Snowy and 70s

On Wednesday:

On Saturday: Sunny and 70s

Roll with it. What more can you do?

Basement Nursery:                      Little Delight Lupine

 Various perennial flowers, mustard (right)

 Onion & parsley seedlings

 Lots of Peppers this year (fingers crossed)

 First tomato seedlings up (Roma)

Going to compare a hybrid and open pollinated Roma this year.

The OP germinated first (out of all of the tomato seeds)

Might explain why they are also one of the first types to produce?

So yums. Ruby & Emerald Steaks Mustard

Really starting to like these mustards (when young)

 Yarrow & Blanketflower seedlings

I overwintered a tomato plant and it has made a few fruits.

Too bad they aren't very tasty. Ah, well.

Outside progress:

Feb in the Biergarten

 Front yard with burn pile evidence

 Cleaned perennial bed by Biergarten

need to replace the edging. This was suppose to be a temp 

border reused from something else.

 New path between prairie, new native bed (on left)

and a veg bed (in the back)

 The new native bed cleaned and ready 

for mulch and plants

 February in the fresh burned prairie (below)

 And March- daffs coming up

 Garden prepped

potatoes planted (in December)

 The tommi crocuses have been blooming for

about a week. The bees are happy they have these.

Seeds in pots.

Brandywine (a purple) Raspberry in new pot

with poppy seeds.

 Rural King onions ready for planting...

Seeds started in a window in the shed

 Bok Choy (above) and Kale (below)

Food!

                                          My first attempt at Chicago-style pizza. Yum.

One of our new favs: roasted sweet potatoes, mushrooms & onions.

A little soy sauce (for saltiness). Add cheddar cheese and put in a wrap.

Toast the wraps for extra crunch. Still have lots of pumpkins and sweet taters

in the larder.

Finally organized my spice cabinet. I can't tell

you how happy this makes me. Also labelled

everything because hubs has started to cook 

and I told him these words will haunt him if I die soon, 

   "You will cook." I had to make it easier for him. 

Plus, I'm writing it here. Hold him to it. No excuses.

Snow is again in the forecast or is it rain? 

We'll know when we know. 

Until blue skies arrive

 we can just dream of gardening.

Happy Fall in the Garden

Just a few quick updates.

I have waited to harvest the mother load of peppers until many were red. It also means I can process the greatest number at once. I use these mainly for these 3 purposes: beans & rice, soups, breakfast taters.
I think I should plant an entire garden bed of assorted peppers next year and stake them! Most of these were weighing the plants down.

Pepper harvest:
Includes Red Marconi, Jimmy Nardello frying peppers, Friariello di Napoli, bananas, bells.

Prepping for freezing: 

Wash cycle

Chop and spread on cookie sheet for freezing.

Once frozen through store in freezer bags.

While I'm at it- saving seed.

I've decided I need to do more of this. The best reason

to start keeping seed is that I should be able to establish my own

ecotype strain of plants that do best in my garden over time.

This Pandora Striped Rose eggplant got huge, but didn't produce a lot of fruit. I grew 3 varieties of eggplant this year and the Japanese types did the best. I think I should just stick with those. I'd also like to grow more eggplant next year. 

Seedling progress. At least some of all of the seed I started in pots is up now- leeks, spinach, kale, pak choi, broccoli, parsley, cilantro and lettuce. In the raised beds the turnips and rutabaga have germinated and in the hoop house some seedlings of either or both kale and sprouting broccoli have germinated. I'm still waiting to see if any of my Cascadia Peas come up. 

Hoop house slow progress:

Still collecting brick. Planted 1 parsley, 6 bright lights chard and 3 tree collards.

Seedlings popping up on right side. 

Harvested Oaxacan Green corn. 

Traditionally used by the Zapotec Indians of S Mexico 

for green tamales.

Harvest 11 unknown volunteer squash that came up in the compost

I had spread in the garden. Maybe I should save some seed. 

It's obviously more productive than anything I've ever tried to intentionally grow!

Chickens say- Happy Fall Ya'll!

Yard Becomes Produce Department

I don't know that I will ever figure out exactly what it would take to sustain my vegetable needs independent of the grocery store, but when you start to look at your yard as the produce department you begin to think a little more creatively. What do they say about poverty and the mother of invention? Not that I consider myself poor, but I consider our lifestyle choices unsustainable and thus creating poverty.  Do I need to buy more yellow onions from the store- no. I have tons of green onions that would do. I think I've figured out how to sustain my onion requirements. Maybe next year I will be able to sustain my tomato needs- salsa, pasta sauce, canned tomatoes, fresh maters. I think I could do it. Perhaps I just need to figure out 1 veggie per year. It would also require better record keeping, which is one of the motivations behind this blog. Timing is the other thing. While I can predict the length of daylight I can by no means predict the weather, which is becoming predictably unpredictable. Crazy storms this winter. Thunder and tornadoes in winter. Gardening isn't for pessimists.

I threw together this yummy little winter salad this week from young kale, grated overwintered carrots, turnips (or was it a rutabaga?) and green onions. I gently sauteed it in a little olive oil (not local, but I wish) and a splash of red wine vinegar. Not only was it pretty, healthy and completely fresh it also got rave reviews from the 7yr old.

The first daffodil, a cyclamen-type, was the first to bloom on February 27th. I don't remember one blooming that early before. There are crocus finishing up as well. The crocus, while not native, offer an early food source for the honeybees (also not native). Here is the winning daffodil under the Blue Spruce tree.

Another new crocus type I tried this year was Crocus sieberi 'Tricolor'. It has opposite colors from the Goldilocks variety and opened after Goldi. The bees have seemed to prefer the yellow crocus over these. Wonder why. 

I started some seedlings early this winter when I started to think that we were never going to have a winter. My psychic abilities may have paid off. Today I planted 20 Tronchuda (leafing) cabbages in about 4 square feet of space in the garden. I haven't grown these before this year so I have no idea what kind of space they will require, but I'm all over maximizing use of space. As these are a leafing type I can harvest bottom leaves as they are ready which will free up some space as the plants grow. How much food can you get in a given area depends on how creatively you want to garden. The square foot and biointensive methods or French method of gardening maximizes space while limiting weeds and work. I'm game for that.

I also started hardening off some plants WAY earlier than ever. In these trays I have parsley, leeks, purple broccoli, white hollyhocks, perennial cornflowers, American agave, cupid's dart and purple coneflowers. Last night we had frost so I had them under the front porch and covered them with a sheet, but I don't see a reason why they can't be outside already. 

Miner's Lettuce in the garden (returns on its own)

Sweet, succulent and crunchy.

The Alder and Hazelnut are in bloom (catkins).

Hazelnut.

When I can't be outside I turn to my basement greenhouse. The cuttings I threw in a dish tub last fall are doing very well. More plants for free!

Plectranthus (silver), Geranium (green, foreground) and I can't remember the name of the purple plant.

Left- Monarda citriodora and Right- Golden Feverfew seedlings. 

I start most seedlings in mushroom and tofu tubs. I like the aluminum cake pans to bottom water the tiny seedlings. Watering over the top can bury the seed, increase fungal problems and drown seedlings. 

Tomato seedlings. 

Time to do more planning. Where am I going to plant all of the things I want to grow? Will a day come when I run out of space? I try not to think about that day. I challenge you to consider adding more of one veg, try canning this year or adding to your garden varieties to decrease your food carbon footprint this year. Happy Victory Gardening!