Recipes

We are still eating out of the garden! Tonights menu includes cabbage and apples, pork sausage with cherries, jalapeno and apple,we just dice small and fold into bulk sausage, add thyme, delicata squash and Shawns famous rhubarb pie.
Cabbage and apples
bacon, dice and fry, reserve 1 tbls fat add handful of diced onion, 4 cups thinly sliced cabbage, cook down until cabbabge is reduced by half or so, add 2 diced apples continue to cook down, add salt and pepper to taste, a bit of brown sugar or maple syrup and cider vinegar to taste, dish should be a little tart tasting.

End of the Season

The end of the garden season is her. We picked broccoli and swill chard today and picked the last of the cauliflower and kohlrabi earlier in the week. We had a nice long season. The lemon tree gave us 15 lemons, we have enjoyed lemon meringue pie, lemon cake top pudding, we are making limencello and maybe lemon cookies. The sweet pototoes are curing nicely and we hope they last until the end of the year or longer. We have enjoyed our variety of potatoes, the purple ones make good chips!

The canning continues

It has been a very busy few weeks. We have made sauerkraut, it is curing in a pail in the basement, concord wine brewing in the basement, not to mention the 2 1/2 gallons of concord wine that ended up on the floor so the basement really smells like a winery, oh well.......
We have also made corn relish, grape juice, tomato juice, canned tomatoes, canned plums, my newest creation is stanley prune plum jalapeno jam, it is very good. To make use 2 cups chopped ripe prune plums, 1 cup finely chopped sweet peppers, 1 cup finely chopped hot pepper I use jalapeno and serrano, (I put all in the food processor and chop on pulse. Add to a pot, add 1 package pectin, 1 cup apple cider vinegar, bring to a hard boil, add 5 cups sugar bring to a full rolling boil for a few minutes, take off foam and put into hot prepared jars. We love it on crackers with cream cheese, add a littel white wine or rice wine vinegar and use as a dipping sauce for egg rolls, chicken, or use to glaze pork chops, yummy stuff!!! Shawn and I destemmed grapes for more juice, I plan on making salsa and some little plum hot pepper jam. The small plums have a different taste but we will try a batch and see how we like it.

Where did August go?

We've experienced some great weather and garden transitions this month.

The potato towers are gone. Read the Potato Tower Project for an update on how that went. Mixed reviews. The towers are stored away for next year and the ground they stood on planted with mustard greens and two types of kale.

We've also cleared out the "salad bowl" and added compost to get ready for fall lettuce planting. We've actually used three locations for salad greens this year and have kept a steady stream of salad going all summer. Love it. This is my first year being successful with the lettuce - to this degree.

Vertical tomatoes (along the house) have done really well. I might select different plants to put there next year, but the different between these tomatos and the ones located along the fence line are substantial.

The Borghese (sun dried tomatos) are located along the fence line, but are still dong well. I am picking some each and dehydrating them before storing them in Spanish olive oil. Really like these and will plant more next year.

Cucumber climbers were also a good choice. They love the spot and I can't eat them fast enough - I don't can pickles so plant only salad cukes.  Love, love, love the cucumber and tomato sandwiches.

With the garlic gone, we replanted with cabbage, black beans, celery, carrots, sweet peppers, and basil. So far so good. Love the fresh celery for cooking. It's strong and wonderful. Not so sure about the cabbage. Is being attacked. I'll need to read up on this and see how to counter/protect them better.

My first canning experience was 8/28 - tomato sauce and canned corn. All day - sore feet, but appreciate the end result. Yesterday we canned salsa and this weekend, chili sauce and verde sauce.

The canning continues

We are trying to get as much stuff canned as possible before we leave on vacation next week. So far this weekend we have picked and canned wild blackberries. they are really good canned. a neighbor has lots in their woods and let us pick. With the dry weather we were surprised to see so many. They are a little on the sour side but once canned they will be sweeter. We froze a few quarts of green beans and hope to make some saurkraut today. Hope everyone is busy in the garden.

Tomato

Tomatos doing well. We have been eating daily, BLT's are great

tomatot

Side garden climbers

Side garden tomatoes are doing much better than tomatoes located away from the house. The heat bouncing off the wall is making a difference.

Tomatillos are producing, massively. They are very pretty - remind me of chinese lanterns.

And with the garlic harvested, we replanted the side garden with cabbage, sweet peppers, black beans, celery, basil and carrots.

Another busy weekend. We picked apricots and lots of cukes. We willmake bread and butter pickles and apricot jam Saturday. The apricots are not very nice looking but taste good.

Canning marathon

Mom came to stay with us this weekend, I think I wore us out!! We canned 9 quarts of dill pickles,
5 pints of raspberry-gooseberry jam, 3 pints of pickled beets, we used a new recipe using red wine vinegar it was good. We froze 8 quarts of kohlrabi and then made 2 large jars of refrigerator dill pickles. It was fun canning with Mom. She helped peel and wash vegetables.

The peppers are starting, I found a recipe in Mother Earth News to make homemade hot sauce, it sounds good if anyone wants the recipe it should be on this months website. If I get a good bunch of hot peppers I am going to try it.

tomato wilt

Looking for some advise from my gardening expert sisters. This happens to me almost every year with my tomatoes. The plants look healthy and there is plenty of fruit but the leaves start to die, mostly on the bottom. Not really easy to see with this pic.

I replaced my soil last year and am using disease resistant hybrid seeds.

Any ideas what is causing this (or is this normal) ? I plant them close together (about 2x2 ft apart) and water with a hose usually once a day (not sure if this is too much). I keep planning on getting soaker hose but haven't done it yet.

thanks

Garden producing

We have had great garden goodies this week!! We had frseh potatoes, white, red and purple, creamed fresh peas, raspberries, gooseberries. I made a gooseberry crisp and am making gooseberry cocktail sauce for cocktail meatballs!

Debbie's potatoes

More growing up

Cucumbers begin their upward travel. I'm curious about how this is going to work with the twine.

On the other end of the yard, pie pumpkins are starting their climb on a metal fence.

May the best climber win!

Deckerville wild garlic!

What else can you expect from D-ville, but "wild" garlic. Growing wild in the park and harvested by Deckerville's park caretakers, Debbie and friends. (aka Kevin and Linda).

Debbie's 50 tomato plants!

Posted for Debbie:

"Some plants were bought and hand planted, some planted by seed right in the ground and some by seed in pots and then planted.

"Weeds are hand hoed. Area between rows is rotatilled.

"Water is done by rain and when needed by a long hose!"

Fresh goodies!!

The garden is starting to produce, plus we picked strawberries at a friends. We have enjoyed fresh greens, tomatoes, strawberries, and kohlrabi. Eating good in the neighborhood this week. The flowers are coming along nice, the red blaze climbing rose is gorgeous and full of full blooms. The lilly's are blooming, think i am going to add some for next year. I forgot to take a picture of the delphinium but it is beautiful. We made jam, froze berries and have been eating lots of fresh ones. I picked a handful of gooseberries and raspberries yesterday yumm yumm. Of course I made bread too so we could have BLT's.

Meanwhile, the tomatoes in Centralia are still in limbo

The plants all have flowers, but will they produce fruit? Last year we waited and waited and didn't have ripe fruit until well into September! This is Washington where the weather can rake your salsa dreams right through ringer.

But I am optimistic. We two tomatillo plants this year. Two because I was told I needed two. But how far apart do they need to be? Because these two plants are kissing cousins, sharing the same pot!

And here's the rest of plants along the house - exposed to south sun and a warming wall. They are slowly climbing (this is not voluntary, but forced) the tightly secured twine. Not sure yet how this is going to work, but putting it out there any way. The other tomato plants are not against a wall and are not faring as well. So at least the wall seems to be a good idea.

First garlic harvest - purple Belarus

We pulled our first batch of garlic this week - the Belarus. We've tied and hung them to cure (dry).

Measuring bulb size, the bulbs with cut scapes are clearly larger. The bulbs where the scapes remain, are smaller. So my husband begs the question - some sources say to always keep the larger bulbs for planting, but the direction we are using this year is to keep the scapes on seed cloves until cured, which result in smaller cloves. 

What I haven't found a good explanation of what keeping the scapes on do to enhance the seed cloves.

I've seen many posts advocating for keeping the scapes but not one that does a technical job of explaining why. I"d like to know. Help me out if you have the answer.

Potatoes towering -

Our plants are huge and quite healthy looking except for the occasionally slug feasting on a leaves. But I think there is enough foliage to overcome their midnight marauding. 

Update on the process.  The soil is staying cool and damp. We're watering 2x per week. I cannot determine if the proper amount of water is filtering well to the lower levels so I'm just going on plant health.  I am seeing inside the tower, some leaf yellowing. But the jungle is dense in there, so I am guessing that some of the plant is losing out on sun time.

See more photos on the Potato Project page.

Just looking for a name. . .

I got this perrenial from a friend a couple of years ago. Large leaves, mulitiple seed/flower pods per stalk. Just looking for a name.

Tomato ripening!!!

I have one tomato beginning to ripen, I am so excited it looks like we will have a ripe tomato by our goal of July 4th!!!

Irisis

I planted a few new varieties and they look really nice. I love iris and have a nice variety. Teh white and yellow are some of my favorites. The white ones have a divine scent and some times they bloom again in the fall.

Tomatoes looking good!

Tomatoes are growing, more tomatoes and blossoms. I water everyday now, the weather is still cool but tomatoes in garden are beginning to bloom even though they are on the small side.

To pull or not to pull - that is the question.

And the answer? No one really knows for sure - so here's a few things to consider:

Scape watch:

• When your scapes appear, your plants are within weeks of pulling.
• Cut scapes to enhance/enlarge bulb size; keep scapes for plants being saved for seed. When exactly to cut scapes varies. If you want to eat the tasty bubil stalks, wait until they curl. If you do not, cut then as they appear - 4 inches or so. Once the scape is gone, all the plant's energy is focused on bulb size. But to create good seed stock, you'll want to let the plant continue it's life cycle, so leave the scapes in place for plants destined as seed stock.

When is it time to pull/remove?

• I say remove not pull because when it's time, you'll want to coax the plant out, not pull it. Use a fork-style device. The roots will hold this plant securely and pulling may detach the leaves that you'll want for the curing process.
• When your scapes curl or are cut, stop watering. Let your bed dry out.
• When half the leaves have died back (dried out) - it's time to do a test removal. Is the bulb a good size and the leaves not soggy? If you've had recent rain and the leaves are soggy (sometimes we have weeks of rain, so this occurs), and your weather forecast is dry, wait a few days longer -otherwise start removing.

Each bulb type reacts a bit differently in timing so check them as a garlic-type. If they stay in too long the bulb will split and the leaf-paper won't be able to contain them. Once this happens, you will not be able to cure and store. So instead of overall bulb size, we are looking at the cloves - do they look filled out and firm.

We are hoping to start removing next week - which is early, but with this wierd weather year, watching the plant instead of the calendar is your best bet.

Mustard seeds

We started a batch of mustard greens and have been eating these tasty leaves in our salad for weeks. Now we're letting them flower and go to seed. This is a batch of standard yellow seed. Later this summer, we plan to plant black mustard seeds - the one's used to make dijon mustard.

Here come the potato flowers!

Debbie says her potatoes have gown wild; Carol, same. And the towers, well one look at the potate project document their growth.

But does this foilage transfer into potato yeild?  That's the next part of this story - coming soon.

Tomatos thriving

We have had crazy weather, one day cold, next hot, next cold. The tomatoes are really coming along. I am still hoping for a ripe one before 4th of July!

The tomatoes in the garden are beginning to flourish. I am sure we will not be worrying about canning until September.
The flowers are from the backyard. I added some to flickr so go visit!

Potato plants top towers; Blue Majesty sporting flower buds

6/6/11:

Now we're talking. The plants have all exceeded the tops of the towers. The stalks are thick and strong.

Attended the Mother Earth News fair in Puyallup this weekend and picked up Worm Tea from Sequim Prairie Star. It's made from organic worm castings. I'm going to use it to mist the potatoes, tomatoes, beans, cukes, squash and peppers each morning.

The tea is like a mist humus, if that makes sense and is known to increase plant growth and suppress harmful bacteria, fungi and plant pathogens. We can use all the help we can get from bacteria and fungi with our cooler, moist conditions. It's not a nitrogen, but more of facilitator helping the plant uptake more efficiently.

Growing Up!

Set up the nets and cords for the tomatoes and beans to climb. Everything feels secure - we have them taunt and wrapped top and bottom - but since I haven't grown tomatoes stakes this way before, just waiting to see how it works. For now, we're just spotting and removing suckers.

First set of nets is for the pole beans - and the second for the tomatilla plants. They are a monster of the plant, I read, so we have a large net to support them. 

The rest of the tomatoes here are indeterminate, so we're hoping to keep them staked to the cords.

Took this picture late afternoon when the tree to the west shades the area, but it gets a good amount of sun (6-7 hours in June/July) IF we have sun! 

Garlic plants thriving in cooler weather. Will the bulbs benefit?

There are two types of garlic - hardneck and softneck. We are growing mostly varieties of hardneck garlics.

There are 3-6 different varieties of hardneck, depending on the school of thought. We subscribe to the 6-type classification.

• Rocambole (serpeant) garlic (parchment-like skins, doesn't store well)
• Purple Stripe (mild to pungent)
• Porcelean (thick-skin, full-flavor, stores well)
• Marbled Purple Stripe
• Glazed Purple Stripe
• Asiatic/Turban (sometimes categorized as soft-neck, they are weak bolting hardnecks)

The plants appear to be thriving in the cooler, rainy weather we've been experiencing. The stalk size is large and deep green. We stopped fertilizing last month because the leave size is substantial and want the plant to focus on bulb growth.

In the Rocambole class we have Ontario Purple growing. It's an early maturing, hot flavored variety.

We also have Northern Whites (aka German Stiffnecks, German White) in the Porcelean class. This one stores well (10 months) and has a strong flavor.

Our Marbled Purple Stripe is Belarus and is great for baking, having smooth, mellow flavor. It stores well for 6 months. Love to cook this with olive oil and cherry tomatoes and then smear on toasted tuscan-style hearth bread.

Thai Purple is an Asiatic/Turban variety with medium to strong heat. It's a mainstay of cooking.

How can you tell the difference? Rocambole, Purple Stripe and Porcelean plants have scapes that grow upward and then loop 1-2 times with tip pointing horizontally. The Asiatic/Turban scapes grow upward and then drop 135 degrees.

This (pictured right) is the Belarus plants, just beginning to throw up scapes. It's an indicator of how far along the bulb development is.

To encourage bulb growth, cut scapes after they develop, but select enough plants to serve as seed and leave the scapes in place. Select strong sturdy plants for seed stock.

We also have Korean Red, which may be Rocambole or Asiatic - we are watching the scapes this year to make a determination. Apparently there are two varieties of Korean Red out there, and we don't know which one we have.

Finally, we have only one soft-neck variety - Oregon Blue. We had only a single bulb reach maturity last year and planted all of it this year. We'll turn these bulbs around as seed again next year. It's a popular variety that is more difficult to come by, so we're hoping to establish a good seed stock. Soft-necks are excellent for long-term storage if properly cured, but need hot summers and we don't get hot summers on regular basis. More on that when we pull.

Happy herbs

Here are pictures of my herbs they are happily growing even in cool wet conditions. You will notice rocks in my herb garden. They help warm the plants and it is a great place to put my pretties. The speckled rock next to the parsley and hydrangea in #1 is called a pudding stone we have 3 of them, they are not real common but they are found in our area. When I find a pretty stone I always bring them home. Picture 2 is lime thyme, lemon balm, rosemary, and basil. #3 is close up of the rosemary.

The Elusive Morel Mushroom

Morel Mushrooms are delicious but hunting and finding them is a spring delight. The mushrooms have a wonderful earthy flavor and are great with steak. Mushrooms hunters are tight lipped so I can only divulge that they were found in the grassy outer edges under neath white pines. Location somewhere in Huron County Michigan. The mighty morel mushroom hunter goes to the woods well prepared. Good shoes, a onion or orange bag so the precious spores can drop along the path, and knowledge of the trees native to your area. You make sure no one is watching as you quickly duck into the woods. You begin your journey head bent to detect any sign of the elusive morel. They might be hiding under a leaf, a heavy blanket of pine needles, or right out in the open. They are fussy but appear to have favorite haunts. We find most of ours near the drip lines of older white pines. In the beginning of the season you are more likely to spot them in the grassy edges of the woods, that is where all of these were found 3 0n Saturday and 5 on Sunday. We have also found them near dead elms, birch, poplar, and maples.
I will try to post pictures of them in there natural habitat but usually forget the camera.