Gardener to Farmer

Hate to Eat Your Veggies? Create a Vegetable Adoption Strategy!

Not all of us were born with a deep and abiding love for all things green. Create a vegetable adoption strategy and overcome your fear of produce!

Vegetable Garden Plans, Part One

Vegetable garden plans are best mapped out in the fall. It is a great time to look back at what grew well, what tasted great, what you couldn't get enough of and what showed up in huge quantities.

Each spring, I (try) to keep a list of all that I am planting. When the seed packets come in, I log them in a database, listing important growing information. As the season progresses, I note germination time/rates, greenhouse or garden starting, transplanting information and notes that will help me make decisions about next year's choices.

Even if you don't have time to create a database, you can do some simple things that will make it easier for you to have a more productive garden next year. Pick up a pen and paper right now and record the following:

• What did you absolutely LOVE this year?
• What was horrible?
• Where was there too much and where was there too little production?
• Where did you plant what? Remember, some veggies shouldn't be replanted in the same spot, year after year
• What did better than expected? Note varieties that like your climate, grew larger than you thought, liked having certain companions
• What growing tips have you learned? (ie use tomato cages BEFORE tomato plants are too big!)

Believe me, I would love to believe that I will remember all of these great bits of wisdom for next spring. But I know I won't. Take an hour to write down the important lessons of this gardening year. This information will be absolutely invaluable for next year.

Late Summer Vegetable Garden

We have finally had warm enough temperatures in Portland to produce a wonderful bounty in my late summer (fall?) garden. Below are some of the gorgeous veggies that I am still harvesting, and you might be, too.

As you can see, I have 4 giant bowls of tomatoes...and despite the fact that I said mean things about them in August, the recent weeks of warm weather have led to a glut of the fabulous fruits. You can pretty much count on me making a TON of tomato sauce.

Also making an a"pear"ance in the center are a few lovely pears from my tree out back. I will have to study up on dormant oil and organic fruit tree care since both the apples and pears looked a bit peaked and buggy.

The long onion-looking guys are my Dutch Shallots...huge things...closer to the size of a small yellow onion than a head of garlic. Harvested and cured...ready to be used in all kinds of yummy dishes.

The squash is gorgeous! I picked all but the smallest of them and am scheming about ways to preserve them. I know that if I cut and freeze they will get mushy...and who wants a mushy squash? EWWW....

Check at Portland Foodie for a recipe for yummy sage and fennel summer squash saute.

And let us not forget the hot and bell peppers! This is my second harvest...sadly, we just didn't have enough heat for more...but they are wonderful things. To preserve my last batch, I dried them by smoking them on my grill. Portland Foodie can also tell you how to do this.

Finally, there is a last harvest of my hericot vert and purple podded beans. They are actually getting a little long in the tooth, so I will dry them and use the seeds for growing next year.

It has been a wonderful summer season...and the fall crops are popping up already...can't wait to harvest again!

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Black Garbonzo Beans: Yes, They Come in Colors

I decided to try growing garbanzo beans, also known as Chick Peas. These legumes are grown all over the world and used in a hundred different ways. And loving all things strange and unusual, I myself am strange and unusual, so I decided to grow the black variety. They also come in brown and beige. See the cute little guys in their pod?

This is after they were harvested and dried...but that's getting ahead of ourselves a bit...let's take a look at the plant itself.

This is a close up of the little flowers that develop along the frond-like leaves...I found this pic at the Journey Songs blog. You can also see the fuzzy pods that form along the stems. They stay small, no more than two in a pod, and are preceded by beautiful (tiny) purple-pink flowers.

Growing garbanzos is really quite easy. I direct sowed the seeds in spring in well drained, well amended soil. During the growing season, I fed them a couple of times with fish fertilizer. But mostly, I just watched them grow. It took about 90 days to reach full maturity, so start the beans early enough to reach harvest before cold temps set in. It is worth noting that I grew mine in part shade...though it was in a bed that received some full sun. 

Once the pods reach maturity, the plants start to die. I left mine where they were until the pods were dried and the seeds were hard. Then we had a shelling party and removed the husks. Store them like you would other dried beans...they will last at least a year. But why wait that long to make black hummus??

If you are a gardener, you probably already know that legumes of any kind are nitrogen-fixing plants and actually improve the quality of your soil. In addition, the health benefits are absolutely outstanding:

• High in dietary fiber
• 90% of the RDA of Foliate
• High in Magnesium

Give these cute guys a chance in your garden...they are easy to grow and harvest...and they come in black! How many veggies can say that?

Kohlrabi, Alien Vegetable!

Thank god for Mother Earth News...They had this wonderful picture of the bizzare looking veggie,  Kohlrabi...mine looked horrible...the leaves had a zillion holes in them from the larvae of that pretty little white butterfly that flits around my garden.

Don't you think it looks a little alien-esque? Strange, to say the least...and when I harvested the few that I had grown, I was very hesitant to give it a taste.

But, hey, what kind of gardener would I be if I didn't at least try it? So, I cut off all of the leaves and stems and used a veggie peeler to remove the tough outer layer.

I need to confess that before the veggie peeler, I just cut off a slice and ate it...use the peeler...trust me.

After cleaning and cutting, I gave it another taste...hmmm, nice crunch, mild with a tiny bit of heat. Reminded me of a radish...well, more like a radish and a jicama root combined. I decided I liked it and promptly added it to a salad I was making.

Kohlrabi is a member of the cabbage family, and as such, likes cool weather. These guys do well in early spring or fall plantings. Hot weather will make them fibrous and icky, so plant early enough that they have 60 days or so to mature.  Fall plantings will result in bulbs that are very frost tolerant...you can leave them in the ground and harvest as you need them.

Kohlrabi can be used in a variety of ways in the kitchen...raw, steamed, sauteed, stuffed, you name it...it is a very versatile veggie! You can even eat the leaves as you would winter greens.

Hot Peppers, Finally Harvested!

I have spent the whole summer waiting patiently for my friends the hot peppers to get 'hot" enough to harvest. Cool weather, like we've had in the Pacific Northwest, makes it challenging to grow peppers and also reduces how hot they are. Below is one of my new faves this year...it is called Czech Black Hot Pepper. It's actually a beautiful color of dark purple...and the leaves of the plant are green and purple, too.

And, I have some wonderful yellow bell peppers peeking out...

I knew that our summers could be challenging for heat loving crops, so I developed a plan that I thought would be foolproof. I created a bank of plants in deep containers along the cement area of my patio. It is an area that gets a lot of sun and a whole lot of heat.

You can see an awful lot of blossoms, but the yield has been really poor. We are having warm weather the rest of the week, so I may get another crop, yet.

I harvested a small basket of peppers this week and decided to smoke and dry them for storage. Check out my post on Portland Foodie to see the outcome...easy and yummy!

Carrots Entwined...Veggie Love!

Carrots Entwined, or Kindred Carrots is an awesome Portland photograph and poem by artist Jane Pellicciotto...find out more about her at Allegro Design.

The Deeper Meaning of Summer Squash

Summer squash is one of those veggies that I always over plant. I don't know why I do...I mean, it has to be the easiest thing to grow...put the seed in the ground, water, voila! Suddenly, there are vines and squash everywhere. I suppose I grow more squash to make up for the trauma of growing tomatoes...

This is a wonderful pic of the most recent squash harvest...plus, the 7 tomatoes I have harvested this season. Yes, they are cherry tomatoes...but I will take what I can get.

There are all kinds of recipes and methods for cooking squash...for ideas, check Portland Foodie...

We have a love hate relationship with the squash...which makes me wonder if there is some deeper meaning to our ritual of over planting, harvesting in a panic, bagging it up and dropping it off on the door step of our neighbors...

In the eagerness of spring, we reach for the things that we know will be successful...maybe we need that certain success to balance out the plants that don't make it, the seeds that don't germinate. Maybe we have a genuine respect for the sheer growth and production of this prickly vine...

Do you have thoughts about your summer squash? Tell me...I actually want to know....

Tomatoes are Temperamental

It is the middle of August...and I have green tomatoes. Not just one or two, but LOTS of green tomatoes. See how pretty and green they are?

The reality is that tomatoes need warmth to ripen. You can have 20 sunny days in a row, but if it is not warm enough, no tomatoes...then again, if it is too warm, the blossoms will drop off without forming fruit...again, no tomatoes.

And what can we learn from this situation? Tomatoes are temperamental. I know, you didn't want to hear that...you are holding out hope against hope that your tomatoes will buck the odds and be fabulous. And maybe they are, but I can guarantee one thing, if they are, you are working at it.

Here are my little lovlies (purple Roma's) back in the greenhouse...don't they look soooo innocent and full of potential?

If I were to compare tomatoes to a flower that I thought took a similar amount of work, I would say they are a pretty fair match for roses. Tomatoes are affected by various rots, wilts, fungi and critters. They are heat sensitive, they sprawl everywhere and the vines can become so heavy they topple the cages. They are stinky. Yes, I said it, they stink. Not the tomatoes so much, but the vines. I am growing a Sungold cherry tomato that smells to high heaven! Almost more than I can stand...

We take all kinds of steps to nurture the little guys. Start them early so they have time to fruit, use red mulch to increase the likelihood of fruit, surround them with walls of water...you name it, we've done it. Of all of my veggies, these guys take up the greatest amount of resources.

Why in the heck do I grow them? Good question...I guess because there is nothing better than a big bowl of fresh cherry tomatoes, parm and cukes with a bit of olive oil and balsamic vinegar...topped with sea salt and freshly ground pepper...My mouth is watering all ready. It is that kind of experience that pushes me to grow my own, to get the tomato at just the right moment so I can experience nirvana...

And for now, that dream is holding me. It has been warmer here and will be warm this week, so I may see tomatoes yet...sigh...In the meantime, hop over to my Portland Foodie blog for recipes for green tomatoes.

Hopefully, you are all participating in the weekly food fest at Dinner Tonight and Away to Garden. It is a lot of fun and a great way to share your favorite gardening and foodie tips. Each week a new topic is selected, this week's topic is...you guessed it...tomatoes!

Dragon Langerie, Summer Snap Bean

Dragon Langerie, or Dragon Tongue, snap beans are an absolutely gorgeous heirloom bean. Just take a look at some that I harvested today...intermingling with purple snap beans. You know I love the veggies that are a little odd...purple is one of my favorite colors! Can't wait to see the purple brussel sprouts this fall...

Anyhoo, The Dragon Tongue bean is of the snap variety. Snap beans are eaten fresh, their pods are tender and tasty. This particular variety doesn't have strings, so there is minimal work involved to clean and eat it. And who wants to work to eat a veggie? There are just too many that are yummy and require minimal effort.

The lovely purple strips are on the pod, as well as the beans inside. Unfortunately, they disappear with cooking...as with many purple veggies, the purple turns to green, or in this case, yellow. These pods are "romano" in type, meaning flat  vs. rounded.

Dragon Tongue beans are so easy to grow, and, depending upon where you live in the US, there is still time! These guys take 55-60 days to mature, so get them in the ground quick. Sunny location, water when needed, but generally bush beans are low care. I would suggest adding an organic fertilizer to boost growth and production...but that is it, really.

I love to eat them sauted in evoo with sweet onions. Later in the week, at Portland Foodie, I will have a snap bean recipe post, so keep an eye out for it!