❖How My Garden Grows❖

Treats for Our Furry Friends

2012-01-25T08:00:00.001-05:00

And now we wait.

2012-01-24T11:55:00.000-05:00

The growing station is doing well. The micro-greens have fed the bunny and found themselves on my eggs in the morning. Aren't they just gorgeous?!? Tonight I may even put together a micro-salad with dinner. And speaking of salad, the lettuce mix is coming along nicely as well, a couple more weeks and it should be ready to harvest. My sample seeds to grow and review arrived yesterday from Renee's Garden:

I am looking forward to growing these out and keeping track of their progress here on the blog. I am most excited about the Tronchuda Beira Kale (a blog article here on using this kale for some authentic portuguese soup, and Cat Treats Gourmet Mixed Greens. Our cat has shown some improvement over the last few days and we really hope he pulls through and gets to sample these treats!! (I know a bunny and three dogs that will also be partaking in the treat sampling.)

HAPPY GARDENING!

When the snow finally flew.....

2012-01-18T16:54:00.000-05:00

It wasn't much, but the kids did what they could. They managed one run each on the sled, and this miniature snowman before the rain washed all the white stuff away.

2012 Seed List & Garden Changes

2012-01-16T08:30:00.001-05:00

I am a 'variety is the spice the life' kind of gal, so that being said there are some new things coming our way this year in the garden. Mainly we will be adding 10 more lowbush blueberries since they are just divine, and 3 more smaller highbush varieties that won't get much past three or four feet tall to our yard. The berry bushes will be planted along the outside border of the garden now that the dogs are no longer roaming that area.

The strawberry line-up will be updated as well with an everbearing variety (Seascape) being grown. I am curious to compare flavor to that of my favorite Honeoyes.

Seed List: (sourced from Renee's Garden unless otherwise noted)

GREENS

Greens mixes, too many to list;

some are cut-n-come, some for braising or stir-fying; some sweet, and some spicy!

Caesar Duo

Portuguese Kale

Lacinato Kale

Russian Kale (Johnny's)

Bright Lights Chard (Johnny's)

Baby Pixie Cabbage

Arugula

Claytonia (Fedco)

NIGHTSHADES

Pontaic Red Potato,

LaRatte Fingerling Potato,

& Purple Viking Potato (ME Potato Lady)

Baby Belle Peppers

Pizza My Heart Pepper

Corno di Toro Pepper

Spanish Padron Pepper

Tam Jalapeno Pepper (Baker Creek)

Carmen Pepper (Johnny's)

Fairytale Eggplant (Johnny's)

Little Prince Eggplant

Chianti Rose Tomato

Amish Paste Tomato (SSE)

Sungold Cherry (Johnny's)

Black Krim Tomato (Mariania's)

Ella's Pink Plum Tomato (Diane's)

OTHERS:
Green Fingers Baby Persian Cukes
Spanish Musica Beans
Dragon's Tongue Beans (Baker Creek)
Magda Summer Squash (Johnny's)
Trieste Bulbing Fennel
Herbs-a-plenty

That about covers it. I have been immersing myself in garden planning to distract my weary heart from the new diagnosis of our precious kitty-cat Bob. He is not well, and it looks as though he has FIP, which is a fatal disease for which there is no treatment. He is fading on us a little bit each day and it is so hard to watch. He and my kids had such a special bond from the beginning, I just hate that this is happening. It was not that long ago we watched our dog Travis fall ill, I am not ready to again make the decision of when to take another animals life and stop their suffering. So in the midst of my grief I obsess over seeds and bed composition, and do lots of yoga. Lots. (I even was out changing the configuration of a bed the other day, laying down burlap where the blueberries will go, shifting cobblestones to their new place in twenty degree weather). Physical work clears the mind I guess.

I will leave you with a picture that sums up how much we will miss this creature that has been with us for such a short time, sweet Bob laying on Ella's legs while they watch a show on the iPad. This was taken last week, before we knew he was so ill.

Happy Gardening.

Growing Greens

2012-01-11T16:12:00.000-05:00

Grow light system arrived today, and it was perfect timing.....the seeds have sprouted and are reaching for the sky.

Garden Plans

2012-01-08T09:57:00.000-05:00

Though the garden does not look like this now, I have found a photo of the beds when planted- but not in full swing- to be the most helpful when planning for the next season's layout. This photo was taken in May of last year before things became unruly, and I can tell for the most part what is growing where, and how much space it was allowed. This is my mock up for this year's plotting:

Some changes are happening this year. First, we invested in a CSA (full share). Second, due to this share we are adding more fruit to the garden since that will be the one thing that won't be included in our weekly bounty. The devastation caused by hungry rodents late last summer and through the fall is the main reason for the CSA. I want back-up if my garden gets mowed again. The other reason is that my kids and I just plain love the produce this farm puts out, and we certainly could use more veggies in our lives. The farmer is very focused on nutrient density, and you can taste the difference. This takes some pressure off my garden, and we can have fun trying some new veggie varieties and focus on increasing fruit production.......coming our way are 10 more lowbush blueberries, seascape strawberries, and another Liberty Apple on Bud 9 in the event we lose the tree that was just damaged by rodents. I really hope our poor tree makes it. It has a few years under it's belt, and starting from scratch would mean we lose fruit from it, and likely from it's apple buddy E. Spitzenburg as they bloom together for pollination.

I fell in love with the greens mixes from Renee's Garden last year, and so I went a bit overboard and decided to try doing just about the whole garden from her seed catalog. I am hanging on to a few favorites from the past like Sungold & Ella's Pink Plum Tomatoes, Carmen Peppers, and Bright Lights Chard. But other than that the garden will be full of new and unusual varieties of peppers, squash, greens, and cukes. Fun, right?

Seed list and micro-green set-up coming soon. :)

HAPPY GARDENING!

Happy New Year

2012-01-03T14:10:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year gardeners, bloggers, and friends! My how this last year flew by. I was hoping that 2012 would make for a fresh start in the garden, but sadly on the first day I found one of my dwarf apples dug up and partially girdled. I just about wept. We stood the tree up and filled in the hole, but there is so much damage I think the tree is not likely to survive the winter. It occurred to me then as I was outside in New England on the first day of January in a long sleeve t-shirt that THAT was part of the problem. Normally the ground would be frozen and a rabbit could not dig up a small tree to get to the tender bark. The creatures are certainly desperate this winter! This destruction brought reflection on our recent study of the pilgrims landing in Plymouth. We went to see the Mayflower II just after Thanksgiving, and it was brutally cold. One can appreciate the struggles of finding/building shelter and trying to get some fertile land and a source of nourishment growing all the more when brutal winter is at your back. I am thankful for not going hungry this past year because other things ate what we sowed.

In other news I ordered something I had been considering since last winter- an indoor light set-up that would enable me to grow micro-greens. Indoors. Where rodents won't eat them first. I googled the topic and happily came across an article in Organic Gardening (click here) mentioning particular seeds as being good for this application. Well I just happen to have multiple packets of said seeds and I took that for a sign that I should go for it! I will post more once the greens nursery is up and running.

I hope you all have been enjoying perusing the seed catalogs that have been rolling in since November. I am just now finding time to sit down and look through the growing pile. Dreaming up the garden plans over seed catalogs next to a warm fire......winter life just does not get any better than that for us gardeners, does it?

(P.S.- Somebody send us some snow!!)

Bob-Cat

2011-12-04T16:14:00.000-05:00

Meet "Bob" (a.k.a Bob-Cat), the newest member of our family. Bob's main job is giggle-maker, and kid-cuddler, but he got 'in' based on his reputation for keeping small rodents at bay. C'mon Bob, the 2012 garden is now in your capable paws- (well, not yet officially......we will let him settle in before sending him out to intimidate the chipmunks). Do you think word is out on the street and the chipmunks are trembling in their burrows?

What about now?

Barn cats eat mice, right?

My dogs are scared. Well, 2 out of 3 are. The one left standing wants Bob for lunch so things have been a little hairy around here.

Right now Bob is in the dishwasher, this kitten thing is new for me. Wish me luck as I am off to peruse the seed catalogs.

Yup, Its October.

2011-10-06T17:28:00.000-04:00

Brrrrr, was it cold today in New England. There was some frost had, and most people awoke to find the heat on this morning. This weather had me craving something warm and spicy, so I am belly up to the Mac with a steaming bowl of chili out of the slow-cooker, and a bottle of pumkin ale. Autumn does bring good things.

Speaking of good things, I would like to say that Steve Jobs was such a special guy. I am a relatively new Apple user, but now that I have gone Mac, I will never go back. I appreciate my laptop and iPod every day for their friendliness, convenience, and the pleasure that they bring. Thank you Mr. Jobs for your dedication, and vision of our future.

Lastly, the garden is such a disappointment. EVERYTHING is being eaten by rodents. Greens, winter squash, root vegetables, tomatoes. Everything. Everything but the hot peppers. We are seriously considering getting a cat folks, it is that bad. I essentially do not have a garden to harvest, and so have not many pleasantries to post.

I have been sneaking in some blog reading here and there, and I see you are all having better luck than I, lol, - thank goodness! Stay warm and happy gardening.

Seasonal Cooking

2011-09-01T16:26:00.000-04:00

I went to a couple of farm stands today to supplement what I have coming in from the garden. We picked up some raw milk, corn, fennel, a head of lettuce, and watermelon. I was thumbing through cookbooks this afternoon trying to decide what to cook up, but I just couldn't find what I was after. So I just winged it. I find myself cooking like this more and more often- using meals had elsewhere or a recipe as a springboard for a new off-the-hip dish. Today this what went in the pan (the pictures are nothing fancy, just shot straight from the cooking vessel before my battery died):

Carrots, fingerling potatoes, fennel, and sweet onion with 4 oz diced raw bacon, all tossed in olive oil, salt, and pepper, the roasted at 400 degrees . Topped with fennel fronds and dill:

Corn (3 ears, grilled), 4 oz diced bacon (cooked), 1/2 sweet onion (sauteed in bacon fat), a handful of halved cherry tomatoes, raw cream, basil, salt and pepper......kind of a creamed corn/succotash inspired dish:

Obviously I was in the mood for bacon. :)

Raspberries, pea greens, green beans, peppers, and potatoes are about all I have coming in from the garden these days. No complaints there!

The Power is ON!

2011-08-31T07:30:00.000-04:00

I had been preparing to be out power for another 3-4 days, but were graced with an earlier 'on' time over night. I am thankful to have it back, but am thinking of the thousands of people on wells who are still waiting. It will be a long week for many.

We had never gone longer than 1/2 a day without power since living in this house, so 3 days was a learning experience. It was not so bad since we were well prepared and had generator to run the fridge & chest freezer on as to not lose all the meat and perishables. Yesterday I did need to go out and refill our water jugs for flushing & washing; I also brought some dirty dishes to a friend's house to wash.

It is good to be back.

Still off grid....

2011-08-29T16:02:00.000-04:00

We have been without power (and running water) since yesterday morning. I am sitting in my favorite book store's parking lot taking advantage of their wi-fi. The winds were not as bad as expected, so nothing more than limbs and leaves down in the yard. I did however have to rip out the tomatoes in order to take down the cages in the afternoon, the winds were just too strong.

On a sad note, our favorite town beach area was hit hard, the road that runs along the beach is destroyed. I don't know that it will ever be a town beach again. This ocean front area extends into an Audubon sanctuary where we are able to walk on one end (no sun bathing/swimming allowed), and on the opposite end of the beach were small lots full of trailers and campers during the summer. Below is what used to be the road running along the beach:

Lobster traps (and lobster) litter the beach along with washed up sea stars, mussels, clams, crabs, and exhausted, tattered birds.......there was lots of debris, including a section of walkway

which had to have traveled quite a distance to end up where it did.

All in all we fared well in the storm, but seeing the wreckage left behind this morning, and all the washed up sea creatures made us all a bit teary eyed. We cherish this beautiful place and it's inhabitants so much, it is hard to see the destruction Mother Nature leaves in her wake.

C'mon Irene!

2011-08-26T10:52:00.000-04:00

Seriously. This waiting and watching hyped weather forecasts gets old quick. We might get a hurricane, or maybe a tropical storm. Maybe a tornado. Either way the threat of rain and high winds = power outage in my tree-heavy region. And that also means no well pump.

BUT- I get better equipped every hurricane season and thankfully we have never gone more than a day without power. If we happen to get hit with lots of downed trees we will be fine for a few days. This storm is different though. Down here flashlights and D batteries don't disappear until the last minute in a typical hurricane watch. This time however, they were cleaned out yesterday morning. Shelves are wiped clean already, things will be grim for those waiting until tomorrow to stock up.

My thoughts are going out to all of those down south who will bear the brunt of Irene's fury. Also to those boaters and coastal dwellers that are facing massive loss with the forecasted storm surge. My mind keeps thinking of the erosion about to occur to so many beloved beaches. Stay safe everyone, and lets hope this turns into another 'miss' for the Atlantic coast.

2011-08-25T07:29:00.000-04:00

Wow, I can not believe how long it has been since I last posted. Yes, the garden is still growing. Recently the potatoes were harvested, but I did not bother weighing them. I am happy with my stash in the pantry......some of the fingerlings were nibbled by rodents, but all in all there was little loss. The sweet potatoes are looking decent, I yanked one the other day just to check on how they were doing.

The Fairytale eggplant I agonized over- so pleased with the variety

even though I don't like who owns the patent.

The cooler temps are a welcome change, some pea greens and lettuces are germinating and I am really looking forward to home grown greens again. There are a few pumpkins and squash to look forward to as well.

Summer salad with peppers, tomatoes, and herbs from the garden.

We have been busy here, busy but well. Hard to believe summer is just about over, we did not get enough beach days in this year. Blogging has been on hold but I know I will become a regular again when our new fall routine settles in. Yesterday morning I watched a chipmunk clime up a tomato cage, drop a perfectly ripe juliet to the ground, scamper down to retrieve it, and then bound across the lawn with gusto. Now I know why my tomatoes seem to have petered out. No petering, they are just being harvested by chipmunks.

A garden wonder - a true 'cherry tomato!

HAPPY GARDENING!

The Beginnings of Summer in the Garden

2011-06-22T08:41:00.001-04:00

How appropriate, that just after the solstice, the first cherry tomato and squash of the year are ripe for the picking. (Also, only 3 robins remain in the nest, they have begun to fledge! This is making me nervous with the dogs and all, I will need to be vigilant over the next week or so.)

Today's Harvest:

The bottom leaves are getting quite yellow on my Sungold plant, so I gave the bed a sprinkle of slow release organic fertilizer, and the yellowing plant a shot of fish emulsion. Hopefully that will supply enough nutrients to correct the problem and keep the plants healthy as they put on their new growth.

HAPPY GARDENING, SUMMER STYLE!

This just in....more trouble ahead for small farms.

2011-06-21T06:48:00.000-04:00

NOFA/MASS ACTION ALERT

SAY NO TO THE NLGMA

SHUT DOWN THE

"National Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement" (NLGMA)
BEFORE IT SHUTS DOWN SMALL/MEDIUM FARMS

Remember the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) that passed last year? We won a hard fought battle, securing appropriate food safety rules for small-to-midsized farms and processors producing fresh and healthy food for local and regional markets. This law will be implemented by one of the agencies with food safety authority - the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Now, USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service, an agency with no food safety expertise or authority, is proposing to establish a set of food safety regulations for leafy greens (spinach, lettuce, and cabbage) growers and handlers who sell into the wholesale market, called the National Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement (NLGMA).

The most powerful "Big Ag" players in the leafy green industry are pushing the National Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement (NLGMA). The sellers, processors, or distributors that sign on to the rule will require that the farmers they purchase from comply with its standards. The rule adds a second and conflicting layer of food safety standards and audits on top of FDA food safety rules.

HOW TO COMMENT:

USDA is seeking written comments from the public on the NLGMA proposal by July 28th. Write USDA today to urge them to reject this proposal.

(CLICK HERE TO SUBMIT A COMMENT TO USDA)

Here are some suggested points to make:

I oppose the creation of a National Leafy Green Marketing Agreement, which I believe to be the wrong approach to address food safety concerns.

The Agricultural Marketing Service is not a food safety agency. It is bad public policy to create food safety regulations in order to address the "marketing" goal of increasing consumer confidence in the safety of leafy greens. Food safety policies should be driven by science, not by marketing problems.

The NLGMA, as proposed, would give the large conventional produce industry the ability to use its own world view to dictate farming practices. Small scale and organic farmers would have a very small voice in the standard-setting process.

The NLGMA is modeled on state food safety agreements in California and Arizona. In those examples, the conventional produce industry has pushed through food safety regulations that are biased against organic and small-scale farmers, have led to the destruction of wildlife habitat and discouraged good conservation practices on farms.

Diversified farming operations with complex rotations have been shown to be beneficial to the environment. Yet crop-by-crop food safety regulations, such as the NLGMA, are an economic disaster for diversified farming operations, and are biased toward large mono-cultural operations. For a farmer with 40 crops on 100 acres to comply with 40 different food safety regulations is prohibitively burdensome. Crop specific food safety regulations, such as NLGMA, will drive farmers out of environmentally sensitive diversified crop production, and toward chemical-intensive mono-cultural operations. This is counter to the goals of food safety and more environmentally sound agriculture.

The Food and Drug Administration is currently writing regulations to establish food safety standards for produce. Why is AMS proposing to establish standards that conflict with or duplicate the FDA standards, with the conventional leafy greens handlers in the drivers' seat?

The NLGMA is a disaster waiting to happen, for farmers, consumers, the environment, and ultimately for food safety.

Also see the Action and Alert Comment Form from theNational Sustainable Agriculture Coalition - (NSAC)

For more information on this action alert, or about NOFA/Mass Policy and Social Action, please contact Jack Kittredge, Policy Director - 978-355-2853, or jack@nofamass.org.

Still here....

2011-06-20T15:26:00.000-04:00

Whew, has life been moving by in a flash these last couple of weeks. The weather has much improved, and the garden is growing taller and greener by the day. I am still trying to catch up with the weeding! I have a few friends looking over my shoulder while I am out there with hose and weed bucket:

There is no vacancy in that robin's nest! I found an egg in my garden under a tall oak tree a number of weeks ago, and I relocated it to the eggs in the nest pictured above in hopes it would be viable. It felt warm and heavy so I was hopeful. (I know birds sometimes kick out an egg on purpose, and that is what I figured Mama Robin would do if the one I added was dud.) I checked under the magnolia tree that holds this nest daily for any 'discards' and never saw any. There are 5 babes in that nest so I have a feeling the egg transfer was a success. Baby birds are just so darn cute, and I must say that these chicks are much quieter than the house wrens in the bird house out back. What a racket they make!

I have been terrible about posting updates on the garden. The tomatoes are full of fruit and are stretching towards the sun (pictured below). Cucumbers and zucchini are growing on the vines, while the winter squash, beans, and eggplant are just beginning to flower. (A varietal note - Magda are winning the squash race and almost ready to harvest, with Partenon not far behind. Black Beauty is slow to go compared to it's squash mates.) I was surprised to see a few small peppers on the bushes while watering today, the last time I noticed them they were just setting fruit.

My potato onions have fallen and are dying back quickly, so early compared to a standard variety onion. Some of the garlic is coming close to maturity as well, I am anxious to harvest and gain some bed space for fall greens.

The fruit season is progressing nicely as well. The apples are sizing up, blueberries & currants are starting to turn, and brambles are flowering and setting fruit, though strawberries are of coarse the current stars. We went picking on Father's Day and there is some jam cooling on the counter, and about 20 more pounds of berries waiting for me in the fridge. Yikes!

Off to finish putting together the potato salad for dinner,

can't wait for those new potatoes to start coming in.

Happy gardening everyone!

The Dreaded Bolt.

2011-06-08T10:34:00.000-04:00

The wide swings and temperature have arrived in New England. These swings along with the accompanying heat wave cause much stress to the vegetable garden. The tomatoes in bloom this week will likely not set, and the lettuce and greens will likely bolt. Not so great news all around.

This year I have two beds under shade cloth, and I have been watering the lettuce daily. So far there are no flower/seed stalks going up, but I have not been able to sample the lettuce to see if the bitterness has increased. Brassicas and cilantro have however bolted under the cloth.

The 'Slobolt' lettuce seed I ordered has offered zero germination so I can't count on that one getting me through the summer. I do have other supposed heat tolerant mixes to sow for summer and fall cutting as soon as I make some room. It seems as though starting the seedlings under fewer hours of light may lengthen the number of days until bolting occurs. (Just how does one accomplish this without grow lights in the basement though?) Maybe sow them in trays or lettuce boxes on a shady porch?

Interestingly enough I have noticed another benefit from using shade cloth this year, it seems to be keeping the little green worms of my asian greens and mesclun mix. From now on I will keep shade cloth over those greens even in cooler weather.

So here is my question for all of you, what varieties of lettuce and or greens do find to be tolerant of longer days, higher temperatures, and large fluctuations? Do you have any tricks that seem to help prolong your harvest season?

Kitchen Garden Webinar

2011-06-07T14:56:00.001-04:00

I have very little experience with Renee's Garden , though what little I do have has been good. I am intrigued by this company due to the abundance of information on their website, and the gorgeous and informative seed packets. I of course have no connection to this company, I just wanted to share a link to a horticulture webinar I watched recently done by Renee Shepherd:

Rainbow Kitchen Garden Webinar

I have only grown out lettuce seeds from Renee's so far this year, but the rate and speed at which they germinated impressed me. I ordered some seeds for next year's garden after watching the webinar. I learned of a few new varieties I am eager to try, and also I appreciate that she mixes varieties within one seed packet for things like beans and peppers, color coating the seeds so you know which is which. That means fewer leftover seeds for a small kitchen gardener like myself. There is no paper catalog, and the selections offered are catered to the home gardener. If you have some time to spare watch the linked video, I hope that you my enjoy it as much as I did.

Happy Gardening!

Pantry Shelving, Loss of 'Wisdom', Ticks, and Figs.

2011-06-06T19:04:00.000-04:00

Things have been a little wild and whacky around here. My birthday brought the removal of my remaining wisdom teeth (what a gift!), so I have been out of commission and relying on hubby to water the garden. The weeds are taking over, and some of the lettuce is bolting. It is killing me to not be out there tinkering every day as I normally do, and enjoying the last of the greens before they succumb to the heat of June. I discovered garlic scapes and peas that needed harvesting over the weekend, more stuff I can't eat. At least the ripening strawberries have been juicy and sweet, mmm-mmm. We threw up some netting around the beans and peas last minute before my surgery last week as the rodents were mowing them down. Seems that when we lost our dog Travis (aka 'The Hunter'), word got around quick in the critter community that the yard and gardens are now safe turf. The only things that get hunted around here now are veggies, here is one canine caught in the act, stealing pea greens from the bunny:

She had a mouthful, but sucked them down as I grabbed the camera. I try to give everyone their cup of greens daily so there is no need to beg, fight, and steal over it all.

Now on to those ticks. More mice, rabbits, and chipmunks mean more ticks being dropped, and the vegetable garden is loaded with them right now. Gross. We laid down insecticide between the raised beds today. Normally we just treat the lawn as Lyme Disease is prevalent in this area and is no joke, but since we have been picking up ticks in the garden we had to spread the poison in there too. We also purchased some Tick Tubes which will hopefully help cut the population way back in the future. These are cardboard tubes filled with permethrin coated cotton balls. The idea is that mice take the cotton for nesting material, and thereby kill the nymphs that spread the Lyme. We are hoping so anyway.

In other garden news I received a new fig tree from my Fairy Garden Father. Me and figs have bad, bad juju, and I have not been able to keep a tree alive yet. This will be my third, and if this one dies I will swear them off forever. Fingers crossed, I need some witchy-voo-doo good vibes sent to my fig. Seriously.

In non-gardening related news we went to Erin's favorite store to pick up some pantry shelving. Really we needed better wine storage, and the stuff at Ikea fit the bill so we went for the whole darn thing. I was able to fit so much more into a smaller space thanks to the functional shelving. I also picked up some recycle bins and a trash can for bulk storage, check it out:

We won't starve or be forced to stay sober in the event of a natural disaster, lol.

Not space wasted here, LOVE IT!

I buy flour and sugar in 25 lb. bags, so this large can is just perfect for holding the large sacks. Yes that is Bud Light stashed back there- I use it for beer bread, not drinking. I promise.

These recycle bins make for stackable bulk storage in the corner.

Snacks....

.......and T.P..

So 'Erin-Ikea-Shelving-Goddess', how did we do? ;)

2011-05-29T09:27:00.000-04:00

There are lots of tomato babies in tomato alley. Ella's Pink Plum, Juliet, and Sungold are fruiting. The Amazon Chocolate is loaded with blossoms, this strain (new seed source) is MUCH better than than the plant I had last year as far as blossom quantity, I just hope it tastes as magnificent.

Now that we are seeing some sunshine I gave most of the garden a fish drench yesterday. Something is stripping the foliage off my blueberries, but there was not a beetle or caterpillar to be found. Hmm. Ideas anyone? The largest of the strawberries are just starting to blush. We are all anticipating the harvest (strawberries were soooooo gooooood last year).

Hubby and I recently celebrated our anniversary over some of our favorite things- charcuterie, wine, and cheese. We are very lucky to have a couple of cheese shops close by in Rhode Island. This selection came from Milk and Honey in Tiverton......we had some butter from Parma, a stick of salami, and four different cheeses that pair well with a fruity red. A baguette, fig spread, and some mild crackers are our usual accompaniments to this fair. My mouth is watering just thinking about this meal:

Some close-ups of the top 3 of the evening.....

This is my new favorite salami. Uncured and amazing!

A nice Wisconsin blue.

A soft, creamy French. Luscious and addicting.

This beat any meal we could have had in a fancy restaurant, aside from the dirty little hands coming in to pilfer the creamy cheese and salami. The two cheese selections my son tried and wanted in the cheese store became un-paletable once he got a taste of the creamy bit. But who could blame him?

MUST. HAVE. MORE. SOON.

Guest post authored by Ryan Halston

2011-05-26T16:40:00.000-04:00

Numerous Benefits Stemming from Home Gardening

A worldwide growing trend, the commitment to a simpler life and an eco-friendly lifestyle is spreading in popularity. The interest in making choices that benefit on a personal and environmental level have led many to make a change in their normal lifestyles. One of the most popular methods to start a more simple and sustainable life is the choice to begin growing your own fruits and vegetables. The rise in popularity can be attributed to the copious amount of benefits that come from home growth.

The practical economic ramifications are most likely the most popular reason for engaging in a project like growing a home garden. Buying packages of seeds is often much cheaper than purchasing individual products from a grocer. Many fruits and vegetables grow in multiples and a pack of seeds generally equates to the price of two or three of the vegetable. When considering the production longevity of many of the plants, the seeds are certainly more valuable. The home growth of crops assuredly contains a positive financial implication.

Health benefits stemming from home crop development is frequently overlooked due to the financial significance of the choice. When growing foods at home control over all potential influences from chemicals and toxins is assured. Problems associated with pesticides, Bisphenol A, issues stemming from asbestos exposure, and melamine have all been documented in the past. The decision to grow your own food prevents the risk of this, and ensures you have control over your food production.

Potentially the biggest positive to home growth is the taste, and the freshness of home grown fruits and veggies. Home crop production removes the middle men, grocers and distribution teams, from the equation. Growing these products in your home makes them readily available and guarantees the freshest crops possible. A choice can be made to cater to your own personal level of taste, and freshness.

It is a smart idea to take some few easy steps toward home growing as opposed to making an all-out adjustment as there can be some bumps in the road. Beginning by growing a small berry plant or fruit tree is an excellent way to get started on the path to home growing, as they provide produce throughout a long life-cycle. With more and more people embracing home gardening, there is a wealth of resources to learn from, and popularity should continue to spread.

***

Ryan contacted me and asked if I would be willing to do a guest post on my blog, and I figured- hey, why not? I think most of us already know what Ryan had to say to be true. But now here is a question for you.....what do you feel is the most important reason to garden, and grow edibles? Is it food security, chemical avoidance, hobby/relaxation, an effort to lower the grocery bill, or unmatched taste as Ryan mentioned? Maybe some combination of 'everything above'?

Did any of you start vegetable & fruit gardening for one reason, but now find that you continue it for another altogether? As always, happy gardening.

~Kelly

I Broke My Own Rule

2011-05-23T08:19:00.001-04:00

So I had those new asparagus crowns that needed a bed as soon as possible, and I had really been struggling to find a spot for them. Then my husband suggested putting them where my fingerlings were planted, which was in a deep 4' x 4' raised bed. Of coarse I never even considered this (there were potatoes growing there after all), so I quickly rejected his thought. And then just as quickly, I decided he was a genius. But where to put the potatoes? I had 2 grow bags left over, but that was not enough square footage. And we have 2 old tires. Bingo. I REALLY didn't want to plant inside a tire, I feel the potential for chemical seepage must be quite high and there is certainly nothing 'organic' about that! Carbon and sulfur are known to leach, though unless the tire is new or extremely worn, in theory that should be all. Still, I just don't like it. Okay for pansies, but not for potatoes. But I did it anyway because I had potatoes with little green shoots and lots of roots laying in the lawn. Time was of the essence. And so here we are, I broke my own rule. Next year the tire will be gone and I will find a new planting space for my fingerlings. I promise.

This corner is now so unsightly, I can't even bear to look. The asparagus now resides in the raised bed in the corner.

Next, we put together the bird net supports using the little rubber doohickeys from Lee Valley and babmboo. They rock! Didn't quite finish the job though seeing as the netting is still in the shed. :)

Oooh, and here comes an exciting one......another new planting space (YEAH!). I needed a home for my new teepees (more rubber doohickeys and bamboo), but the garden beds are all full. So we made one:

Pole beans and Jack Be Little pumpkins were sown here.

I also planted the sweet potato slips (forgot to take a picture, and now it is raining), and some of the Garden Bon Bons my sister gave me for Christmas. (The Bon Bon post can be found here.) The bon-bons went in the metal wash-tub. The tomato and cuke supports were finished off as well. All in all a very productive weekend considering we had a family birthday party for the kids on Saturday afternoon, and took Ella out for celebrations on her actual birthday, which was Sunday.

...........And almost the entire garden from above:

(conveniently all but that unsightly corner with the tire in it. ☺)

HAPPY GARDENING!

Tomato Cages

2011-05-19T15:56:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I pulled the row cover off the tomatoes and put in the bottom half of the new tomato cages. Evening temps should hover in the 50's in the short term, so they no longer need their baby blanket. In the past I have run trellis between stakes, which has worked fairly well. I spied 'Texas Tomato Cages' last year and decided to order some this spring. They are impressive! Very heavy in weight, and I LOVE that they fold flat for storage. That was a big selling point for us. The nice part is that now I can split my tomatoes up into multiple beds in the future for rotation purposes. I purchased only 6 cages this year as they are an investment, so a couple of cages were set between two plants. The true test will be to see if they can support them both.

This is just the bottom half of the cage seen above, as the plants gain height there is an additional piece that goes on top to bring the height to six feet. I think I ordered the 20 inch diameter cages.....if it wasn't raining cats and dogs I would go measure and take more pictures, but this is all I have at the moment, lol.

I could not get the tines in the soil as deep as I would have liked thanks to all the rocks in my yard, but they all went down the depth of the raised bed at a minimum, and will hopefully hold as the season progresses. They even make 2 foot extensions to bring the cages up to eight crazy feet- but I don't see my maters ever needing all that head room. :)

The Sungold plant I have been growing for my Mom went home with her yesterday, and it had a cluster of fruit growing! My plants only have flowers, funny how the one guy hanging out in a pot being exposed to the elements made fruit. Hopefully mine are not far behind.

In other news the sweet potato slips arrived yesterday (Georgia Jet and Vardaman), but with days of rain in the forecast (and things already drenched) I decided to hold off on planting them. I had intentions of potting them today before the T-storms hit, but I did not make it. For now they are heeled in the tomato bed with an upside down nursery pot giving them some protection from rain and wind. Notice I could not add sun to that equation. Hmph. The 10 day forecast is calling for 3 partly cloudy days, and 7 with showers and/or thunderstorms. This weather is bad news for all the fruit in this region. Anything blooming right now is not being pollinated. I may not be getting any apples this year after all, and that just plain sucks.

Busting at the Seems

2011-05-17T08:51:00.000-04:00

Before I go into detail as to why there is seem busting, I wanted to go into a little more detail on the pea greens. I sow a specific variety just for cutting tendrils. One needs LOTS of peas to thickly sow them in this manner. Last year I bought three or four standard packets of the Dwarf Gray Peas. This barely got me anything for cutting. Then I smartened up and bought the big bag I posted yesterday. Now I can sow lots of thick rows for cutting. I also sow peas for peas, two separate things in my garden. Harvesting young growth results in a sweeter, more tender green, and the Dwarf Gray is said to be the best variety for greens.

The rows shown above are on there third cutting or so, and they are getting a bit unruly. As a matter of fact the kids complained last night the greens didn't taste good anymore, so it is time to rip them out and sow a fresh batch. The best part about sowing peas for greens is that in a couple of weeks you are harvesting what you sowed (if you soak those peas before planting), it is practically immediate gratification in the garden. This year I put them anywhere there was bare dirt. Some of them are there just for their nitrogen fixing abilities. Some I yank and toss in the compost pile, some I just turn into the soil.

Okay, now on to the rest......a few years ago I planted a beach plum. I had never tried (or seen) a beach plum, or tasted the jelly that is made from the fruit, but I love any edible that remains small in size so I went for it. I was told it did not require a pollinator. This information was not correct, and so this year I ordered two bare root plants through mail order......you see, this winter I tasted Beach Plum Jelly. I was immediately hooked and now I must get my tree to bear fruit! The newbies arrived recently and are just sticks. Here is the larger of the two pictured below, it is just starting to leaf out:

This wee thing is not going to get me plums is it? No. So yesterday in a moment of delayed genius, (note the sarcasm), I called a local nursery rumored to carry the plants. Sure enough, in stock and flowering, so off I went to buy one. I am afraid it may be too late however. My plum began flowering over a week ago, and now we are in this lousy rainy weather pattern, so I don't see the rate of pollination being very high, if anything at all. But check out the blooms on my new little beauty:

Gorgeous.

If only there were bees buzzing about. Sigh. If you have been following along with me you now realize this is my fourth beach plum. Not sure where to put it.......but the good news is that it won't be picky about it's sight. And some day if all goes as planned I will have enough tiny plums to make delicious jelly.

Stay with me now, the troublesome part is coming folks. My little guy was insisting on walking around the nursery while we were waiting for our plum to be brought up. We went to the closest greenhouse, and what was it filled with? Low bush blueberries. It was a sign from the heavens. We just HAD to bring some home. The thing about low bush blueberries is that I am a little obsessed. I have fantasies of landscaping the entire yard with neat little blueberry hedges. They are so pretty, and of coarse tasty. They stay nice and compact. We picked out as many as we could carry, and here they are waiting for a home along with the new plum, and the old plum behind it (most of it's blooms now gone).

There is more.

Wait for it...........

Yuppers, I have officially gone mad. Where oh where am I going to put these new crowns? I only bought five. Just five. But still, must now find/create/steal them a home. But more asparagus is never a bad thing right? These are the Purple Passion crowns. At least they are suppose to be. The farm carried two different varieties and these were in the purple box, but the bunch was not specifically labeled as many others were. Again- in my delayed thinking I now realize I should have pulled five crowns from a bunch that was labeled to insure somebody did not pick up a clump of Jerseys and put it down in the Purple Passion box. Now I am paranoid and worrying over the variety of crowns I hold. I kill me.

My husband commented that we are running out of room. Yes we are. But my goal is to have lots of stuff to eat growing at home, and by golly I am achieving it! Personally, I think we ran out of room some time ago, and now I am just plain pushing it. Wouldn't it be so freakin' cool if I really had no front lawn some day? Just edibles? There are people out there who have done it. And I like it. (Honey if you are reading this avert your eyes. )

Whats Cookin'

2011-05-16T13:18:00.000-04:00

Last year I mentioned wanting to focus on greens in the garden this year. At first I was feeling as though I fell short, but now that the season is picking up a bit I think I made a good effort. We are eating a sizable salad or using greens in other ways daily. Buying the giant bag of pea seeds (5#'s) was the best thing I did. Wilted pea greens in our mashed potatoes, a couple of handfuls thrown in a stir-fry, spring rolls with peanut sauce, salads, bunny food, the list goes on. We -L-O-V-E- our pea greens.

Claytonia, arugula, baby kale, baby chard, mache, and spinach add interest to standard lettuce and mesclun mixes. The variety of greens growing is greater than anything we have had in the past, it is exciting to have fresh ingredients after a long cold winter. (Isn't the little lilly pad leaf with flowers enough to make you smile? Simple pleasures, like claytonia in my salad thrill me. What a garden geek I have become.)

Today I made garlic-chive pesto pasta with last year's dried tomatoes and canellini beans. Also, some quiche with an herbed crumb crust instead of the standard pie crust fare. Garden asparagus, dried tomatoes, and onions comprised the filling. Yum. Garden eating is good, and green tastes great!!

Herbed Multigrain Crust (for quiche):

1/3 C prepared bread crumbs, seasoned is fine

1/3 C AP flour

1/3 C whole wheat flour

1/3 C cornmeal

1/3 C butter, melted

1/2 tsp salt

dried herbs to taste

(I use a good quality Italian Seasoning blend)

Mix ingredients with a fork and press into pie plate. If your bread crumbs are un-seasoned consider adding a sprinkling of onion or garlic powder to the mix. Prepare quiche as usual. This crust comes together in a pinch if don't want to make pie crust, or don't have any pre-made on hand. It is savory and crumbly-crunchy. You will either think it is great, or swear to never make quiche that way again. Just thought I would share.

HAPPY GARDENING!

Around the Garden

2011-05-10T06:43:00.000-04:00

Navigating around the garden these days feels a lot like making your way through a maze. I wish the pathways were not so narrow, and the layout of the beds not so complex. Of coarse I did not have the foresight into my garden future all those years ago when we started this project, and I am thankful to have had the opportunity to expand as we did.

Four more fruit trees went in recently; two more Beach Plums, an Invicta Gooseberry, and a Rovada Currant. The currant and gooseberry went into the kitchen garden, the beach plums were planted off in the side yard. (I found out the hard way it takes more than one plum to get fruit, and even with three I may not ever truly see a harvest as they can be finicky to cultivate. )

Wineberries are also being planted around the perimeter of the shed that faces the road. I would love a nice messy hedge of canes in the future, and I have two sources that are kindly donating their extras.

The tomatoes are coming along nicely, I uncovered them today to sneek a peak and give them a drink. Ella's Pink Plum seems to have the most foliage, while the Amazon Chocolate is sporting a thick stem and is holding itself upright while all the others flop to the side.

Ella's Pink Plum

Amazon Chocolate

Something has been eating my peas, but mainly the Oregon Giants (on left):

I have re-seeded this row twice now, next year I will either not grow this variety, or cover it with mesh from the get-go.

Pepper in wall-o-water.

Greens and herbs in the mini hoop house,

which now has an aluminum shade cloth instead of plastic covering. It really does a great job of cutting down the sunshine, and it claims to retain heat as the temperature drops as well. Hoping this temperature mediation will mean less bolting. Fingers crossed, cause the thing sure is ugly (as sen in 2nd picture from top of post)!

Harvest Monday (Hosted by Daphne's Dandelions)

2011-05-09T10:13:00.000-04:00

It has been quite a while I since I participated in Harvest Monday. Go here to see what everyone is cutting from the garden today. My kitchen garden is providing lots of greenery, seen below is mesclun mix, baby spinach, baby kale, pea greens, asparagus, and garlic chives (for my favorite pesto). Yum! The only thing missing is rhubarb, I think my plants may need another year of maturing.

This year two of the apple trees are covered in blooms, they are so pretty. The ~~apple thieves~~ dogs are no longer allowed in this part of the yard, so the apple yield should be much higher.

The cukes, squash, and fingerling potatoes went in the garden yesterday,

the only thing I am waiting on now are sweet potato slips which have not arrived yet, and for the remaining potatoes to chit. The 2011 garden is just about full.

HAPPY GARDENING!!

Our New Boy

2011-05-06T12:37:00.000-04:00

Our new boy "Porter" (and big sis Ivy).

Check out at the paws on this little grizzly!

Porter is 4 1/2 months old. He has been living in a kennel at his breeder's with a few other pups. Yesterday evening when we brought him home was his first time in a house. He has been crate trained, but that is all. He is a very sweet boy, and we are thrilled to have him become a part of our family. He can never replace Travis, but his adorable face certainly helps fill the void we all have been feeling.

It is awfully quiet around here.

2011-05-02T07:48:00.000-04:00

It is amazing how the removal of one fifty-five pound being from a household can reduce it's noise level significantly. My mind keeps playing tricks, and I think a chirping bird is my dog's whimpering in the next room. Interesting how these two sounds, one a normally cheerful sound, can mimic one of pain and suffering. I had the same confusion while he was still here, but in those instances, I was hearing both.

At any rate, my husband and I keep saying that it is so still, so quiet, with just two dogs. And Travis was not a rambunctious one. But he played with our other lab, and he greeted us in the morning, pestering for his breakfast. If we were bathing or showering he curled up on the bath mat so that you were forced to holler at him repeatedly to 'MOVE!' so you could step onto the floor without risk of breaking your neck. When a meal was being prepared he was always sitting by my side, patiently waiting for this messy cook to spill, to drop, or to purposefully toss something his way. (Peppers were his favorite, melon a close second.) This obvious lack of Travis will start to become less obvious any day now I am sure, but as of right now there are still lots of tears being shed. We miss our boy. He was a tether to our beginning, to the life my husband and I started together all those years ago. We were newlyweds when we found that bundle of joy in the pound. Now we are older, more tired, less energetic versions of the people we were back then. That version of our life is barely recognizable now, all you readers with children out there know what I am talking about. Anyway, now we fight the urge to run out and replace this void with another body. To bring the chaos and noise level back up to where it was just a few days ago. To replace some of the ache with new joy and love. Sigh. Go hug your pets!!

If you are still with me, thanks. Now on to the garden......

Br-r-r-r-r was it chilly last night. I forgot to bring my citrus tree in, and that was probably a very bad thing. We are eating lots of pea greens right now. That, and asparagus is about all that is mature enough to harvest. Oh, and I found some rogue claytonia growing in one bed, turns out a few of those seeds I sowed took hold in random spots last year after all. It was a joyful discovery I kept forgetting to share. (And peaking of asparagus I am having the urge to add more roots to my collection. But I really don't have the space. BUT, I could eat a couple of pounds a day myself for those few weeks it is in season, so I am scheming and sketching in my mind, trying to find a space and a way to get more of those spears into my belly. It is a disease isn't it? This need to be growing more and more, never satisfied with the plot at hand. Lol, at least I find comfort in knowing I am not alone.)

HAPPY GARDENING Y'ALL.

R.I.P. Travis

2011-04-30T10:06:00.000-04:00

Our boy had had a rough couple of days, and we decided to bring him peace today.

But first, we hit the doughnut shop and brought him to the beach. (Unfortunately, he was suffering too much to enjoy any of it.)

We are so lucky to have had him in our lives, and he will be desperately missed.

Garden Update and 1st Harvest

2011-04-28T07:52:00.000-04:00

Garden Update: The eight tomato plants went in on the 25th, and happily, it was been quite balmy in the evenings. Texas Tomato Cages are being used for support this year, and though I only set the bottoms up for spacing purposes before planting, I think I am in love.

Things are looking quite green out there, as I sowed peas to cut for greens in just about every vacant inch of dirt. (GOOOOO pea greens!!) Bush beans are sprouting up under the walls of water.

My first carrot sowing failed to germinate, but this last one is a success. Things are moving along quickly now that the weather has warmed.

Cucurbits need potting potting up; still waiting on sweet potato slips and the replacement potato seed, so spuds are off to a late start this year. The fingerlings I do have are taking their sweet time to chit.

Today's harvest: Pea greens and the first of the asparagus.

HAPPY GARDENING!

Sunshine & Rain

2011-04-18T08:44:00.000-04:00

We are in a wonderful weather pattern here, rainy nights and sunny days. Little splashes of life are sprouting up everywhere in the garden. These photos were taken yesterday morning.

ASPARAGUS

PEAS

RHUBARB

And most exciting of all, I finally have Claytonia growing. Hey, it only took three seed packets and countless sowings to make it happen. I need to go lay down another row before my luck runs out!

My carrot seeds and some of my lettuce mixes need replacing, I have quite a few barren rows. My little garden helper and I planted out the Red Barron onions yesterday, and sowed a 4x6 bed of pea greens the day before. I also potted up the tomatoes. They will likely go out next weekend under row cover and plastic as I won't be fit for planting on the first of May this year.

Wineberry and raspberry cuttings were planted around the shed. A friend has 2 wineberry plants for me, which we are all quite excited about. I hope to get a nice patch of them growing around the yard so that we may enjoy them along with the birds come summer. I am expecting potatoes, sweet potato slips, a currant, a gooseberry, and 2 beach plums to arrive in the coming weeks. (One of these years I hope to be almost self-sufficient in the summer fruit department for fresh eating and jam making, though it is probably an unrealistic fantasy.)

***

On a food note, I tried making pizza just like Thomas did recently (here) using a Peter Reinhart recipe, and it was a unanimous two thumbs up. His book on searching out the perfect pizza is on my wish list, as I think I could sustain myself on the stuff if need be. This pie had some garden goodies on it (Garlic-Chive Pesto, sliced Garlic, & Oven-Dried Tomatoes) along with peppers, mozzarella, and herbed goat cheese. Mm-mm good. Throwing the pizza stone on the grill is the way to go, no more 500 degree oven for me!

HAPPY GARDENING!

An Update....

2011-04-14T11:38:00.001-04:00

The dog is doing MUCH better. He is no longer going to the doggy doctor twice a day. Next we need to ween him off all the meds and see if he can still function without them, but the plan is to wait until Monday to do it. We are just thankful to get a little extra time with him, and that he is comfortable. Next week will be the big test, to see how he does sans steroids.

As for the garden, the new bed is up and running, the heating cables are keeping the soil a toasty sixty-something degrees. Here it is before being filled:

The newly expanded fenced in area is working out nicely. We of coarse ended up having an Invisble Fence system put in for the dogs this week, and that now keeps them out of the front yard completely, but I had already ordered addition garden fence panels in attempt to keep them away from the blackberries etc. before we decided to do the other. (Don't mind the dog kennel, luckily we are no longer needing it for a doggy sick-bed.)

Still waiting for my peas to pop out of the soil, for the carrots to germinate, and for the asparagus to show itself. Spring is surely dragging it's heels this year- at least the daffodils have begun to bloom!

Edit: I forgot to add that had an interesting discovery today. A weed I have been pulling and discarding for years is actually edible and quite good at that, chickweed. Turns out I like to munch on the stuff and it is now a welcomed addition to the greens in the garden. Here it is growing amongst the garlic chives:

Who knew?

Crazy Days

2011-04-05T15:19:00.000-04:00

Boy is my head spinning. We have so many things going on I may soon collapse, face down in the dirt......but, I am hoping not.

There those garden and household projects we continue to try to tackle every weekend. (If only there were more than 2 days in a weekend.) Then, last week one of my canines went stiff in his hind end, which progressed to constant pain and limping. We took him in, had some x-rays & blood work done, but nothing concrete was ever diagnosed. He was kind of stumping the Vet. Then his bladder went next, or at least his ability to empty it. And his discomfort continued to grow. I did lots of crying.

The good news is after many, many sleepless nights and vet visits we have our old boy peeing again (yippee!!), and he is comfortable. Conclusion? Neurological stuff, a slipped or ruptured disc, blood clot, or most likely a spinal tumor. Not sure how long we can maintain him in his current state, but every day we have with him is appreciated. If the steroids hadn't helped get him the ability to eliminate back we would have had to 'put him down' by week's end. And when he again loses that ability that will be the only alternative to twice daily catheterizing him at the vet's office. We did that a couple of days, but long term it is not financially feasible. It just plain sucks when our pets get old and sick.

On a brighter note I sowed some peas, carrots, and greens out int he garden this weekend. My daughter keeps asking when we will grow our own food, I keep telling her I am trying. Lol, I think after she planted the seeds she expected instant snap peas.

Turns out most of the potatoes I ordered are out of stock, which is beyond annoying being I ordered them the second the 2011 catalog became available. Something is fishy there if you ask me, but I scrambled and was able to find others to take their place from another New England supplier. Thank goodness for that, no spuds would have been another thing to cry over.

I have been trying to read some blogs while up at all hours of the morning with the dog, but if I go missing again for a while you all know why. I am not spell checking or proof-reading before I post this is I am about to late for a vet appointment with my sick boy- happy gardening and wish my boy Travis luck as he hopefully hangs on to his precious life a bit longer here.

I just bet the veggie patch.

2011-03-29T08:58:00.000-04:00

I probably need my head checked, because I just invested a decent chunk of change in a 4 x 6 patch of dirt. Some of you may remember some ramblings last year about my plans for a permanent coldframe, one in which I could successfully grow greens in for 3 out of the 4 seasons, or one that I could screen and attempt to grow cole crops that don't get eaten by worms. Can't do a greenhouse, and I can't do a hoop house.......but I can do a tricked out coldframe.

Mini steel hoops, aluminum shade fabric (that will both retain heat in cooler months, and more importantly, reduce temperature up to 10 degrees in the warmer months), heated soil cables, and kelp enriched coir blocks are all on their way to me. Here is the mini hoop system shown below (we will construct our own bed):

(photo couretsy of FarmTek)

The hoops come with a section of greenhouse fabric and clips. The steel tubes should stand up to snow and wind. The heated cable is run 3-4 inches below the soil and turns itself on when the soil goes below 74 degrees. I really liked this set up for a number of reasons. First, no glass. After having a storm window shatter in the garden this winter I am all set with trying to use glass on a coldframe. I also liked the height of the structure, should be easy to work in and access. Tall enough to tuck in a pepper plant at season's end to ripen under cover. Heated soil just gives me a little something extra to manipulate the seasons with. I believe I have achieved garden Nirvana.

The (Almost) Truly Official 2011 Tomato List

2011-03-28T17:22:00.000-04:00

I better hope that my clumsiness and a canine named Ivy spare me all past potato catastrophes this year, because as of right now there are no extras. No back-ups. I am starting to sweat a bit over this. I have nine seedlings stretching towards the light. I want to sow a few more. I really do. There may be a Neves Azorean Red, Amish Paste, or a Black Krim being added to this list last minute if I break, but as of right now, here is the official sown tomato list for 2011:

1. Sungold - cherry
2. Sungold (for my mother)
3. Juliet - sauce/freezer
4. Polbig - early determinate; great for those 'green tomato' recipes I love
5. Amazon Chocolate - slicer
6. Ella's Pink Plum - sauce/freezer
7. Ananais Noire (aka Black Pineapple) - slicer
8. Black Cherry
9. Green Grape

Are you all proud of me? Betcha didn't think I could stick my reduction plan......I sure as heck didn't!

We will be eating lots of cherry tomato salads this summer, can you tell? Think diced, fresh mozzarella, basil, and a drizzle of oil & vinegar alongside some nice, crusty, garlic rubbed bready-toast stuff. Mmmmmm........I think I am drooling. Napkin please.

There are also 2 pepper plants (both Carmen), and an eggplant (Fairytale) growing. Yup, I went for that hybrid, and no, I don't feel bad. :) I am going to miss the other pepper varieties I normally grow, but we will live. Some peppers is better than no peppers.

HAPPY GARDENING!

Do YOU still double knot?

2011-03-26T19:48:00.000-04:00

My husband just exclaimed "you still double knot your shoes??? Ha-ha-ha!!!! So here is my question for all of you- do YOU? (I was not aware that this was some childhood tradition to feel ashamed about. Who needs to deal with an untied lace while going about their day? To the double-knot, I say ROCK ON!)

And as an aside, how do you live with someone for 10 years without realizing this difference in lacing practice? Wow, I am just as amazed by his lack of knot-age. So please respond. The husband and I will be waiting. :)

Some Progress Made

2011-03-26T16:43:00.000-04:00

It is C-C-C-Cold here today. The garden soil and heaps of compost are frozen again. I had planned on pruning and tying up loose ends on the fruit trellising today, but is just too nippy out. Hubby is building me an official potting bench in the shed. What a mess it was in there! He just needs to add the shelf and it will be finished. We re-used the section of counter top we cut incorrectly when updating the kitchen last year. I keep my soil tray over the opening so no space is lost.

I finally managed to sow some kale, chard, and lettuce. The tray went out into the coldframe. Not sure how quickly the seeds will germinate, but if the weather warms and actually starts to be spring-like I will have greens sprouting up in no time. I was going to direct sow some spinach in the coldframe as well, but all my compost is frozen solid. Oh, and peas? What peas. I REALLY want to sow some peas. Sautéing up those fresh pea greens with my egg sure has me jonesing. I saw a robin in the yard today. The peepers, however, have stopped peeping.

The first true sign of growth for the garden:

'RHU-BAHB'.

***

On a festive note Mommy did a craft project, and boy was it messy!

And just for fun, a little bunny-love:

What happened to Spring?

2011-03-21T12:59:00.000-04:00

2011-03-21T09:00:00.000-04:00

I did a garden walk-through over the weekend. The lasagna bed we threw together in the Fall is coming along nicely, I continue to be impressed by this technique. The only destruction that was apparent was to my lovely rosemary plant which appeared dead. After pulling back the straw mulch I saw a critter had made a nest right in the root system. Sigh, I filled in the hole and cut the branches back hard, but only one out of seven or so was alive so I think it's fate may be sealed.

The asparagus bed was cleared out, and I threw down some compost, amendments, and the first batch of wood & bunny pellets courtesy of Bun-Bun. It was a tough call......so many beds to feed, so little poop. :) Alliums are sprouting up all over the place, and the one lone rosemary cutting that survived the winter (indoors) went out in the cold frame.

This area here stretching from the trees back to the fence was destined to become a wildflower patch LAST year, and it just didn't happen. Lack of time and money is a valid excuse, but one we can not afford to make again this year. Hoping all the seeds I ordered are still viable. Now we just need a truck load or two of loam and lots of luck to pull it off.

***

Seedling update:

(Why did I not sow more peas here, these greens will be adequate for garnishing, but that is about it.)

***

We finished the bathroom re-do this weekend, so next weekend, and likely the couple following it, will be dedicated to garden projects: A potting bench in the shed, and a full-size cold frame/bed out in the garden. And now to the finished bathroom:

The chandelier:

Limestone tile and a true representation of the wall color:

No-sew curtain project:

Voila! My flash didn't go off when I took this last night so it all looks quite dark,

but you get the general idea.

***

(P.S. - Still no kale sprouting on my seedling shelf. What a poor excuse for a gardener I am huh?)

HAPPY GARDENING!

Meet "Bun-Bun"

2011-03-15T15:28:00.000-04:00

Here is my new garden friend:

This is Bun-Bun, my daughter's birthday present. It is a mighty cute creature, and I am looking forward to letting it fertilize my garden. The problem is that my dogs are interested in eating Bun-Bun. Very interested. I am hoping this small fuzzy critter will eventually stop looking so exciting to the canine members of the family. They keep their noses to the cage, and the photo is always blurry thanks to their licking, bumping, and pawing. Luckily Bun-Bun just thinks they are silly.

***

In garden news the tomato/eggplant/pepper seedlings are growing, and herbs and greens have been sown. Everyday I say I am sowing kale. It has not happened yet. KALE, KALE, KALE! Must sow some kale.

Blog-cation Over

2011-03-05T20:27:00.001-05:00

The seeds have officially been started, yay! Only the nightshades so far. Herbs, spinach, and pea greens are next on my list. I made little flags of sorts to label the soil blocks this time. Last year's plan written out on paper did not work out so well, the problem I see with this set up is my dog requiring emergency surgery because she ingested toothpicks. I think I am going to order little aluminum tags to attach to the stems once the seedlings become plants and are being put outside for acclimation to the elements.

Unfortunately that is all I have for garden news. The rest of this post is about our household projects, the stuff that has been keeping us busy this winter. You have been warned! ;)

We finished my daughter's room while I was on blog-cation. She is happy with it but I am beyond irritated on how messy it continues to be, even after my lovely husband built shelves for one of the closets, and I organized all the toys in bins for the new shelves. Sigh, here are some 'after' photos while it was still neat and tidy. If I showed you what it looks like now you might cry.

The whole family has been down and out with a nasty flu virus. This struck at an inopportune time (not there is ever a good time)- but this struck after we had removed the sink, toilet, and flooring from our downstairs bathroom. Thankfully I laid new tile and made a curtain to tie in the new red paint before falling ill, and my husband repaired leaky plumbing and shored up the wall behind the sink. Otherwise things have come to a grinding halt, and it really stinks to be without that bathroom for weeks on end. Here is our progress so far:

Hubby is about to rip up that blue tile. The splash of red on the wall is the future color.

I went for honed limestone on the new floor. Quite a change from the old blue aye?!

A small chandelier is on it's way, I am going to wire it on the wall above the mirror and swag it up to the ceiling if I decide I like it in the space. See, I have a bit of a lighting problem. The problem is that I really only like fixtures from Pottery Barn in my home. Any time I settle for something out of a big box store I ultimately replace it over and over until I just splurge on what I REALLY want. Which is PB. I also have the same problem with duvet covers, but I digress.

Also from PB is this adorable bird hook, I purchased the large single bird to replace the towel bar.

And lastly, here is the fabric & ribbon used on the curtain. (My apologies for the poor lighting.) I wanted something that would lighten the room and make the red less formal. I found some hand towels in the nice silver-blue color seen in the fabric, so hopefully it will all pull together nicely when the room is done.

(P.S.- Happy March!)

Blog-cation

2011-02-21T14:11:00.000-05:00

Hi all, just wanted to say that I have taken a bit of a blog hiatus (reading AND writing). We have been busy tackling unfinished household projects, and I have done things like file the taxes, paint my fingernails, and try a few new bread recipes. Fun stuff!

Spring and the gardening mania that comes along with it will be here before we know it, so I am enjoying a blog-cation while we are still buried in the white stuff. Hope you all are having a great February, and I look forward to seeing what you have been up to real soon.

(P.S.- Somebody requested a jam recipe a little while ago, and I accidentally deleted the e-mail....send me a reminder request, because after all, you know who you are and I for the life of me can not remember.)

A New Kind of Candy

2011-01-20T11:32:00.000-05:00

I have been wrestling with a wicked head cold all week long. Thankfully I am feeling 100% from the neck down, but from the neck up I am miserable and pathetic, you all know that look....watery eyes, chapped nose and upper lip, and the nasally voice that no one can understand. Nothing like a good cold to put the brakes on one's indoor seed sowing and canning intentions. I would scatter seeds and dusty soil-less mix with every sneeze. Gathering supplies out in the cold shed is not so appealing. Trying to make a final decision on what tomato varieties to sow is not so appealing. Juggling hot jars and boiling liquids is not so appealing. Hmph.

This lack of gardening happenings is however, a good opportunity to do something else I have been meaning to do, which is to show you all a fun gift I received over Christmas:

Those are not candy coated confections, but instead are clay and compost coated seeds. My sister thoughtfully chose the 'Herbal Tea Selection', and I just think this garden candy is fabulous!

Lemon Balm, Stinging Nettle, Borage, and Chamomile bon bons. These garden truffles have even been dusted with things like coffee, pepper, and cinnamon- the creators organic method of trying to keep pests from enjoying your garden confections.

Love it!

Hammering out the details.....

2011-01-16T08:59:00.000-05:00

Has anyone else out there had some heirloom tomato varieties go awry?

I have two varieties I grew out last year, one received in an on-line trade ("Pink Brandywine"), the other purchased from a small professional heirloom seed saver ("Amazon Chocolate"), that should have been potato leafed, but were not. I know various genetic traits can be expressed in unstable varieties, and also, mis-labeling on seed the packet and on my end can certainly occur. The problem is that this leaves me wondering what I actually grew. And asking questions, like will the seeds I saved produce the same strain or will something new be expressed? Will the original seed packet produce the same crop as the first?

None of these worries are large, but when a gardener is only growing 2 slicing tomato varieties, that gardener does not have room for experimentation. (At least I don't!) So, I am just wondering as I get set up to start seeds today, and am finalizing the varieties to be sown, does anyone else have this problem often, or is it a rare occurrence?

And if you experience this, is it only with 'saved seed', or do commercial heirloom seeds sometimes become unstable genetically as well?

Bread Trials

2011-01-14T13:16:00.001-05:00

If only you all could smell my house right now. This bread baking is not good for the diet. My stomach is rumbling, and my mouth is watering over the aroma of baking bread. I was inspired to get off my heiny and bake a loaf after reading the latest bread post by Thomas over at A Growing Tradition on his whole wheat baguettes. They look a-m-a-z-i-n-g.

I bought the Tassajara Bread Book book quite some time ago, with the intention of baking from scratch more often. But I just hadn't gotten around to actually trying a recipe. My yeast in the freezer is at least 2 years old, and my supply of flours is nothing to brag about, but no matter, I started off with a simple white whole wheat loaf. (http://www.amazon.com/Tassajara-Bread-Book-Edward-Brown/dp/157062089X)

After careful mixing, kneading, rising, punching, rising, more kneading, and lastly, more rising, the dough was plopped into my favorite pan ever (an Emile Henry dutch oven) and put in the oven.

(Before being set in a cozy place to rise.)

(Before going in the oven.)

After 30 minutes I checked on the loaf and much to my surprise it had risen up to the lid as it baked, luckily it didn't stick- what a waste of a morning that would have been! So I hindered the full rising of this bread by putting it the dutch oven (who's purpose is to lend a nice, crunchy crust), and the recipe isn't intended to be an artisan loaf in the first place, so I think that was just a poor decision on my part overall.

(See all those 'dots' on the loaf? They are the impression of underside of the lid. Whoopsy!)

Ahh, the joyous lessons of bread baking, lets just hope she tastes half as good as she smells!!

Peachy-Keen

2011-01-10T18:14:00.000-05:00

I finally dug the in-season-frozen peaches out of the freezer today and put them to good use. The stars aligned and I had clean jars, all necessary ingredients, time, and motivation at hand. Back when it was peach season I was in no mood to can. Now in the cold months of winter I get exited about boiling water and simmering down jams and relishes for 40 minutes over the stove. Very excited. Today I made "Sun Relish" (peaches and peppers) and "Peach Lavender Jam", both from this cookbook:

Amazon.com: The Complete Book of Year-Round Small-Batch Preserving: Over 300 Delicious Recipes (9781552094891): Ellie Topp, Margaret Howard: Books

Still have blueberries and strawberries waiting in the freezer, but that will have to wait for another day.

Sun Relish reducing:

The finished product ready for a taste test. The book suggests serving with things like

cheddar or cream cheese. I am also thinking it would compliment some Mahi Mahi burgers.

The empty jam pot. The steeping lavender smelled amazing,

and the resulting jam is both unusual and delicious. I am dying to try it on a warm biscuit or pop-over.

Yummy.

Sun Relish- Makes 4 cups; recipe courtesy of The Complete Book of Small Batch Preserving.

6 peaches (peeled, pitted and chopped)

6 sweet yellow, and 1 hot yellow pepper (seeded & chopped)

1 lemon, halved

1/2 C white wine vinegar

2 1/2 C granulated sugar

1 1/2 tsp pickling salt

Place peaches, peppers, lemon and vinegar in saucepan. Bring to a boil over med-high heat, reduce heat and boil gently, uncovered for 30 minutes, or until softened. Remove and discard lemon, addsugar and salt; return to a boil. Cook, uncovered, for about 20 minutes until mixture thickens stirring frequently. (Note: I had to reduce for much longer, probably because I started with frozen peaches.)

Ladle into jars leaving 1/2 inch head space; process 10 minutes for half-pint, or 15 minutes for pint jars.

HAPPY CANNING!

New Garden Goodies

2011-01-04T09:57:00.000-05:00

I ordered some supplies from Lee Valley, and I can't wait to put them to use! First, I ordered a bulb sprayer/duster. This I plan on using with my kaolin clay as a non-harmful pesticide on the apple trees and cole crops. From what I understand the clay basically tricks the pests into not liking their chosen crop, the layer of clay on the leaves or fruit fools them a bit. I also ordered some three and four-arm cane connectors for constructing cages to hold bird netting over the strawberries, blueberries, etc....

(Yes, my coffee table is clean though it looks filthy. The finish is just beyond 'used and abused'.)

(photos taken from Lee Valley on-line catalog)

The kids have taken to the rubber cane connectors within minutes of the package being opened, turns out they double as building blocks on the off season. :)

New Beginings

2011-01-02T08:10:00.000-05:00

I had started working on a photographic walk through of last year's garden days ago, but I just lost motivation half-way through.

Yesterday evening I couldn't help but peruse the web for cooking/canning/gardening books that I had yet to discover I could not live without. I of course found a few. Christmas cash is always a good excuse to update my library! I ordered a couple of things and one book is on reserve for pick-up at the book store. I was taken aback by all the new books on preserving and cooking with fresh garden ingredients, I guess the publishers are finally catching up with the times. Here is what I decided on:

Amazon.com: Saving the Seasons: How to Can, Freeze, or Dry Almost Anything (9780836195125): Mary Clemens Meyer, Susanna Meyer: Books

Amazon.com: Canning for a New Generation: Bold, Fresh Flavors for the Modern Pantry (9781584798644): Liana Krissoff, Rinne Allen: Books

Amazon.com: Fast, Fresh & Green (9780811865661): Susie Middleton: Books

Amazon.com: A Homemade Life: Stories and Recipes from My Kitchen Table (9781616877323): Molly Wizenberg: Books

The first book linked is from the Simply In Season and More with Less people, and I can not express how excited I am to see it since I love that series of books. The recipes in the Fast, Fresh, and Green seem to be just what I am after....simple recipes using ingredients I have out in the garden at any given moment. I am sure many of these new recipes will be posted here over the next gardening season.

And lastly, I went to bed and dreamed of chard and mixed greens last night. Rows of bright, beautiful Rainbow Chard. Tossing together bowls of mixed greens and simple vinaigrettes.....yummm. My garden fantasies have officially begun!

Winter Wonderland

2010-12-28T08:33:00.000-05:00

This was taken in the first few hours of blizzard before the wind picked up.....

it was just gorgeous out there! An unusual sight to have lost the visual depth of the woods to snow. A few lone juncos were the only birds out and about.

Merry Christmas

2010-12-24T16:31:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas gardening friends! I hope your day is filled with plentiful food, good drink, and LOVE.

A New Favorite Salad

2010-12-18T18:40:00.000-05:00

I went to a potluck dinner this week, and someone brought a most delicious salad. It was so delicious that I just had to go and make it immediately, and I think it will be a part of the Christmas Day menu. I thought I would share it with you all. Pecans were substituted for walnuts, and next time around I will be sure to keep the squash pieces nice and small, maybe more like 1/2-3/4 inch dice. My photo is not very impressive, the salad was tossed and served in my salad spinner with dinner this evening.....and this is all that was left when I thought to take a picture:

Roasted Butternut Squash Salad

with Warm Cider Vinaigrette Recipe

In other news, my daughter had her first haircut (at three-and-a-half), and we have been forced to do some window replacement on our 15 year old house (GGRRR!) due to rotten sills, (due to the worst windows ever manufactured)- so it has been an exciting week. I won't even tell you how many more windows we have left to replace. If the previous owners are ever within arms reach I will slap them. Hard.

Luckily the wee one was very happy with her 'trim', and wanted to show everyone her lock of lopped off hair.

"The Super" is pictured above assessing the situation.

We have some paint samples up on the wall, cause ya know....might as well paint the damn room since we are already making a mess of things. I am thinking the bright blue, second from the bottom.

The men are getting ready to rip out the old and are assessing the extent of the rot, things were still looking bright at this point:

And then, not so much.

Two of the three windows had leaked for long enough that there was rot to be fixed in the siding. Luckily the sides of the house are shakes, things won't be this easy if there is rot on the front of the house as well. (I didn't take a picture of the 'before', I am not looking to remember the sight of my naked house, plumbing and framing exposed to all.)

And now for the big reveal........

3 NEW WEATHER-TIGHT WINDOWS!!! (YAY!)

Phew, thank-goodness for good help. Three down, too many &*#*ing more to go.

Some Garden Sketches

2010-12-15T09:21:00.000-05:00

I have been trying to lay out the coming year's garden. Now that the new beds are in things can be tweaked and finalized. This first sketch was done in attempt to squeeze in lots of tomatoes. I think the plants would be too closely spaced the way I have it laid out. This first sketch contains the following:

Garlic- 2 beds

Berries- 2 beds

Greens- 3 small plots

Peas- 2 beds

The remainder of the space is filled by rhubarb, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, and a couple of green bean and pepper plants. The potatoes will be in grow bags and another small raised bed that resides outside the fence.

Of coarse, the new garden looks a bit different then this initial sketch. We did add a new long bed in front, but in a different spot/different dimensions, and we will be adding another bed which will function as a permanent grow house/cold frame come Spring.

Okay, on to the second round of sketches, the ones I will likely tweak and plant by (these are for my 3 available 3'5" x 6' beds). Oh, and please ignore my directional notations, they are not correct for what I currently have in place. The beds I have available run East/West; I have not drawn up the new bed however, which does in fact run North/South....so I have some slight revisions to do.

Bed 1: tomato, pepper, basil, and greens.

Bed 2: tomato, eggplant, basil, and more greens.

Bed 3: peas.

Back to the drawing boards for me, it would be grand to get proper sketches done asap so I can get on with my non-gardening life for a few short weeks before it is time for January/February seed starting. I need to run outside and measure the new beds. Brrrrr.

How is your garden planning going?

Wrapping up the old year, planning for the new!

2010-12-06T15:55:00.000-05:00

I have taken a bit of a blog-acation. It has been nice, though I am feeling very out of touch with my fellow garden bloggers. Hope you all are doing well, staying healthy, and enjoying the seed catalogs as they stream in.

I did some ordering this past week, it was all about tubers. Sweet and 'Irish' potatoes have been checked off the list. Georgia Jets and Vardaman (a bush variety) were ordered for sweets, Swedish Peanut Fingerling, Caribe, and Red Cloud for the standard potato varieties. I started with a few more pounds of seed for this past year's crop, but as I have mentioned just a few (wink, wink) times in the past I am short on space going forth.....so the varieties and total pounds of seed were slashed for 2011. But no worries, I plan on going back to full scale potato production for 2012, so that helps make it a little less painful.

Still deliberating over eggplant varieties. Oh, also ordered some Red Baron onion sets to plant in the new garlic bed. I believe I grew this variety from seed in the past, but the sets were available from Moose Tubers (my potato source) so I went for it. It will be good for the soil biology to have something growing in it until garlic planting time.

Here is the dirt on the potato varieties from Fedco/Moose Tubers:

Swedish Peanut

These fingerlings were the pleasant surprise in our potato patch this year. We’ve come to expect that our late-season fingerlings will be troubled by rhizoctonia, but these proved otherwise. One September, we pulled ten plants and filled a bushel with spotless thumb-sized spuds, even late in the season. As for taste, it is the only potato that we let ourselves eat before it goes to market. Dry and golden flesh; this year’s pick for “really soaking up the butter.” Seed in short supply; order early. BACK!

Caribe

An early digger, and a nice size. Its brilliant purple skin fades in storage, but you won’t have any left to store! For a summer barbecue, make your potato salad shout with Caribe, Red Gold, and a Yukon or two. Even though its name, pronounced ca-REE-bay, invokes the Caribbean, it was released by AgCanada in 1984 to grow in the Maritime provinces so it’s also well suited to our northeastern climate. Caribe has a creamy flavor, a medium-dry texture, and snow-white flesh. You can dig them late into the season, just make sure you hill well, and you will get some gigantors. Medium-sized plants are high yielding with purplish blue flowers. Resistant to scab and storage rot.

Red Cloud

An excellent choice for a red storage potato. With super-dry flesh, your mouth will water as you mash and fluff these pearly white potaters. Named for the Oglala Sioux chief, you will find these plants equally burly, resisting scab, early blight, hollow heart, heat stress, and drought. These plants are medium sized, with spreading vines and dark violet flowers. Supply limited; order early. BACK!

Leftover Turkey: Its still all about the sauce.

2010-11-22T12:19:00.001-05:00

A couple of months ago I made cranberry sauce for the first time. It was easy, it tasted divine, and we have been needing some turkey to go with it for some time now. For more on that (including the recipe), go here. So, we have some turkey, a vegetable pie, and cranberry sauce for a couple of nights. But now it is time to deal with the leftovers. I only had about 2 cups of turkey left, so I decided to make a salad out of it, and the guest star is..........THE SAUCE!

I winged the recipe based off of things seen and eaten in the past. Turkey, mayo, celery, salt, pepper, thyme, sage, nuts (I used raw cashews because it was all I had, but walnuts or pecans are also good), and the leftover cranberry sauce. Yum. The chunks and spicy-sweet flavor totally make the salad. This is, in my opinion, way better than any turkey salad with dried cranberries in it. It is a bit more like a turkey & stuffing sandwich in flavor, probably due to the similar sweetness form a sauced cranberry vs. a dried. I think it will become a permanent way to use up turkey in my house. Just thought I would share.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving everyone!!

An update....

2010-11-18T09:35:00.000-05:00

I am still reading, still educating myself and I came across this blog, with a post titled Keep Mansanto out of your garden, which has Johnny's Seminis seed list cut way down from the 2009 data I had read a few days ago. This makes me happy. One reader's comment really struck me and I want to share it with you:

Mark M. - "I think it’s great that people are making wise consumer choices, and I’m comforted that so many people are reacting with their hard earned dollars to avoid Monsanto products. But your use of the phrase Monsanto-Seminis is a bit misleading.
Seminis was previously owned by an eccentric Mexican billionaire, who sought to buy up many, many seed production companies from around the world, not just in North America. Some of these (Peto Seeds, for instance) had been in operation for decades prior to Seminis’ purchase of them. The fields (and farmers) that grew seeds for Peto, now just grew them for Seminis. Same high quality, often organically grown, and this trade allowed for seed farmers to make a competitive buck growing and breeding top-of-the-line vegetable seeds. Seminis actually promoted genetic diversity in seeds, and came to control production on (as you say) some of the golden standards in garden seeds.
There is no question that Monsanto has purchased and now controls Seminis, but Seminis operates as a division of Monsanto, and still relies on contracts with the same grower families that provided seeds for Peto and so many others. Seminis sells seeds. Monsanto’s chemical divisions sell the GM products, and after all, Monsanto is a chemical company, just like Bayer and Syngenta, and many others who have invested in seed production.
So the misleading element here is to suggest that small seed companies that still carry the Seminis products are somehow on the payroll or in cahoots with Monsanto – which is inaccurate. Also inaccurate is the general assumption that all these seeds are suddenly genetically modified. Of course they’re not! They’ve made money over the years because of good breeding, not laboratory tampering. A blinkered boycott of all Seminis products will simply put a lot of farming families out of business. This is not a defense of Monsanto, but your readers should be better informed before they jump on the bandwagon that paints Monsanto (tellingly deleted above) as the Devil.
It might be a poster child for evil corporatism and dubious science – that’s not my beef. But be aware that if you’re wearing denim right now, or if you own a pair of jeans bought in the last ten years, you’re wearing Monsanto’s roundup-ready cotton, and you’ve paid for it. And it is industrially grown crops like cotton (as well as soy – for those of you who enjoy tofu, miso, etc…) that directly contribute money to Monsanto, unlike buying a packet of garden seeds that benefits Seminis (by possibly a penny) and the growers who produce the seeds.
I hear these discussions all the time, and really think the conversation should be expanded and kept in check. Again, informed consumers can make a difference, which is a good thing. Partially informed consumers just make partially informed choices.
For the record, I do not work for Seminis and would never apologize for Monsanto – I’m just trying to shine a more full-spectrum light on this very common debate that is raging about garden seeds."

This mention of denim and other food products is what I have been fighting with myself over, why punish myself and Johnny's over a measly packet of seeds when there are so many other objects I don't boycott? But it was the farmer part that got me. Seminis was/is known for growing high quality seeds, and if there are good farmers behind those seeds I don't want to punish them either. I think my decision has been made. I love seed saving, but I also love the development of new varieties, especially those that will put more food on my family's table. That is after all why I do this gardening thing. Now back to the catalogs! ;)

Food for Thought, The Morality of Buying Seeds

2010-11-17T09:39:00.001-05:00

You know the saying "ignorance is bliss"? Well I tend to believe in that one 100%. Take for instance my latest 'discovery'........when googling Hansel and Fairytale in an effort to decide on which seed variety to order from Johnny's Selected Seeds, I came across a list of 40 varieties that Seminis supplied to them in 2009, and both varieties were on it. As you may already know Seminis is Mansanto owned. I knew Johnny's had one leg in bed with Mansanto from this connection, but I also knew the majority of their seeds come from other sources, and they have been making an effort to replace the Seminis varieties with an alternatives when they can, so it was not enough to scare me away from an otherwise fantastic company. The bottom line is that Johnny's is there to provide seeds to us consumers, and if small farmers and home gardeners want and love Fairytale Eggplant, than somebody is going to sell the seed to us, and I am glad they do. It is all about choices people, and I like having them.

(Reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle made me look into this quite a while back. I am huge Kingsolver fan, but I think she unfairly exaggerated the connection between Mansanto and many small seed companies in her book. For anyone interested in learning more about this there is some reading to be done, I will post links at the bottom of the page.)

So here is where my conscience comes into play.......I have been ordering from various seed sources over the years, and I tend to spread my seed buying dollars around. Baker Creek, Fedco, and Johnny's are my top three favorites and I frequent them the most when adding to my 'personal stash'. Johnny's is the only one with big "M" tie, the others refuse to play that game......but Johnny's also offers many F1 varieties the other catalogs don't, and for a small gardener like me, that is advantageous. So this coming year I am short on space, more than usual. And I know I can only grow one eggplant. So I want a dwarf, high yielding variety- and guess who owns all the patents on that category? Yup. Seminis/Mansanto. And now I know.

So you might say 'well duh, just order something else'. And I probably will do this, or just use OP seed I already have and expect lower yields from my single plant. But then I got to thinking about all of those veggies I buy at farm stands and farmer's markets. I know I have bought these little AAS winning hybrid eggplants in the past. What else am I buying from Mansanto, knowingly or not?

Anything non-organic that comes in a box or bag has an almost certain chance of coming from Mansanto corn, soy, or canola. The *&%! is in everything. Which brings me back around to voting everyday with my dollar. I choose pay more for organic food because I care where it comes from, care what was put out in the environment in order to grow it, and I don't want to feed GMO crap to my kids, period. But lets be honest, I have no-name brand canola oil in the cabinet and occasionally a bag of Doritos makes it into the shopping cart. So do I avoid the seed variety I want because the $2.00 I spend on it has some percentage being kicked back to the big monster for royalties on the patent on principle, or do I support a local seed company I believe in, and grow the dang veggies I want? And now that I have been connecting all the dots, do I ask growers where the seed comes from before buying their produce at the market? One could certainly get carried away with all of this. What do you think? Where do you stand with all of this, does it even concern you?

Thank-Goodness for Recycled Materials

2010-11-15T08:27:00.001-05:00

Occasionally over the years a truck bed full of discarded cobbles gets delivered to my yard. That makes me VERY happy. Then there is Manny (I refer to him as 'my fairy-garden father' in my own head). His tree-cutting labor, advice, and piles of delivered loam and compost have helped every landscape project we have ever done come together better. He is the deliverer of juicy summertime watermelons too. Oh, and that box of potatoes you all saw back in the recent pantry post. I mention Manny because his piles of dirt once again helped us out this weekend as we created some planting space in (and outside) the garden.

As anyone who read my last post knows, I am running out of planting space for next year. We bought more fence to expand the growing area. We sketched out and staked out some various bed options, and this what we decided on yesterday:

A long run utilizing most of the newly created space, with room for the permanent coldframe(s) left at the end.

And a new allium bed, which had to go outside of the fence. I will deal with keeping dogs out come spring, most likely with an inexpensive, low, mesh fencing/border type material. We made sure to lay the cobbles in a way that allow us to add one more standard fence panel and enclose it with the rest of the garden if need be in the future. Utilizing the cobbles and donated dirt/compost meant building these beds required no out of pocket cost (YAY!) other than the peat I will need to go out and buy this week in order to keep building the 'lasagna' layers. That is a very good thing.

So, to sum it all up we ran two new cobble beds that still need fillin' and hillin'. The dirt will require hilling within the cobbles so I can get 6-8 inches of depth in the beds. Here is a shot of the whole garden from above (note the extra fence panel at the back-right corner along the edge of the cobbles, that is where we may need to move the border to next year):

This new square footage will allow me to grow more than peas and greens for next year (though not much more), and in 2012 I will be in good shape when I sow my garlic in the new allium bed vs the space it is in now. (I hope to post a sowing list and planting sketches soon for my own reference.)

To think this is what we started with a couple of years ago; much smaller, yet somehow I still grew quite a variety. I guess my blog title was a bit of an omen, lol:

I am so thankful for the ability to keep my garden growing.

Mulling Over Garden Plans & A Permanent Coldframe

2010-11-14T10:34:00.001-05:00

Yesterday was beautiful, and we spent the day doing yard and garden clean-up. The dahlias and glads were dug, more mulch was laid in the garden beds, and some raspberries were transplanted. We mulled over the new square footage available after a recent increase to the perimeter of the fence, and the digging up of a few raspberries.

Right now I am thinking that I want one new bed to built as a permanent 3.5 x 6 foot coldfarme some time between now and February so it can be put to use come March. Also, we will create a long narrow raised bed over the coming days/weeks using the lasagna method (no frames for now) and see how much sun it gets, and how it fits my gardening needs before making a permanent raised bed structure next year, or the year fater. The fence was quite costly, and building a new coldframe will not be inexpensive either, so I have already sunk more money than I would like into the garden going into the 2011 season.

I found a large A-frame style coldframe I really like , there is a photo of it here. The other option is to use the one I already have, and build another small unit next to it; if going with this plan both frames would need to be set on a raised structure of some sort since there currently there is only lawn in it's destined area.

Here is the currant frame seen below sitting atop a raised bed, there are some pea greens growing in there now. No matter the design, I plan on having multiple covers to change out seasonally such as plastic, shade cloth, and row cover or bug netting so that cole crops can be grown directly in place with some pest protection, and seedlings can be raised through the warmer months for transplant into the main beds at later dates. If my garden wasn't over the septic system I would dig the coldframe into the earth a bit for better temperature regulation, but I unfortunately don't have that option.

I have been sketching up various planting plans for next year, and anyway I slice it I just don't have much space available. Right now I have only 63 square feet of bed unoccupied going into the 2011 season. Y-Y-Y-YIKES! The new beds will help some, but I will still only be around 100 square feet in total. This reduced square footage means I have to plant much less than I have in the past. Like 4 tomatoes instead of 12. One pepper instead of 5 or 6. No carrots, or cucumbers. :(

I plan on sowing garlic around the inside of the fence line next fall (yes, that means creating yet another raised bed, and I am kicking myself for not coming up with this idea a month ago, but it will free up 32 square feet of space for other crops). If I get a nice blueberry and strawberry harvest come summer I will likely keep them in the vegetable garden permanently. If critters still get all my berries I will move them back out or quit attempting to grow them in the first place. We buy so much fruit, from a financial stand point it makes sense to sacrifice vegetable production in effort to buy less fruit at the farmstand, as the veggies are less expensive.

I need to go back through my old posts and try to remember how I layered the materials when we made new beds this Spring. The soil in the sweet potato bed is the best of any of the raised beds as far as tilth goes, and all of the newer beds seemed to supply plenty of nutrients for first year beds as well. I know peat, straw, cardboard, dog and rabbit feed, compost, and soil went in among other things, but the details are fuzzy. Time to head back out to the garden and start shoveling some dirt!

Finn and Loch, this ones for you!

2010-11-12T20:57:00.000-05:00

Erin over at Garden Now-Think Later mentioned wishing there was an alpaca farm locally so she could show her boys. We are lucky enough to have a wonderful hobby farm nearby, and went on a field-trip there in August so I thought I would post pictures here for her boys to see, a little alpaca show-and-tell. Absolutely nothing 'garden' about this post. :)

Here are 2 females trying to stay cool. Both are pregnant, but the white one was literally due when we were there, if you look at their bellies you can see the difference.

(Sadly she had a stillbirth days later, the owner believes due to the nasty heat.)

The other alpacas were kept separate from the two expecting gals. Here they are coming over to greet us, they knew treats were coming! (This was also where the spitting event took place... for those that don't know, alpacas spit a fine stinky mist in the air when hot and bothered. We were inside the fence and somebody was feeling a bit crowded and shot one off into the alpaca crowd. They scattered in a hurry. Luckily no small children were trampled (or caught in the mist), but we promptly vacated the area, lol.)

We all got a kick out this fella seen above, he just couldn't be bothered to stand.

There are different grades of alpaca fur, and some animals are naturally softer than others. In addition to this the coarseness etc. the feel of the fiber differs from where the fur was harvested from (neck, side, leg). Some is quite soft, and other areas are quite scratchy, only the finest grades are used for clothing.

You can see how soft that yarn was- fuzzy, silky, and super-cozy! An example of something made with the coarse fibers next.....

I will post a few more pictures of the animals and their barn, they were so fun to see. Hope you enjoyed the pictures guys. :)

This alpaca wanted to see what was going on next door....he may have been checking in on the ladies.

(Erin- I mentioned that communal potty spot on your blog, one was here in the barn and they stood there FOREVER eliminating; then the next one would move in to the 'dung pile'. Potty talk, boys dig it.)

Let it......snow!

2010-11-08T08:35:00.000-05:00

**(I must ask that you pardon my picture. I had oral surgery on Friday and am heavily medicated, lol,- so I found the nearest window and snapped a quick photo.)**

We went from a late first frost, to an early first snow fall.

My daughter said she heard Santa's reindeer last night.

My son started shouting "Yay! Christmas is here!".

I am thinking about the lack of straw cover on my strawberries.

The white stuff has caused quite a ruckus in my house this morning.

New Plans and Storage Crops

2010-11-04T10:13:00.000-04:00

I have been sketching out plans for the 2011 garden already since we need to build some new beds, and I am still lacking space (of course- is it ever enough?). This means I must prioritize what I want to grow, and weigh that against what I should grow. Taking stock of what I have sitting in my pantry yesterday was insightful, and it will help me assign crop space for next year . There is a decent amount of food put by in canning jars and freezer bags as well, though much of it is fruit we picked elsewhere. I have herbs, kale, green beans, tomatoes/tomato products, pesto, raspberries, and currants from my own garden stashed in the freezer. Relishes, sauces, jams etc. are on the shelves, but it is the for a pantry I am interested in. Those high calorie, get-you-through-the-winter roots.

Here she is, my mixed bag of tricks "pantry":

China, stem-ware, animal chow, and dirty vegetables!

Now for the walk through.....what is left of my globe onions:

(I am not going to bother growing these next year,

space is at a premium and onions I can buy anywhere.)

Garlic braids are hanging, and I also have an allium drawer with shallots, a few heads of garlic,

and more red onions, some of them globe, some of them a long heirloom variety:

(Onions are not my best crop.)

Next are the potatoes, and they are everywhere. The bag holds my fingerlings,

and the box holds potatoes from a friend's garden.

This drawer has Purple Viking, Keuka Gold, Red Cloud, and Russets:

Sweets:

And that is it. No winter squashes from my garden unfortunately. I have made peace with the need to just buy them from others. A friend and I split a bushel of butternuts from a local farm, so I have a small stash to admire and cook up as I please (and an acorn with a price tag, sigh):

So would you all make my week and post what you have for storage crops, and how you store them?
Canned goods and stocked freezers are always fun to see too.
Share your thoughts on the amounts you grow, what you are pleased with, and what you would like to improve upon. Winter will quickly be upon us and we will dreaming of digging the earth again come spring, so link your posts in the comments section and show us whatcha got!!

First Frost

2010-11-03T09:12:00.000-04:00

It feels like November in New England. The fire is burning,

cozy boots are on,

the bird feeder has been filled,

and the trees are looking bare.

AND.......

we had our first frost last night. Soon I will be digging dahlias- YAY!

***

Looks like my timing was just right yesterday when I harvested some more rosemary, sage, and chives for freezing. (For more information on that go here.) I also picked some orange thyme and threw them in the container as they were rather than stripping the leaves. Lazy gardener.

I tried my hand at rosemary propagation (again). Last year my first attempt at rosemary cuttings failed, but it was a bit haphazard. This year I did it the "right way", no shortcuts. Fingers crossed.

The pots were filled with a 50/50 mix of peat and a perlite substitute (I had some vermiculite mixture on hand). Then 2-3 inch cuttings were taken and stripped of bottom leaves before being dipped in rooting hormone.

In the pot they went and the tops were pinched back to promote branching. I have them under a cloche in attempt to keep them from being dried to a crispy death by the wood stove.

***

Yesterday was a busy day on the homestead. The kitchen was put to good use with a pot of lentil-vegetable soup on the stove-top, and a chard tart, roasted potatoes, and Halloween Cookies in the oven.

(Chard Trat Recipe HERE.)

LaRatte Fingerlings & Baby Georgia Jets

A concentrating three year old.

I love cooking a meal centered around home grown produce!

I also took stock of my current stash from the garden. The results are not bad, but I will post on that another day- this entry is lengthy enough already!! While writing this my son spied a bird through one of the sky-lights....this thing is big and beautiful! It doesn't appear to be a Red Tail (our usual hawk in the trees) at first glance, we will need to do a bit of investigation. The quality is not great, but that is what happens when you zoom through a screened bathroom sky-light. Majestic isn't it?

(Here is another shot for scale, this was a good sized hawk sitting in a tree that dwarfs my 2 story house.)

Happy Halloween (a day late), and is it really NOVEMBER!?!?

2010-11-01T08:47:00.001-04:00

We are a little behind in celebrating our usual Halloween traditions. The kids did their trick-or-treating last night, but the pumpkins have not been carved, and the sugar-cookie dough is still wrapped in waxed paper in the fridge waiting to be rolled, pressed, and decorated into jack-o-lanterns and ghosts.

And this is why:

(I took this from inside the house this morning, it is just too cold to set foot outside before the morning coffee has been finished.)

A newly stained shed, two coats.

And this, a newly expanded garden fence.

We went out to the right one section, and came 2 sections towards the house.

It was a mad dash to get the stain on before the weather went into the 30's at night, and boy did we just make it! Do you like my blue door? I agonized over that one for about 24 hours before deciding to go for it. I am so glad I did! (It is a very close match to the paint on my front door, though one will never see both at the same time since the back of the shed faces the street.)

***

I am a day late, but happy Halloween just the same!!

(It is almost cookie time here at my house.)

Edit: As sit here under my blanket this morning reading the blogs, waiting for the heat to warm the house my dog keeps chucking a pheasant head in my lap. Lol. Nothing like a slobbery decapitated head being thrown your way over and over again. If you look closely to the right you may see the beast with her nose close by, just waiting for me to chuck what she has brought me.......my camera just happened to be here, so I thought I would share a slice of life with a labrador with you all. :)

Buttoning up the Garden

2010-10-24T18:54:00.001-04:00

Slowly over the last couple of weeks we have been getting ready for winter in the garden. Garlic was sown, strawberry runners were transplanted into the kitchen garden in hopes of actually being able to eat some before the critters do next year, and the lowbush blueberries were also transferred over into the raised beds (which they share with strawberries). We will cage and net fruit in the raised beds next year. (The three beds pictured below house garlic, strawberries, dahlias, chard, and lowbush blueberries. The dahlia tubers will be dug for winter after a killing frost.)

We also ripped out the tomatoes and planted the two new apple trees. Limb cuttings stake the whips, which will be pruned into a double horizontal espalier next year. We will add in a new bed or two and expand the fencing by spring in attempt to compensate for all the kitchen garden square footage being dedicated to fruit production for 2011. I may not get full sun in any new beds, but greens will tolerate those conditions so one way or another it will all work out.....I will greatly miss "tomato alley". It is now "apple alley", with some grow space for shorter crops on either side of the trees.

BEFORE: A newly constructed, newly planted 'tomato alley' back in May of this year:

AFTER: The newly transformed "apple alley" (with some newly propagated red and black raspberry canes heeled in for winter):

We had no choice but to enclose the new apples after learning the hard way this year that one of my dogs likes to eat baby apples off trees. Sigh, she also likes blueberries and strawberries. The new location will keep away the canine bandit, leaving us with all of winter to come up with a plan to keep away the rodent, bird, and bug bandits as well. The raspberries were propagated by sticking growing tips into grow-bags of compost this summer after the potatoes were harvested. They rooted like crazy and surely didn't appreciate being torn up and out today....fingers crossed I didn't do irreparable damage moving them out of the grow-bags and into containers to bury for winter.

The coldframe was erected, and the greens were hooped and covered today as well. Here is a side, and bird's eye view of the fall garden:

I think the new bed will be 2 feet wide and run horizontally just in front of the current fence line where the potato grow-bags were all summer (see all the round brown patches?), that is likely my best bet for full sun.

***

The citrus trees were moved indoors this week, and the little fig

will be going in the basement for wintering over soon.

I spotted this stranded bumble on a dahlia while I was photographing the garden earlier, I think the dropping temps had it grounded. I snipped the flower and the bee is inside in a critter cage to be set free in the morning if it survives the night, it has been moving around since being warmed by the house so our fingers are crossed.

***

I am off to peruse the 2011 catalogs (yes, they are arriving already!)- we are going to plant some more fruit between the road and the shed and see what happens, those newly rooted raspberry canes will hopefully survive the winter and go in over there, along with a gooseberry or two, maybe even some more highbush blueberries if I go really nuts! ;) We are stretching our options to the limits in order to capture any more square footage with sun, the area behind the shed gets morning light only, but we are hoping it will be enough to produce fruit.

HAPPY GARDENING!

Big Horse Creek

2010-10-22T16:48:00.001-04:00

My apple trees arrived today, and the folks at Big Horse Creek Farm put a smile on my face. It all started the first week of January when I placed an order for two apple trees. BHCF will custom grow your variety on your chosen rootstock. The trees are just about a year old now and are literally sticks. In the first picture my fingers are on the taller of the two 'sticks'. ( My thumb is on the support stake.) The second photograph shows the graft site on both trees. I am very excited to have these babies, and I know with proper care and some luck they will put on beautiful growth come spring.

Now I was already thrilled to have my trees arrive, this wait has been close to that of human gestation, lol. So imagine my joy when I found this along with the 3 pages of care & planting instructions:

Inside was an envelope with $3.00 tucked in and a note to "buy myself a gourmet cup of coffee"....well Ron & Suzanne- that is exactly what I will do!! (The refund was given as a result of one of the trees being slightly smaller than their standard. Now that is great customer care.)

So if anyone reading this is ever having an urge to plant some heirloom apple trees, please don't overlook this little company that truly cares about growing a healthy tree, and treating their customers right.

(P.S.- these trees are Hightop Sweet and Westfield Seek-No-Further, both on dwarf Bud 9 rootstock.)

Another green tomato recipe, and its a keeper!

2010-10-21T18:19:00.001-04:00

I tried a new recipe today, and I am so glad I did! The recipe can be found over at Farmgirl Fare, and it is for a sugar-free green tomato relish/salsa/sauce. I can't stop dipping tortilla chips in the pot. Do I even bother canning the stuff? It may not last long enough, lol. The recipe calls for green tomatoes, but there are also many onions & garlic, some peppers, and a green apple thrown in for good measure. Erin, this recipe may be perfect for you, especially if you kick-it-up a notch......I halved the cumin and (seeded) jalapenos called for in the original recipe and it still holds a nice little punch. Now, I must warn you that there is a very distinctive vinegar taste to this sauce, but hubby and I totally approve! (Edit: Note to self- small dice jalapenos added *after* pureeing, not before)

The Final Countdown

2010-10-17T20:20:00.044-04:00

The garden season really is coming to an end for me. Though my tomatoes continue to produce, some of the fruit is diseased as of late so a fair amount of what I pick gets chucked. Peppers are still coming in, but probably not for long with the continually cool temperatures, and I harvested the first of my leeks today. (I remembered to take a picture, but only after they had been trimmed and rinsed.) I think I need to be better at hilling them up, so much of the leek was green, and too little was white. Maybe I tried 'blanching' them too late in the season?

I also made my first batch of pickled jalapenos tonight, I have never had them before but they look so good when others make them. I am sure they will be enjoyed on nachos all winter long.

The mustard greens and chard are covered in spiders, it really has become quite annoying to pick off so many spiders in order to have a salad. Icky. Icky as in the eight I flicked, shook off, and rescued from a sure drowning death during the harvest, sorting, and soaking of the salad I made today. Icky.

That about sums it all up on my end, I have been way too busy, and miss keeping up with everyone's garden happenings. I hope to catch up with what you all have been doing later on this week, and I hope you are enjoying the new season and all that it brings. Happy Gardening!

TIME TO PLANT THE GAH-LIC

2010-10-06T08:55:00.000-04:00

(This psot was written days ago, but I just never got around to publishing it.)

Yup, it is October, and it is getting cold. Time to get those cloves in the ground. Last week I gave the potato onions a home, this week it is garlic's turn. I had read a very informative piece over at Daphne's Dandelions a few days ago, and I think I will try one of her methods which involves peeling and soaking your cloves before planting them out. Daphne claims great success with this method, so now I just need to go check the proof on my bottle of vodka and decide which cloves will the best for seed. The trouble is that a large head of garlic doesn't always mean large cloves are inside, in fact many of my small heads have few, but large cloves. From what I understand, the larger the clove the better when it comes to next year's crop.

I ordered some hardneck garlic (German Extra Hardy), and will also be planting 3 other varieties that were harvested from the garden this year (a mystery farmer's market variety, Chet's Italian Red, and Inchelium Red- both softnecks).

**UPDATE** I did in fact soak the cloves in a baking soda mixture w/ some minerals and seaweed, but only for a couple of hours as the rain was coming. They were quickly peeled, then rinsed and soaked in rubbing alcohol for about a minute, rinsed again, and then run out into the garden. I had a friend over so I didn't pause to take pictures as I already felt a bit rude for peeling and planting garlic while she was here, but what else is there to do when 3 or 4 solid days of rain are coming?

These are all the discarded cloves. Some of these just may be bruised, but I do not have enough experience to differentiate between fungus, nematode entry hole, or "just a pimpled//discolored/brown spot" so aired on the side of caution.....but look at all these cloves- maybe I should cook them up? I hate to just toss them in the garbage. Thanks to all the discarded cloves I am shy of filling two 4 x 4 beds as I had intended. Maybe I will just raid my stash and plant some more out once the rain stops.

HAPPY GARDENING!

Final Sweet Potato Harvest

2010-09-29T11:51:00.000-04:00

We have had some rain, so I decided I better get into the sweet potatoes before we get any more. Oh boy, did I find some monsters in there!! These three were the biggest, coming in at 6 pounds:

A little frightening aren't they?

The majority were super-market sized, with a good lot of babies in there as well. I stacked them in this bag from largest to smallest, so the tiny tubers are seen on top of the stack.

The bag weighed in at over 10 lbs.

All together I harvested over 23 pounds of sweets. I am so pleased with this harvest and hope that it will repeated again in the coming garden years. The soil in this bed is gorgeous, as a matter of fact I dug up a bog old toad while digging for potatoes. (It was a bit of a shock, I didn't realize they would completely bury themselves in search of worms etc., this stinker is about the size of a baseball, and it is never amused when I find it in the garden.) I did 'lasagna gardening' in this new bed, layering cardboard, straw, dog food, amendments, and I can't remember what else. Then I made some hills with a soil/compost mixture, and covered it all with black mulch.

The tomatoes appear to winding down, here are today's tomato and pepper picks:

My garlic has shipped and it on its way. I better get my act together and figure out where the onions, garlic, and cold-frame are going in the coming weeks, once again I don't seem to have enough room.

Preserving Herbs

2010-09-25T20:53:00.000-04:00

I really hate to see all the garden herbs go to waste when cold weather arrives. I was able to winter over sage and rosemary last year with some straw and row cover, but there was nothing to harvest for the coldest part of our New England Winter. If I wanted fresh herb flavor it was coming from the plastic containers in the produce isle.

Many sources recommend freezing herbs as an alternative to drying for preservation, and some are actually preferable this way due to their hight water content (like sage for example). This will be my first year preserving them in this manner though I have purchased and cooked with frozen herbs in the past with good results. So far it is going very simply, I have put up chives, rosemary, and sage to date.

Sage leaves were frozen whole, the chives and rosemary were snipped and chopped before being frozen. It is best to lay them out in a single layer before popping them in for the freeze treatment to prevent a clump of solid 'whatever' being the final outcome.

I have some small freezer containers (Tupperware used to make some special for this purpose, and they probably still do) that will barely take up any space for long-term storage. The sage leaves I prefer to keep whole for things like seasoning the cavity of a roasting squash or chicken, so I left them this way as they can always be chopped up prior to being added to a dish. They are being housed in a canning jar once frozen since they require a bit more space.

I dried some basil in the oven earlier in the season, and the dill and cilantro are sadly long gone. I need to continue to add to my current stash and should also think about adding oregano and mint to the list. I think this freezing thing will be a big hit this winter when we have fragrant sage for roasts, and zesty chives for topping potatoes, eggs, and nachos within quick reach in the freezer. Anyone else out there freezing herbs for later use?

(HAPPY GARDENING!!)

Get Your Cran On

2010-09-23T15:07:00.001-04:00

I have something to confess. I, until now, this very week, have always bought cranberry sauce in a can. Are you gasping?? Maybe. But maybe some of you are smiling, because you too are guilty of canned cranberries. This is a horrible thing considering I live in the land of cranberry bogs. Horrible. Now that I have stopped being intimidated by the raw cranberry I never want to eat canned sauce again. I want to try bread with chopped, whole, FRESH cranberries inside. Are you in?

Last night I made oven-baked cranberry sauce and it could not have been easier. It involved a 350 degree oven, a bag of cranberries picked over for twigs and unripe berries (mine weighed about 14 oz. when done), one cup of sugar, cinnamon & nutmeg to taste, and 1/4 cup of Brandy. This was mixed together in a pyrex dish (something similar to an 8x8) and baked (covered) for about 45 minutes. Stir, mash, enjoy. (I also added a little water once it cooled as I found it to be too thick.)

Now I need to bake a turkey. Until then my sauce is off to the freezer. It is soooooo good.

Go ahead gardeners and cooks, get your cran on while the fresh ones are here.

(Almost) Fall

2010-09-22T10:22:00.000-04:00

It sure feels like Fall here in my little corner of the world, and well, it almost is. We have been decorating:

I love Martha Stewart crafts almost as much as I like Halloween.

We have been picking and perusing the farm stands.

Since my Long Island Cheese seeds never took, I picked one up this week.

It is more than a little intimidating, not sure how to go about tackling this sucker once I am done enjoying it's decorative qualities. That right there is A LOT of pie!!

We have also been hunting for a 'school' bookshelf. Finally I found just what I was looking for at Target of all places. Why did I waste my time in over-priced furniture stores?

Pie making, sauce making, and general enjoyment of the crops of the season will be underway this week. I love Fall. Hope you all will be enjoying the new coming season as well, and maybe getting a few more garden chores done than I am. My poor, poor garden.

Stupid Dogs, Sweet Potatoes, and Relish

2010-09-17T09:27:00.000-04:00

I know I have complained of my dog eating anything she has access to in the yard. She is a classic example of being smart and stupid at the same time. In reality, she is wise to help herself to all things edible, but in my anger I mutter how stupid she is all day long. She has figured out how to get the gate open in the garden if things are not aligned properly. Leeks have been trampled, uncountable numbers of tomatoes have been gorged on, and then thrown up. Ewe. She is constantly coming in the house with a big green tomato in her mouth. So thanks to my stupid dog and her appetite for both ripe and unripe tomatoes I had to make a pathetically small pot of sauce yesterday. This pathetically small pot even has some freezer tomatoes from last year in it. A shame. (Insert mumbles about the 'stupid dog' here.)

There is barely an inch of cooked-down sauce in the crock-pot.

I also decided to be a bit proactive and take some of those green tomatoes for myself. I have a recipe for Green Tomato Relish that is quite tasty on a hot dog, at least that is how I first came to sample it at a birthday party. I promptly asked for the recipe.

I hope it is as good as I remember it, because even after halving the recipe I have eight 1/2-pint jars of it sitting on the counter. By my calculations that is two years worth after gifting a few jars to family. For anyone that might be interested in away to use up those green tomatoes at season's end, or just to spite your 'stupid' Labrador Retriever, here it is:

GREEN TOMATO RELISH

3 qt green tomatoes (5 lb)

4 lg onions, chopped

2 sweet red peppers, chopped

2 sweet green peppers, chopped

1 qt vinegar

1 tsp turmeric powder

2 T mustard seed

2 T celery seed

3 C white sugar

2 T salt

Put green tomatoes through chopper, strain, and measure.

(I took this to mean that the 3 qt or 5 lb of green tomatoes

should be post chopping and straining.)

Add chopped onions, peppers, and spices. Boil 1 hour. Pour into hot sterilized jars and seal.

(I also assumed the vinegar and sugar were to go in the pot for the 1 hour boil.

I left over a 1/4 inch of head space (but less than 1/2 inch) and boiled for 10 minutes.)

Now back to the subject of those sweet potatoes from yesterday! Sweet potatoes are said to double in size (or was it weight??) every 2 weeks. Either way the "babes" will mature if given another couple of weeks, but the "big daddies" of the bunch don't need any bulking. I initially thought I could root around for the larger tubers and leave the smaller ones intact, but this was next to impossible. So I harvested about half of the bed and will leave the others for a week's time or so. We had some more sweet potato greens last night with dinner, and I gave some to my neighbor that so kindly shared a fig tree with me.

The sweet slips were planted in a 4 x 4 raised bed, in mounds which were covered in black plastic to help retain heat. Initially a dozen were planted but I lost at least three or four in the early weeks.

This is looking in from outside the fence.

Here is another view, the tomatoes have gone over into the potato bed,

and the potato vines have in turn made their way into the tomato jungle.

I harvested 6 lbs of sweets yesterday (and one dahlia tuber), and they are curing in my bathroom.

Odd I know, but they like warm temps and humidity so I figured that was the best place for them to hang out for the next couple of weeks.

HAPPY GARDENING!!

Sweet Potato Dilemma

2010-09-16T11:58:00.000-04:00

Ok kids, so I was nosing around out in the sweet potato patch today after going out to cut some leaves for sauteed greens. I couldn't help but to reach in and start digging. Initially all I found was roots and I was getting a pouty face. But then I came across these two honkers, and another wee one nearby. See honkers below:

I showed you it's pretty side here. The not so pretty side is pretty cracked. On both of them. So now here is the dilemma- do I yank out the vines to keep the big ones from getting any bigger, or do I leave them so that the baby taters continue to develope?

Garden Update

2010-09-14T15:25:00.000-04:00

Well, it is about time I do a garden update. Luckily a few things continue to produce despite my severe neglect. Tomatoes, peppers, and cukes continue to ripen despite the cool night temperatures. Raspberries and green beans are still producing, and then there are those leeks that I will be harvesting in the months to come. Almost all greens have been eaten by creatures, only the carrots under plastic protection remain from my many, many sowings in recent months. Thank goodness the chard from spring is 'cut-and-come-again' or I would have nothing green and leafy to harvest. Ever.

I am dying to know what the sweet potatoes will give this year. They are vining like mad, but the last time I peaked in there was not any tuber formation to speak of. I am behaving and staying out of there for now, and desperately hoping for some kind of harvest in October.

The Yellow Potato Onions arrived (and there they sit in their box). These are multiplying onions. Think shallots...only onions, and that about sums them up. I keep telling myself they are all I will grow for onions next year, but who am I kidding? I just need a bigger plot. These babies will need a few years to get established and start providing more than seed.

Monarch

2010-09-08T11:29:00.001-04:00

We were so delighted to catch this lady monarch emerging from her chrysalis. Yes, I called her a "fellow" in the video, but after closer inspection it is in fact a gal.

2010-09-07T10:30:00.000-04:00

September is here! Sheesh, seems like it was just the Fourth of July doesn't it? The hurricane that was Earl completely missed us, leaving us all to wonder why there was so much fuss about nothing. But, that is life when a hurricane is tracking in one's direction I suppose, we were all quite relieved to have prepared in vain.

I don't have much going on out in the garden right now. Most of the greens I sowed pooped out in the heat of recent weeks. I am left with only a half row of mesclun and 2 tiny heads of red leaf. I am trying to motivate myself to go sow spinach, lettuce, etc. AGAIN.

I dug the remainder of the fingerling potatoes yesterday. The plants were still putting out spuds, but the rodents were beginning to enjoy tunneling in the mess of straw, probably thanks to the cool nights, so it was time. I ended up with just over 40 pounds total, off of 10 pounds seed. Not a great harvest by any means, but I will take it just the same. Speaking of great harvests, we came home after a night of strolling the beach to find a special delivery:

I don't think this picture I snapped is doing it any justice, this melon weighs more than my 3 year old. I am guessing it was close to 40 pounds! I shouldn't say "was"considering I still have considerable amounts of it left. :)

The cool weather is bringing nice sleeping weather, and the old dog is back to harassing the young one. In the heat of the summer he hides out in his new favorite spot, under the shed. How he gets his old body under there is a mystery to me.

Lastly, I will leave you with a shot or two of today's harvest. Not much, but it is still appreciated- especially the berries. (Confession: I have not picked the tomatoes yet.)

(P.S.- My potato onions arrived over the weekend, more on that to come!)

Can you feel it? HOT, HOT, HOT!!! Can you feel it? HOT, HOT, HOT!!!

2010-08-31T12:02:00.000-04:00

You guessed it, its hot. And beginning to get humid. Earl is tracking towards the East Coast, but hopefully all we will get are red flags at the beach, and a night of rain. BUT- if not we will be ready for the worst case scenario, because I plan on having my heiney at the beach for the next couple of days where it should be about 5 degrees cooler. So hurricane preparation is happening today. Mostly consists of stocking up on water since we are on a well, and filling up the propane tanks for the grills. Then we need an extra extension cord or two to run the fridge/freezers, and a computer to the generator. Oh, and gas for the generator.

In the garden I did lots of watering this morning, and a bit of harvesting. Tomatoes, potatoes, beans (bumper crop), a few raspberries, and an apple. The apple smells so good we don't want to eat it. It would be such a shame for it to not taste delicious when smells better than a Yankee Candle.

One of my neighbors was kind enough to ask another neighbor if I could have a fig tree. The next day a fig arrived, and I could not be happier. I have ordered figs twice in the past. The first time they ended up being out of stock. The next year one made it all the way to my house, only to have been destroyed in shipping. It spent the next year trying to come back only to be plucked of any new leaf growth by my beastie dogs. Eventually it gave up. So the irony is that I finally have a fig tree, and came from right across the street. Life can be funny that way.

In other news we have been raising monarchs, here is a picture or two of the critters:

Here is what we like to call "a hanging J"- this was taken last night, and it is the position a caterpillar assumes when getting ready to morph. This morning this caterpillar was shedding its skin to reveal the turquoise coloring of the eventual chrysalis. Below you can see the black bit with the old antennae just about ready to drop from the transforming caterpillar.

It now looks like the chrysalis in the picture below. The caterpillars go through 4 skin sheds before assuming the hanging J position, and some of our little friends have a shed or two still to go.

I have been spending very little time in the garden, or on the blogs of late as I concentrate on getting the new school year running successfully for us here at home. Fall is just around the corner and I am going to do my best to savor the gorgeous, ripe Black Krim tomato I pulled today, who knows? It could be my last.

Happy Gardening!!

2010-08-25T09:14:00.001-04:00

Well, I don't have much to say about the garden because we have been getting rained on for days now. Hoping the potatoes aren't rotting. Wondering what kind of shape everything will be in after a string of rainy days and cold nights. That is a disease promoting scenario for so many garden inhabitants, in fact it is a bit of a flashback to last year, to 'the summer that never was'.

We have also been busy gearing up for our school year....meeting w/the Superintendent before getting approval, adding the finishing touches to the kid's curriculum, hashing out the calendar (all of those extra classes & activities, always way more than we can fit in a week), putting binders together, buying pencils, all you parents know the drill. It is the same with homeschooling, only I can add in my own personal mini-nervous breakdown as I feel overwhelmed by the responsibility of educating my children.

In addition to all of this I have been trying to add in daily exercise to my routine, and am contemplating giving up sugar. And possibly flour. And alcohol. I know, it sucks right?? But the thing is I REALLY need to lose 'the baby weight'. Twenty pounds hanging around from each pregnancy, and my youngest is three. And there was the extra ten I was carrying before I had my children. Need I say more? (Except that you all know how much I cook, and experiment with new recipes, and mostly just plain love food. This is a difficult proposition since I will still need to cook for my family, and they have NO intentions of going along on this crazy life change with me.) Sigh. So that is what I have been up to. Not gardening. Panicking, exercising, and threatening the removal of many things in my diet.

Lunch today is 2 zucchini, some garlic & herbs, and a handful of oven-dried tomatoes. Oh, and butter of coarse! It is delicious, but not very filling.

Happy Gardening!

Whats Cookin'

2010-08-16T13:59:00.000-04:00

It has been another day tethered to the kitchen range. But again, I don't quite mind. Luckily the weather is gray and cool. It was a perfect day to oven-dry tomatoes, and simmer some vegetable soup on the stove-top. The soup has tomatoes, potatoes, carrots, green beans, onions, and garlic from the garden. WOO-HOO! I will also be using some veggies from the freezer to make some Spinach & Artichoke Dip to go along with the Vegetable Soup for dinner this week. Mmm- Mmm, good. Good eats, and good for my freezers, cause I am running out of room folks!

Yesterday was a baking day. Ground Cherry Squares, and Zucchini Brownies. The squares are OK, nothing to write home about, though once brushed/glazed with a bit of Peach Butter, and topped with some cinnamon sprinkles, they are Mom, and kid approved. Here they are before going in the oven, and again just after coming out. (This is before my additions.) They just seem to be lacking something....but they are unusual, check them out:

Then there are those brownies. We have put quite a dent in them already, though that is not unusual in this house. Baked goods just don't last long, especially when there is chocolate involved.

ZUCCHINI BROWNIES

from Simply in Season

1 C flour

3/4 C whole wheat flour
(I used King Arthur's "white whole wheat")

1/3 C baking cocoa

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

Combine in large bowl.

2-3 C shredded zucchini

Stir in to flour mix.

1 egg

3/4 C sugar

3/4 C brown sugar

1/2 C plain yogurt

(I used full fat sour cream)

1/2 C oil

1 tsp vanilla

Combine in a separate bowl and beat with fork. Stir in zucchini mixture.

Spread evenly into greased 9 x 13-inch pan.

1/2- 1 C semisweet or mint chcoclate chips

1/2 C nuts (chopped; optional)

Sprinkle on top of batter. Bake in preheated oven at 350F 35-40 minutes.

** My notes: I did not bake this nearly as long as the recipe called for, I would say start checking after 20 minutes if your oven runs like mine. Secondly, I used a bar of semi-sweet chocolate that I chopped up in place of chips. No nuts. Now, I am going to show you a picture of what I used for "baking cocoa", it is sweetened. Not sure if this is exactly what the recipe called for, but when made with it, the results are good so I am going to go with it on all future z.b. bakes.

Also, I should plug this Simply in Season book. I love it. If you have room for one more cookbook on your shelf, run out and buy this one.

Harvest Monday (Hosted by Daphne's Dandelions)

2010-08-16T08:33:00.001-04:00

Happy rainy Monday here in Massachusetts. It is a welcomed rain, everything is quite parched!

On to the harvest....all of this was picked yesterday. I was feeling the urge to clean up the garden a bit so I emptied the remaining potato bags. The details of that harvest can be found in yesterday's post, but the pictures are below.

I have a few pounds of green beans, a bowl of peppers, a Magda Squash, and some other riff-raff to deal with today. Oh- and tomatoes. ☺ It will be another creative day spent in the kitchen. Yesterday the remaining peaches were sliced and frozen, Zucchini was grated and bagged for making a newly tried (and loved) recipe for Zucchini Brownies, Ground Cherry Squares were made, and freezer pizza sauce was portioned and bagged. Slowly but surely every bit from the garden and market is being put to good use. What have you been cooking up in your kitchen with all the garden bounty?

Downhill From Here

2010-08-15T18:12:00.000-04:00

I realized today that sadly, my garden has peaked. The big heirlooms are practically non-existent in 'Tomato Alley'. The beans are overgrown, and the beetles have discovered them. The dang rabbits continue to eat my seedlings, and the dog hair is unfortunately doing little to discourage the little beasts.

As of today, all of the potato bags have been emptied. (I still have fingerlings in the ground, and sweet potato vines. I say vines because I have yet to find a tuber when nosing around in there, it has been so dry......wishing I could rewind and water that bed on a regular basis.) The good news is there are still plenty of fruits and veggies to harvest over the coming months. Cucurbits are behind for me this year, so they are just getting warmed up. The cool nights of late may put a stop to all of that though. Ground Cherries, Blackberries, and Raspberries are fruiting and ripening - good stuff there. Chard is continuing to provide in this otherwise barren garden greens period. I finally smartened up and put some woven seed trays over my latest sowings, the stuff that is covered is still there, the stuff that is not is being eaten by the bun-buns. I need more of those trays!! Spinach and all but 2 head lettuce sowings are gone. Some of the Chard has been eaten as well. Carrots and loose-leaf lettuce are protected.

One of my melons is sizing up. I am so afraid a dog, rabbit, mouse, or slug will get to it before it has a chance to ripen and be enjoyed by us.

I made an attempt to shield it from critters, but it certainly isn't perfect:

The little watermelon does not appear to be getting any larger, hoping it will surprise me with it's girth one of these days.

Today's harvest, minus the potatoes.....I will save those for tomorrow.

The true potato yields aren't know yet, but the grow bags delivered a mediocre harvest. If an ideal harvest is 10:1, I was hoping for a 5:1 out of the bags. Purple Viking performed the best, giving me a 4:1 ratio; the Red Gold would have been right up there if hadn't robbed them so early in the season. It came in at 3.5:1. Keuka Gold was a real disappointment. This potato is very similar in character to a Yukon, yet it is said to be a high yielder. That was not my experience. 2.5 lbs of seed yielded 4 lbs of potatoes. Overall I need to find a way to up my overall yields. Better soil fertility and increased spacing is probably the answer.

Stuffed Squash recipe for Annie's Granny, and anyone else who may enjoy it:
(recipe courtesy of The Victory Garden Cookbook)

6 med. Summer Squash

1 med. onion, chopped
1/4 pound munster, in 1/4 inch cubes
1/2 lb sweet sausage, casings removed*
3 T butter
1 C fresh bread crumbs
2 T fresh parsley, chopped (optional)
1 T fresh tarragon (optional)
1/2 C sour cream

Halve squash and hollow out seeds/center. Reserve and chop this scooped out bit.
Blanch squash, about 5 minutes. (Optional ice bath to follow)
Brown sausage, remove from pan. Cook butter & onions until soft. Combine with reserved squash, meat, and remaining ingredients. Fill squash and bake @ 375 for approx. 20 minutes in a greased dish.

* We always use Chicken & Apple Sausage in this recipe. Whatever cheese & bread I have on hand goes in as well.

Just Peachy

2010-08-09T18:04:00.001-04:00

It was a toss-up between Peach Salsa, Peach & Pepper Relish, Lavender-Peach Jam, or Peach Butter. After being tantalized by the smell of ripe peach juice all over my fingers while peeling and pitting, I went for the instant gratification (in the canning world anyway) of Peach Butter. Spiced. Delicious on scones, english muffins, or any other form of baked goodness.

PEACH BUTTER

~Courtesy of Ball Blue Book~

4 - 4.5 lb. peaches (about 18 med.)
4 C sugar
Optional: spices such as cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg; up to 1 tsp in total.

Wash, peel, and pit peaches. Combine peaches and 1/2 C water in a large saucepot. Simmer until peaches are soft. Puree using a food processor food mill, being careful not to liquify. (I used my trusty immersion blender.)

Measure out 2 quarts of pulp (being the rebel that I am, I skipped this step); return to saucepan and add sugar and spices if using. Cook until thick enough to round up on a spoon. Stir frequently as mixture thickens to avoid sticking. Ladle hot butter into jars leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Remove air bubbles, wipe rim, and cap. Process 10 minutes in boiling water canner. Savor at a later date.

Yesterday's Lunch

2010-08-08T12:48:00.000-04:00

I spied this recipe for Grilled Eggplant with Yogurt Tahini sauce over at Our Happy Acres and knew I had to try it. The Villager based this recipe on one by Nigel Slater. (These are not my own eggplant, they came from the farmer's market. A petite or baby eggplant is best for this recipe, The Villager recommends a specific variety in his post.) I used my favorite Pampered Chef grill tray for the grill, veggies come out perfectly every time. As for the sauce I just happened to have all ingredients already on hand, I love that! I served it with a Caprese Salad, it made for a light, refreshing lunch. Below is the recipe, I will be making this again very soon.

2 tbsp tahini paste
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1/3 cup plain low-fat yogurt
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 dash salt
1 ea medium eggplant (12 oz, or several small eggplants)
1 tbsp olive oil
1/4 tsp ground cumin

1. Combine tahini paste, lemon juice, yogurt, garlic and salt to taste. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
2. Slice eggplant into 1/4″ thick slices. Brush with olive oil, sprinkle with cumin and salt.
3. Grill eggplant over high heat for 8-10 minutes, until soft and done.