Garden Goings On August 2015

This summer has provided a few gardening challenges. An unusually wet June and July led to standing water for several weeks. A recent stretch of dry, sunny days has helped some plants recover, but the tomatoes took a hit: we lost almost the entire crop of slicers.

On the upside, successful crops included sour cherry, eggplant, beets, cucumbers and peppers. Looks like the pumpkins and winter squash are bouncing back, tomatillos are filling out and the ornamental broom corn looks fantastic. We're hopeful for the fall harvest.

I should add that the chief gardener is a bit uncomfortable that I'm sharing these photos. Due to the rain, the garden is pretty shaggy. Weeks passed with no tending, and when we finally waded in, the voracious mosquitos drove us out. But this is gardening. We all have good and bad years.

I'd love to hear how your season is progressing. Leave me a comment below!

A harbinger of summer! This is the last of the sunflowers. 

The Fairytale pie pumpkins are doing well. Several applications of
fungicide have helped with mildew issues.

Acorn squash recently set fruit.

Young butternut squash. 

This is the rye cover crop that we didn't terminate this year (plus weeds).

Broom corn is about seven feet tall. Looking forward to using in our fall decorations!

Tongue of Fire shelling bean drying on the bush. 

All the peppers did well, but the banana peppers were the heaviest producers.

This was our best eggplant year with more coming on. LOTS of eggplant parm!

We love this arrowhead cabbage (var. caraflex). The small, compact heads
are the perfect size for the two of us - great for slaws & stir fries. 

Tomatillos are just about ready. Green salsa coming soon!

Processing Greens

We grow most of the greens we eat throughout the year. It's an easy-to-grow, prolific crop and freezes beautifully. We plant primarily spinach and chard, but also eat the greens from broccoli rabe. Since we don't use row covers, harvest generally takes place by late spring. However, the unusually hot early June weather caused some sun scald on the spinach and bolting in the rabe.

Left to right: broccoli rabe, Swiss chard, spinach.

The bottom rabe is perfect for eating. Top rabe is still edible,
but open flowers indicate it's past prime.

Chard after blanching. Stems retain their bright color.

After blanching, we'll roughly chop, vacuum pack, add the date and pop in the freezer. 

We use the chard and spinach interchangeably in recipes. Our favorites include sauteed and creamed greens (great accompaniment to steak), in hot dips like artichoke, in pasta florentine, and we've found rabe makes a tasty bitter sandwich topper that's a nice foil to rich Italian meats.

Processing Greens
Wash greens. Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Lower greens into water. Cook for 2 minutes just until wilted. Remove greens from water. Chop if desired. Place in freezer container. Freeze. Consume within one year.

Garden Update - June 2015

Hello from chief gardener John! Things are going well in the garden so far this summer.  We've had nice rains and unusually warm weather, which have kept everything growing. We gambled like everyone else and put tomatoes in early, but they are looking fantastic. The asparagus did well but was a quick, short harvest. The greens are growing nicely - we've eaten a lot fresh and just began to preserving the rest. Turnips have been delicious and the beets are almost ready!  The currants and sour cherry trees are producing well - it might be our best year ever for both.  I just planted winter squash and pumpkins from seed. I recently learned planting them a little later than I used to will help avoid squash bugs. The good weather has also helped the weeds, but I've been working to keep them (mostly) under control.    

Tasty garden sandwich with fresh greens, herbs, and pickled hot peppers from last years garden.

Montmorency sour cherry tree.

Slicing and paste tomatoes for juice, sauce, salsa.

Eggplants look great this year! Can't wait for eggplant parmesan!

Sweet and hot peppers. Several are producing fruits already!

Green Beans

Pickling cucumbers. We'll make dill, bread & butter and fresh (refrigerator).

Beets almost ready to pull. We'll eat a few fresh and the rest will be pickled.

Caraflex cabbage produce tight, pointed heads (rather than round). Good for grilling.

Solving Drainage Issues

Most of our property is flat with heavy clay soils. As a result, our garden is wet, poorly drained, and we occasionally lose crops to standing water.

The Chief Gardener began serving as a board member on the Delaware County (Ohio) Soil & Water Conservation District a few years ago. The organization is a member of the state and national Association of Districts that began as a response to the 1930s Dust Bowl. Today, the country has about 3,000 conservation districts which help farmers, developers and homeowners manage soil and water conservation issues.

When we learned that the District was looking for a site to host a public drainage workshop, we volunteered. To prep for the event, I hung out with a couple of Delaware SWCD staff as they investigated the property. Here's what I learned:

• Drainage tiles have been used by farmers for decades to move water from a field while keeping the soil in place. Formerly made of terra cotta, tiles are generally buried two to three feet below the surface. Today's tiles are made of corrugated plastic tubing with holes in the top to allow the water to enter. Excess rain drains through the soil, into the tile and is channelled off the property via gravity.
• If your property was ever farmed - even 100 years ago - there's a good chance you've got access to tiles. The tiles continue to function unless they're crushed or become clogged (usually by lawn debris or tree roots).
• Your local Soil & Water Conservation District office staff will come out, free of charge, to locate tiles and make recommendations. Any excavation, tile replacement, tree removal, etc. is at the homeowner's expense.
• Most US residents have access to a SWCD office. While each district has programs unique to their location, most offices offer information on soil health, wildlife, water (including rain barrels), and even offer grants for conservation practices, including drainage tile, cover crops and hoop houses. Find your local office here. 

SWCD staff look for existing buried tiles. They begin with arial photos which can
 reveal where tiles are buried based on historical wet and dry patterns. Metal rods are pushed
into the ground to the locate the tiles. The rods make a unique noise when they strike a tile.

Once the tiles are located, the line is marked with flags.

This line is probably clogged with the roots from this cottonwood tree. We may have to remove it.

I'll continue to share progress as we host the workshop, replace tile and improve drainage and soil health. We're hoping next year to boost production and create a few more garden plots. 

Spring Fruit Growth

Growing fruit can be tricky. We have a handful of fruit trees and berry bushes - each a work in progress. Although we're always learning from our mistakes, we still hold our breath each spring to learn which plants survived the winter, and which blossoms will live through spring cold snaps.

Depending on the size of harvest and the type of fruit, we'll eat some fresh and preserve the rest via freezing, dehydrating or canning.

Our oldest apple tree came with the house. I don't know the variety and it's never been a great producer. We should probably replace it with a new tree. Apple blossoms are beautiful and fragrant. This tree will be in full bloom in a couple days.

We have about a dozen blueberry bushes, adding a couple each year. These are three years old. We eat all our fresh blueberries and purchase additional from a local grower to freeze. Hoping to change that this year. Recently added bushes were eaten off by deer. Sigh.

This might be our best cherry year ever. These are Montmorency, a sour variety popular for pies. All four cherry trees are loaded with blossoms. Fruit should be ready to pick in late June/early July. We'll soon net the trees to prevent the birds from eating the cherries.

Currants grow in long chains. They don't look like much now but the blossoms will give way to beautiful deep red berries. We don't eat many currants fresh, but instead dehydrate them. I love dried currants in breakfast scones and often use them to replace raisins in recipes.

We lost a peach tree to the polar vortex two years ago. The remaining peach survived, but only has a few blossoms this year. We'll replace the dead tree, but it looks like we might have to purchase peaches to preserve. Peaches are finicky.

The strawberries are just beginning to fill in. This is the first blossom I've seen. Fruit will ripen beginning mid-to-late May. We preserve strawberries by freezing sauce and whole berries, and canning jam. The May family birthday celebrations typically include strawberry pie, rather than cake.

We've got Anjou and Bartlett pear trees. The Bartlett has never produced a single fruit. We're trying different things, including fertilizing more. The Anjou looks great, producing more blossoms than ever.  We're losing patience with the Bartlett.

The blackberry canes are still leafing out - no blossoms yet. Blackberries ripen in July. These canes are not the thornless variety but I've been happy with their hardiness and berry production.

This is our persimmon tree. Although it looks dead, it's alive. This tree leafs out very late and typically produces lots of late summer/early fall fruit. A native of the state, persimmons grow fast, require little care and are good producers. Despite those qualities, it's my least favorite fruit tree. I'm just not a fan of the fruit. As a result, most of the fruit falls and rots. Which only makes our honeybees happy.

The red raspberry canes are leafing out. I love the fruit - ripening in the summer and again in fall. These are heavy producers, providing us enough fruit to enjoy fresh and frozen whole and in sauce. If you've never had a fresh raspberry margarita, you don't know what you're missing!

I know rhubarb isn't a fruit, but I treat it like a fruit. We've got five rhubarb plants that, along with the asparagus, are the first foods we harvest. It's some of the easiest food we grow: reliably comes up every year, not many pest problems, doesn't require fertilizer, and it produces stalks for several months. While the leaves are inedible, the tart stalks make great pies, sauce, and cakes. And it freezes well.

My Favorite Seeds

We start most of our garden produce from seed. Not indoors, but direct sowing some seeds as soon as we can get in the garden. Our attempts at indoor starting usually ends with non-germinating seeds, dead plants from a lack of water or, if they survive, spindly, leggy plants. Best to let Mother Nature take control.

Cold hardy greens, peas, radishes and spring onions are planted in March. Many of the other seeds we'll plant in May, just prior to the frost free date. Tomatoes and peppers are purchased as starts at our local greenhouse and planted after all danger of frost.

Below are a couple of my favorite plants we grow from seed. Many aren't available as starts or some seeds can only be found in catalogs. I have to give a shout-out to Johnny's Select Seeds. They're our seed purveyor of choice, with a huge selection for both gardeners and market growers.

Best spring sight! We'll direct sow these into the garden - some as early as March.

I've noticed some greenhouses now carry tomatillo starts. When we first started growing, they were a rarity. Tomatillos are super easy to grow and very prolific. Be aware: if left in the garden or added to the compost, seeds can winter over. We use tomatillos to make green salsa, which in addition to being a tasty dip with tortilla chips, is a great topper for chicken enchiladas.

We've been growing red broom corn for several seasons (best corn shocks ever). Broom corn is a variety of sorghum that is traditionally used to make brooms. I have friends who feed the seed heads to their hogs, but we just use it for fall decorations. The stalks are tall and strong and stand up to wind better than traditional shocks. FYI - the seed heads attract birds. Can't wait to mix the varieties this year!

Radishes are a sign the gardening season is open as they're usually the first food we harvest. D'avignons are long and slender with a crispy, not-to-peppery bite. I especially like them on vegetable platters as they're more functional than globe radishes when it comes to dipping and they're prettier. I hear the French enjoy them sliced lengthwise and spread with butter. In our house, we use them as a quick fresh side, a crunchy, spicy addition to a salad or roasted to enhance their sweetness. 

We grow lots of eating pumpkins which I process into pulp and use in baking throughout the year. I have a couple favorites, including this Long Island Cheese pumpkin. They're easy to grow and reliable. Just a few fruits is enough to keep you in pumpkin pie all year. I grow them alongside the Musquee de Provence (or fairytale) variety, which can be seen here. Both have a superior flavor and together make a fantastic pie, bread, cake, etc. And I enjoy watching them grow.

Sunflowers are so easy to grow and some newer varieties produce blooms all summer. I like how they look in the garden as well as my dinner table. Multi-colored Ring of Fire and Strawberry Blond are my favorite but sunflowers come in dozens of varieties from lemon yellow to almost black. I've often thought we should tear up a 1/2 acre and just fill it with sunflowers! Maybe next year.

What are you growing from seed?

The Compost Pile

Our compost pile is near the back of the property close to our larger garden plot. The pile includes yard and garden waste, kitchen scraps (excluding meat, bones, cheese, etc.) and some paper products (grocery bags, newspaper).  

Apparently the pile doesn't get hot enough to kill produce seeds but stays warm enough to protect seeds from polar vortex temperatures. This year's cozy pile produced tomatillos, an array of pumpkins and squash, including a pumpkin cross we've never grown, cosmos and other surprises.  

The size of the pile prevents us from frequent turning, but this week our neighbor came over to bush hog some of the overgrown property. When we noticed the bucket on his tractor we asked him to turn the pile. Below is a before and after shot. Looks like the pile will break down in time to spread on flower and vegetable plots next spring, which helps with our heavy clay soils.

Our compost pile that we start fresh each spring. Check out those strange pumpkins on the
left. They sprouted from the pile even though we've never grown them.

Just turned pile. By spring it will be broken down.
And the bush hog improves the appearance of the property!

How is your compost pile looking? Did it produce any interesting volunteers this year?

  

Garden Update from John, Chief Gardener

Hi friends! Checking in with a garden update. We had a nice soaking rain yesterday and the garden is looking great. 

Musque De Provenance Pumpkins.  Just blooming and beginning to produce fruit.  

We have been picking and freezing Rodcor yellow wax beans and Provider snap beans.  I started picking Northern Pickling cucumbers this week and did some pickling yesterday while Jan was out.

Whole dill pickles packed in jars ready to have lids placed and be processed. 

Processed dill pickles with red chili pepper. 

Processed bread & butter and whole dill pickles.

The whole dills are one of the easiest, yet enjoyable items you can process. Great for first time canners. I used this recipe:

Kosher Dill Pickles:

From The Better Homes & Gardens New Cook Book

For each quart:

1/2 pound pickles, 4 inch size (5 or 6 cucumbers)

4 heads fresh dill, or 2 tablespoons dillseed

1garlic clove (optional)

1 small piece dried hot pepper (optional)

2 1/4/ cup water

3/4 cup vinegar

1 tablespoon of pickling salt

Rinse cucumbers and remove stem and blossom end. Pack cucumbers into hot clean quart jars leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Add dill, garlic and pepper. Make a bring by combining water, vinegar, and salt. Bring to a boil and pour hot brine over cucumbers leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Wipe rim, adjust lids. Process in a boiling water bath for 15 minutes. Let pickles stand one week before opening.

New this year, I used the Ball Pickle Crisp, so we will see if the pickles end up crisper than normal. 

Honey Harvesting and Bee Status 

Our lone bee hive.  We are down to one hive this year, but it is thriving.  I harvested two supers of honey earlier this year and will probably pull one more in August.  The two wide supers at bottom of the hive is where the queen generally lays eggs, and the shallow supers at the top are where the honey is stored. 

Bee pollinating some of our squash.  The bees in the garden keeps me company while I weed.  

Harvested and bottled honey.

Honey in jars to be given to family and friends.  Half, one, and two pound jars.

Cover Crops

Pumpkins planted late with buckwheat growing as a cover crop to suppress weeds.  I generally hoe down the buckwheat as the pumpkins spread and grow.  And the bees love the buckwheat!

Cover crops have become an important part of my gardening rotation.  Buckwheat, rye, clover, radishes, and other crops have been useful in weed suppression and adding organic matter to the garden. 

See you next time! Happy gardening!

John