Let's Go

This has been a big weekend for the garden. Well, honestly the garden itself hasn’t changed much, but a lot of work went in to preparing it for spring and summer. Since it looks like we will no longer be dipping into the 30’s at night, I took off all the row cover and the PVC hoops. It feels great to get all of that gear put away, and leave the beds open to the elements.

Everything I planted last October is being eaten now (except garlic and shallots, those won’t be ready for another 2-3 months). Some things, like the Asian and mustard greens, and the Lacinato kale, are starting to form flower heads. I’ll let them bloom for the bees, and also maybe collect some seed. The broccoli and cauliflower just keep producing, there’s leeks and carrots and parsnips, peas and favas and chard. It’s fabulous.

But now it’s time to start thinking about the summer garden! And in that vein, I sowed all my tomatoes and peppers today. I’m planning for about 40 plants of each, but planted twice as much (insurance against something failing) and if I have extras, I’ll give them to friends. One of Adam’s friends has decided to start a small backyard garden and she’s already asked me for a few! That makes me happy, that a young person is getting into growing food.

Tom made me a bunch of tiny seed blocks, so I was able to fit several hundred seeds within one seed tray and that limits the amount of heating pads/grow lights/space we need indoors, which is terrific. In about 2-3 weeks, I’ll pot those plugs up into larger seed blocks, and I can avoid using compostable cups (which have their limitations) and I can put them straight into gallons after that. My goal is to get them in the ground in very late April or the first weekend of May.

I have mostly seeded old favorites, but I have quite a few new varieties to try as well, many that were given to me by friends. Here’s what I planted. Click on the name to link you to where to purchase (or just to drool at the pictures).

Cherry/Grape/Saladette tomatoes: Sun Gold (Johnny’s, hybrid), Red Calabash (Baker Creek, heirloom), Principe Borghese (Seed Savers, heirloom), Pink Boar (Wild Boar Seeds, hybrid), Zebrino (Paramount Seeds, hybrid), Chadwick Cherry (Seeds of Change, heirloom), Blue Gold Berries (Wild Boar Farms, hybrid), Sasha Altai (Tomato Fest, heirloom), Rosalita (Tomato Fest, heirloom), Black and Brown Boar (Wild Boar Farms, hybrid), Brad’s Atomic Grape (Wild Boar Farms, hybrid), Indigo Apple (Wild Boar Farms, hybrid), Orange Peach (Southern Exposure, heirloom), Goluboy Les (Delectation of Tomatoes, heirloom), Austin’s Red Pear (Seed Savers Exchange, heirloom), Beam’s Yellow Pear (Seed Savers Exchange, heirloom), Black Vernissage (Totally Tomatoes, heirloom), Black Cherry (Baker Creek, heirloom)

Beefsteak/Slicer tomatoes: Vorlon (Renaissance Farms, heirloom), German Pink (Seed Savers, heirloom), Terra Cotta (Baker Creek, heirloom), Crnkovic Yugoslavian (Seed Savers, heirloom), Black from Tula (Seed Savers, heirloom), Kolb (Seed Savers, heirloom), Kellogg’s Breakfast (Baker Creek, heirloom), Dr. Wyche’s Yellow (Baker Creek, heirloom), Dester (Seed Savers, heirloom), Cherokee Purple (Baker Creek, heirloom), Black Krim (Baker Creek, heirloom), Carbon (Baker Creek, heirloom), Lucid Gem (Wild Boar Farms, hybrid), Arkansas Traveler (Totally Tomatoes, heirloom), Pork Chop (Wild Boar Farms, hybrid)

Paste/Plum tomatoes: Italian Heirloom (Seed Savers, heirloom) , Gezahnte (Baker Creek, heirloom), Hungarian Heart (Baker Creek, heirloom) , Amish Paste (Seed Savers, heirloom), Ukrainian Purple (Seed Savers, heirloom), Pozzano (Johnny’s, hybrid), Opalka (Seed Savers, heirloom)

And here’s the pepper list:

Hot peppers: Jalapeno Traveler’s Strain (Seed Savers, heirloom) , Joe’s Long Cayenne (Seed Savers, heirloom), Thai (Seed Savers, heirloom), Highlander (Johnny’s, hybrid), Red Ember (Johnny’s, hybrid), Hot Rod (Johnny’s, hybrid), Tampequino Serrano (Baker Creek, heirloom), Hot Portugal (Seed Savers, heirloom), Ethiopian Brown (Baker Creek, heirloom)

Sweet peppers: Tolli’s Sweet Italian (Seed Savers, heirloom), CA Wonder (Baker Creek, heirloom), Lipstick (Baker Creek, heirloom), Yankee Bell (Johnny’s, heirloom), Milena (Johnny’s, hybrid), Red Knight (Johnny’s, hybrid), Shishito (Baker Creek, heirloom), Ruby King (Seed Savers, heirloom), Etiuda (Baker Creek, heirloom), Jupiter (Baker Creek, heirloom), Jimmy Nardello (Seed Savers, heirloom), Chervena Chushka (Seed Savers, heirloom), Buran (Seed Savers, heirloom), Ajvarski (Baker Creek, heirloom), Sheepnose Pimento (Baker Creek, heirloom)

Paprika peppers: Round of Hungary (Johnny’s, heirloom), Leutschauer (Baker Creek, heirloom), Magyar (Renee’s Garden, heirloom), Alma (Seed Savers, heirloom)

More spring news:

I get a newsletter from a farm in upstate New York, called Essex Farm. They provide everything a family needs at their farm - you pay a fee for the year, and you get all your meat, veg, grains, fruit, and value-added products from them. I admire them, and their systems, greatly. If I lived anywhere within an hour of them, I’d be a member. But alas, I have to satisfy myself with reading their weekly member newsletter. (The owner, Kristin Kimball, also wrote a great book called ‘The Dirty Life,’ about meeting her husband Mark and buying the farm. A new book is coming soon, I can’t wait.)

This week’s newsletter (also written by Kristin) had two interesting things I wanted to share. Here’s the first, a very ‘spring’ thing: “A truck just pulled in and dumped twenty yards of potting soil from Vermont Compost onto a tarp north of the greenhouses. Zohar is out there now, making flats with the soil blocker. By the end of the day we’ll have 80 flats of onion seeds in the germination chamber. And so now (as Anne likes to say at this time of year, and despite the low of zero this morning) let the wild rumpus start! The sun is out and soon the greenhouse will be full and we will be listening for the spring peepers, looking for the day the soil in the field is warm and dry enough to work.” Isn’t that great?! And here’s the other one that made me smile: “It’s love season in the pig herd. We bought a boar named Ham Solo just before Valentine’s Day, and turned him in with nine nubile gilts. He seemed overwhelmed at first, but he’s in the zone now. May the force be with you, Ham.”

The spring feeling of ‘something’s coming’ makes me smile. Now, I just have to get through midterms, and I’ll be a much happier person. :)

Late January in the Garden

It's simply delightful outside today. Yesterday we had a nice, long, soaking, misty rain - the plants really needed it - and today is warmish and sunny. The song sparrows and finches are all flying about, chasing each other (mating?) and chirping, the hummingbirds are defending the feeder, the bumblebees are all over the manzanita, and the honeybees are bringing in pollen - a good sign that the queen is starting to lay more eggs. 

Manzanita

An incoming bee meeting an outgoing bee at the hive entrance; they are probably sharing a taste of the newly collected nectar

I sat under the manzanita for a while and just watched the incredible amount of activity going on. Other than the narcissus (and a few fava beans), nothing else is blooming in my garden, so this is where everyone hangs out. I have other, younger manzanitas that are not blooming yet, and this makes me want to plant even more. Loads more. What a boon it must be for all these creatures who desperately need spring pollen and nectar. I noticed that the ceanothus is close to blooming, and that will be the next plant that gets all the action.

ceanothus

Days of sun interspersed with rain is also so very good for the garden. Suddenly everything is waking up and getting busy. Interesting things are popping up in the wood chips.

Inky Cap Mushroom

Self-Seeded Nasturtiums

And the vegetables are all doing wonderfully, still very small in most cases, but getting bigger every day.

North Garden; the row covers have been off for weeks now, but might go back on tomorrow night, as it's supposed to go down into the mid 30's

"Red Baron" beets

Artichoke

"French Yellow" shallots

This is either "Colorado Rose" red potato or "La Ratte" fingerling potato

"Japanese Mikado Baby" turnips

"Danvers" carrot

"Ichieum Red" softneck garlic

South Garden

Cabbage - still tiny

Fava Beans

succession plantings of 'Regiment' spinach

Peas, "Progress #9," starting to climb up the trellis

There's also loads of Asian Braising Greens, Chard, and Kale, which I am now picking and eating every day. These are the stars of my winter garden and provide us with our daily salad or saute. 

In between trips to the garden (just to enjoy the sun and the wildlife!), I'm getting lots of projects underway - I'm working on the new tomato and pepper indoor seed setup, my new vinegar crock has arrived, I'm baking bread, and checking on the olives. More to come on these projects and others!

Garden Update and Thoughts about Year-Round Food

With the bursts of rain and sun, the winter garden is doing very well, and temperatures are above freezing, so we've had some good growth this week. Still, most of my seedlings are very small, and growth is slow. I think, if I were depending entirely upon my garden for year-round produce, I'd have to do the winter garden differently. 

I usually start seed in early November. Our first average frost date is December 15; this year our first frost was before Thanksgiving, quite a bit earlier than I'm used to. We barely had the seeds in and the row covers put up before that first frost hit. So the seeds had to germinate in very cold temps, indeed, and I think that has slowed their growth considerably. 

What would be ideal, then, is to begin the winter garden in the heat of the October garden, and let it get a good start before the temps begin to fall. I know this, but the problem is, there is always still so much growing in the summer garden in October, It's hard to pull things out before they are done producing. 

And then, if you add in crop rotation, which I do, it all gets very confusing. For instance, right now I'm worried about the garlic and potatoes being harvested in time (this spring) to plant tomatoes in those beds. It's all a great big juggle, and sometimes my poor little brain gets all twisted. 

I'm thinking of maybe stopping succession planting in the summer, and instead just getting one crop of something before letting the bed go fallow for a while, therefore freeing it up for winter planting. What this means is less produce in the late summer months, which might be ok because my focus could be on tomato and pepper processing in those months, which would make me happy during the winter in another way, as we'd have more produce put up for our cold-weather meals. 

This will all take further thinking about. If anyone has experienced this themselves and has some advice, I'd appreciate it.

I spent some time turning compost today. This is not something I have ever done in our smaller bin, but since the mass in the larger bins is astounding, I thought turning it might speed the final processes. What I found was disheartening. After the first top foot, the pile was completely dry. Bone dry. With all the rain we've been getting! So I forked nearly the whole pile over on to another pile, hoping to get it really aerated and exposed to the rain. There is a bunch of totally intact hay from the chicken coop, from a loooong time ago - before I started using sand in the hen house. What does it take to break down hay, I ask you? Anyway I left a small layer, maybe a foot high, in one bin so that it will hopefully decompose quickly. Then the larger pile will just have to sit for a while. A long while, I'm guessing. I suppose if I want compost made faster, I'm going to have to turn it more. Ugh. Not my favorite.

I'll leave you with some pictures of the garden, though it's not that exciting at the moment - just a lot of very small green things. In a month, if the weather continues the way it is now (rainy and mild, with temps in the 40's-50's), there should be a lot more to look at. I did add a little fertilizer to the beds (Dr. Earth Vegetable) since there was no compost to add (sigh) and I figured the rain is probably washing away some nutrients. We'll definitely need to add some store-bought compost to the beds come spring (probably from American Soil). 

Beets

Chard

Kohlrabi

Fava Beans

Shallot

Turnip

Garlic

Potatoes

Carrots

volunteer cilantro

New growth on the Huckleberry

Kale

Asian Greens

Spinach

Shelling Peas

Broccoli

Annual wildflower seedlings

A very full compost bin

Winter garden work

Tom and I spent the bulk of the day Saturday getting the rest of the garden ready for winter. I planted the North Garden, Tom made hoop house frames for the newer beds, and together we started work on the floating row covers. I had to order more, as we ran out, but at least we got the project started.

I'm still waiting on seed potatoes, but other than that, everything is safely in the dirt. I hope I've planted enough garlic and shallots to last us all of next year. I only have one jar left of shallots-in-olive-oil in the freezer, and likewise one of garlic. I also have one small jar of pickled garlic left.
I like planting garlic and shallots - probably because the seeds are so big and easy to shove into the soil!

Now's the time to get your poppies, lupines, and tidy tips in the ground. They'll get a toehold with the winter rains, and bloom first thing in the spring. I like to order a mix from Larner Seeds. Judith grows everything in her demonstration garden and collects the seed herself. I broadcast about a pound, divided in my two pollinator beds.

Speaking of flowers, I have some surprise sunflowers starting to open just now, in the garlic bed!

Collecting and composting of leaves is an every-weekend chore for everyone right now, and I also made progress on our newest sheet-mulching project. The last bit of grass is soon to be eradicated. I'm just waiting, now, on a nice load of free wood chips.

Sunday was spent mostly in the kitchen. I decided to roast up the rest of the butternut and delicata squash, along with the sweet potatoes. I like taking this as a snack to work.

Tom helped me decant my mead in to the gallon carboy with the airlock on top. It should be ready by Christmas.

Adam and I made the most ambitious dessert I have ever attempted: a Charlotte Royale. We saw it  on 'The Great British Baking Show" on PBS and Adam immediately decided he wanted to make it. It involves a sponge roll filled with homemade jam, which is then sliced and layered in a bowl, and you then make a custard, into which gets folded more fruit puree, which then gets poured into the sponge roll-layered bowl, which then gets refrigerated for quite some time, and then you make whipped cream to go on top. We'll eat it tonight while watching the finale of the baking show. We've enjoyed making a fancy dessert each week, using the show as an inspiration.

I watched a very interesting sight today, and I didn't have my camera to record it. A scrub jay was eviscerating a small bird. Maybe a finch, or a sparrow - the jay held it in its talons and was pulling out the downy breast feathers with its beak. It flew to a nearby bush for cover before I could see it actually tear into flesh. Interesting. I did not know that jays would eat smaller birds. I knew they ate eggs out of nests, and terrorized small birds, but do they hunt them? Or was he just being an opportunist and found this one dead on the ground?

I put the bird feeders out today - one homemade suet cake (I have a bunch in the freezer from last year) for the chickadees and nuthatches, and some 2-to-1 sugar syrup for the hummingbirds. Our neighbor puts out nyjer seed all year long for the finches. All the birds also like to eat the berries off our Toyon.

A note of support for the outdoor company REI: They've decided to close their stores on Black Friday and actually pay their employees to take a day off to go outside. Sure, this could be a marketing ploy (I imagine the website will be open for shopping!), but who cares? It's still making a statement. I've never shopped myself during Black Friday, and I'm literally disgusted by what it's become. How about we celebrate Thanksgiving for a change? How about we concentrate on a holiday that has zero commercial viability and instead helps us focus on being grateful for what we already have? It bothers me that we hop from two consumer-driven events (Halloween and Christmas) without even pausing for Thanksgiving. How about enjoying some time in the kitchen, cooking for the folks we love? How about sitting down and enjoying a feast together? How about taking a walk outside and enjoying Autumn? I love having a four-day weekend to enjoy my family. I love Thanksgiving decorations, the squashes and leaves, the bountiful cornucopias, the bright fireplaces and rainy (hopefully) skies.

Speaking of rain, we're hoping for some tonight, crossed fingers. I noticed that my neighbor's Meyer lemon tree is loaded with fruit (and quite early in the season, actually). Hoping to get my hands on some (she's very generous!) as soon as they ripen. Temperatures are supposed to dip, which should help that happen!

Oh I forgot to say we opened up our first bottle of Ginger Beer! Not very fizzy, but totally refreshing. Try some yourself!

End of Summer 2015 Garden

With the promise of our first real rain storm coming the middle of next week, and temperatures 'falling' in to the 70's during the day and the 50's at night, we decided it was time to say goodbye to the summer crops and start getting geared up for winter. Tom cleaned out the gutters and made sure the rain barrels were all set up, and I started pulling out the peppers, tomatoes, basil, and sweet potatoes. After crops are taken out and composted, the drip lines are removed for inspection, the top layer of soil sees a bit of hoeing, and then drip lines are replaced. There's no more time for cover crops - so the beds we cleared today simply got a layer of soiled chicken hay on top. Where cover crops are still growing, I left them in, until next week. Then those beds will get some sort of mulch as well (I used up one compost bin full of hay, and surprised a rat in the process - I am ashamed to say I really hollered when that fellow came scampering out) and we'll build hoop houses over the beds that still need them (That's ten beds to cover, yet). As soon as that happens, winter crops can go in.

There were still lots of hot peppers on the vine, so those were collected as I removed the plants, and Tom will do something with them - hot sauce?

I also removed every viable tomato and sweet pepper. The ripe tomatoes will get eaten right away, any that are not ripe will be left on the counter to ripen. The sweet peppers will get eaten in the next week as well. A lot of green tomatoes went to the chickens.

A picked green tomato will not ripen off the vine, but those tomatoes that have started changing color will indeed ripen inside, and just need a few days to do so.

The basil was cut and spread out on top of the bed where it grew, to rot under straw like a green manure.

And the sweet potatoes? An interesting experiment. Not a fail or a success, but something in between. I've learned that next year I need to get them in the ground earlier, because they didn't get very big. Also, I should probably let them grow all the way up to frost, as cold weather improves their nutrition and flavor. It's just that they take up a lot of room and they are a long season crop. Just takes some planning, like garlic and shallots.

Sweet potatoes need high humidity for storage, and we don't have that at the moment, so maybe it's just as well that there weren't very many harvested. I need to figure out a way to cure them for a week or so to improve their flavor - high temps and high humidity - some sort of cloche or cold frame would do. Then we can eat them next weekend. It sure was fun to dig these out.

We are enjoying petite tart apples from a surprise second crop after my pruning.

It's finally starting to feel like Fall.

North Garden after removal of crops (except for some buckwheat cover crops); sure does look brown.

What's left of the North Pollinator garden. This is tomorrow's project.

South Garden, again, except for some buckwheat, no crops

South Pollinator garden, still going strong

The Back, or East, garden - beehive, asparagus patch, water feature, ribes, mock orange, pistache trees, manzanita, ceonothus, and toyon. plus the parts of the chicken tractor we haven't put away yet.

The Front, or West, or Woodland garden. All the asters and gumplants have ended their bloom, and are hopefully dropping seed for next year

I didn't get pictures of the driveway strip today, but the herbs are all flowering, and the raspberry and blackberry vines are putting out new canes. The salvias and sages are starting to slow down their bloom, though there's still a lot of pollinator action in this area.