Leaf Day

Lucky day, today! And a beautiful fall day: 70F and sunny. I saw a great number of bags of leaves just down the street.  So I knocked on the door to ask permission and was greeted by a fellow gardener and writer...a nice bit of serendipity. I loaded 23 bags of leaves in my truck and hauled them all to the compost area.

I cleaned up most all of the leaves in the yard and mulched them right away.  I also put mulched leaves on the garlic and spinach and then covered them with a thick layer of aged straw. I put a floating row cover over the garlic and a couple of old paper leaf bags over the spinach straw, just to keep them from blowing away...and snow due tomorrow.

 Compost, Bed Preparation, Greens Harvest

It was a beautiful day today, in the upper 50s F, sunny, brilliant. I did a lot of work on the compost.  Bin #2 is completely full and just needs turning.  Bin #3 is nearly full.  And Bin#1 is just starting over from the bottom.  I emptied the little barrel into it today.  It is best to empty the little barrel when it gets half full, otherwise it gets too heavy to move easily.  I added chopped leaves and coffee grounds.  Shirley had brought home about 30 lbs. of coffee grounds.

I spread 10 lbs. of coffee grounds on bed #2, cultivated it in, raked it level, seeded it with inoculated hairy vetch and winter rye.  To inoculate the hairy vetch, I poured the seeds into a shallow container, poured in a little inoculant and a little water, stirred it with a stick and then used the stick to spill the seeds over the bed. I then laid down a layer of chopped leaves and spread aged straw on top of that.

In the image below, bed #2 is in the upper right, the new garlic bed is under the row cover. 

I watered the cold frame and harvested tat-soi, lettuce, arugula, mizuna, and mache.

We made a big salad with the lettuce, mache, mizuna, and arugula, leaving the mache whole, just setting the whole plant on the salad plate. I sautéed the tat-soi, mixed it with some homemade tomato sauce, and had it over brown rice along with oven-baked tofu. 

 The Last of the Fresh Tomatoes

We sorted through the last two flats of garden tomatoes today, some were starting to shrivel. Here, Shirley sorts through the cherry tomatoes, we still have enough for a few salads.

 Garlic Planting Day: 11-05-09

Last year, I planted on October 18.  This year, we had a big winter storm that pushed the planting date into November.  There is plenty of latitude in the fall planting date, so this should be fine...perhaps better, because it is better little, if any, above ground growth...last year they were above the ground only about an inch or two...which is fine...very much more could be detrimental.

I planted 105 cloves of garlic today: 28 German White, 35 Kettle River Giant, and 42 Chilean Silver. These were all very successful this past summer. I had also planted Persian Star but the cloves were small compared to the other three. I had set aside plenty of planting stock in the basement, the largest and best looking heads from this year's harvest.

My bed is 4' x 8'  - so 15 rows with 7 in each row = 105.

The bed and the day were perfect for planting: The soil was moist but not soggy, it was 50F outside. See previous garlic entry for bed prep details. 

I first cultivated the bed very lightly and then raked it smooth.  Using the wooden device shown in the image above, I marked out where each clove would be planted (I got this idea from Eliot Coleman's 'Four Season Harvest.' I then popped just enough garlic heads to fill the bed, discarding small or damaged cloves (dinner tonight!). I used a large screwdriver as a dibble and planted them so the tops were about an inch under the surface. This took only about an hour. Every row has a tag. 

I lightly watered the bed.  Because a squirrel had decided to bury acorns in it, I covered it with a floating row cover. In a couple of days, I will lay a heavy mulch of leaves over it and then put the row cover back on to hold the leaves in place. 

 Harvest After the Storm

It was a beautiful day today, 60F, sunny, brilliant air.  I harvested from the cold frame and the main garden: lettuce, arugula, parsley, beet greens, turnips, and turnip greens:

 In the Depth of Winter An Invincible Summer

In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer. - Albert Camus

Big snow storm over the past two days, 12 inches or so...nevertheless, inside the cold frame, an invincible summer...this open end revealing some perky red and green lettuce, chard, and mizuna.

 Green Tomatoes in Flats

We still have six flats of tomatoes ripening. Every couple of days we sort through them, bringing all the red ones to the top right flat. We cover them with a cloth.

 Garlic Bed Preparation

Yesterday, I removed the grass clippings that I had laid on this bed after removing the squash plants. I loosened the soil with a garden fork, sifted a bushel of aged compost, spread it over the top, dug it in a little, watered the bed thoroughly, and laid a floating row cover over it to retain moisture - it is very warm and dry - 80F with 15% humidity.

My soil test showed a consistent 7.1 ph throughout the bed. Garlic likes a slightly acid soil so, today, I sprinkled 6 oz. of sulfur on the surface plus 15 lbs. of sifted coffee grounds. I worked these into the top 4-5 inches, watered it, and placed the row cover back on. I will now let it rest until Thursday when I plant the garlic.

General Activity: I pulled out all the old kale plants. Their stems had turned soft after the hard frost last week (17F).  Turned the compost, there are two full bins, and now, after using the rest of bin #1 for the garlic bed, I have a new bin to start on.

Harvest: 3/4 lb. chard, tat soi, taisai, winter kale, all greens in cold frame. All of the fresh green tomatoes are gone so we are now eating those that were picked green or breaking.

 Prize Tomato: Brandywine 1 lb. 5 oz.

Here is our prize tomato, our largest and most beautiful tomato of the season...a Brandywine harvested from the last plant to go in the ground...a plant I couldn't give away, even when I tried. It languished in the pot far too long but produced a large number of big tomatoes, this being the biggest...it weighed in at 1 lb. 5 oz.

For breakfast this morning, we laid big slices on fresh homemade toasted bread...

Tonight we will do the same on veggie burgers with fresh garden-grown salad greens and white garden onions.

 Salad Greens Under the Snow

It finally got above freezing on Sunday, so we kicked the snow off the cold frame, pulled back the row covers on the tat soi bed, and harvested a nice basket of salad green: lettuce, arugula, mizuna, kale, taisai, tat soi, and parsley.

 Cold Spell - 19 Degrees & Snow

Somewhat surprisingly, we are in the midst of a very cold weather pattern: 19° this morning, with 2-4 inches of snow. Nevertheless, all the plants look good, though the weight of the snow may have damaged some of the chard, beets, and turnip greens. Glad to have gotten the remaining tomatoes in before the cold weather.

 Sorting & Storing Unripened Tomatoes

Not shown in the image below are the 5 lbs. of tomatoes on the counter ready to be processed. We have sorted these into flats to be stacked, covered with a cloth, and checked every few days to see what has ripened. The ones on the lower right are ready for processing...this photo makes them look darker than they really are...but they are Purple Cherokees, so they are pretty dark.

 Tomatoes Go

We harvested all the remaining tomatoes, green and red alike, and put them in brown paper bags, probably 25 lbs. It didn't take long to remove all the plants...which I do not compost.  It could freeze tonight...so I covered the cold frame and put floating row covers on the beds of greens.  I left the turnip greens and kale (old & new) uncovered.

And below is the bed of tatsoi, taisai, and newly planted spinach.

 Shred & Mulch Day

I cut down all the branches from the two box elder stumps, a lot of branches, making about 100 lbs. of mulch. The mulcher/shredder did a great job on this...plus 6 bags of leaves, in about an hour and a half.  I added the shredded branches to the two compost bins along with an equal amount of mulched leaves. I shred the branches just before the leaves begin to turn. The first image shows the shredded branches.

And in the image below, the shredded branches are mixed in with the the rest of the compost.

The air was exquisite this morning. So much so, it seemed enough to live on for a week or so...brisk and breezy, with the temperature reaching 74 degrees by noon....

Spinach Planting: Two 8-foot rows of spinach in the old garlic bed (left side of bed above). I first loosened the soil (many worms wiggling to the surface), then added a light layer of sifted compost, mixed it in a little, planted the seed, covered it with a light cover of old potting soil and, finally, the whole bed with a very light layer of twice chopped leaves.  When I was done, I moistened the whole surface...just lightly, as the soil was pretty moist already. 

Cold Frame: I cleaned up the cold frame, pulling up the old basil and kale plants. More basil is already growing in a big pot in the house.  And another bed of kale is almost ready to begin harvesting. In anticipation of cold nights coming up, I set the dutch lights in place, raised to their highest position.

Harvest: kale, arugula, mizuna, parsley, basil, a pound of chard, more tomatoes, and a few leaves of tai-sai.

Compost: I also turned and moistened the compost...it is really coming along fine, two bins almost full, and another one, in use, with just enough for the garlic bed in October.

 Fall Garden Crops - View

Tat-soi (Spoon Mustard) has become a real favorite of ours: beautiful plants, quick to grow, and very versatile. The tat-soi are the dark green ones. The light green, already heavily harvested, are tai-sai.  But it's the tat-soi that is our favorite.

Here is the bed, I will plant spinach in the open spaces...to be harvested in early spring. The old kale bed is visible in the background, still producing but pretty near the end:

And here is the bed of (l to r) beets, chard, and turnips:

And the cold frame...the kale and basil will be removed...there are four varieties of lettuce, arugula, mizuna, and mache:

 Planting Fall Cover Crop: Hairy Vetch

This morning, I planted hairy vetch in one raised bed.  "Hairy vetch is a legume which means that it lives in a close relationship with rhizobia bacteria that invade and establish themselves in the roots of the plant as it grows. These bacteria take nitrogen from the atmosphere (which is about 80 % N2) and make it available to the plant in a usable form. In return for the nitrogen, the legume gives the bacteria carbohydrates (see article link below)."

It is recommended to inter-plant with winter rye..and I did order some, but it was back-ordered.  So, I went ahead without it. This inter planting did not strike me as very important for such a small plot. 

I first prepared the bed by removing the grass clippings I had spread on it a couple of weeks ago after pulling up the summer plants.  I then loosened the soil with a garden fork, not turning the soil, just loosening it and breaking up large hods.

I then spread a very thin layer of sifted compost over the whole bed.

Hairy Vetch and Innoculant:

The instructions on this 1 lb. package says to use 12 oz. per 1000 square feet so 3/8 - 1/2 oz. should be fine for this small 3'x8' foot bed.  I have never used this before so this is an experiment. I broadcast about 1/2 an oz. over the area and then realized I should have added an innoculant, so I mixed an innoculant with the seed by pouring them together in a cup, adding a little water and stirring with a stick...and then used the stick to spread the now wet seeds. 

For optimum nitrogen fixation, this crop should stay in the ground until mid-May...it can be impressive from what I read.

After planting, I lightly covered the surface with dry grass clippings and watered, again lightly.

And here is a link to a good article: It's never too late to plant hairy vetch. 

 Harvest

We picked another 14 lbs of tomatoes yesterday, along with the last of the summer squash, first picking of lettuce in cold frame, tat soi, and kale. We made tomato puree from 5 lbs., gave much away, and still have over 3lbs under cover for further ripening.  Last night, we cut thick slices for our veggie burgers, toasted buns, along with freshing picked tat-soi and lettuce, white garden onion, avocado, and veganaise.

 Cold Strawberries in Late September

While I was thinking about getting wood for the wood stove, Shirley came in saying she had a surprise for me...and there on the counter was a nice dish of late-season strawberries...not many, but they were as good as anything I can imagine today.

 Big Tomato Harvest...Again!

I picked about 18 lbs. of tomatoes on Sunday...the largest specimen, a Brandywine, weighed more than a 1 lb. We decided to make tomato sauce with some of them...but these are not the right tomatoes for sauce, too much water content. We got about 4 qt of sauce, too thin, but we will use it as soup base in the winter. 

On Monday, I ran another 4 lbs through the food mill after peeling and chopping them, then poured the puree into containers and into the freezer: raw tomato puree, 5 cups.

We gave away quite a few and still have many Fox Cherries, maybe 4 lbs. or so.

I'm getting a better sense for which types of tomatoes I will plant next year...and how many plants of each type.

The Principe Borgheses were too small to use for making sauce.  This was disappointing. I recently learned that San Marzano is perhaps the best for making sauce. They are available from Seed of Change.  So I will try San Marzano next year. The others I planted this year were spectacular: Brandywine, Purple Cherokee, and Fox Cherry, all from Abbondanza.

Probably two each of Brandywine, Purple Cherokee, and Fox Cherry, and four San Marzano should do the trick.  Sixteen plants is more than we can comfortably handle. I will plant ten plants in 2010.

 Harvest & General Activity

I added a little lime to the compost bins, turned and moistened.  Planted the first two indoor herb pots: one with basil and dill, the other with cilantro and savory.

I also harvested a few mature leaves from the fall planting: taisai, chard, and spinach, about 1/2 lb. A pleasing start to the fall garden.

 Kale & Delicata Squash Harvest...& Potato Kale Soup

We harvested a big batch of kale and three delicata squash today. So, we made a big pot of potato-kale soup, baked one of the delicatas, and had both for lunch along with fresh bread I put in the bread machine last night before going to bed.

Delicata (One Way): Wash and then cut a delicata in half lengthwise (shave a bit off one side to stabilize it on the cutting board so you don't cut half of your hand off), seed it with a spoon, cut in 1/4 inch slices, put in a bowl and toss with 2-3 Tb olive oil and  salt and pepper, lay the pieces out single layer on a parchment paper covered baking sheet, and into a preheated 400F oven for about 20 minutes...ooh, la la!

With your soup, squash, bread, and someone you love....you are clear for take-off.

Potato - Kale Soup

Don't worry if you don't have some of the ingredients: invent! adapt!...and adjust amounts to something that works for you.

INGREDIENTS (FOR A REALLY BIG BATCH):

2 lbs. russet potatos, roughly peeled

1 1/2 lbs. kale, washed, stemmed, and chopped into bite size pieces.

12 cups water

6 Tb olive oil

salt and pepper - to taste

nutmeg, freshly ground is best

3 Tbs fresh minced mint, or dried if you must

1/4 cup dried wakame seaweed soaked for 10 min., drained and chopped into bite size pieces.

Boil the potatoes in a large pot, a 6 qt. dutch oven is perfect, with the water, oil, salt & pepper. Let it simmer for 25 minutes or until the potatoes are tender. Let it cool while you do something else. Once it's cool (or, at least, not so darn hot), blend it in a blender in batches and then back in the dutch oven.  Bring it back to a boil, add the kale, nutmeg, mint, wakame.  Test the seasoning, adjust as needed. Cook the greens for about 15 minutes more, stirring now and then.

 Cover Crops: Hairy Vetch & Winter Rye

I ordered hairy vetch and winter rye today, 1 lb. each, from Seeds of Change.

Valuable UMass article on hairy vetch HERE. 

Indoor Herb Garden Preparation + Today's Harvest & About Onions

I purchased potting soil from the Flower Bin and cleaned all the big herb pots. The pots are 12" in dia. with ceramicized trays. I use big pots so I can plant 5 or 6 plants in each pot. To clean them, I dip them in a solution of chlorine and water and then let them dry out for a couple of days.

 
My indoor herb planting schedule:

I chose basil, dill, cilantro, summer savory, and scallions because these are the herbs we use the most often.  Sweet marjoram and oregano are really quite good when dried, and they are not expensive. Although I had a decent harvest of onions, they were fairly small, took up a large bed, and, well, onions are pretty cheap...even organic.  So I will plant scallions and bunching onions rather than larger yellow, red, and white onions.  I'll plant the seeds in a box under lights, snip off the tops to use in salads, and then plant them out in the spring.

What’s the Difference Between Green Onions, Chives, and Scallions? See HERE. 

September 15: First Planting: plant two pots: one pot: three basil and one dill plant, second pot: three cilantro and one summer savory

November 15: Second Planting: Repeat the first planting.

January 15: Third Planting: Repeat the first planting, but remove the first planting.

February 15: plant a box of three kinds of onions. So, now I have two shelves of herbs and one shelf of scallions.

March 15: remove the second planting of basil and cilantro and replace with trays of tomatoes, etc....so, now, two pots of fresh herbs, a tray of onion seeds and a tray of other early seeds: tomatoes, etc. 

Today's Harvest: - after I gave quite a bit to the neighbor. The onions had been curing in the shed. I took these in to use right away:

 365 Days of Kale: Diana Dyer

I discovered Diana Dyer's blog today and it is a beauty...what a person she is...read on! 

The idea sounds a bit crazy at first, but this is a great site.

Diana says:

"I'm a wife, mom, organic gardener, Registered Dietitian, author of the book A Dietitian's Cancer Story, website CancerRD.com, and in between all that and more, I am a multiple time cancer survivor. My website focuses on nutrition information for cancer survivors. I began my "dianadyer" blog in June 2007 to share a wider scope of my thoughts about cancer survivorship, food, nutrition, gardening, recipes, our environment, and life. In January 2009, I started this blog "365DaysofKale" on which I write about my passion for growing and eating kale. I hope that I can offer both information and inspiration to eat some kale or its healthy relatives every day of the year!"

Check it out HERE.

 Stock Preparation Day

Yesterday was stock preparation day. We have a big 16 qt. stock pot, so we filled it half full of vegetables plus a bag of scraps from the freezer along with 6 qts of water and by evening had about 6 qts. of stock for the freezer.  

Ingredients: If your stock pot is smaller than 16 qts., adjust the amount accordingly - 2.5 lbs. potatoes scrubbed and roughly chopped, 5 large red onions, 1.5 lb. stems and scraps from the freezer, 5 stalks celery together with tops, 6 lg. carrots, 1 lb. mushrooms, 2 green peppers, 8 cloves of garlic unpeeled, 2 teaspoons whole black peppercorns, 24 cups water, 1/2 cup soy sauce, 3 bay leaves.

To Prepare: Put some olive oil in the bottom of the pot, heat, add vegetables, let set 5 min. on med-hi heat, stir occasionally 20 min. or so. Add water, peppercorns, soy sauce, bay leaves, bring to a boil, reduce heat to simmer for 40 - 60 min., more if you want. Shut off heat and let set 30 - 60 min. Strain with strainer, twice, once for the big stuff and again with cheesecloth (press hard). When cool, ladle into 1 or two cup containers, maybe a couple larger or smaller, label, and into the freezer they go. Do not bother to season it.  You can do that when you use it for whatever you use it for.

 Harvest: Winter Squash, Kale, & Chard

Another nice harvest of kale and chard today.  I picked a couple of winter squash yesterday, a Delicata and a Burgess buttercup.  Despite the elegance of these two fine specimens, the winter squash were not very successful. Most of the time, the fruit would form and then wither away.  I'm not sure why.  I will look into it.

Below: Russian Red Kale, Lacinato Kale, Chard. 

And another big harvest of basil...and another pesto making session coming up:

 First Fall Garden Harvest: Tai-Sai

We picked our first bunch of tai sai today, only four weeks after being planted (08-13-09).

The tatsoi is also coming along just fine (below):

 Putting Up Tomatoes: Freezing & Dehydrating

We dehydrated our surplus of Fox Cherry and Prinicpe Borghese tomatoes:

And below is an image of our frozen tomatoes, so far we have over 30 pounds:

We plop them in boiling water for 30 seconds, plunge them in ice water, peel, core, and chop them, and then put them in 1 1/2 lb. bags, bagging them immediately so as to retain all of the juice.  This is really enjoyable to do with two people, so if there is just one of you, find a friend and share the bounty.

 Yet Another Good Tomato Day + kale

The Fox Cherry and Principe Borghese have peaked but their output is still significant.  The Brandywine and Purple Cherokee are still producing very strongly. The Kale, too, is absolutely beautiful. The cucumbers and squash have not produced well this year. I cut back on the number of plants, but perhaps too much: