Michele asked what soil amendments we were planning on using in our beds. Primarily I use Tagro. I have a well documented past with the stuff. I did an experiment last season with the tomatoes. I planted 4 in a bed that was only amended with Tagro and 6 in beds that were 100% Tagro mix (not potting soil). The plants in the 100% mix performed better than any tomato I’ve ever grown. It could have something to do with the bed location, but I’m hedging my bets on the Tagro. This a far cry from the girl right out of college who though bio-solid fertilizers were not safe.
This season I plan to use Tagro once again. The expansion of the garden will require us to purchase the mix instead of the bucket method of last year (if you go to the Tagro facility you can shovel as much as you like for free). We are estimating 10 yards to complete the garden. Since our soil is very hard from years of compaction we are taking the lazy man’s way out with building the garden. I’ve been hoarding newspaper and cardboard and I’ll rake all of the Photinia leaves once we are ready. I will lay down many layers of paper and cardboard and then the Tagro on top. We are not removing the grass underneath. This will either work out well or be a very bad thing. I hoping for the former.
We are also putting in a meandering gravel path, but we will put landscape fabric under that. We would eventually like to till the garden beds, but not the path.
As for the raised beds in the back we will amend those with Tagro too. In addition I add Soundgro to those and I’ll sprinkle in a little bid of worm castings.
Next year we should be able to rent a full sized rototiller for the main garden and add more Tagro and various manures.
Now the straight Tagro method may not work for the full vegetable garden since Tagro is a little more acidic than I would like, but again gardening is trial and error.
Last year I gave an account of how I went about planning the Sprouting Off vegetable garden. This year was similar to last, only more involved. Last year we quickly realized that 150 square feet was not nearly large enough to feed our family of 3. We ate and preserved more than our fair share of tomatoes, but things like peas, beans and broccoli were not abundant enough. We also didn’t have room for any squash or other large brassicas like cauliflower or cabbage. In addition, we dislike mowing our lawn weed field. Our vegetable gardening area is growing from 150+ sq. ft to over 3600 sq. ft. We are covering the East lawn with a vegetable garden.
My plan for the garden is what factored in to the very ambitious list of seeds that I purchased last fall. I also went out and purchased a few seeds that weren’t available from Heirloom Seeds. I will likely need to fill in with a few others, but for now I think I’m set.
This year I am not going with the square foot gardening method. I didn’t find that it worked for me. It was too constraining. Think me crazy, but I’m a sucker for rows of vegetables. I also like a flowy garden. Contradictory? Probably, but go with me. The new garden is a meandering path with intermittent raised beds. It will (hopefully) allow for both sides of the equation.
I stared (as usual) with my trusty Growing Vegetables West of the Cascades book. It helped me determine which vegetables I could grow or attempt to grow and which to leave to the farmers (I don’t think I could do Celery). I then employed a new program that I found on the internet. I made a list of the veg I wanted to grow and then pulled out my trusty calendar and garden plan. I translated the hand drawn plan into the GrowVeg program and then started laying in the plants. I’ll get to a review of the program in another post, but for now I’ll just say it is worth the money (that I haven’t paid yet because I’m still in the free trial period). I also stuck a few things into spots that won’t actually exist just to get planting dates. Those plants will go into the 150 sq. ft. raised bed garden in the West yard.
GrowVeg will give you a chart that shows when to start seeds indoors, when to start outside and when to expect a harvest. I followed the chart for each month and cross checked it with Growing Vegetables West to get a more accurate indication of when things should be started. GrowVeg is also handy because it tells me how many of each thing to plant so I’m not grossly over planting pumpkins like I did last year.
Now I have my plan, my list and when to plant. I am keeping track of when to plant and when I actually get around to planting. I also don’t start my seeds indoors in a light box or other lighted room 1) because I don’t have either of those and 2) because I have a cold frame outside.
My calendar indicates that I should have started broccoli and cauliflower inside on February 5th. I did not do that. I wasn’t ready. My cold frame needed repair. The beautiful weekend weather allowed me to make the repairs and broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage were all started on Sunday. Peas should have been put in on President’s Day weekend, but I’ve found I have better germination if I wait just a few weeks. Theoretically, I could start trying lettuce right now, but I’ll wait on that one too. First lettuce will go into the raised beds and they have been tilled, but need the addition of more organic material to bring them back up to the proper level.
Hopefully we will be able to start building the new garden in a few weeks and this season can really get going.
Wow, I promised a drawing of the garden didn’t I. I believe I got distracted by something shiny. Yes, shiny. At the moment I don’t know where it is so you don’t get that. Sorry.
Instead, I’m happy to say that my wonderful husband installed a gate on the arbor in our back yard thus containing now giant puppy to the non-working area of our yard. Working as in this is where we store things and use for edibles and the cultivation thereof. Non-working as in the was pretty at one point and will likely become a destroyed dog run.
This means I can now seriously begin thinking about my edibles garden and prepare the early stuff. I’m going to refurbish my greenhouse (that the dog destroyed) and use it to grow an early crop of spinach and lettuce. I’m desperate for a good salad and my little cold-frame greenhouse should offer enough protection from the elements.
I am also looking into seed starting options for some of the early crops. My lighting situation is a little questionable so I’ll do my best.
January is over and the gardening season can now begin.
Welcome to a new planting season. Wait? What? Isn’t it January? I’m wondering if you have your seeds ordered yet? I ordered mine last August for fear of my previous encounter with late arriving seeds.
With any luck the 2010 Sprouting Off garden will be bigger and better than ever. Trick is, we have little money to build the garden with. In addition, a portion of our garden space might be unusable this year with the addition of a new member of our family. In December we were gifted (a wanted) 8 week old Boxer-Mastiff puppy. She is now 3 months old and thinks the raised beds in the back are her personal play area. We have plans to add a gate to our back arbor, but that may not happen in time for the first planting.
In any case the garden must go in and we must do it on the tightest budget possible. Instead of putting in the whole garden all at once we are doing it piece by piece. Hopefully at the beginning of March we can add all of the gravel paths and then just fill in around them as the season gets started. Next week I’ll share the drawing of what the side garden will look like. In the mean time, I’ll share my list of seeds for 2010. Some are the same as last year and some are new to us this year.
Lettuce:
Buttercrunch
Flame
Salad Bowl
Tango
Yugoslavian Red Buttercrunch
Giant Thick Leafed Spinach
Winter Squash:
Sweet Potato
Cheyenne Bush Pumpkin
Rouge Vif d’ Etampes Pumpkin
Amish Pie Pumpkin
Summer Squash:
Straita de Italia
Yellow Crookneck
Giant Musselburg Leek
Early Snowball Cauliflower
Arugula
Yellow Sweet Spanish Onion
Melitopolski Watermelon
Golden Acre Cabbage
American Purple Top Rutabaga
Hollow Crown Parsnip
Cucumbers:
Lemon
Mexican Sour Gherkin
Boston Pickling
Beets:
Ruby Queen
Bull’s Blood
Cilantro
These are just the seeds I’ve ordered. This does not include the lettuce, broccoli, pumpkins, squash, peas, beans, corn or carrots I already have. Nor does it include the few plants I will buy like tomatoes and peppers. In addition, we will be adding a few perennial items to the mix. We have a few, but some need replacing. We will add horseradish, artichokes, raspberries and asparagus and replace strawberries and blueberries. Next year we may add a few fruit trees if the budget will allow. Those will hopefully take the place of the raised beds in the back.
In a nutshell it is an ambitious goal for the season. I know it will keep us busy and full of good food.
I did a little math today and calculated how many pounds of tomatoes I have harvested for the season. The total? 58 pounds 4 ounces. That doesn’t include the (likely) 10+ pounds I threw into the bushes because of slug damage or the cherry tomatoes that didn’t make it to the scale (num num).
I’ve given away sacks full, put more than my fair share on salads (unfortunately my lettuce crop has run dry and my beds are in no shape to replant), I made and canned 5 quarts of salsa, dried enough for 2 pints (and more are in the dehydrator), made caprese salad, thrown tomatoes into every dish we eat and generally snacked. I also took my giant basket to my grandfather’s birthday party and told my aunts, and great aunts to take some home.
I still have at least another 30 pounds on the vine. At least. The one day record was over 18 pounds. The single largest tomato was a pound and a half and the size of a small cantaloupe.
Am I tired of tomatoes? Heavens no. There is something therapeutic about growing tomatoes. Will I grow fewer next year? Probably not. I might grow more, but not less. I will reinforce my support system and revamp the way I tend to the plants. I’m frustrated to have sacrificed to many large fruits to the slugs. Live and learn.
We are starting to get creative around here as to what to do with the hoards of tomatoes. Last week I canned 5 quarts of salsa, gave away 5 bags and dried about 2 pounds. I am doing my best to not let anything go to waste.
Since I have a wide variety of types of tomatoes (and none are dedicated “sauce” tomatoes) I thought I would give drying a try. I was lucky enough to receive a food dehydrator from mom a few years ago that comes in handy ever now and again. I pull it out during apple season to make chewy apple chips or banana crisps. I pulled it out a few weeks ago to dry some peppers that were on the verge of going bad.
I did some looking on the internet to make sure that using a food dehydrator for tomatoes would actually work, and sure enough there was plenty of information. In addition I recently purchased “Canning & Preserving Your Own Harvest” by Carla Emery & Lorene Edwards Forker at the suggestion of Willi at Diggin Food. The writers of the book had a great idea on preserving dehydrated tomatoes. It doesn’t even require boiling giant pots of water.
My version is slightly different than the book, but this was a trial run.
Clean all of your tomatoes. Spray the racks of the dehydrator with cooking spray (if you don’t oil the racks you will say bad words later, learned this with apples and bananas). Slice tomatoes in 1/4″ slices and remove the white core part. Place on dehydrator racks without the tomatoes touching. Turn on dehydrator and let go for what seems like eternity (mine went all afternoon and night). 1/2 way through the drying swap the racks. Put the top ones on the bottom and the bottom ones on the top. The tomatoes are done when they feel like leather and are still pliable. Some of mine were a little crispy. Turn off the dehydrator and let them cool. Once the slices are cool put them in a bowl and toss them with a little plain white vinegar. Take them out of the vinegar and pat them dry with paper towels. Allow them to dry completely. Place them in sterile jars and cover with olive oil (I happen to use grapeseed oil since I’m quite allergic to olive oil). Place a lid on and keep them in a cool dark place. Apparently you can keep them for up to a few months. Refrigerate after opening. So simple! They look pretty to boot.
The hustle and bustle of every day life is standing in the way of family. It seems to me that the divorce rate went up with the invention of TV dinners. I’m sure the guys behind Freakonomics could find a way to support that theory. What’s missing in today’s society? If you ask me it’s simply sitting down at the family table and having a meal. It could be breakfast, lunch or dinner.
Our little family is a bit out of the norm. We have all 3 meals as a family. We are fortunate enough that my husband is able to join us for lunch and I am currently a work at home mom. Even if circumstances were different we would make sure that at least one meal a day was done as a family. This is where the opposition says, “but I don’t have time to cook dinner.” I disagree.
There are rare circumstances when I slave over a hot stove all day long. Sure, we have the occasional dinner where I’ve spent a few hours making pasta or I’ve puttered with a focaccia bread for a good part of the day. Many of our meals are thrown together at the last minute. I do try to plan out a weekly menu to eliminate frequent trips to the grocery, but if I am busy with work a weekly menu can be overlooked.
In another post I’ll cover the basics of our pantry. The jist of this post is to say that you don’t have to have your dinner from a box or the freezer. A quick and easy supper can be prepared in 45 minutes and GASP! it’s healthy*.
In the typical American household mom and dad probably work, kids have homework or after school activities. It seems as if there isn’t time to cook. I will prove you wrong and create a family building exercise in the process.
The first in our new weekly series “Tuesday Night Supper” is dedicated to one of our all time favorite dishes. I featured this dish in the flyer I put together when I did the Tacoma Reads Fresh and Simple, Just Add Kids lecture. The key to this dish is family involvement. All three of us spends time chopping vegetables, cutting meat or measuring spices. Yes, even the 4 year old chops veggies. The lovely part about this recipe is that you can add whatever vegetable you happen to have on hand. Give it a try tonight. You might just like it.
Moroccan Chicken
1 boneless skinless chicken breast cut into bite sized pieces
2 teaspoons salt
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 carrots, sliced
2 celery stalks, sliced
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
1/2 teaspoon paprika
3/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne (or to taste)
1/4 teaspoon ground tumeric
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 cup diced tomatoes
1 can chickpeas, drained
1 zucchini, sliced
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Season chicken with salt and brown in a large saucepan over medium heat until almost cooked through. Remove chicken from pan and set aside.
Saute onion, garlic, carrots and celery in same pan. When tender, stir in ginger, paprika, cumin, oregano, cayenne pepper and turmeric; stir fry for about 1 minute, then mix in broth and tomatoes. Return chicken to pan, reduce heat to low and simmer for about 10 minutes.
Add chickpeas and zucchini to pan and bring to simmering once again; cover pan and cook for about 15 minutes, or until zucchini is cooked through and tender. Stir in lemon juice and serve.
Serve over steamed rice.
————————————-
*we’ll cover getting your kids to eat real food in another post also
I read a recent post from a woman who had no clue how a tomato was formed on the vine. I mentioned it to my husband and he thought that was rather odd. We both did. It never occurred to us that people didn’t know how a tomato formed. Sometimes we have to stop and remember that not everyone grows their own food.
This got me thinking. How many other people don’t know how a tomato grows? I set out to document how the process works.
First, you plant a beautiful little plant that has a very distinct odor when you touch it. Did you know that? The stems of the plant also feel rather moist when you touch them. They are also toxic. Every part of a tomato is toxic except the fruit. Odd huh?
Anyway, when the conditions are right (meaning it’s warm enough) the plant will flower.
The flower could be a single one (as shown in the above photo) or double, or triple. I’ve had very sparse flowers and large frilly flowers. It just depends on the plant. In any case they are all the same shade of bright yellow. The flower needs to be open during the day time to be pollinated. They close up when the air temperature is cool so if you live somewhere that the days are colder you’ll have later or never setting fruit. We were lucky to have a massive heat wave in July that caused my plants to put on massive amounts of fruit.
That is one cluster of hundreds of cherry tomatoes I have.
Once the flower is pollinated the fruit will form behind the flower (actually inside). The flower wilts and a little tomato is formed.
This was the smallest one I could find. It’s about the size of a petite pea.
As the warm weather goes on the fruit gets larger and larger and once it reaches its mature size it will begin to color. Typically the fruit colors from the bottom to the top. Every so often you’ll get a strange variety that colors from the top down or the side over. I have fruit doing all of those. The Azoychka (yellow) colors from either the side over or the whole thing at once. All of my red varieties color from the bottom up and the orange Juan Flame colors from the top down. The white Snow White Cherries color from the bottom up too.
I tend to pick my tomatoes a little on the green side. Heirloom varieties ripen fast once they are brought inside and can quickly become over ripe (sometimes overnight). I keep all of mine on a paper towel on the kitchen counter. I lay them stem side down and never on top of each other. However, right now I have about 10 pounds and not enough counter space. The ripe ones are in a basket on the kitchen table and will soon become salsa. The greenish ones are holding their place of honor on the counter.
At the end of the season, when the weather man threatens frost I run outside and pick all of the green tomatoes that are close to mature size. I put them on sheet pans and put the pans all over the house. They will ripen up. It just might take a week or more.
So now you know how you go from a little flower to this.
Wait a minute! It’s not time. It’s still August.
In the Northwest we have the luxury of year round gardening. Or year round vegetables if you prefer. You just have to revise your definition of vegetables for Fall and Winter. If you are committed to growing your own food things like fresh tomatoes and snap peas are a thing of the past. You canned those and did some freezing right? You didn’t? There’s always next year.
I will admit to being a less than attentive gardener when it came to my planting schedule this year. I did have a plan. I just didn’t refer back to it often enough. I got a little distracted. The goal is to pay attention next year or at least have a better plan.
However, this time of year is good for a few things.
The first is preserving. It may not seem like an actual garden activity I assure you it is. There is nothing worse than spending all of that time toiling over your crops only to have them go to waste at the end of the season. I have about 4 pounds of tomatoes sitting on my counter that need to be preserved. There isn’t enough to make into sauce, but there is enough to make into salsa. I also pickled about 2 1/2 pounds of green beans earlier this month. I made them a little spicy. Perfect for a bloody mary or a christmas gift. I also made a few jars of pickles. I admit to buying the pickling cucumbers at the farmer’s market, but it did inspire me to purchase my own cuke seeds for next year. In addition to canning I blanched and froze another 2 pounds of green beans, 1 pound of shelling peas, 2 pounds of blueberries and 1 pound of currants. My winter reserves are starting to look good. Later in September I will have plenty of tomatoes to make into sauce and paste.
The other activity in the autumn garden is planting fall crops. I missed out on cauliflower and over wintering onions (they are difficult to come by around here). I did manage a fall crop of beets, carrots, lettuce and spinach. I do still have time to sow garlic and shallots. I just have to shop for those.
So while the summer may be winding down putting your hands in the soil is not finished.
For the past few days the Northwest has been enjoying some refreshing rain. Although I have issues when the skies turn grey it’s quite welcomed around here. We turned off our irrigation system the other night and in my many waking hours of the night I lay there and listen to the rain.
You would think that since I’m such a tomato nut I would be in a panic. Blight and all. It doesn’t seem to be phasing me. I do have a nasty case of blossom end rot on my Brandywines, but for the most part the majority of my plants are doing quite well. I checked on the Juan Flame and it looks a little sad, but the fruit is fine.
All of my tomatoes have all fallen over, but no broken branches. The best part is the masses of fruit. What makes it even more crazy is now that the weather has cooled down the tomatoes are actually starting to color. Last night we pulled a 1 pound Cherokee Purple, a 6 ounce Black Russian and a 6 ounce Azoychka. For the season we are over 5 pounds of tomatoes. If all of the fruit currently on the vines ripens I wouldn’t be surprised if we ended up with almost 100 pounds.
Recent Comments