While Punxsutawney Phil and the meteorologists work out their differing predictions for the end of winter, growers are already hard at work preparing for spring, summer and fall.January plant starts included cabbage,
chili peppers, bell peppers and rosemary.
Now that February has begun, the seed starting kicks into high gear with oregano, collards and lots and lots of tomatoes with 8 varieties and a total of 38 plants this year!
The new starts will welcome roommates in my growing nook for the cilantro and basil I grow indoors each winter. I purchased inexpensive shop lights, metal wire shelving units and florescent tubes 5 years ago so I never have to go a grey winter day without their bright colors and fresh flavors complimenting meals.
The minimal, initial investment for the equipment has more than paid for itself already and now as my garden diversifies and the number of indoor starts continue to expand each year with no additional infrastructure costs to date, I consider this money extremely well spent.Happy Spring, whenever it comes :)
New Year's Resolutions (Then and Now)
For 2015 I set two gardening goals for myself - begin keeping a garden log and saving seed and I did pretty well on both of them. My 2015 garden log ended the year with 8 typed pages and containing details from pounds of tomatoes and serranos harvested to the date of the first and last blueberries. I used Word for Mac so I can keyword search in 2016 (and beyond) if I want to find when I planted the 3rd crop of edamame or when my squash and cucumbers were invaded by cucumber worms. I found I was more diligent about doing entries if I kept the document open on my second monitor at all times so when I began the 2016 garden log earlier this month detailing all the indoor starts for January, I continued with this practice.Prior to 2015, I had only saved my own cilantro/coriander seed and purchased everything else. At the end of 2015 I had saved 10 different varieties of everything from squash and chili peppers to flowers and tomatoes. My seed box, which has always been full of Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds packages is now peppered with the plain brown paper envelopes that I use for my own seed.For 2016 my two goals are saving even more of my own seed and mulching. Going from 1 to 10+ varieties that I saved seed from in 2015 is good, but I am growing over 53 annual varieties in 2016 so there is plenty of room to continue to improve in this goal.The Square Foot Gardening method I use places a heavy emphasis on compost but almost none on mulching. The SFG method recommends starting with a 33% compost mixture in the raised beds and continually adding compost as plants are removed and new plants added to each individual square foot, but no mention of covering the soil between and around plants. Soil science as well as observation have led me to understand that just as nature abhors a vacuum and will swiftly fill it, soil abhors being exposed and will cover itself with weeds if it must to protect it from the wind and the sun, allowing it to retain water better and reduce erosion.So for 2016 I will be experimenting with different types of mulches in my beds to see what works best, doesn't invite too many visiting pests and makes the plants and soil happy and healthy.Here's to getting better every year! #Kaizen
The Expat Starter Garden
A dear friend is moving south of the border to live on the shores of Lake Chapala, said to have the second best climate on earth, behind only Atenas, Costa Rica. She wants to start a small garden there and was looking for suggestions.All of these suggestions do very well in both containers (both patio and raised bed) and in rich garden soil, making them versatile, low maintenance choices for a first time gardener.If you are only going to grow one thing, I think basil is a great place to start. It is easy to grow, abundantly productive and can be added to almost every meal you make or have for takeout. I prefer the sweet genovese varieties.If you are only going to grow two things, then basil and cilantro are my choices. Again, easy, abundant and can add a bright taste to any dish, homemade or otherwise. For warmer climates (mine included) try a slo bolt variety.Oregano and rosemary are also low maintenance but useful and abundant herbs for a first time gardener and experienced cook.If she wants to expand beyond herbs, spinach is a great choice for novices. Leaves can be taken as needed allowing the plant to continue growing, many fresh or cooked uses and easy to grow. Again, with warmer climates, a slo bolt variety would be best.After spinach, the chili pepper of your preferred spiciness range. I favor serranos. They are very abundant producers, impart a great flavor in addition to the heat they add to dishes and can be picked green or red depending on your heat preferences. Roasting ripe ones each time you grill and freezing them means delicious roasted peppers on hand year round.And then every gardener's pride and joy, tomatoes. For many of the same reasons, I would recommend cherry type tomatoes for the small scale gardener. They produce much more abundantly than slicing tomato varieties and due to their size can be dried or roasted and frozen for year round additions to meals.With just these 7 items, incorporating bounty fresh from the garden (or preserved from the garden) year round is easy and will work into everyone's favorite dishes.
Quest For Fire
My tomatoes were troopers this year holding onto green romas, blue beauties and red delicious globes into early November, but I gave up and pulled the remainders two weeks ago just so I could begin cleaning the beds and preparing them for winter before heading off to a week's worth of meeting in San Diego last week.This weekend's task was to pull the rest of the serranos off before 3 consecutive nights of freezing or below temperatures hit them. My final harvest ended up being 1lb, 5oz of beautiful peppers that will warm dishes from now until next year. All were cleaned and vaccu-sealed before being frozen except for a few that will go into the Thanksgiving cornbread later this week.
On another pepper note, a friend has some seeds that he will be sharing with me from his home country of El Salvador. I am keenly interested in growing them out next year since he doesn't know the name of them in either his native tongue or English. For now I am thinking of them as Mystery Pepper and what a fun mystery to solve!
Variations On A Theme - Potato Leek Soup
My favorite recipes are the ones that resemble a good canvas - a delicious backdrop that can be accentuated and modified by what is in season and/or on hand. Having just finished a post about an overabundance of serrano peppers, I wanted to do a variation on a fall favorite - potato leek soup.This year's leeks are on the thin side which I attribute to my north facing backyard garden, so I harvested roughly 3x the number I would normally use for this recipe.
I decided to add some kick to the background canvas and finely chopped 4 roasted red serranos from my freezer and fresh oregano.
On it's own, this soup is mild but hearty making it a perfect backdrop for any number of flavor profiles.
The genius of this soup is the mandolin sliced potatoes.
Once cooked through and gently mashed, they thicken the stock and the mashing breaks the potatoes into bite-sized pieces.
Add a little cream and cook on low for a few more minutes and voila!
A delicious meal that varies depending on preferences and additions!