It is the day after Christmas and I wanted to peek at a couple of presents, patiently waiting their turn in the garden.We have had a few light freezes in the Raleigh area and at least one hard freeze so far this winter so the parsnips and carrots should be busily converting the starches into sugars making them sweet and delicious.I pulled up a couple of volunteers to roast along with the leftovers for tonight's meal and am pleased with the weight they have put on in the past 2 months. Taste Test to come!
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Hydroponic Basil
Aero Garden Update - Day 46
Day 46 of the prepackaged herb pack that came with my AeroBount and I have excellent basil growth, both genovese and thai. The mint was just starting to grow and the cilantro, parsley and chives never really took off. The genovese basil, while in the same family, is not the basil I usually grow. I do not know if it is a function of the variety or of the hydroponics but it bruises extremely easy and blackens quickly on warm dishes.My Baker Creek order came in last week with seeds for my hydroponic herbs and counter top microgreens so I decided to ditch the prepackaged herbs and start my own this weekend.My aero garden has space for 9 pods so I planted 2 of each except for the parsley that I planted 3 pods of because fall stews + parsley = YUM!
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Collards in the Garden
Collards - From Garden to Table
This year I grew the heirloom collards called Georgia Southern Creole, a pre-1880 southern variety that has done quite well overall.Growing organically means that some of the leaves were ventilated by a mid-summer cross-striped cabbage worm invasion (treated with BT) and that I am currently trying to diminish the whitefly population with a hose and organic soap. Having no pests is not an option, keeping them in check is the goal.No matter how your collards were grown, its always best to give them a good soak and cleaning before cooking and the easiest way to do that is to fill up a sink with enough water to cover then swish, swirl and agitate, drain and repeat.I have tried a number of collards recipes and variations since moving to the south 3 years ago and this is the one I like best so far:Braised Collards:
1 lb of washed collards, stems still on
1 TBS oil (I use an extra virgin olive that is good for cooking, but any vegetable oil should work)
3 slices of thick sliced bacon, cut into lardons
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (more or less depending on preference)
1 medium onion, chopped
1 TBS red wine vinegar
6 TBS stock (chicken, vegetable or mushroom)
Salt to season
Remove stems from collards and stack leaves and stems separately. Finely dice the stems and set aside. Stack a few collard leaves and roll into a cigar shape and cut crosswise (chiffonade) into 3/4" pieces, repeat until all leaves are cut and set aside separate from the stems.In a large frying pan (I like to use my 10" straight walled pan) on medium-high, heat oil until hot but not smoking. Add bacon and red pepper flakes and stir until bacon begins to crisp. Add onion and diced collard stems. Cook until onions are translucent and stems have begun to soften, about 10 minutes.Add the chopped leaves one handful at a time, turning into the bacon and onion mixture after each handful before adding the next. When all of the collards have been added and turned into the mixture, salt to season. When the mixture begins to sizzle, add the red wine vinegar and use a wooden spoon to gently deglaze the pan while turning the mixture.Add your stock* and turn into mixture, cover and turn heat to low. Let cook another 10-15 minutes until greens reach desired softness. If necessary, add more stock to keep from drying out.*Note - I filter and freeze the water after I have rehydrated morels and use this to add liquid and a delicious umame component to many dishes, including this one.
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Drying Glass Gem Corn
Saving (Pretty) Seed - Glass Gem Corn
My Glass Gem Corn has been happily drying above my home office and today was the day to strip the cobs and put up the kernels for popcorn and next year's planting. If you have been following my blog for any amount of time you know that I have an abundant affection for this particular varietal which translates into an excess of photos...I stripped all the multi-color cobs leaving the two almost entirely blue cobs for last.Some of the kernels will be seed for next year and some will be popcorn, but in the meantime, they are still decorating my home office.
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Last Big Glass Gem Corn Harvest
Big Finish - Glass Gem Corn
The Glass Gem Corn is winding down and I will have a couple more ears to harvest over the next few weeks but today was really the big finale with 4 ears harvested and two that were almost* entirely in the blue spectrum.I plan to make some popcorn from this year's harvest, but also plan to double my planting for year's crop from saved seed. This is a exponential goal/reward because for every one corn plant I plant two black eyed pea plants to nourish the corn and climb the stalk for support and I am enjoying the still growing store of homegrown black eyed peas to cook up for good luck on New Year Day and would like to have even more for New Years 2018.*the bottom right cob has a single green kernel that only makes the rest of the cob look all the more blue.
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Glass Gem Corn Harvest
I Can't Even - Glass Gem Corn Harvest
Yes. It is just that beautiful!
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Thursday Harvest
Pomodori Aplenty
I had my largest one-day harvest of Roma Tomatoes at a little over 3.5 lbs, a similar weight in Amana Orange and Mortgage Lifter Tomatoes were ready to be picked along with some cherry tomatoes, a nice bowl of figs, more black eyed peas to add to the jar and four more cobs of Glass Gem corn.I can't get over how pretty and varied the glass gem cobs are, each seems to have their own color theme.I have at least 5 more cobs to harvest and I can't wait to see their variations!
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Glass Gem Corn
First Glass Gem Corn Harvest
I harvested my first ear of Glass Gem Corn yesterday and it is beautiful!
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First Year Blackberries
July Garden Update
Under the best of circumstances July is an awkward time for the garden.Spring greens (spinach, lettuce, cilantro) still in the garden have bolted or browned, strawberries have stopped producing anything but dozens of straggly runners and asparagus has transmogrified into its less known, fuzzy small tree form. Between these only-a-mother-could-love-them beauties are the bare spaces where sugar and snow peas and pak choy have been removed but it is still too early to sow fall plants, July may be the worst time to have a garden guest.I have a garden guest coming next week.The wonderful REALTOR that patiently waited and watched while I stood in potential back yards mentally calculating full sun hours and painstakingly measuring for raised beds that were at the time, stored in a rented garage, is coming to see what I "have done with the place" and late July is the date we picked for dinner and a garden tour.This post is half garden update, half convincing myself that there are still beautiful things to be seen even in this straggly season. Here goes:The blackberries are huge and I should still have a good mix of ripe and unripe next week.I always overseed plants like basil so I can use the thinnings on meals while letting the main plants mature.There is only one butternut squash on the vine so far, but many blooms.I picked my first round of Envy edamame with only a handful left in the garden, but I had left the wonderful nitrogen fixing plants in the garden as companion plantings to everyone else.And the rest of this story is tomatoes, the beauties of summer. These are some of the Blue Cream Berries cherry tomatoes before they ripen and take on that creamy yellow color.The roma tomatoes are thick on the vine and ripening at a steady rate.A pretty average harvest day with a double handful of roma tomatoes, a couple of Mortgage Lifters, a bowlful of Hartman's Yellow Gooseberry cherry tomatoes (the most prolific and tallest of my cherry tomato plants this year) and my first Black Beauty zucchini of the year.Here's hoping she really likes tomatoes ;)
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Mortgage Lifter
Food With a Story - Mortgage Lifter
When was the last time you ate a tomato and considered the intrigue and controversy surrounding it's provenance?This big guy, sold by Baker Creek under the name Mortgage Lifter is almost ready to harvest and when I save the seeds after enjoying my first taste of this storied heirloom fruit, I will be thinking of the dueling stories of where it originated. A little food for thought ;)
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My View Now
Towering Tomatoes
The view standing next to my Hartman's Yellow Gooseberry Tomato.The view a few steps back. This tomato plant has already over taken the 8 foot bamboo support pole and I need a step ladder to access the top with many months of growing still ahead. Watch out Charles Wilbur...
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IMG_3432
One Boy, Three Sisters
Me: Let me snap a picture before you plant the rest of the seeds.9yo: Sure, but let me grab the dibber first!I served in an advisory capacity last weekend as my 9 year old planted Glass Gem and Strawberry Popcorn, two beautiful heirloom varieties of flint corn he chose for his own garden crop this year. I chose California Blackeye Peas and a gift of Italian squash seeds called Zucchino Tondo Chiaro Di Nizza to be planted with the corn over the coming weeks to create our own Three Sisters planting with our crops growing together, supporting and benefiting each other.As we worked we talked about proper spacing (math), germination (biology), the magic of life held in each one of the seeds in his hand (reverence), and of the future harvest (patience).There is more growing in my garden than just food, I am growing a person.
Read MoreBatting 500
I have two spring perennials that required a 2 year latency before the first harvest:
Last night I harvested my first two spears of asparagus, one each of Jersey Knight and Purple Passion.But my morel boxes...
only contain mulch and hope so far. Fingers still crossed...
Tender Beginnings
While winter is having it's (hopefully) last hurrah outside, I am prepping my indoor garden to be without me for a week while I travel for work.
After trying first newspaper pots then peat pots for last year's starts and having them disintegrate before I was ready to transplant to the garden, this year I am using Siloé Oliveira's technique of drilling holes in smooth plastic cups that can be reused year after year.All of my starts are doing well but the ones I am happiest about are my saved seed from the Paste and Amana tomatoes I grew last year. They sprouted a few days behind the new varieties I purchased seed for this year, but since I did not ferment the saved seed I knew they would lag a bit.
And gratuitous pics of some of the collards and other tomato varieties starts just because they are so pretty...
Hello, My Name Is...
This year will be my fifth year as an urban food grower. It will also be my fifth attempt to create plant markers that are still legible at the end of a growing season. With 52 varieties of annuals planned in addition to the handful of perennials that live in my garden, knowing who is who can be important. This is particularly true when it comes to saving seed.In previous years I have tried cheap plastic tags labeled with sharpee, which faded after just a few short months followed by the same plastic tags using pencil after reading the graphite would weather better than ink. They did not fade quite as much or as fast as the sharpee had, but were still hard to read after a few months of sun and rain. Next up was wine corks with sharpee thinking that the porous nature of the corks would absorb the ink better than the hard plastic had but which also faded into illegibility by mid season.For this year's garden I was determined to find something more lasting and attractive for my plant markers since the majority of these varieties will be planted year after year. I spent some time researching permanent plant markers and found these copper plate markers that can be inscribed with a pen and a bit of elbow grease.
The initial cost to purchase and the time to label are certainly higher than my previous marker attempts but the end result is much more pleasing and should endure for many years to come.To inscribe the markers I printed out my varieties list in a nice, easily readable font. I laid the variety name printout over the copper plate and gently traced out the letters. I then removed the printout and used the pen to go over the letters directly on the copper plate until satisfied with the depth and thickness of the letters.
Each year my garden gets better and better #kaizen
Countdown to Garden 2016
Even before presents are unwrapped, the countdown is on with less than a month to go before indoor starts of cabbage, leeks and rosemary get going in the first part of January with peppers (hot and bell) just behind.So I've been making my list and checking it twice this week to see what varieties will make it into my 219 square foot of garden space for 2016.I am making heavy use of containers for herbs (and one lettuce I just couldn't resist) and also using two composted trenches in the yard to grow The Three Sisters: corn, blackeyed peas and decorative squash. I currently have 8 1x1 boxes for cucurbits, but will be adding in 3 more before spring to hold all the zucchini, squash and cucumbers on my list.
Despite planning 52 different varieties of annuals for next year, my 2016 seed order (including shipping) came in under $42. This economy was mostly due to saving more of my own seed this year than ever before and having plenty of unused 2015 seed for most of what I plan to grow next year - Square Foot Gardening makes better use of individual seeds than row gardening so more seeds are conserved for future use.
One of my splurge purchases for this year was the Slo-Bolt Cilantro. I am still drawing down the huge supply of cilantro/coriander seeds saved from my 2012 garden. They still have a high germination rate so I have been using them for both outdoor garden and microgreen plantings since then. If the slo-bolt lives up to its name, my 2012 cilantro has had its last reproductive cycle and will be only for microgreens and I will switch to saving the slo-bolt seed.Next I will start plotting out the placement of these plantings on my garden map. 2015 was my first full garden cycle in Raleigh and the biggest lesson was that maximizing light has to be a priority for north facing gardens further complicated by some tree shade. To that end, I added a height column with each plant ranked Short, Medium or Tall to plan my garden for next year. Tallest plants in to the north and shortest plants to the south has always been the rule of thumb but is now a requirement for my future garden plans which will make crop rotations a little more challenging.It is damp, but in the low-mid 70's this weekend, so I will also spend some time putting in new grids into my raised beds. I have been using kitchen string for the past few years but the cottony string only lasts one year before stretching, breaking and needing to be replaced. This year I am going to try a white nylon string that is made for outdoor use and hope it holds up better.Here's to a wonderful close to 2015 and a bright start to 2016! Happy Holidays!
Glass Gem Corn
It's not often that a packet of seeds is so exciting that I cannot wait until spring to open the flap and take a peek inside. Glass Gem corn is a clear exception!The Glass Gem heirloom corn variety hit the homegrown stage a few years ago and has been offered only on a wait-list basis from very limited outlets until now. So when I saw the cover of the 2016 Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds catalog I assumed they were just highlighting a very photogenic variety for the cover. When I discovered they were actually carrying the seed, I didn't hesitate and am now planning where to plant the star of my 2016 garden!