Fired Up For Summer

I know it's a bit early to be thinking about summer and fresh from the garden salsa, but the recipe below for Fire-Roasted (Cherry) Tomato Salsa from the very entertaining Chef John Mitzewich (Food Wishes) sent me back to my garden plan to make sure I plenty of cherry tomatoes started to enjoy this salsa all summer!My favorite recipes to make have at least some portion of the ingredients coming from my own garden and this one definitely fits the bill for being NearlyHomeGrown with cherry tomatoes, cilantro, oregano and serranos substituting for jalapenos as key ingredients.

Starting My Garden Early

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.

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!

Winter Growing

This winter there will be a lot of focus on my indoor gardens mostly because my outdoor winter garden is a bit of a bust this year.  The collards and spinach I planted were just beginning to grow when an unseasonable cold-snap halted them in their tracks.  I tried resowing but still don't have much of anything green going on outside.  I haven't given up completely on the 3 inch tall collards that I still hope will be served on New Years, but accept that I may be buying most of my good luck meal this year instead of growing it.Right now my indoor garden consists of two trays of basil microgreens (already harvesting from the tray on the left) and 8 pots of basil that will be allowed to grow into full plants of about 8" tall and pruned a bit daily as needed for meals.I will be starting another 3 trays of cilantro microgreens this weekend and will do various other types of microgreens (arugula, mustard and red cabbage) off and on all winter to add some homegrown flavor and crunch to winter meals.If you are considering indoor growing, microgreens have a lot going for them.  They have a very quick turn around, usually only 2-4 weeks from beginning to end which is basically instant gratification in the gardening world.  And due to their fast germination to harvest cycle, they aren't usually around long enough for pests and diseases to become an issue.These little plants really do have some powerful flavor, often even more than their adult versions and growing research from reputable sources is showing that some of them are packed with up to 5x the vitamins and carotenoids found in the adult versions of the same plants.So whether or not my outdoor garden takes off with this wonderfully sunny and warm week we are having, I will be posting (and eating) fresh all winter long.