Looking Back - 2014

Now that the main gardening season is coming to a close, it's time to take a look back at what worked, what didn't and how things can be improved.

SUCCESSES

Onions - the best crop ever!  Huge onions and only 2 transplants failed.  In view of what I discovered when I turned over this bed after harvest, I'm not sure why the onions were so successful.  The bed was full of cedar roots!  Perhaps it was the soil itself.  Last year this bed held tomatoes.  The tomatoes themselves weren't that successful mainly due to the fact that the varieties I chose weren't what I really wanted.  A lot of tomatoes fell and were turned into the soil.  So perhaps this bed got some extra nutrients other beds didn't.  Likewise, the shallots and multiplier onions were also good crops.  I have a nice basket of fat shallot bulbs and lots of multiplier onions to start next year's crop.  In addition, I planted 5 multiplier bulbs in the winter bed as an experiment.

Tomatoes - again, the best crop ever.  This time, I'm crediting the success to the varieties I grew.  Principe Borghese always gives me lots of little tomatoes for dehydrating.  Classica turned out to be a good producer as well.  The star of the tomato bed was Health Kick.  I have lots of packages of roasted tomato sauce in the freezer, 2 batches of salsa tucked away in my canning shelves and plenty of dried tomatoes in the pantry.  I'll be growing more Health Kick plants next year - not so much for myself, but because those I gave plants to had similar successes and would like more plants.

Squash - 4 Waltham Butternut plants gave me an abundance of squashes - 20 to be exact and 2 more that may yet ripen before frost.  Next year I might grow squash in the compost bin as I'm going to stop the Three Sisters experiment - more on that later.  Although my husband is not crazy about squash, I love it.  The squashes I have will keep nicely and at Thanksgiving, I'll be using at least one to make butternut squash pie which beats pumpkin pie hands down.  Recipe at a later date!

Swiss Chard - I grew about 5 each of Bright Lights and Silverado.  The Bright Lights plants have huge, colourful leaves, much bigger than the Silverado, so the production is much better on the Bright Lights.  I'll be keeping the plants through the winter.  These 10 plants have given us lots of meals and bunches to give away as well.

Strawberries - This is the first year I can really count strawberries as a success.  This was mainly due to the fact that the raccoons didn't discover them and we netted them against the birds.  We had many lovely desserts of strawberries and ice cream!  The variety is Totem and they are in one of the 4x4 beds.  This fall, I'll have my husband weed-eat the leaves off them, give them a good drink of fish fertilizer and the last of the SeaSoil so that we can have a good crop of strawberries next year.

Grapes - again, this is due to the fact that we beat out the raccoons.  This is only the third time we've done it and I can't hazard a guess as to whether next year we get a crop.  I have one quart jar full of raisins in the pantry and 6 trays in the dehydrator.  And there are lots more waiting their turn!

DISAPPOINTMENTS

Potato Grow Bags - I went into the experiment with high hopes, but this hasn't worked out.  I think growing the plants so close together doesn't give them enough nutrients.  Also, it was difficult to keep sufficient moisture on them.  I will grow potatoes again, but I'll grow in them in the raised beds instead.  We particularly liked Pacific Russet (for baked and mashed potatoes) and Seiglinde (wonderful for potato salads) and were disappointed in German Butter but perhaps that's because they were grown in the bags.

Beets - not sure why they didn't turn out the way I'd hoped.  A friend tells me her beets were disappointing, too.  Perhaps the soil wasn't rich enough.  The beets were small and didn't grow well at all.  I'll prepare the soil better next time.

Parsnips - the germination rate was very poor.  I was using year old seed and perhaps parsnip seeds don't keep well.  I'll buy new seeds for next year.

Herb Pots - another experiment that didn't turn out as I'd hoped.  It seemed like such a good idea to grow these closer to the kitchen, but I think they'd all be better for being in the ground.  I think that our deck didn't receive enough sunshine for the plants.  I'll stick to flowers on the deck in future!

Three Sisters - another experiment that I thought was working out well, but in retrospect have decided that the three plants are better off on their own.  The corn did okay except that because I was growing it with other plants, I didn't seed as much as I would have liked to.  The squash was very happy.   The beans were disappointing.  I hardly got any for picking as they were too hard to find in the foliage.  I think that next year I'll use half a bed for corn and grow a few beans in amongst them just for the stability they provide.  Squash will grow elsewhere.

VEGGIES THAT NEED IMPROVEMENT

Asparagus - my plants are nearing the end of their productive lives.  I have 2 beds a couple of years apart in age, the oldest of which is probably about 16 years old now.  We'll pull up them and replant with new stock after enriching the bed.  Then next year, we'll change the other bed.

Beans - while the beans were productive, my bean rack is too tall for me to reach them.  I'd like to set up some kind of arbour for the beans to grow on so that it will be easier to pick them.

Peppers - the main problem here was the soil in the pots.  One pot had some of the soil I used to fill the potato grow bags.  This plant (a cayenne) grew well and produced lots of attractive red peppers.  The other pots had a different brand of soil and you can really see the difference in the health of the plants.  The plants that were in the raised beds grew well.  Next year I might set aside half a bed for peppers and create some kind of plastic tunnel over them to give them more heat so they produce earlier and last longer.

Spaghettini with Fresh Herby Tomato Sauce and with Chicken

I wouldn't say I'm drowning in tomatoes because I'm using them up as fast as they come ripe.  I've dehydrated masses of Principe Borghese tomatoes, mostly giving them away, but now I'm drying them for our use.  And there are still lots to be had!  Ditto with the Health Kick and Classica tomatoes.  I have frozen packages of roasted tomato sauce waiting in the freezer for winter meals.  Two batches of salsa sit on the shelves to be added to my husband's signature Mexican Chicken dish, not to mention Nachos!

Today I decided to try some of the Principe Borghese tomatoes in a fresh tomato sauce with chicken and served with spaghettini.  And it was delicious!  A suitable recipe was found on the Internet and, of course, I adapted it for our needs.  Any cherry tomatoes will do, but the Principe Borghese were particularly good in the recipe.  I used herbes de Provence as it was handy in the spice rack, but you could make up your own mixture - just use lots!  The recipe I found also called for boneless, skinless chicken breasts, but we generally use thighs.  We prefer the flavour and they cook so much faster.  I've given a recipe for four people, but I actually made it about 2/3 for two of us.

1 1/2 pounds cherry tomatoes
Oil for sautéing - about 6 Tbsp
2 Tbsp herbes de Provence
1 tsp salt - plus a bit more
Freshly ground black pepper
1 lb boneless, skinless chicken
1 small shallot, minced
2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar

Preheat oven to 400F.  Combine tomatoes, 2 Tbsp oil and herbes de Provence in a large bowl, season with salt and pepper, toss to coat.

Heat 1 Tbsp of oil in a large, heavy ovenproof skillet (I used my Le Creuset casserole, but a cast iron frying pan would work just as well).  Tip in the tomatoes carefully - watch out for splatters!  Sauté until the tomatoes burst - about 5 minutes or so.  Transfer to a bowl.

Season the chicken all over with 1 tsp of salt and the pepper.  Heat 2 Tbsp of oil in the skillet over medium high heat.  Sear the chicken on both sides until golden brown.  Transfer the pan to the oven and roast until cooked through.  Transfer the chicken to a plate and let it rest for 5 minutes.

Add the remaining 1 Tbsp of oil to the skillet.  Heat over medium heat.  Add the minced shallot and cook, stirring until fragrant - about a minute.  Deglaze the pan with the balsamic vinegar, scraping up the browned bits.  Add the tomatoes and bring to a simmer.  Then cut up the chicken and add that just until well heated.  Serve over cooked spaghettini with warmed, crisp bread and a fresh salad.  Ambrosia!

It's All About The Food

I have to start with a small back-story.  Many, many years ago I attended a friend's "kitchen-themed" shower.  I’d spent a lot of time over my present, picking out a collection of things I knew a new housewife would need – seasonings, baking powder, baking soda – things in that vein.  When she opened my present, the bride-to-be glanced at me with a smile on her face and said fondly, “Ah, practical Pat!”  At the time I was a bit insulted, but now I know that’s exactly me.

Concrete raised beds can grow a lot of food

When we first bought this property and started landscaping the grounds, it was esthetics I was concerned about.  My husband and I were both working and with the travelling time, there wasn’t much left for gardening.  I planted perennials and shrubbery.  Eventually we began thinking more about providing some of our own food and quickly learned that our rocky property wasn’t ideal for vegetable gardening.  Concrete raised beds became our way to get around the negatives of our property and the multitude of cedar trees in the forests surrounding us.  Lots of information on how we built these beds can be found on this blog. 

Some of our own potatoes - German Butter and Pacific Russet

As time has gone by, growing our own food has become the focus of our gardening.  We are fortunate to have access to lots of irrigation water – an extremely precious commodity on the Gulf Islands – but it has made clearer where our priorities lie.  Landscaping has shrunk to what shrubbery can survive without watering.  The majority of our efforts have gone into practicality – what we can eat.

Today’s climate situation has made that even more important.  British Columbia, Canada has come to rely too much on other areas of the continent to provide our food.  Now that those areas are experiencing weather hardships – drought, unseasonable cold, unseasonable hot and floods – it’s more than ever vital that we get back to supporting ourselves.  Unfortunately, a lot of extremely valuable farmland has been turned into housing and has now vanished.  At one time, British Columbians produced the vast majority of what they needed.  Now only a tiny portion comes from home with the rest being imported from the United States.  How are we ever to get back to being self-supporting?

Lettuces and swiss chard not only taste good - they look good, too!

We think it’s important to take on some of this burden ourselves.  We need to either grow our own if possible, or support those locally who can.  On our little island, a excellent little market garden, jollity FARMS,  has been created in the last few years.  Right now they are selling subscribed boxes to locals and the excess produce at the farm a couple of days a week.  They not only sell vegetables, they also sell bread and meat that they produce as well.  If we weren’t growing our own, I would definitely be subscribing!

So how can we help ourselves? 

A cascade of Sweet Million cherry tomtoes

Start by growing what is most useful to you.  Do you eat a lot of salads?  Lettuces and green onions take up very little space and look attractive.  A small investment yields a big return.

Herbs in pots on the deck

Use up every little space.  Pots on a deck can grow vegetables and herbs.  These days, plants are developed especially for container gardening.  Tomatoes are even grown in hanging baskets! A friend sent me a picture of a square planter that had a colourful variety of lettuces in it.  Very pretty and very practical!

A variety of pepper plants

Grow what works for you.  Can’t grow spinach?  Wood bugs eat mine as soon as a seedling pokes its head out of the ground.  Try swiss chard instead.  Or start the seedlings elsewhere and transplant as soon as they can withstand the bug onslaught.

Cantaloupe!

Think outside the box.  A friend found some large rope-handled plastic tubs on sale for a terrific price.  She drilled holes in the bottom and is growing a wonderful crop of potatoes in them.  We turn half of our 2-bin compost box over to something each year.  This year it’s cantaloupe again, and we’ve used it for tomatoes and squash in the past.

Copra onions take up one full raised bed

Think about winter storage.  We grow our full year’s worth of onions in one raised bed.  Same for garlic.  Some crops can be left in the ground and harvested as you need them.  I leave my leeks out and use them until spring.  Other friends leave potatoes and carrots in the ground – which you can in our mild climate.  I imagine they probably stay in much better condition that way.  Perhaps a mulch on top would help, too.

This year's Three Sisters Garden

Remember to put back what you take out.  Intensive gardening can be hard on the soil.  You need good quality compost and organic fertilizer of some sort to replenish the nutrition.  This year I’m also applying a liquid fish fertilizer to my crops and have already noticed a difference.  My Three Sisters Garden also fulfills this as the beans put nitrogen back into the soil.  The vegetation gets chopped up and composted at the end of the season.  We also collect leaves in the fall, which are run through our shredder and then used as mulch.

I apologize for the long lecture, but this subject is very important to me.  We need to rely less on others to feed ourselves.  If we don’t, the end results could be catastrophic.

May Garden Update

We've just had a spell of very nice weather and the garden is all the better for it.  Things are sprouting.  Things are growing.  Things are getting away from me!  As in weeds...

The hummingbirds are at the feeder in full force - in fact one evening we thought there might be as many as 30 all vying for a spot on a perch - but who could count! Now that there are lots of flowers in the garden, competition isn't quite so fierce.  On the deck, my herb pots are doing nicely.

I've even used some of the oregano, chives and tarragon!  All of the parsley seedlings have made it - and I transplanted a lot since parsley doesn't like being moved.

The two cherry tomatoes have been very happy under their hot caps, which I've removed on nice days and replaced at night.  They're bigger than their mates in the potting shed and will soon have grown too much for their hot caps.

In the potting shed, the tomatoes are also growing well.  We are expecting some cool rainy weather for a couple of days, but after that, I might plant them in the garden, protected, of course, with hot caps.

Fruit trees are in full flower and the mason bees are doing their jobs pollinating.  I was worried that there wouldn't be many bees this spring after a bird pierced nearly every straw looking for meals.  We have plenty of bees to go around, however,  and nearly all the holes are full.  This year when the bees have finished I'll turn their houses sideways so they will be left alone.

Lettuces, snow peas, gai lan, radishes - all are doing well and we'll be eating radishes with our next salad.  I've planted sunflowers in the zags this year and all are up.

The Pacific Russet potatoes in one of the new 4x4 beds have been hilled up once and today I added a good 4" of chopped maple leaves.

In the potato grow bags, the German Butter potatoes are sprouting and soon will have more soil added.

And our favourite rose, Abraham Darby, which was transplanted last year to its new location has never looked so good!  All in all, spring is progressing well.