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.

This is largest rosemary bush I have ever seen!

I walk past this bush in my workplace neighborhood. Incredible, right? It's the largest rosemary bush I've ever seen. Well now it's blooming.

I took a cutting to start one of my own. The varieties I have in my yard don't last the winter most years, so maybe this one will.

Remove leaves, buds for about 1-2 inch inches and set in water to root (or use a root-stimulator) and then plant in potting soil. I think maybe I'll keep in a pot for the first couple of years and then try setting it out side in a sunny location.

Potato plants responding to increased temperatures and decreased rainfall

We keep adding dirt as the plants grow, but it's tricky at times. A few of the plants are way ahead of others in the tower and so keeping the stalks all covered is a challenge.

First two photo show the Dark Red Norland and Purple Majesty plants on 5/20. The dirt level is now at about 2 feet. These two are early season (70-90 days) varieties, so maybe that's why they are so far ahead of the rest.

TheYukon Gold and Chieftan Reds lag behind the top two, but are now filling out and up. They are mid-season (90-110 days).

Finally, the Yellow Finn are slower starting -
also mid-season varieties.

Lilacs late but lovely

Seems like it's taken longer for the lilacs to bloom this year, but here they come!

Debbie brought lilacs from the farm to Mom's yard and they are finally feeling the spring.

I cut some "french tipped" lilacs from the yard to bring inside.

To propagate, dig up suckers and move or water a cutting to develop roots, or use a root stimulator. 

We let ours grow tall at the corner of the house (10 feet) but started trimming it last year to keep it from getting any larger. Prune after flowers die off. Lilacs set next year's blooms early.

Tomato Project

Ok, the tomatoes are officially out in
the garden. Two of them will be in pots and share the south flower garden, the third is in the ground and in the back east garden. I had one in the east flower garden last year and it did well but it was later than others so hoping the south flower garden will be a better location.

Spirits

We bottled the wine in March. 2010 is a good wine year for our Concord.

We started the Rhubarb in early May. We always use the frozen rhubarb as it juices up nicer and a lot less work than pounding the fresh to get it to juice well. There is rhubarb, sugar and water only in our rhubarb.

Garden progress

Very rainy day. The spring flowers are beautiful the hyacinths, tulips and daffodils are all blooming now. Grandmas bleeding heart is beginning to bloom, every spring it makes me think of Grandma Mary she loved her flowers and always had a big beautiful bleeding heart! My tomatoes have moved outside and I am beginning to harden up all the plants so that by Memorial day or sooner they will be ready to go out in the gardens. The orchard is doing FANTASTIC!! This is the first spring that our new peach tree blossomed, 2 of the younger cherries are blossoming so maybe we will get some cherries this year, usually we only have one large one blossom so it is hard to get more than a handful of cherries. Our Nectarine tree has blossoms for the first time, as does our newer apricot. If the weather stay decent we should have an abundance of fruit this year. Too early to tell on the apples or pear tree but they should have blossoms. The large apricot trees are in full bloom and look beautiful. The sweet corn is in and more of the potatoes are peaking thru.

Garden progress

The garden is coming along. Plants in the cold frame are beginning to thrive, we had our first radish, asparagus, and rhubarb Sunday.

Tomato Project

Shawn put his tomatoes outside in a protected area outside his woodshop. The one in the wheel barrel is ultra protected and growing well.

Celebrate the change of seasons by seasoning some May Wine (maiwein) with "waldmeister"

Celebrate spring with spiced wine when the sweet woodruff blooms.

Woodruff is traditionally added to German wines (Rhine, Mosel) in spring to celebrate the coming of summer. The leaves taste like chamomile and cinnamon.

Peasant-rooted in tradition, select an inexpensive wine, like a Mosel. Pick early emerging leaves for best flavor. Add two large sprigs of woodruff to two cups of white wine, then add two tablespoons of honey or sugar and let seep overnight. Drink it over ice or as a spritzer.

Alternate recipes include adding brandy, sliced strawberries/oranges and sparkling wine.

UPDATE 5/12/11: Picked buds and leaves and added to wine, along with honey, to seep.  

 

Guardian of the Oregano Jungle

I am hoping to harvest this soon, but have not had a good dry period where I can cut first thing in the AM.  Until then, the jungle continues to grow.

This is off the hook, right?

UPDATE:

So, we cut it back this morning and will be twining it up tonight.  Always cut in the morning because the essential oil are stronger in the morning.

I like to tie them in bundles and then let them hang for a few weeks, away from direct sunlight. I have a place in the kitchen away from the main counters that works really well. Never had this much to do at one time before, so my process might change if this keeps up. I have a dehydrator and I've read that its a great tool for speeding the drying.

 

 

Tomato starts head outside!

We are going something different this year - in an effort to maximize our sunniest space. The garden bed is loaded with garlic (planted Oct); onions (planted Mar) and carrots (planted Apr). So it's impossible to use the same space for tomatoes - correction - the same dirt for tomatoes.

Instead we are going vertical up the side of the house. We have a combination of indeterminate and determinate plants: Sweets & Yellows (cherries), Brandywine (pinks), Heirlooms (a surprise), Borghese (sun-dried), Siltez (large, early), and Tomatillas. You can see the bar that we'll use to hang the support twine from at about window height.

The indeterminates we are planning to send of single support twines and prune hard to develop only the main line.

The determinate Tomatillas are going up the side in their own netting; but the determinate-Roma, Siletz and Borghese are going in other areas - with traditional staking.

At the other end we are adding zucchini up a tee-pee; and preparing a sunny corner for peppers.