Get the water boiling!

Peaches and Cream Corn

The silks are drying on the corn and today it was time to take a peek.  And it's ready!  I really like to pick corn just before plunging it in the boiling water as the sugar starts turning to starch on the sweeter varieties as soon as they're picked, but I just couldn't wait to see what was hiding under the husks.

The next week or two will be a surfeit of corn on the cob.  This seems early to me, but it'll all be due to the Remay cloth.  I notice that the little corn plant left out in the cold while the rest of the plants were covered is only just now forming cobs.  Remay works!

Mediterranean Kale Salad

I found this recipe on Canadian Living's website - a veritable treasure trove of recipes.

Ingredients for the salad - I forgot to add the garlic bulb!

It was quick, easy, used ingredients I always have on hand and what is more, was delicious!  This recipe serves 8 to 10 so I halved it today.

Served for lunch with left over chicken - oops!  forgot to add the cheese!

Mediterranean Kale Salad

3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp liquid honey
2 cloves of garlic finely minced
1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
pinch of salt
10 cups of kale sliced thinly
2 cups cherry tomatoes halved
1 14-oz can water-packed artichoke hearts rinsed and drained
1 cup shaved Pecorino-Romano or Parmesan cheese

Put the oil, vinegar, honey, minced garlic, pepper and salt in a large bowl.  Add the kale, tomatoes and artichoke hearts and toss well.  Refrigerate for 2 to 24 hours - until the kale has wilted - tossing from time to time.  Add the cheese when serving.

Winter Gardening

The garden in winter - from West Coast Seeds Fall/Winter Catalogue

I know it's only July, but it's time to start planning for the winter garden.  This isn't something I've consciously done in the past.  It's been more by accident that I've had carrots, lettuce, kale, etc. through the winter.  This year I plan on doing it "proper"!

West Coast Seeds has an excellent winter planting guide in their Fall/Winter Catalogue.  I think this catalogue is a first for them since it seems interest in providing food for ourselves through the winter months is a recent thing in modern times.  Along with listing plants that are winter hardy in the Pacific Northwest, there are clear instructions on when and how to plant them.  As a long time fan of West Coast Seeds, I can heartily recommend this free online resource.

Another source of winter plants is Saltspring Seeds.  I bought my garlic bulbs from them and from time to time, buy new bulbs to try out.  I've had particularly good results with Northern Quebec, Mountain, Susan Delafield and Porcelain.  When the fall catalogue comes out, I'll probably order something new to try out.

So what am I doing to prepare for the winter garden?

I've ordered more SeaSoil with a friend.  This will be added to the bed where the garlic will be planted in September.  It will also go generously into the new 4x4 beds, one of which will become a little winter garden.

This afternoon I seeded Siberian Kale, Super Gourmet Blend Lettuce, Mescalun Mix, Little Fingers and Bolero Carrots.  As soon as the SeaSoil arrives, I'll be planting a fall crop of Oregon Sugar Pod II Snow Peas.  In these days of skyrocketing prices for fresh produce, it's to our benefit to grow as much as we can.  I started my new adventure in winter gardening today.

Harvesting Garlic

Last September when I started this blog, I began with planting garlic.  If I could only grow one crop, it would be this one.  It's planted at a time when the garden is winding down.  It develops roots while the rest of the world is going dormant and springs to life when rain is abundant.  In my garden, garlic needs a bit of water as I am essentially gardening in very big containers, but really, not much water is required even in my garden.  Nevertheless, garlic has to be the easiest crop to grow and probably gives you the biggest bang for your buck.  Once you've purchased your first bulbs, you never have to buy again unless you want to try new varieties.

Now that we are in the latter part of July, the leaves are sere and brown and it's time for harvest.  We have grown 2 varieties, the names of which I have long since forgotten, but they produce lovely big bulbs which last us well into spring.

First, I pull up all the plants, keeping the varieties separate which is easy because one kind was considerably taller than the other.  I only briefly lay them on the ground and separate them into bundles  tied with twine which is looped at the top for hanging.  Garlic should be dried in the shade and not left to bake on the ground in the sun.

The bundles are suspended from nails and will hang under the bench in my potting shed.  When completely dry, I'll cut the bulbs from the stems and the roots from the bulbs, gently brushing off loose soil.  We store the garlic in open paper bags in a cool dark area - in our house that's in a cupboard on an outside wall.  We've tried many other ways of storing garlic and this has proven to be the best.

Fresh garlic is amazing!  The cloves are crisp and juicy, and we'll use a lot while it's at its peak of perfection.  I will, of course, save the biggest bulbs for next fall's planting.

I'm actually a little disappointed with this year's crop.  The garlic didn't get the benefit of the SeaSoil that the rest of the garden received and the bulbs are a little smaller than we usually get.  Next year's cloves will be planted where the snow peas grew, which would have put an extra jolt of nitrogen into the soil.  I'll have to buy a couple of bags of SeaSoil to add to the soil and homemade fertilizer will be scratched in just before the cloves go into the ground.  And so the cycle begins again.

Concrete 4x4 Beds - Ready to Plant

Getting soil for the new 4x4 beds was going to be a challenge.  We did manage to fill one bed when we dug the trench to take water and power up to the potting shed.  The soil was pretty poor, of course, but to it we added soil taken from one of the beds in production and the last of the SeaSoil.  This bed has been planted with Totem strawberry plants.  These little plants actually came from plants I passed on to a neighbour.  I got rid of the strawberries I was growing at the time because we weren't getting any of the berries.  I had put netting over to keep out the birds, but one morning discovered that the netting had been pulled off and every strawberry was gone!  Raccoons.  I don't know why I'm hopeful that this time I'll succeed, but I have to at least give it a try.

A few days ago our son and grandson came over for a visit.  Our son helped re-arrange an old flowerbed so that we can have some heavy machinery come in to take down the old woodshed.  Since I no longer have flowerbeds - too much to look after - I was happy to have this one made smaller.

Our grandson supervised from the sandpile nearby.  The soil removed from the bed was piled on a tarp and today my husband sifted the soil and put most of it in the remaining 2 concrete beds.  The rest was put in the compost bins.  It doesn't fill the beds, which is just fine as both will need amendments before they can be utilized.  More SeaSoil?  I think so!

In any event, I will now be able to use one of the beds for winter crops and I'm going to seed some winter kale next week with this in mind.

Mid-July Update

Well, maybe it's a little bit past that, but so many things are happening that it's time to record the progress.

In the Three Sisters garden, there's a lot of progress.  Beans are running wild!  If fact they've broken the tops of a lot of corn plants and are reaching desperately for more support.  Thank goodness most of the corn has been pollinated and is developing well.

The beans themselves are quite attractive with purple blotching on the skin.  This might make them difficult to find hidden amongst the thick foliage of corn and beans.  These are a heritage Italian bean - name unknown.  They are delicious and I hope they freeze well.

Most of the cobs on the corn are swelling.  A few have silk that is starting to dry up so it might not be long before we have to start the water boiling!

And as for the squash, I have no idea what on earth I will do with all of them.  The spaghetti squash, in particular, is going to have a lot for me to deal with.  It has vines snaking out all over the place, each one with at least 3 squash fruit to it.

The tomatoes are starting to ripen.  Little Gold Nugget is always the first to ripen although we have eaten a couple of Sweet Baby Girl.  Because these two cherries are so tasty, productive and early, I will probably always have at least one of these in the garden.

Beth's Big Fat Tomato is setting fruit now.  When I was pruning, I inadvertently snipped off a fruit truss!  Fortunately, there are many more to take its place.

Some of the onions are starting to fall over.  This signals that they are approaching harvest time.  Only a few of them are at this stage, though, so we should get some good size from the crop.  So far (touch wood) I've only found one that has gone to seed.  Our spring was warmer this year than last when over half the onions went to seed.

One of the crops I'm most excited about is the cantaloupe.  I'm growing 2 plants in one side of the compost bin as it worked really well for tomatoes one year and crookneck squash another.  At first I was afraid the delicate little plants wouldn't last as wood bugs were munching at the stems but I put a clear plastic water bottle collar on each plant and they are now thriving.

Tiny little cantaloupes are now forming and given the richness of their home added to the protection and heat they're receiving I'm hopeful that we'll get some cantaloupe to eat.

All in all, I'm pleased with the way the garden is developing.  Only the garlic is smaller than I'd hoped for, but then it didn't get any of the SeaSoil.  Everything else is thriving.  So far - best garden ever.

Watering by Hand

I really enjoy hand watering.

Water droplets on a leaf of Russian Red Kale

Certainly there are more efficient ways to water your garden and we do have drip hoses in some of our raised beds.  Since our irrigation water comes from a pond, we use drip hoses which have drippers every 10" as weeping hoses clog up with algae.  These lines are in beds which have crops needing more and consistent water needs such as the tomatoes, onions and the Three Sisters beds.

Drip hose running through the onion bed

But there's something about watering by hand that is just so satisfying - indeed necessary.  I spend some of my best thinking time directing water to the bases of plants.  It's a good time to plan next year's garden.  Decide what has worked and what has not.  Think of other ways to improve crops and possibly what new plant you might want to try.  It also allows you time to have a good look at your crops while they're growing.  You can spot problems while they're still small such as aphids on a rosebud and monitor changes in plants like onions prematurely going to seed.

Hand watering is a peaceful occupation, a great stress reducer and a time to observe in depth the changes at work in my garden.  To me, it's not just a pleasant luxury - it's a necessity!

Zucchini Bread

It's official.  I've grown too many zucchini plants!  Yesterday I came back from the garden with 8 zucchinis and 2 of them were starting to get large.  I'll have to be checking them every day now and I hope I can find some friends to take excess.

However, today I made a really nice zucchini bread.  I used my own raisins and it took 2 good-sized zucchinis to get the required amount.  I used butter, but oil would probably work just as well.  You could use pecans instead of the walnuts, and dried cranberries would be a good option.  Next time I'll try brown sugar instead of white.  This recipe makes 2 loaves.

Zucchini Bread

2 eggs, beaten
1 1/3 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla
3 cups grated fresh zucchini
2/3 cup melted butter
2 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt
3 cups flour
1/2 tsp nutmeg
2 tsp cinnamon
1 cup walnuts
1 cup raisins

Grease two 5x9 loaf pans and preheat the oven to 350F.

In a large bowl, mix together the sugar, eggs and vanilla.  Stir in the grated zucchini and then the melted butter.

Mix the dry ingredients in another bowl and add to the wet ingredients a third at a time, mixing well.  Fold in the nuts and raisins.

Divide the batter equally between 2 loaf pans.  Bake at 350F for 55 minutes (or until done).  Cool in the pans for 10 minutes, then cool on wire racks.

Quinoa and Black Bean Salad

I made this quick, easy salad to go with the leftover pork tenderloin my husband barbecued last night.  All the ingredients were at hand although my little store of home grown quinoa is just about depleted now.  One of my Apache scallions was a colorful addition and I only needed 1 in place of the 4 called for in the recipe I adapted - they are enormous!  Cilantro would be a natural in place of the parsley I used, but my husband and I are among the unfortunates with whom cilantro doesn't agree.

Quinoa and Black Bean Salad
3/4 cup quinoa
1 1/2 cup water
2 tsp lemon zest
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp sugar
1 can black beans drained and rinsed
2 tomatoes, chopped
4 scallions, chopped
1/4 cup chopped parsley

Cook the quinoa in the water for 20 minutes, then cool.  Mix all ingredients together.  If making ahead, add the tomatoes just before serving.  I removed the seeds and gel from the tomatoes and since my scallion was quite large, chopped it fine.

Zucchini Blueberry Muffins

Hot muffins fresh from the oven with butter melting in!  Yum!

Today I tried grated zucchini in a muffin recipe.  I adapted a blueberry muffin recipe I had, adding the grated zucchini to the wet ingredients.  Blueberries are so fresh and juicy at this time of the year and the zucchini extends the batter.  Instead of the 12 muffins I usually get, I got 16.  They turned out moist and tender - a recipe I'll make again.

Wet Ingredients
2 eggs beaten well
1 1/4 cup milk
1/2 cup oil
2 small grated zucchini

Dry Ingredients
2 1/2 cups flour
2 Tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 tsp grated nutmeg
1 1/2 cups blueberries

Add the wet ingredients to the dry and only stir enough to mix - about 15 stirs.  Fill greased muffin cups very full.  Bake at 350 degrees F for 20 to 30 minutes.

And I'll bet the muffins will be even better next time if I remember to put in the sugar!

Three Sisters - Beginning of July

Already it's the beginning of July and the Three Sisters Garden is waaaay ahead of schedule!  The corn is well over my head - and I'm 5/8"!

Three Sisters Garden fronted by 3 zucchini plants

The tassels are fully extended now and cobs are starting to peep out of the stalks.

It won't belong before we start boiling the water!

The beans are running riot through the cornstalks and busily fixing nitrogen into the soil.  There are no flowers yet, but I'm sure they'll be present in the next few days.

Beans and corn well joined

Squash vines are escaping the beds.  All of the vines have little squashes forming.  I can see I'll have to find a lot of friends to gift with presents of butternut, delicata, pattypan and spaghetti - as well as zucchini!  We'll never be able to deal with all this produce - especially since my husband is a confirmed squash-hater with the exception of butternut squash pie - recipe coming later.  I'm searching out zucchini recipes and will post the ones which are successful.

Butternut squash escaping its bed

I put a lot of the credit for this amazing growth to a couple of factors:  SeaSoil generously added to the beds and the Remay cloth which protected them at the beginning of the season when the weather was cool.  The little corn plant which was excluded from this protection is considerably behind it's brethren.

The excluded corn plant is drooping to the far left.

 So far, this experiment seems to be an outstanding success.  I'm not sure how it will play out next year since the bed will have to be dismantled this fall - the wood is rotting through as you can see from the picture with the squash vine.  At this point I'm thinking of using all three 4x4 concrete beds to house the Three Sisters Garden for next year.  There's lots of room for squash to roam in back there.  We'll replace the wooden beds with one long concrete bed over the winter.