Strawberries and Garlic

Don't worry, this isn't a post with a recipe using those two ingredients. It's a gardening update!

This has been a great year for growing strawberries in my edible front yard garden. The bounty I picked this morning is shown in the photo. Do you grow strawberries? If not, you should. They grow from Florida (February harvest time) to New Hampshire (July harvests) as perennials. Here in Tennessee, the month of May is my banner season for these juicy sweet berries.

My second favorite berry to grow, strawberries take just a bit more care than my favorite, blueberries. I find the biggest challenge is to keep the beds from getting too crowded with all the "baby" plants which the mature strawberry plants send out to root. When the weather is not too rainy, as has been the case here recently, the berries ripen without getting moldy or soft or dirty.

Here are ten of the many reasons I love growing my own strawberries:

1. freshly picked strawberries have much more flavor than store-bought
2. when you grow your own, you can wait to harvest them when they are fully ripened on the plants; those you buy are usually harvest a bit early, before the full flavor develops
3. they are great to eat plain, added to fruit or veggie salads, topped with Greek yogurt, chopped and added to breakfast granola, chopped and used over a pie crust with a cream filling OR on shortcakes and topped with whipped cream (I did a variation on brownies last week), baked into quick bread, muffins, or pie.
4. strawberries freeze well (wash, dry, and remove the stem end), either whole or sliced
5. frozen or fresh strawberries are delicious in smoothies
6. harvesting is spread over several weeks, so it's not overwhelming
7. new baby plants are constantly produced, so you can start new beds, and - after a few years - replace the mature plants… free!
8. non-organic commercially grown strawberries are highly likely to have pesticide residue (strawberries are the most chemically intensive crop grown in California) 
9. in my garden, organically grown strawberry plants are not prone to diseases or insect infestations
10. nutritionally, strawberries have high levels of antioxidants, fiber, vitamins

There's nothing quite like biting into a just-picked bright red strawberry still warm from the sun! By the way, if you live near me or will be visiting and you want to start your own strawberry patch, please let me know and I'll share my plants with you - that's the fun of gardening! Plant some between now and fall, and you can start harvesting some next spring.

And from the garlic patch….

My fall planting of garlic cloves has resulted in a patch of greenery. Plants of the hardneck varieties are sending up the tall, curled garlic "scape." Gourmet cooks cut off this top stem when it first begins to grow and is most tender, adding it to stir-fries and other dishes for garlic flavor with a unique decorative touch. Some garlic growers cut the scape off, so the plant will put its energy into the root. I love to cut them and use 3 or 5 in a flower arrangement, adding an unusual accent. Others use the scape as a ripeness indicator - when it unfurls and stands up straight, the garlic is said to be ready to harvest. Left on the plant, the scape will mature to form small garlic bulbs. These can be dried and planted, but will take more than a year to grow into a whole clove. My garlic is generally ready to harvest in June-July. Good thing, because I am nearly out of all the garlic I dried, froze, and otherwise preserved from last year's harvest. Garlic is even easier to grow than strawberries, so find a garden patch and plan to plant garlic this fall.

By the way, sorry for my lack of posts recently on this blog. My "day job" (commercial artist/designer) has been keeping me so busy, along with my many other interests and pursuits. I hardly have time to garden or cook, not to mention writing about it!

Cubes of a Different Color

Fresh pureed blackberries, from the Vitamix to the trays

You might have heard of freezing homemade pesto in an ice cube tray; it allows you to thaw and use small portions at a time rather than defrosting a big block. I've expanded on this idea to freeze many of my fruit, vegetable, herb and berry harvests. Of course, I use a set of trays dedicated to freezing food vs. water. Once frozen, the individual cubes are popped out and stored in the freezer in zipper bags. This method combines small portion size, minimized freezer space, convenience for cooking from scratch, and preservation of great flavors.

Freezing my harvests into cubes has additionally proven to be the best way to preserve certain items for off-season use. Cilantro is wonderful fresh, but loses its flavor when dried. It grows best here in the winter months, so I don't have it growing to add fresh when tomatoes are ripening and I make fresh salsa. Freezing makes cilantro available when I want to use it in summertime, with its flavor as close to fresh as I've found (read below how I prepare it to freeze in cubes). Also, putting fresh harvested and cured garlic in a dark, cool place works for short term storing, but, for me, the heads eventually start to sprout or shrivel up. Freezing into cubes preserves it for me to use year-round.

Basically, any juicy produce can be chopped fine or pureed in a food processor and then frozen as cubes. If the food is not liquid enough, I add a small amount of oil or some other liquid which matches what I'm likely to put in a recipe with the pureed item. For example, I chop fresh cilantro and mix it with freshly squeezed lime juice to freeze into cubes, since I'm likely to use the cilantro in salsa or some other Mexi-inspired recipe which includes lime juice.

Jalapenos and olive oil cubes (note the gloves!)

My Vitamix, the super blender I use for smoothies and lots of other food prep, is my kitchen aide when preparing fresh raw berries for freezing into cubes. The Vitamix action is powerful enough to pulverize the the seeds of raspberries and strawberries and create a thick smooth puree, no seeds detectable. Frozen into cubes, these make a great addition to the smoothies when the fresh berries are not in season. For harvests which don't need to be so finely pulverized, I use my food processor to chop the ingredients.

Some of my favorite veggies, herbs and fruits to freeze into cubes include:

• Basil with olive oil (no need to add parmesan cheese and pinenuts/sunflower seeds yet - just add them when you are ready to make and use the basil in a pesto sauce)
• Peeled garlic pureed with olive oil
• Chopped jalapeno with olive oil
• Chopped cilantro with lime juice
• Pureed #berries
• Pureed fresh ginger root
• Chopped lemon balm with lemon juice
• Applesauce (one or two cubes are a nice portion for adding to a cup of plain yogurt)
• Fresh juice and pulp from citrus fruits (when my Florida friends bring some from their trees :-)

I use minced #garlic very frequently, like for my Caesar Salad Dressing and for Scampi. I keep a small jar permanently in the 'fridge, popping a frozen garlic cube into the jar whenever it runs empty.

Let me know your ideas for freezing in #icecube trays!

Pureed garlic in oil on the left, chopped cilantro in lime juice on the right

A Kindred Spirit

It's rare that I encounter someone who shares my combined passions of preparing nutritious foods, gardening organically, and foraging for wild edibles. Last night I had the pleasure of not only meeting such a person, but hearing his presentation on "Eating Between the Rows for Nutrition and Sustainability" - a title which would get a yawn from many, but which grabbed my attention from the moment I read about the presentation in a local paper.

Jeff Ross is the Garden Manager at Blackberry Farm, an all-inclusive, all-exclusive luxury resort for those more rich and more famous than me, which is hidden away on 5000 acres about 90 minutes from where I live.  Unique to this resort is that fact that it is a working farm, with the products of its gardens, orchards, stocked waterways, pastures, chicken coops, and wild acreage being used fresh, dried, preserved, and otherwise in the resort food preparation. The website says "The passionate pursuit of our farm generates a range of heirloom produce from the garden, wild flower honey, farm-fresh eggs, and artisan cheeses from East Friesian sheep. Sustainably harvested ingredients are the essence of our celebrated Foothills Cuisine, and the Farmstead is the gathering place for people and products of the farm. While you are here, we encourage you to take part in the farm activities, which will increase your understanding and therefore appreciation of the relationship that we have to the land and to the food it provides us."  Jeff's business card lists his phone number at the "Garden Shed," which I suspect looks a lot different than the image those words conjure up! I'd love to visit it.

I was proud of myself during the lecture, in that I could identify most of the photos Jeff showed to illustrate the wild and cultivated nutritious foods he grows, harvests, gathers, loves to eat, and uses in cooking. One of my favorites he spoke of is wild Chickweed, which grows in abundance for me during the cool months. I love it raw; its taste reminds me of fresh corn on the cob. Here is info I gathered from a good online reference to wild harvesting food:

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Chickweed
Scientific name: Stellaria media
What: leaves, stems
How: raw or cooked
Where: sunny, shady disturbed areas
When: winter, spring, summer
Nutritional Value: Rich in iron, potassium, other minerals, and vitamins A, D, B, C, and minerals
Dangers: Chickweed contain a small amount of saponins (soap-like) chemicals. Excessive quantities of it can cause stomach distress.

Chickweed sprouts were a common source of greens on early navy ships and helped prevent scurvy before the discovery of vitamin C. Their small amount of saponins help give dishes containing chickweed a creamy texture, especially when diced finely and simmered in pasta sauces. It's also tastes wonderful in pesto, salsas, and raw food/vegan "green drinks" as well as greatly increasing the nutritional value of these foods.

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Jeff talked of some of my other favorites, like elderberry (medicinal against viruses), sumac (berries make a good lemonade), Jerusalem Artichokes (great raw or cooked), and garlic scapes (good lightly sauteed). He introduced me to gathering the young spring stem tips of hemlock trees (he says they are full of Vitamin C), using the stringy roots of onions to quick-fry into crunchy threads, eating the first green leaves which emerge in the daylily patch (an asparagus flavor, according to Jeff). He mentioned using parts of plants not normally harvested, as I have discovered and written about in this blog, such as all the green growth of English peas, leaves of sweet potato vines, and young flower bud clusters from mustard-family plants like kale and collards. And he psyched me up about planting field [aka crowder] peas, lovage, and sorghum in my garden in 2013, which should do well in our hot humid summer growing season. I'll also be on the lookout for lamb's quarters and purslane, both of which I think I've seen growing wild around my property, since he spoke so highly of their nutrient values and delicious tastes.

One cooking tip Jeff shared was his favorite way to prepare roasted fresh beets:
Harvest the whole beet, leaving about 1/2" stem. Wash, dry, and arrange in a baking pan. Cover totally with kosher salt, then roast at 400 degrees, probably about 1 hour. The salt seals in the moisture. Jeff says the salt will fall away as a big piece after the cooking is complete. The skins rub off easily when cooked. Sounds yummy to me, and I'll be sure to try it when I harvest the Bull's Blood beets currently growing in my winter garden.

Keep yourself open to trying new and unusual "green" foods, particularly those grown locally and organically, and I guarantee you'll discover delicious tastes you've never before experienced.

I'll Never Buy Garlic Again

Fifteen pounds - that's my recent harvest of garlic which I planted last September. Even for someone like me, who cooks from scratch and loves garlic, that's a lot! I had planted a few different varieties, including many cloves of elephant garlic. Many say this is a less strong type, but mine tastes just as potent as any garlic I've ever tasted, and the giant cloves are so easy to use. (Click here for my tips on growing garlic.)

I dug up the garlic beds in two sessions, since it takes a lot of time time to peel all the cloves and to prepare such a big haul for using over the next 12 months. Since curing, drying, and hanging garlic doesn't work so well for me (the cloves shrivel up over a few months), I've come up with other ways to store it… so many that my list starts to sound like Bubba's description to Forrest Gump of how to prepare shrimp!, here's what I now do to store garlic for future use:

Pureed garlic, frozen in ice cube trays, then bagged

Pureed Garlic Cubes - I run peeled whole cloves of garlic through the food processor with organic extra virgin olive oil. Since the garlic is fresh, it holds a lot of moisture, so it purees into a thick paste. I spooned this mixture into ice cube trays, froze them, then popped out and bagged the cubes, to save freezer space and free up my plastic trays for other stuff. When I add garlic to recipes, most often there is some oil in whatever I am making, so this mixture is very helpful to have on hand. I always keep a small jar of minced garlic in the refrigerator, and when I've used it up (in my Caesar dressing, hummus, salsa, soup, stirfry or other favorite recipe), I just replenish with a garlic ice cube from the freezer. You'll notice in the photo that I labelled the cubes; I've learned to label everything, since there are just too many things in my brain to remember, and it helps avoid errors. I don't want to mistake a garlic cube for a pineapple cube!

Garlic Powder - I use the largest of my harvested cloves for this purpose, putting them through the food processor with the slicing blade. I spread the slices in a single layer on the trays of my electric dehydrator and dry these "chips" to a brittle stage. These are then stored in a cool, dark place in jars, and ground into garlic powder easily in my designated herb/spice [coffee] grinder. I save the moisture absorbing cylinders from vitamin and supplements I purchase, and I always place one in with a jar of dried foods, to be sure moisture doesn't form. Also, I don't grind it  into powder until I need to, since some of its potency might be lost unless I vacuum sealed the powder.

Whole cloves in oil

Dehydrated garlic "chps", which I grind to powd

Whole Cloves - preserved in organic extra virgin olive oil, refrigerated in jars. If you don't plan to use these cloves for a while, you might add Hollywood brand safflower oil, which is 20% vitamin E, a natural preservative.

Potent cough syrup

Cough Syrup - In a workshop for natural home remedies I took years ago, the instructor made a cough syrup by filling a jar with chopped garlic, chopped onions, and honey. I added some dried elderberries to my version of this cough syrup also, since this is a natural flu virus remedy. This concoction gets stored in the refrigerator, and after about 6 weeks the mixture is strained, discarding the vegetables and reserving the potent syrup as a cough remedy, again storing it in the refrigerator. Why this combination? A 2007 study (reported in Science Daily) proved that honey outperformed dextromethorphan (cough suppressant) in suppressing nighttime coughs. Onions are anti-inflammatory, antibiotic, and antiviral. Elderberry tincture tested in the laboratory and in double-blind human studies cut the severity and length of Influenza A and B measurably and significantly. Garlic is a naturally powerful antibiotic, effective against toxic bacteria, viruses, and fungus. Garlic can relieve conditions of asthma, hoarseness, coughs, chronic bronchitis, and other disorders of the lungs, because of its powers of promoting expectoration. As for the medicinal benefits of garlic, see "More than a food ingredient" below. So this is a very potent syrup, strong tasting but effective.

Insect Repellent - I took any cloves which were not perfect for storing, as well as the chopped up main stems of the garlic heads, and spread them on the soil throughout my vegetable garden. Garlic is an organic natural detractor of insects, and I think it helps in my garden. All the other parts of the garlic plants went into the compost pile.

When I dug up all this garlic, attached to the root strings and/or below many of the heads were individual round cloves, especially on the elephant garlic. I call these the "garlic babies". They readily air-dryed, and I've stored them to replant my garlic bed in the fall. I am quite certain that I didn't unearth all these little cloves, so the garlic will likely replant itself in the old bed too. I'll have a great harvest again next year, after using up all the preparations described above!

MORE THAN A FOOD INGREDIENT:
Not only does garlic add loads of flavor to my cooking, it has widely recognized health benefits. As I've read online: "Garlic promotes the well-being of the heart and immune systems with antioxidant properties and helps maintain healthy blood circulation. One of garlic's most potent health benefits includes the ability to enhance the body's immune cell activity. The active component in garlic is the sulfur compound called allicin - a chemical produced when garlic is chopped, chewed, or bruised. Allicin is quite powerful as an antibiotic and a potent agent that helps the body to inhibit the ability of germs to grow and reproduce. There are now over 12 studies published around the world that confirm that garlic can reduce cholesterol. Garlic is known to stimulate T-lymphocyte and macrophage action, promote interleukin-1 levels, and support natural killer cells. Strong activity of these key cells promotes healthy immune system function, and strengthens the body's defenses. Garlic has germanium in it. Germanium is an anti-cancer agent, and garlic has more of it than any other herb. In lab tests, mice fed garlic showed no cancer development, whereas mice that weren't fed garlic showed at least some. In fact, garlic has been shown to retard tumor growth in human subjects in some parts of the world. 

Garlic "babies" to plant next fall

Another benefit of garlic is it helps regulate the body's blood pressure. So whether you have problems with low or high blood pressure, garlic can help equalize it. Garlic helps strengthen your body's defenses against allergies; helps loosen plaque from the artery walls; helps regulate your blood sugar levels; and is the best choice for killing and expelling parasites such as pin worms from the human body. In addition to all these health benefits, garlic is packed with vitamins and nutrients. Some of these include protein, potassium, Vitamins A, B, B2 and C, Calcium, Zinc and many others. In a 12-week, double-blind, placebo-controlled study, allicin powder was found to reduce the incidence of the common cold by over 50%."

Try planting garlic in your garden next fall. It's easy to grow, pest-free, delicious, and good for you!

October in the Veggie Garden

If you think this gardening season is over, you have to see my veggie garden. It's filled with plants still growing from summer and those planted for fall and winter harvests. I love gardening this time of year - everything grows slower with the shorter days, longer shadows, and cooler temperatures. There are no bugs bothering my plants (or biting me) and plant diseases seem non-existent. Hardly any weeds germinate, so that cuts back on the maintenance. This is extra-good, since work and life have been keeping me very occupied lately, and my gardening time has been very limited.

Plants which like cooler weather are primarily leafy vegetables, since there aren't bees around to pollinate fruit. Some, like brussels sprouts, won't grow in hot weather and supposedly taste better after a light frost. Others, like lettuces, will survive in temperatures down to the 20s F, even though they won't grow noticeable when it's really cold. Still others, like spinach, will continue to grow throughout our winter here in Zone 7. We've passed our average annual first frost date of October 24th without frost on my garden, and the next ten days don't show temperatures changing much, so the fall crops are in for great growing weather.

Here's what's growing for me now:

1. AUTUMN - Notice how the leaves have turned color in the last month; our fall weather has been gorgeous this year, and the garden loves it.
2. JALAPENOS - Everyone I know who has grown peppers this year has a bumper crop. My two jalapenos have produced over 200 pods each and are still going. The one in the red Kozy Koat was earlier to ripen, but production seems equal in both.
3. SWEET POTATOES - I dug a couple of plants and was disappointed to find very few small potatoes had formed. Now I suspect the plants kept putting energy into regrowing the vines which were eaten by grasshoppers continually all summer, and the energy didn't go into creating roots. I am leaving the remaining plants in the ground for as long as possible, hoping more time will allow potatoes to form.
4. ONIONS & GARLIC - The onion sets and starter garlic cloves I planted in September have come up great (see closeup photo). Both of these seem to pop up in the garden randomly if you have grown them in the past, so I've also dug and moved some volunteers around. I won't harvest the bulbs until next summer, but I can cut the green tops continually.
5. BRUSSELS SPROUTS - These plants which I bought as seedlings are now beginning to form their little sprouts at the junction of each leaf with the central stem. The ones I started from seed are only about 2" tall, so I might not have enough growing weather to get them to maturity before winter.
6. ROMAINE & LETTUCE - I set out seedlings I started indoors for baby romaine and black seeded simpson lettuce, and the Little Gem lettuce I grew last spring and let go to seed has also reseeded itself. I've been picking leaves and am looking forward to good harvests of all these.
7. SWEET PEPPERS - For many nights when the temps were dipping below 40 degrees I have covered the pimento pepper and Chinese giant pepper plants with heavy black trash bags, since they don't like cold weather, so I am still picking lots of sweet red peppers.
8. KALE - The kale seedlings are growing strong and I've harvested lots, in addition to the collard plants just below the pointer line. Both are highly nutritious and I am primarily using them raw in my green smoothies.
9. COLD FRAME - I replaced the cold frame covers when the nighttime temps began to drop below 50 degrees. In the cold frame now are one tomato plant (all curled up on the ground), several parsley plants I will continue to pick from all winter, and one sweet potato plant in a pot (I'm hoping to be able to pick its leaves; might need to move the plant indoors when it gets really cold). I also have potted tiny CELERIAC seedlings in the cold frame, and they are extremely slow growers. I have to watch the temperatures, raising the cold frame tops when it's sunny and warm, and lowering or closing them when the temperature drops.

ELSEWHERE IN THE GARDEN:

COLLARDS - These greens have been phenomenal. I think I'd see the leaves grow if I sat a watched! I've only been eating them raw and in smoothies, but I'm getting such strong growth that I'll be trying them cooked soon.
SPINACH - I think I finally found a good way to insure germination of spinach seeds. First of all, they will not germinate in the garden until the temperatures are cool - all my efforts to plant them in August proved futile. I have tried cold stratification (putting seeds in and out of the freezer to simulate winter conditions) and don't know for sure if this helps. But I've had the best success by soaking the seeds in a cup of water for a day or two, then putting them on a damp paper towel and into a loosely closed zip bag on the top of the refrigerator (for warmth) for a few days. By then, nearly every seed has a tiny sprout started. When our daytime temperatures drop to the 70s, I plant these under about 1/4 inch of fertile garden soil, and keep them moist… They all seem to grow. Spinach is one plant which will actually continue to grow all winter here, and I usually have a huge harvest during early spring when their growth accelerates. I've already picked a few leaves to use fresh - takes a lot of spinach to make a serving of cooked greens.
BEETS - Some of my chioggia
SQUASH - One butternut squash is about 6" long, but I might not get more than that, due to my late planting and battles with insects. But my friend Susan was kind enough to share her harvest, so I won't go without!

CARROTS - The first bed of fall carrots I planted from seeds only grew one seedling. I'll blame it on bad seeds. So I've replanted a bed this month, with seeds that have grown well for me previously. I mulch the bed so the seeds stay moist since they are slow to germinate. I used old growth from my daylily bed as a mulch, so if this planting is not successful I'll be suspicious that the mulch was a problem, hindering growth.
CASABA - I only got one melon off this plant so I probably will not grow it again. The fruit was very tasty, perhaps would have been a bit sweeter if left on the vine longer.
MUMS - The pre-July cuttings have grown and flowered profusely, and I planted some elsewhere around the house. Most of those in the veggie garden I've cut for arrangements I bring when visiting friends. I'll move the rest of the plants early next spring, to permanent flower beds.
CALENDULA - This edible flower reseeded and it's growing strong. I didn't think it was a cool weather crop, but I've moved the volunteers into a bed and look forward to seeing how long they keep growing.
EGGPLANT - So delicious! Still getting a steady harvest to cook myself and share with friends too.
BASIL - The Thai basil will last until a freeze. It's purple flowers are lovely in my flower arrangements and the flavor of the leaves is very strong and delicious. I'll grow this again next year.
FENNEL - Reseeded itself and going strong. This plant should survive the winter here, as it did with two snowstorms last year.
CILANTRO - I struggled for several summers trying to grow cilantro and keep it from flowering. Then I discovered that some which had gone to seed began to grow again in October and survived all winter, without going to flower. So now I purposely plant it only in the fall. Just disappointed I don't have it fresh when tomatoes are ripening for salsa, but there are loads of other recipes for enjoying it.
CORN SALAD "MACHE" - This is a macro green for salads, and I tried sowing seeds for the first time. So far no sign of life.
JERUSALEM ARTICHOKES - I thought these were best dug after November, but my friend Judy was trying to move some in her gardens and discovered the tubers had formed already. So I dug up under one renegade stem I wanted to remove, and have been enjoying the handful of "chokes" I dug.

So if you live below the Mason-Dixon line and north of Florida and you've dug up your garden, go out and sow some spinach seeds for a bonus harvest with very little effort.

Dehydrating the Harvest

For many vegetables and fruits I grow, processing in my dehydrator is a great way of preserving the harvest. I've written about air drying to dehydrate herbs, but this time I am referring to using an electric dehydrator.

Even though I "cure" the home-grown onions and garlic I've dug up by air drying for a couple of weeks, I have not been successful keeping them in cellar storage for an extended time without many rotting. I've found dehydrating onions and garlic allows me to store them indefinitely, and I still find plenty of ways to use them - in soups, casseroles, dips, stews, etc. I've found this useful for my jalapeno harvest, which provides way more than I could ever use fresh. I'd love to dry them in decorative big bunches, as they do in New Mexico with their red chiles, but the first time I tried stringing my jalapenos together and hanging to air dry I just ended up with a lot of moldy peppers to throw away. Our east coast humidity doesn't quite do the trick, like the dry climate of Santa Fe! So my appliance of choice for these projects in my electric dehydrator.

My first electric dehydrator was given to me free from friends Gordon and Terry, who had bought it for venison jerky. They were no longer using it, so I gladly accepted the gift. It was circular, with the heat unit blowing air out from the center. There was no temperature control; just a lever for opening or closing the blowing air. It worked, but I found the drying to be very irregular; the trays had to be rotated up and down and the food had to be moved around from the outside to the inside areas on each level during the drying period. But I used it successfully, trying lots of different veggies and fruit. Tomatoes, bananas, apples, peaches, plums, and blueberries all dehydrated wonderfully. Dried green beans, sweet potatoes, carrots, greens, and most other vegetables didn't make the grade (kale chips are easier and better in my oven). Still, I was convinced that I'd keep dehydrating and decided I needed a better machine. My research showed the Excalibur to be the cadillac, and I bought  a 9-tray "factory reconditioned" model from the manufacturer's eBay store, with an adjustable thermostat and more even drying, with the motor and fan at the rear of square stacking trays. I've primarily used it for the past few years exclusively for drying fruits and veggies, and I sometimes make my own yogurt in it. I'm not big on eating fruit leathers and I haven't tried it for crackers or other recipes, but I might someday. From the start, it has worked fabulously.


So back to the onions, garlic, and jalapenos. I recommend dehydrating all of these outdoors, since the fumes are intense. I also recommend using a sheet of silicon parchment paper on each mesh tray, or the shrunken pieces will be falling through the trays as they dry. Excalibur sells pre-cut drying sheets (they call them disposable, but I rinse them and hang to dry from pant hangers so I can reuse them a few times) or you can cut your own from rolls of parchment paper from the supermarket baking aisle. For the onions and garlic, I peel and clean them, then pulse in my food processor only enough for a rough chop. Protecting my hands with gloves, I cut the stems off the jalapenos, then cut them lengthwise into quarters. The chopped pieces are spread in a single layer on the parchment sheets, right to the edges. Drying time varies, depending on the moisture content of what you are drying, the ambient temperature, the dehydrator temperature, the space around the items being dried, etc. I like to dry these 3 items until brittle, which might take 12 hours at 135 degrees. When dried thoroughly, I have the option to grind them into a fine powder, in a coffee grinder dedicated to herbs and spices (or in a food processor or high speed blender, when you have a big volume to grind). I also save the dried seeds which drop out of the jalapenos, and use them on pizzas. Rick dubbed the ground red jalapeno as my "secret powder", and my friend Julie likes me to keep her supplied - she sprinkles it on her homemade dark chocolate bark.

Dehydrated food will keep for a long time if stored in a cool dark area, and even longer if you vacuum seal them in bags or jars until ready to use. Enjoy!

September in the Vegetable Garden

My September garden looks empty compared with previous months, but it's a time of transition. I have pulled up plants which have stopped producing and I'm busy nourishing the soil with composted manure and lime for my fall plantings. The weather turned a bit cooler (highs in the low 80s) after we got about 8" of rain from the remnants of Tropical Storm Lee, and the soil was nicely loosened up by all the moisture so it's been easy to dig. Last week I stopped at my favorite fruit market to buy fresh produce (they have a ripe banana bin for 33¢/lb so I stock up and freeze them for smoothies) and I was delighted and surprised to find seedlings for many cool weather crops. Even though I'll plant seeds for many of the same crops, the 5" tall seedlings I purchased will give me a headstart. It's hard to see the small plants against the red clay soil in the photo above, but here's an update:

1. One BUTTERNUT SQUASH plant has survived attacks from squash bugs and I am hoping there is time in its growing season for some to mature. For the past 2 years I've harvested about 25 butternut squashes from my garden, and they stored well in my basement until I used them all in about 9 months. I'll surely not get many this year, but I'd love a few!
2. Both JALAPENOS are producing profusely (the second one is in the red Kozy Koat). The plants were so heavily laden with maturing peppers that they leaned over in the last windy storm. Now each one is in one of my largest tomato cages, anchored down with rebar. Remember, jalapeno and sweet peppers are not ripe in the green stage, even though that's how they are sold; let the jalapenos turn red/black, and bell peppers turn red (or purple, yellow, orange, depending on the variety). If you look at my Facebook page, you'll see my photo of a big bowl of red jalapenos I harvested recently. I dehydrated them and ground them into hot powder.
3. The grasshopper raids on my SWEET POTATO bed seemed to have stopped and I am looking forward to digging lots, probably in October.
4. I bought and planted a 4-pack of ROMAINE lettuce, planted on the edge of the garden so I can easily harvest a few leaves at a time.
5. I pulled out the THAI LONG BEANS, since they were taking over everything. They were sold as a "bush" variety, but grew as long trailing vines for me. I got a decent harvest, and they are long and tasty when cooked, plus growing beans adds nitrogen to the soil they are in. But I am once again convinced that blue lake bush beans are my favorite green beans to grow - short plants, heavy yields, great taste, freeze well, and I like how they taste raw. In place of the long been plants, the CHRYSANTHEMUM babies, MARIGOLDS, FENNEL, and HOLY BASIL, which all were being covered over by the vines, are now happy. Every one of the 30 mum cuttings I planted last spring rooted, and the continuous pinching back now finds them loaded with flower buds, just in time for fall flowering. I need to move some into pots and other garden areas soon! I cut back the fennel plants after harvesting loads of seeds, and new young plants are growing from the root. I'm sure some of those seeds I missed will start new plants there too, and I'll be harvesting green fronds this fall.
6. The red plastic mulch where the tomatoes had grown is now removed, up to this sprawling CANTALOUPE vine. Lots of flowers on it, but I haven't seen any fruit form, so it might have been planted too late. This plant hasn't been bothered by squash bugs … maybe it's due to the red mulch?
7. I've planted nine seedlings of KALE here, and I'll be starting kale seeds elsewhere in the garden, as well as setting out seedlings I started indoors. Many fall (or early spring) seeds will not germinate in soil above 70 degrees, so I'm waiting for cooler temps to plant seeds directly in the garden so I won't waste seeds, as I have in the past due to my ignorance.
8. I tried growing BRUSSELS SPROUTS unsuccessfully last spring; the weather warmed and the "sprouts" flowered right away. I knew it was a fall crop, but I tried anyway. Now I've planted 6 purchased seedlings and I will transplant the smaller seedlings which I started indoors last month when they get a bit stronger. I am looking for success this time!
9. I've never grow COLLARDS, but I bought seedlings and planted them here. I will try them in my green smoothies as well as in many cooked recipes. The more veggies I eat, the more I like. Also in this area of the garden are small PARSLEY plants I purchased. Parsley is one of the only plants I have discovered which grows nearly year round in my garden, and it's yummy and nutritious. I love to make tabouli salad, use it in green smoothies, and use it as an herb in salads, sautes and soups.

   I have pulled out all but two TOMATO plants, after they succumbed to blight. I've already purchased two blight-resistant tomato seed varieties for next year, "Old Brooks" and "Legend". I have searched, unsuccessfully, for organic ways to rid my soil of the fungus which causes blight (the same blight which caused the Irish potato famine in the late 1800s). What's a garden without fresh tomatoes?
   The EGGPLANTS have also been under attack by grasshoppers, so I've had a lull in my harvest. Each plant has a couple of maturing fruit, so I am looking forward to making more Eggplant Parmesan with my new favorite recipe.
   One of my photos is a bit gross, but shows a TOMATO HORNWORM. When I discovered this one I was happy to see it covered with a natural parasite. The "braconid" wasp lays eggs on the hornworm and the larvae feed on the inside of the hornworm until the wasp is ready to "pupate" into a cocoon. The white, rice-shaped protrusions on the green hornworm are the cocoons. The wasps will kill the hornworms when they emerge and will seek others to parasitize, so I don't squish the hornworms when I find them in this state.
   The LEMON GRASS plant is enormous, and the lemon flavor is the strongest of any lemony herb I've grown. I hope it will survive the winter here.
   One CASABA melon plant is growing well, and I've warded off the attacking bugs with dustings of diatomaceous earth and sprayings of diluted kaolin clay. One melon has formed which is about 6" in diameter, but still green. I am hoping it will ripen to golden without being eaten by any critters except me!
   Some of my chioggia BEETS which had overwintered from last year grew flower stalks. I let them go to seed; some seedlings are starting where the plant dropped them and I have also spread some seeds which I harvested. In addition, on the south edge of the garden I've planted seeds for another variety of beets called "Bulls Blood" whose red leaves are recommended as colorful and good raw for salads.
   I've planted 100 seeds of a CARROT variety called "little fingers." I've also planted SPINACH seeds after using cold stratification to help them germinate better. I'll be planting lots more spinach - we love it, and it's one plant which grows here continuously all winter.

   I was happy to find some ONION SETS, more rarely sold in the fall than in the spring, so I'll be setting them out this weekend. It's about time to plant GARLIC also, and I have some heads left from my own harvest, which I'll divide and plant each clove about 3" deep and 5" apart.
   'Still harvesting lots of Thai BASIL to use fresh and to give to friends; there's lots of pesto in the freezer from last year, so no need to make more.

   I've transplanted the slow growing CELERIAC seedlings I started into larger pots. Only 7 plants germinated They are puny, and still in the basement window until large enough to go in the garden. My experiment with CELERY failed, due to the very hot weather, but I'll try it again under different conditions.

Don't stop gardening if you are in Zone 7 like me. The season is just beginning!

May in the Vegetable Garden

My May vegetable garden attests to the long growing season here and to the favorable conditions this spring has presented… although 45 degrees felt very chilly this morning, just a week after we sweated at 90 degrees. I've never had such a variety of crops at one time, and I've already harvested a great deal. Since my garden only feeds two, I can get by with just a few plants of many vegetables, unless I plan to preserve excess harvests.

Miraculously, the garden was spared damage from the tornado which hit us 3 weeks ago. The garden photo reveals some of the tornado damage beyond the garden - a huge uprooted shagbark hickory on the left and a dogwood which was partially uprooted so we trimmed, uprighted, and staked it to see if it will survive.

WEEDS - Visitors ask why there are no weeds in my vegetable garden and I say "I don't plant any." I'm not trying to be a wise guy, it's true. If you continually keep weeds from the garden, they don't have the chance to grow tall, flower, and drop seeds for new plants. This is especially true in the springtime. If you keep up with the weeding early in the season, you'll have fewer and fewer weeds growing as the garden matures through the summer. My largest source of weeds is from the composted cow manure I use which came from free-ranging cows - evidently the cow digestive system does not destroy seeds in their pasture. My own compost also sprouts lots of tomato seeds, which appear to be strong enough to remain viable through the heat process of breaking the plant material into compost.

1. PEA PODS are now being harvested by the bucketful! In late February I planted seven 15 foot rows, with two "bush" varieties: heirloom Oregon Sugar Snap II and hybrid Burpee Sugar Sprint. I didn't mail order these seeds because planting pea pods was an afterthought, so I bought these locally. Both types are sweet, stringless and delicious raw or lightly cooked. I've frozen 12 bags and I might try using some of the fatter latter variety as refrigerator pickles soon.
2. EGGPLANT - As in past years, I am fighting a pest which is eating holes in the leaves on the two seedlings I've planted. Next step will be to cover them with netting which I can remove when they flower, which won't be for quite a while.
3. STRAWBERRIES - My previous post extols the fabulous strawberries I've harvested for the last 4 weeks.
4. GARLIC - If you've planted garlic and it sends up a thick center stem with a small bulb shape at the top, then it is attempting to flower. Cut the stalk off as low as possible. I then take this piece and cut it into 1/2" pieces and scatter it as a repellent around plants which are most susceptible to bug attacks. These "scapes" also look exotic in a flower arrangement. Onions send up a similar flower stalk, so cut it also, to avoid a thick tough center to your harvested onions.
5. PEPPERS - One jalapeno has been in a red "Kozy Koat" for many weeks, staying warm and healthy, and I'll transplant one more jalapeno seedling from the cold frame in early June. I've also planted heirloom seedlings of one sweet California Giant and one Pimento sweet pepper into short tomato cages.
6. TOMATOES - All six plants are doing well, with very different growth characteristics for each of the 4 heirloom varieties. All the plants are flowering and there are green tomatoes on 4 plants. I've been at war with white flies on one plant, but I'm winning so far.
7. BRUSSELS SPROUTS - I think I see the little "sprouts" beginning to form at each leaf branch, and the pest that was eating holes in the leaves initially is no longer around…. yeah!
8. BEETS - I am thinning my beet plantings as I pick greens for salads and sauteing, and I'll allow some to remain in the growth to harvest later for the beet roots.
9. PARSLEY - I'm harvesting both flat Italian parsley and curly parsley now, from seedlings I set in the garden in early March.

Also in the garden:

• MELON - One "casaba" melon seedling has been planted and is thriving. I also planted seeds of Hale's Best cantaloupe in one hill, which have not germinated yet (planted a backup in a pot and three little sprouts have emerged from the potting soil).
• ZUCCHINI - When I planted my one strongest seedling it already had tiny flowers starting, and is looking healthy now. I'll be on the watch for the squash vine borer.
• LEEKS - When my seedlings got to 9" tall, I planted them in the garden, 8" deep. Most seem to be growing.
• AMARANTH - You might know this as a grain, which I would get as seeds if the plants reach 9 feet and grew a showy flowering plume, but I've direct seeded a 2' x 3' area thickly as a salad green… or I should say a salad "red", since that's the leaf color.
• CUCUMBERS - One seedling each of two heirloom pickling varieties is now planted and I am experimenting with growing vertically, training the vines up a twisted pole set inside a tall tomato cage.
• LETTUCE - We've been eating and sharing a great harvest of Black Seeded Simpson and mixed Romaine. I direct sowed seeds of the heirloom "Little Gem" which is supposed to tolerate heat better than other lettuces. I pulled out all the Amish Deer Tongue and donated it to my compost bin, since I didn't like the flavor or texture as well as the others I had available to eat.
• CARROTS - I've thinned the carrot bed so none are closer than 1", replanting those I pulled. Growing carrots is slow, but hopefully my patience will be rewarded at harvest time. I just planted a few rows of the Scarlet Nantes variety, next to the Red Chanterey and Danvers already growing.
• SPINACH - I harvested the fall planting of spinach and chopped and froze many bags. I am now harvesting leaves from seeds I direct sowed in March. If your spinach sends up a center stem with a triangle growth on top, it is beginning to "bolt" and go to seed. Three factors make this happen: length of day, heat, and crowding. You can't control the first two, but avoid the overcrowding by harvesting every other plant.
• GREEN BEANS - I've direct sowed three areas with rows of my favorite Blue Lake bush bean, which grows about 2' tall and doesn't need trellising. Hopefully I can avoid the pest which ate holes in the leaves and beans last year and have a bountiful harvest for fresh eating and freezing.
• KALE - as with the spinach, I harvested and froze the fall planting of kale and now I am ready to start harvesting a small square of kale I direct seeded in March. Like spinach and many lettuces, kale will "bolt" in hot weather.
• BOK CHOY - I'm throwing in the towel on chinese vegetables until next winter's plantings, since I can't ward off the bugs that are eating the leaves.
• CHRYSANTHEMUMS - These lovely garden flowers are edible, so they are justified to be mentioned in this blog. In oriental countries they also eat the leaves of some varieties as salad greens. If you've planted the potted flowering chrysanthemums from last fall, you'll discover they are quite winter-hardy and have sent up new growth. To keep your plants from flowering in August versus October, and to create beautiful nursery-type fullness, you need to keep pinching off the top growth now. I once read to cut the tops back "3 times before the fourth of July" for my area (zone 7), so you can adjust for your location. Basically, I keep pinching off the branches to about 3" tall, then let them grow untouched after early July. My fall flowering is fabulous, with flowers so thick in October and November that you can't see the green leaves below. Also, if those green tops you snip off are a few inches long, you can strip the bottom leaves, dip in rooting hormone, and plant your cuttings. They re-root very easily. I only have one white mum, lots of purples, so the first time I pinched back the white one I re-planted 30 little cuttings - and they are all growing! I could easily start a mum farm at this rate. I always plant cuttings in my vegetable garden, knowing they won't get ignored there. Once the cutting show new growth, pinch them as necessary too. Replant in permanent locations in late summer - or pot to give as gifts!
• ONIONS - Still growing strong. A friend told me last year that onions like being continually fertilized up until one month before harvest. This year I am fertilizing the entire garden with organic fertilizers every 2 weeks. Each green "scallion" from the onion indicates a layer of growth on the onion root. I harvest the greens for salads and recipes, one from this onion, one from another, and it doesn't disturb the onion growth.

Happy gardening!

April in the Vegetable Garden

 

Take a tour of my vegetable garden! Starting with this post, I'll photograph it during the first week of each month, and describe what's growing. Keep in mind that I'm in Tennessee, USDA gardening zone 7, with an average last frost date of April 15th, and a frost-free growing season of nearly 200 days. My "birdseed view" is taken from my east porch.

This year I'm starting all my vegetable plants from seeds, either indoors to get a jump on the season or directly in the garden. Indoors, they move from the south-facing windows in our dining area to the south window in the walk-out basement, which is at about 55 degrees this time of year. From there they move into the cold frame to harden off with cooler nighttime temperatures.

The garden is about 20' x 40', running east-west. Big poplar logs hold the soil and I dig walking paths between raised beds which are about 3-4' wide. The garden is on a slight downhill slope.

Here is the April tour:

1. A thin red plastic mulch warms the soil and cuts down on weeds. I laid this down in mid-March, burying the ends with soil. I planted 3 tomato plants yesterday, cutting a 5" slot into the plastic, inserting the plant, and placing 4 rocks around the hole opening, to keep the wind from getting under the plastic. The south end has one tomato plant in a "Kozy Koat" - a red plastic sleeve with pockets filled with water to permit solar heating for the plant. I'll remove the Koat when the weather warms. (The other Kozy Koat shown with a white feed bag for mulching was planted in mid-March, to attempt a headstart on tomato harvests). The mulch is one of my attempts to prevent tomato blight.
2. The yellow flowers are on my Chinese cabbage, planted last fall along with the kale in this row. As soon as we got some early warm days, the cabbage set flowers. I've left them growing for several reasons: the flowers are pretty and attract bees; the flowers are edible, tasting like raw broccoli; the flowers produce tiny edible seed pods, which I have cooked in a stirfry. I just need to remove them before the pods ripen and drop hundreds of seeds into my soft garden soil!
3. Eight rows of snap peas were planted as soon as I could work the soil in February. This east end of the garden is where I have grown my sweet potatoes for the past 2 years, allowing the long vines to grow out the back end of the garden. I am growing the peas here not only to harvest their delicious pods, but also to utilize their ability to add nitrogen to the soil. I grow "bush" varieties, which grown only about 24" tall, and I push branches into the ground for the tendrils to wind up. By June, when it is warm enough to plant the sweet potatoes, the peas will be harvested.
4. My June-bearing strawberry bed runs along the north wall of the garden, and the plants are flowering profusely now. The big mass of greenery above the word "north" is an area where last year's strawberry babies congregated! I'll dig these up after my harvest; strawberries produce best when not too crowded. If anyone nearby wants to start a strawberry bed, please let me know and I'll provide loads of healthy plants. I think the variety was "Tennessee Beauty".
5. Next to the strawberry crowd I sowed seed beds in this row in March for black seeded simpson lettuce, kale, bok choy, and spinach - all cold-hardy plants. They have all sprouted and are growing slowly.
6. Nine brussel sprout plants, started indoors in January, are growing here. I have sprayed a few times with garlic spray, fighting an insect which is eating holes in the leaves. Otherwise the plants look good - this is my first try at growing this veggie. I never really liked it, but a friend prepares it in a very tasty way. I figured if I liked his store-bought brussel sprouts, I'd love home grown! The brussel sprouts are bordered by romaine lettuce and yellow onions (I put in about 150 onion sets in Feb). Along the south border are loads of spinach plants which I started directly in the garden by seed last fall. The little spinach plants didn't grown much in the winter, but they survived two snow storms and lots of freezes and are now growing strong… great raw and cooked!
7. Garden fresh carrots taste so good, that I am giving them another try this year. I planted 5 close rows and covered them with the tall grass I cut from my blue flax in the flower gardens - there were no seeds in the grass and it is fine and lightweight, so it has kept the carrot seeds moist and encouraged good germination. I started another 4 rows next the the first planting, and hand raked the grass clippings over them. Next to that tan mass are some garlic, planted last fall, with a row of Amish Deer Tongue lettuce. Along one side of the carrot bed is a late winter planting of Chinese cabbage, and along the opposite side is pak choy, a mini bok choy.
8. The front of the garden has been planted with loads of garlic since last fall, which will be harvested in June-July, in addition to more onion sets, Chioggia beet seeds set out for harvesting the greens as well as the roots (they are pink and white inside), flat and curly parsley, and fennel. 
9. My Juwel cold frame is permanently set in the corner, where I can easily adjust the lids according to the weather, harvest the red romaine and spinach that grew in it all winter, and move pots of seedlings in and out. Behind the cold frame I've planted some cilantro, hoping the shade will keep it cool enough so it won't bolt (cilantro likes cold weather, but I like it when the tomatoes are ripe for salsa!)

Have fun in your garden on these gorgeous days of spring.

February Garden Activities

Highs in the 60s can almost fool you into thinking it's springtime. My crocuses have flowered and the daffodils are popping up, but it is still about 7 weeks until the average last frost for this area (gardening zone 7). So winter gardening still prevails, even though all my indoor south-facing windows are full of seedlings, with some of the cold-tolerant crops (brussel sprouts, lettuce, parsley, onions, leeks) in front of the basement window to harden off, where it's about 50 degrees (or outside in the daytime sun).

My lunar gardening calendar declared last Sunday a good day for planting root crops, so I planted about 90 yellow onion sets, and several rows of beet seeds. I used a 3/4" diameter round wood stick to plant the onions, amending and loosening up the soil first, then poking the stick in about 3" deep, 3" apart. That made it easy to pop one onion set into each hole, root side down, then push soil over it. I also transplanted the garlic from various places in my 20' x 40' veggie garden, so those which have wintered over are all in one area of the garden. For my final "root crop" task, I filled a large pot with purchased organic soil + vermiculite + peat moss, wet it, and planted 5 of the smallest sweet potatoes which I had set aside from my harvest last year. In the past, I've tried starting them in soil as well as in mason jars of water, and the soil method has worked better for me. This is the earliest I've tried starting them, since they don't go into the garden until June, but perhaps it will give me larger plants for the garden. These little potatoes will send up leaves, with little hairy roots at the base of each stem. When I am ready to plant, I'll separate these from the starter potato and plant those "slips" to start the vines.

My Lenten Rose (hellebore) just began to flower.

I've also been transplanting seedlings for other vegetables - such as tomatoes, jalapenos, sweet peppers, and pimentos - from 1" peat pellets into 3" plastic pots, with the same soil mix as described above. This will allow the roots to grow thick and healthy. As an experiment, I planted a 2 foot wide window box type planter with cilantro seedlings. I love to have fresh cilantro for making salsa when my tomatoes ripen, but the heat makes the cilantro produce flowers instead of leaves. I am hoping I can grow this planter either in cooler shade or in the basement window, to successfully harvest leaves in mid to late summer. If you have a better way to coordinate cilantro harvest with ripe tomatoes, please let me know. Just don't suggest I move back to northern New England!

Lessons from my Garden

I've bought my new seeds, started some seedlings, and I'm reviewing last year's garden successes and failures while planning the 2011 garden. Here are some things I learned:

Tomato plant growing in the cold frame.

• Onions: Even though I "cured" my harvested onions as prescribed, I found most either sprouted or rotted in storage. I had been more successful in past years, so perhaps our growing season was too wet. Fortunately, I harvested so many at once that I also dehydrated onions. This proves to be a great option for me, since the dehydrated onions can be used for dips, soups, and other recipes. To dehydrate I peeled the onions then quartered them. I pulsed them very briefly in my food processor, just to get them chopped. (Processing them too long will turn them to onion mush.) Beware of the fumes when you take of the lid! I did all this on the porch so the house wouldn't fill with the onion fragrance. Then I spread the chopped onions in a thin layer on parchment sheets on my electric dehydrator trays. I dried them until they were brittle and golden, then packed what I wouldn't be using right away in a vacuum sealed mason jar.
• Tomatoes: I grew several varieties of tomatoes, and I'll try others next season. The Brandywines had a fabulous flavor, but they crack even if you pick them early and ripen indoors. I learned I prefer a smaller tomato, and I weighed some to determine 7 to 8 oz. is a perfect size salad tomato for me. I also grew a hybrid called "Jelly Bean" and they were tiny and the sweetest I ever tasted. I am leaning away from hybrids, so when I've used all those seeds I won't repurchase them. Late in the season I grew "Amish Paste." They were larger than Romas, very low in seeds, meaty, and very flavorful… worth repeating. They are also "indeterminate" which means they fruit continuously during the season, vs. "determinate" like Romas, which are compact plants but ripen their fruit over a shorter time period then stop setting new fruit. Also regarding tomatoes, many gardeners in my area had "tomato blight". If you know any organic solutions, please let me know.
• Winter Squashes: My harvest was limited, due to an infestation of squash bugs, but I've verified that Waltham Butternut Squashes are all I need to plant in this category. They store in my basement for nearly a year, they can be substituted in any recipe for pumpkin, they are good producers, and they taste great. The white with jagged green stripes acorn-type which I planted turned cream with orange stripes and were gorgeous, but disappointing in the taste test. I think planting the Butternut (and its cousin Cantaloupe) a bit later in the season might help miss the cycle of squash bugs, and our season is long enough to allow me to do that.
• Eggplants: I planted two varieties, and the heirloom "Black Beauty" wins out over the long skinny "Early Longs". They had better taste and were easier to cook with. I continue to be plagued with flea beetles, which eat away at the young eggplant foliage, but toward the end of summer they had left and the plants produced vigorously. So my solution in 2011 will be to start my eggplants later. 
• Beans: All my snap beans suffered from bug bites on the leaves and beans, so I barely got enough to eat fresh. In 2011 I am returning to my favorite bush varieties, Blue Lake Bush and Golden Wax. Both are stringless, taste great fresh (I eat them raw!), and freeze well. Hopefully I can manage the bugs.
• Strawberries: To keep down weeds in my "June-bearing" strawberry bed, I had planted them in two staggered rows in black landscape fabric, and covered that with a layer of straw. Big no-no. Perhaps this might have worked if we had less rain, but the result was that after I harvested a good crop of berries a fungus or mildew developed under the straw and killed the plants. Fortunately, many at the end of the patch had sent out babies that I was too busy to snip off, and I let all the runners grow freely into the other sections of the vegetable garden. By the end of summer, I dug up enough new strawberry plants to replant the original bed (with no mulch this time), planted two new beds (in case the original bed retained any fungus), and had enough left to share with a friend.
• Garlic & Basil: 'Can't have too much garlic, but I can have too much basil! My garlic harvest has stored very well and should hold me through the next harvest, around July. But 20 basil plants supplied me with too much, fresh and frozen. I think I'll still have some in the freezer well beyond next summer, so I'll try to limit myself to just a couple of plants this year, just for fresh use.
• Experiment! Just to see what would happen, I planted some of the mung beans I use for growing sprouts, and two plants grew well and produced a little crop! This year I plan to grow Huckleberries, a melon which will store for months in the basement, calendula flowers (edible and dried for an ingredient in lotions and salves), and new varieties of tomatoes and cucumbers. I'm also going to try some different growing methods, like trellising my cucumbers so they grow up off the ground.



Black Beauty Eggplant, ready to pick.

• Cold Frame: I purchased an Austrian-made Juwel 1000 cold frame last February, and it was a great addition to my garden. The assembly instructions were in German, but my handy husband managed to figure out how it went together from the diagrams. We positioned it in one corner of our raised bed vegetable garden. I used it for numerous purposes:  hardening-off indoor seedlings before setting in the open garden, rooting cuttings from chrysanthemums and other plants, growing my second crop of tomato seedlings, starting fall seedlings, and, now that it's winter, growing lettuce and spinach plants under protection. Temperatures have fallen below 10 degrees F many times already, and several inches of snow have covered the top at times, but the lettuce and spinach plants look healthy and happy inside!

Like fellow gardeners, I am anxious for warmer weather and getting my hands dirty again soon!

Squash Scampi

Here is a great meal for garlic lovers, which I adapted from a recipe for shrimp scampi given to me by my friend Dee.

• 3 c zucchini and/or yellow squash, cut into matchsticks
• 1 small eggplant, peeled and cut into 1/4" thick bite-sized pieces
• 1/4 c olive oil
• 1 T dijon mustard
• 4 tsp minced garlic
• 1-1/2 T lemon juice
• 2 tsp fresh basil or parsley, chopped
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Arrange the veggies in a shallow layer in a 9" x 13" casserole. Mix all other ingredients in a measuring cup or small bowl, pour over the veggies. Bake 15 minutes, then stir and bake 15 minutes more or until desired doneness. Great served over pasta.

You Can Grow Garlic

I've grown my own garlic for a couple of years and it is easy and possible in most parts of continental USA. It is not susceptible to insects or diseases, so I'm happy to have it in my organic garden. I've learned a few tips which I'd like to share so you will be encouraged to plant some too:

When to plant - You'll have to research this for your own part of the country, and perhaps you'll determine the timing better than my research yielded. I've seen instructions to plant in my area (zone 7) ranging from early fall to the winter solstice, Dec. 21. My experience has been that I harvest full heads in June when I plant in September, and I've read that garlic needs 9 months to mature. If you plant by the lunar calendar, root crops are planted during the two weeks after the full moon.

What to plant - Each planted garlic clove will grow into a full head, and you need to start with a head of garlic. Don't just buy a head at the supermarket and expect good results… produce department garlic is often treated not to sprout! Great if it will sit on your kitchen counter while you use it, but not good if you bury it in the ground and expect it to grow. You can buy garlic to plant from seed catalogs (like Seeds of Change, Hood RIver Garlic), you can buy from sources which you know don't treat it - like a local farmer - or you can save some of your own harvest to replant the next season. I bought mine from the nearby Mennonite Community farm stand. The yield sign I photographed on the road to the farm is pictured above - you don't see many of those graphics around these days!

Choose a Variety - To simplify, there are three types of garlic you can plant: hard neck (a very stiff straight stem in the center of the cloves), soft neck (no center stem), and elephant. The elephant is more closely related to leeks than to garlics, and some say it has only a mild garlic flavor, but I find it plenty strong. I love how easy it is to peel and get lots of garlic all at once! Hard neck varieties - like the Spanish Roja, a "Rocambole" type I bought from the Mennonites - are known for superior taste and easy peeling, but they don't store for long periods. Soft neck garlic heads tend to grow larger than hard necks, have superior shelf life, and are particularly good for warmer climates, but might be lacking in flavor. I've planted all three types in my garden.

Where to plant - I plant my garlic right in the vegetable garden, in an area that won't be rototilled in early spring, since I won't harvest until early summer. I have successfully dug up young sprouting garlic at the end of winter, tilled the area, then replanted, but I'm sure they do better without such disturbance. Plant in prepared fertile garden soil, good sunlight, good drainage, and a pH of 6 to 7.

How to plant - Don't break the head of garlic apart until you are ready to plant, or the cloves might dry out too much. In all cases, the larger the clove, the bigger head it will grow… plant the largest cloves from your "seed" head, eat the small ones, and discard any which look unhealthy. When ready, plant each clove 5 to 6 inches apart, with root end down and tip end up. I have had the best results planting each clove 3-4" deep, and up to 5-6" for the elephant garlic cloves. You can mulch with decomposed leaves or straw on the bed during the winter, especially in colder climates, but rake off the mulch in the spring to avoid mold, slugs or snails, and to give the plants some sunshine. If frost turns the green tops yellow, it will not harm the growth of the garlic bulb.

Plant your garlic this fall, and I'll update you on growing and harvest garlic early next spring. And you'll see lots of the recipes I post will call for fresh garlic. For me, I can't grow too much garlic!