Kale - The Superfood!

I'm growing quite a few kale plants this year but haven't used it in very many ways other than in coleslaw, in soups and stews, etc.  I've resolved to branch out and use this valuable plant a lot more in the future.  To this end, my daughter-in-law has lent me her copy of "The Book of Kale" which gives lots of information on just how terrific kale is as well as growing instructions and how to use kale.  I'm truly amazed at how jam-packed kale is with goodness!

The other day I served a simple salad of young kale leaves chopped up, apple chunks and a dressing of 1/4 cup olive oil, 2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar, 1 Tbsp honey and salt and pepper.  My husband loved it! Now that's truly amazing because I've always had a problem getting him to eat cruciferous vegetables!

Fresh ingredients for a tabouli salad

My daughter-in-law's book has some wonderful-looking recipes, and today I tried out Tabouli with Quinoa and Kale.  Everything was ready to be picked in the garden except, of course, the tomatoes.  Last year's garlic is starting to deteriorate, but is still better than most of the garlic found in the stores right now.  Likewise, the flat-leaf Italian parsley is starting to go to seed, but there are still good leaves to be found. I picked a variety of young kale leaves - Siberian, Red Russian, Lacinato - and pulled up some of my Apache scallions.  The lovely purple of the base adds colour to the salad.  And even the quinoa was grown in my garden!  The cup required for the salad used about a quarter of my harvest from last year.  No wonder I'm not planning on planting it again!

Tabouli with Quinoa and Kale

2 cups of water (plus stems from kale and parsley)
1 cup quinoa
1 cup minced kale leaves
1 cup minced parsley
2 large cloves garlic, finely minced
1 cup scallions, chopped
2 large tomatoes, chopped

Dressing

1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 Tbsp fresh mint leaves, chopped
salt and pepper

Boil the stems of the kale and parsley with the water for a couple of minutes, then strain out the solids.

Add the quinoa to the vegetable stock, bring to a boil and simmer gently for 15 minutes.  Cool and then add to remaining ingredients except the tomatoes.  Salt and pepper to taste.

Refrigerate for at least 2 hours and add the tomatoes just before serving.  Keeps well (without the tomatoes) for several days.

Kale, Gai Lan, Onions

It's now early February and today I planted more seeds.  It's such a lovely day, sunny and a warm February 10 degrees C, that I just couldn't resist.

The Copra Onions and Apache Scallions went out the the potting shed as they're now well up.  Their place has been taken by more Copra Onions and Bandit Leeks as well as Lacinato and a winter blend of kale.  Lettuce and mescalun seedings are also under lights in the house.

Lacinato Kale

And it might be early, but I also put in 2 short rows of Green Pearl Gai Lan, which is a Chinese broccoli.  My husband is a broccoli-hater, but likes gai lan.

Green Pearl Gai Lan

In the next couple of weeks I'll be starting my tomato seeds indoors.  To that end, I have some well-watered dry seeding mix tied up in a plastic bag.

This year, I plan on planting a lot more members of the brassica family.  I didn't have nearly enough kale to satisfy the needs of our household and the family.  Hopefully the extra plants will do the job.  In addition to seeding now, I'll also seed the winter blend kale in mid-summer for winter production.

I know this seems awfully early and I do tend to jump the gun a bit, but winters on the west coast seem to be getting milder.  I'm not worried about starting plants too early.  Cool-hardy seedlings that are in the potting shed are under plastic domes.  Tomatoes need heat to germinate, but once they're up, they can take the cool and will be similarly protected.

The buds on the King Edward Currant are swelling and a viburnum has been in bloom all winter.  Any day now, the Rufous Hummingbirds will be arriving.  They'll join the 2 female Anna's Hummingbirds who have been visiting our feeder all winter long.  It truly feels as if spring is not far away!

It's Planting Time!

Just before Christmas my seed order from West Coast Seeds arrived.  There's nothing like the arrival of a seed order to get a gardener's juices going.  However, Christmas - and winter - do have precedence.

Seeds!

Today, January 26th, I just couldn't wait any longer, so I decided to give onions and leeks a try in my little unheated potting shed.  After moving a Gartenmeister Fuchsia which I'm trying to coax through the winter and sweeping off the counter, I filled 3 round pots with a seeding soil, wetted them down thoroughly and scattered seeds on the top, covering them with a bit more soil.  I only planted about a third of the seeds just in case it's pushing the season too much.  Onions and leeks are hardy seedlings, though, so they should be just fine.  They're in a plastic tray and covered with a clear plastic dome to give them a little protection.

The First Seeding of 2013

I'm growing Bandit Leeks and Copra Onions which are mainstays in my garden.  This year I'm also trying Apache Scallions.

A word about my potting shed.  My husband made it for me using a lot of found materials.  The studs came from our own trees and the glass panels on 2 walls and on the south-facing side of the roof all came from old sliding glass doors.  I have slatted counters under each wall panel which provide lots of room for starting seedlings.  Starting seedlings and storing my gardening equipment is all it's used for.  Oh, and it provides a shelf outside for mason bee homes.  In the picture below, you can see them under the peak of the roof.  And no, your eyes aren't deceiving you - the roof is much longer on the south-facing side than the north one.  There's a vigorous rosemary bush growing at the base and on the south side is the beginning of the lined dry-stone creek which takes runoff from the shed roof to the pond.

My Handy, Indespensibile Potting Shed

At this time of the year, there's not much growing in the garden.  Most plants have been pulled out and put on the compost pile.  However, I still have Bandit Leeks which keep right through the winter.  And several plants of Fordhook Swiss Chard still provide a meal every now and then.

Bandit Leeks - the last of the 2012 planting