: keep the seeds separate and sew them separately in the same row to make sure I get enough carrot seed sewn.

I did pull and dig some yellow carrots, they looked nice, very carrot-like for our dense soil.

Pole Beans: really happy with both that I put in this year, but the Molly Frazier is going like gangbusters. I emailed the company (Baker Creek) to ask if ‘short vines’ meant 12 feet, and they said no. I emailed them pictures of the beans (not sure if they qualify as ‘cutshort’). It may be the wrong bean, it may be the wrong description.

Bush Beans: I like the Burpee Provider variety again, but something is nibbling on them a lot. Same with the Roma that Barbara gave me. Not slugs, though, these are small fuzzy green worms. The critters don’t get the pole beans as much.

Tomatoes: Happy with: Sun Gold (of course), Ceylon (very nice), and the other varieties I’ve grown before (Brandywine, Cherokee Purple, Mortgage Lifter, Aunt Ruby’s). DO NOT LIKE the Purple Russian paste (sweet, splits easily, the bottom starts to turn to mush before the top is ripe!). Still waiting on most others.

Squash: Really like the Reve Scaloppini, but I have yet to see a zucchini. The yellow crookneck and the Zephyr are doing so-so. Not a good year for summer squash?

Winter squash is doing really well and the vines are rooting along the way, hallelujah. Several vines are 20’ long already, and I have at least 8-10 winter squash on them that I’ve noticed. I have lost a couple to vine borers, and we do have a couple small infestations of squash bugs.

Okra: Nice. Note to self: need more than 4 plants.

Peppers: Really bad year for peppers, and everyone is saying this. Of the 13 plants I have more than half have yet to even show a bloom, much less an actual pepper. Many are dropping leaves every time you look at them funny. But a few plants are doing really well. Go figure.

Cukes: So far, so so. I really like the Boothby’s Blonde.

Melons: I have 3 of the Prescott melons and 5 of the Haogen melons. I watch them and drool a little. I can’t wait.

Onions: did surprisingly well. I think I planted 90 something and I got out 76. Some of them were tiny, but still. And I got some that I had originally started from seed in January, which really shocked me. They weren’t hit by the onion maggot, either, I got them out early enough.

End of June Update and Status

Spring Crops: Peas are starting to peter out, I think we may get 3.5lb of shelled peas out when it's all over. Looseleaf lettuce is just starting to bolt. I'm really happy with the Amish Deertongue, I'll add that to my permanent grow list. Munich Bier radishes are still plugging along.

I'm eating lunch out of the garden almost exclusively now:
Summer crops: I've started harvesting some of the really early garlic, Chinese Pink and Inchelium Red. They both look good, some signs of too much water but that can't be helped. They are hanging in the basement drying.

The red potatoes I planted (that I picked up at the grocery store cheap because they were sprouting) seem very unhappy. I'm not sure why, the leaves have what look like rusty spots on them. When I pulled away the hay, though, there are some plants with gorgeous red potatoes, so maybe it won't hurt the harvest. The Yukon Gold potatoes, however, have beautiful plants:
Most of the tomatoes have fruit, including the ones in the hanging pots. I'll do a post on those soon, I know a few of you are following them. The okra is fruiting, too. Cucumbers are just starting to climb, and the pumpkins and beans are blooming.

The sweet potatoes. *sigh* I planted 13. Of those, 4 sprouted. Of those 4, the deer ate...4. 2 came back, I have since mulched them more and put some deer fencing over them, hopefully it will be enough.

Blueberries are starting very slowly to ripen. Wild raspberries are starting to come in, and the blackberries won't be far behind. Here is a picture of the wintergreen I planted:


And an update on my Adventures with Rooting Hormone: of the 8 baby blueberries I tried to start, it seems this one has made it. I haven't dug it up yet to check for roots, but I can only assume that something is happening because the other 7 were crunchy and this one isn't:

I Haz a Sweet Potato*

More adventures in vegetables: sweet potatoes. I've never grown sweet potatoes, but when we were at Monticello last fall their crops looked so interesting and, well, pretty. We decided to give it a go.

They arrived on Tuesday. I put them in some wet sawdust until Thursday, when I created the bed for them up on our highest terrace.

I had to push three loads of dirt up the hill. It really should have been four, but that just didn't happen.

We'll see how they do! They looked really dry, but I've been assured that they'll do just fine.

*Today's title is in homage of one of the funniest dog stories I've ever read. If you haven't read I Has a Sweet Potato, please head over there right this instance. If you have dogs, you will love it. If you don't have dogs I'm sure you'll love it, too.

*starving*

Weekly Update 5 6 2009

I'm going to start doing a weekly update again, hopefully this will keep me on track with things that are happening around the house.

We've had nothing but rain for the past week, with another week of nothing but rain coming up. I was really hurting for something to post about here until Matt mentioned that the potatoes were up! I was so happy, I went and got a picture. The red potatoes are on the right, yukon golds on the left.

A shiny orb appeared in the sky and cast shadows through the window, I circled the resulting shadows as they appeared on the yellow fan, right.

My tomatoes are looking weird, and I'm going to move them back inside, probably to the greenhouse. I really hope they aren't diseased after all the work I put into them.

So far we've picked 1.5lb of asparagus. I'm really impressed with that number considering they are all new plants. One thing I'm planing on doing this year is keeping track of our bounty and trying to put a price tag on it. I want to figure out how much we'd have paid if we bought all this in the store, including things like jarred salsa vs. the salsa we make ourselves. I have a spreadsheet started and everything. Stay tuned!

I took this cool picture looking down the milk jug cloche I have over the heading lettuce plants. They are doing really well.

Spring Virility

Spring.



The time when things start growing. Ahem.



The time of the birds and the bees.



Spring fruitfulness.



Fertility.


Things just BURSTING from the ground in abundance.




I didn't take these pictures on purpose, but when I looked at them later....well. I blushed. :)

Ninja Gardeners and Onions

I started onions from seed this year, first time I've ever tried it. Well, they were tiny. So tiny, in fact, that I am not sure how they will do and I broke down and ordered some onion seedlings from a catalog, just to make sure I had some onions this year.

The variety I grew was called Jaune Paille Des Vertus, which I am told means "Righteous Yellow Straw (hay) Onion" and is a fantastic keeper. I chose it based on the storage time (last year I grew a really nice onion but it wasn't a good keeper, so I wound up throwing some out while quickly making French Onion Marmalade with the rest).



The seedlings are, as you can see, wee little things. That is a yogurt cup they are growing in. I think at most these seedlings were 4" long.


I planted 35 of these, some are already gone. Some seem to be doing well.


I ordered a bunch of Backup Auxiliary onions from Territorial Seeds, another good keeper called Big Daddy. They arrived in Saturday's mail and in the ground they went. I planted 60 of those. They were beautiful, and they already smelled divine.

In other news, we had a sighting of the Ninja Gardener last week. He appeared out of nowhere and spread pine mulch around the walkways of the new veggie patch, and then was gone faster than you can say Bloody Butcher tomato.