Desperate for Green

Ah what I won't do for a little bit of fresh, green goodness during a Minnesota winter... like potting fresh grocery store herbs meant to be eaten.  Yes, my friends, these were spendy bedding plants.

I bought these large white ceramic pots from Ikea for $2.99 each (the same price as those ridiculous herbs).

Then off I went to the shore of our backyard pond to scrape up a few shovelfuls of pea gravel from under the snow.  Are you picturing me out there, scraping in the snow, suburban neighbors wondering if maybe I need one of these sun lamps for S.A.D. (maybe I do)?   After my snowy trek, I lined the bottom of the pots with the rock for drainage.

I lucked out and found one proper basil plant in the floral section of my local grocery store.  What a beauty.  Now I'm just hoping these little guys will survive, especially the thyme, so I can use it for my broccoli soup!

Planted

Today when I realized it was sixty-five degrees out, I decided it was now or never. Time to plant my garlic and winter onions!  I'm always a little behind with fall planting, but this year I had an excuse.  Dan's been working on building new garden boxes below the main garden.   Because most of our back yard is a hill, we need to terrace to increase our tillable area.. The whole garden has been a disaster area work-in-progress since September.  

Our soil is poor and high in clay content, so before planting, Dan and I worked some dead leaves into the soil to loosen it and provide a few nutrients.  I planted one row of winter onions and one row of garlic.  This year's garden didn't produce as much garlic as I would have liked, so it was painful to raid my garlic jar for planting.  I planted the cloves as deep as I could push them with my finger, and I spaced them about 3-4 inches apart.

As for winter onions, I don't think many people know what they are.  You plant them in the fall and when they come up the next spring, you pull the green onions (scallions) and eat them while they're small (in the spring and early summer).  You leave a few plants, and after they flower, they develop heads of small bulbs.  In the fall, you harvest these bulbs (the sets) and plant them again for the next spring.  My grandpa always grew them, but somehow no one in our family saved the sets from his garden.  A few years ago, I found a seed catalog from Wisconsin that sold them.  The catalog called them "Egyptian Walking Onions".  My dad, my uncle and I have all been growing them now for a few years.  They are not quite as sweet as the ones my grandpa grew, and you can't pull them up easily (you need a small spade), but they're still enjoyable.  I wish, wish, wish we had saved sets from my grandpa's garden!

227 Jalapenos!

227 jalapenos picked and roasted from one plant!

A Plethora of Peppers

It's practically raining peppers in our garden.  Hot, sweet, green, purple, red, yellow -- we have them all.  I need to find something to do with them.  I'm also trying to find someone who wants to trade me broccoli or basil or apples for some of our peppers.  If you know anyone, send them to me.

In other news, we have a beautiful Cinderella pumpkin,

and two more shaped like the one below.  We planted two varieties of pumpkin plants plus some seeds someone gave us.  We got three pumpkins.  Not exactly a bounty, but perfect for three kids.

And then there's the watermelon.  I'm not sure even one of these will be ripe before it freezes.  No matter what I do, I can't seem to grow melons!

The good news is that we are still cooking from the garden, or from other people's gardens, as the case may be.  These potatoes are from my parents and the corn is from their neighbors.



A Peck of Pickled Peppers

This spring, my dad bought a few packs of sweet orange bell pepper plants. It turns out they were mislabeled. They were actually hot banana peppers.

Since my parents do not eat hot peppers, guess what?  Their loss was my gain.  Here's Anna stripping the plants of their bounty.

I've been pickling hot peppers on and off for about ten years.  It's actually quite easy.  Pickling is safer and easier than other types of canning.  The high acid environment of pickled products inhibits the growth of botulism-causing bacteria.  Therefore, you don't need a pressure cooker for processing.  My small batch took just over an hour from start to finish.  If you want to try it, here's what you'll need:

Pickled Hot Banana Peppers

7 pint jars
7 sealing lids
7 jar rings
hot banana peppers (about an ice cream bucket full), washed and sliced into rings (stems cut off)
7 large cloves of garlic, peeled and cleaned
6 cups white vinegar
2 cups water
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon pickling salt
1 tablespoon sugar

First wash your jars.  You can wash and sterilize your jars in one easy step in your dishwasher.  However, I never seem to time my dishwasher cycles right, so I just sterilize the old-fashioned way in boiling water.  I don't have a proper canner, so I use my big stockpot for sterilizing and processing.  Put a few inches of water in the bottom of your pot and flip the jars upside down.  Cover the pot and boil for 10 minutes or so.

Meanwhile, start washing and slicing your peppers.  Warning:  Do not rub your eyes!  Ever!  You may want to wear gloves while slicing hot peppers because the oils get in your skin, and you can end up with burning skin for a few painful hours.  I usually take my chances, but one year, my hands were in so much pain I could hardly sleep.  Now I just try to avoid touching the seeds and juice as much as possible.  Frequently rinsing your hands also helps.

When the jars are sterilized, turn them upside down on a clean towel to dry for a bit.  Add more water to your canner (or stockpot, as the case may be), and bring it to a boil.  At this time, mix your brine in another large saucepan (6 cups white vinegar, 2 cups water, 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon pickling salt, 1 tablespoon sugar), and bring it to a boil.  In a small saucepan, bring an inch or two of water to boil and then remove from heat.  Submerge your sealing lids in this hot water (the heat will help them seal better when you put them on your jars). 

When you are ready to pack your jars, add one to two cloves of garlic to each jar (depending on how big your garlic cloves are). 

Spoon in the sliced peppers.  Use the spoon to pack the peppers into the jars as tightly as possible.  Don't be afraid to press them down!  Leave about a half inch of head space at the top of each jar.

Pour boiling brine into each jar, leaving 1/4 inch head space in each jar.  Use tongs to remove the sealing lids from their hot water bath one at a time and place a lid directly on each jar.  Screw a ring onto each jar and tighten.  Place your jars into the boiling water in your stockpot and cover the pot.  Process the jars for 10 minutes (in altitudes above 6,000 feet, process for 15 minutes).

After processing, remove jars from the boiling water and allow to cool.  After the jars have cooled, check the lids to be sure each one has sealed.  Push down on the lid.  If it pops, it did not seal.  Jars that do not seal must be refrigerated and used first.  For best flavor, store jars for six weeks before using. 

Safety Tips for Pickling

- The level of acidity is essential for safety.  Never alter the vinegar/water quantities in a recipe. 

- Do not under-process your product.  Adhere to the processing times in a trusted recipe.  If you live at a high altitude, this will increase the required processing time.

- Cleanliness is very important.  Make sure everything you use has been washed thoroughly -- the counter, your tools, the produce, and of course all the jars, lids, and rings.  Sterilize your jars and keep the lids in hot water until the moment you put them on the jar.

- If you find a jar that lost its seal (the lid will "pop" when pushed) after it has been in storage, throw it out!

Uses for Pickled Hot Peppers

These pickled hot peppers are great in pasta salads and on pizzas.  I also use them in smoked salmon and cream cheese appetizers (take a Wheat Thin, spread cream cheese on it, add a piece of smoked salmon and top with a hot pepper slice).

Notes on Canning Jars

I don't buy canning jars.  I have inherited some from my mom.  Others were saved from foods I bought at the store.  If you have sealing lids and rings in your pantry, you can try them on an empty food jar before tossing the jar in the recycling bin.  For pint size jars, I have reused the jars from mayonnaise, sauces, salad dressing, and certain brands of jams and jellies.  Remember, you can reuse jars and rings, but sealing lids can only be used once. 

Reference

The pickling process I have been using for the last ten years comes from the Colorado State University Extension office.  I don't use the same varieties of peppers they describe, but otherwise I follow their pickled pepper recipe.  Also, they say that the pepper recipe will make 7 or 8 pints, but I consistently find that the brine is only enough for seven pints (and there is no extra!).  They also have an excellent list of food safety FAQs here.

Wordless Wednesday: Cherry Tomatoes and Dirty Fingers

Sweet 100 cherry tomatoes from our garden.  

What kind of real gardner doesn't have dirt under his nails?

It's a Beauty

Ehren has been keeping close tabs on the carrots in the garden.  We've been having this conversation almost daily for a couple of weeks:

Ehren:  Can I pick a carrot, Mom?  This one looks ready.

Mom:  You could eat that one now, but we want to let it get bigger.

Finally, today, he said, "Mom, you have to see this carrot.  It's ready."  And it was. 

In Ehren's words, "It's a beauty."

It was tasty too.

Drawn

Consider how the wild flowers grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.  Luke 12:27

One morning last week, I was looking around the house trying to locate Christian.  I wanted to let the kids know I was running out to the garden for a minute.  In the early morning, the squash and pumpkin blossoms open wide and bright.  I just had to go out for a closer look.

It turns out that Christian had the same idea.  When I went out to our tiny pumkin patch, I found him barefoot in his pajamas crouched down among the blossoms watching the bees doing their work.

Pumpkin blossoms as big as my hand, their radiance stunning in the soft morning light and shadows. 



Some Garden Goodness

This is the first year I have grown spaghetti squash.  I planted them because someone gave me a packet of seeds.  I had no idea if they would even grow, but despite the weak soil, they are thriving and taking over my garden.  The vines have grown over the row of peas on one side and over the row of beans on the other.  They have even started climbing over the fence!

We have two that are almost ready, and many more coming.  I will have to find some new ways to eat them (besides the traditional bake, shred, and cover with butter, salt, pepper and Parmesan cheese).  I have to also mention that all the kids ate a huge plateful of sauteed zucchini and onions for dinner tonight.  Anna complained a little, but she finished her plate (with the promise of pizza to follow).

Speaking of Anna, she was my little helper in the garden today.

Here she is with a handful of green beans (that were a little too small, but that's OK).

Sage Advice

Growing sage is easy as pie. 

Forget to water?  It's drought hardy. 

Cold climate?

It winters in Minnesota without special accomodation.  

Bad experiences with other weedy herbs (oregano, peppermint)? 

It's non-invasive.  It's really just a small shrub.

In the fall before your sage slumbers for the winter, snip a few sprigs.  Bundle them and hang upside down to dry in your kitchen. When you make turkey, chicken or stuffing, rub a few dried sprigs between your hands and let the savory bits sprinkle over your food before you cook it.

Thistles, Thistles Everywhere

It will produce thorns and thistles for you,
and you will eat the plants of the field.
By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food
until you return to the ground,
   since from it you were taken;

Genesis 3:18-19

If thistles were a cash crop, I'd be rich.  Our house was vacant for a year before we bought it, and a jungle of weeds sprung up in the lawn.  Did you know that one Canadian Thistle can colonize an area 3 to 6 feet in diameter in one or two years?*  Did you know that pulling thistles make them worse?  The stem breaks and sends up two shoots from the broken stem.  They have a huge underground root system (horizontal roots may extend 15 feet or more and vertical roots may grow 6 to 15 feet deep*).  And let's not forget all the seeds thistles send flying in the wind if you let them flower.  Ugggghhhh!  I read all these things when trying to figure out a way to control them without herbicide.  These plants have an amazing set of survival mechanisms.

This summer, I broke down and succumbed to having a lawn service.  I hope one summer of this will get the thistles (and other less daunting weeds) down to a manageble level.  Even so, here's a shot from my freshly-planted tomato garden to illustrate the problem.  Those little sprouts next to the tomato plant are Canadian Thistle.  It's still hand-to-hand combat in the garden.

*Source:  Colorado State University

Suburban Gardens

Cocoa bean mulch, oh how I love thee.  Let me count the ways:

- You are so full of chocolately goodness.  I love how you smell when I water the garden.
- Next spring, Dan can just till you right back into the soil, and you will loosen it nicely.
- O course you're mulch, so you keep down the weeds and keep in the moisture.
- You make my gardens look oh so pretty.
- You're not toxic (except to dogs, but I don't have one) or full of dyes or weird stuff.  Apparently it is even organic.  See link above.

Since we moved into our new house just over a year ago, we decided to turn the two backyard flower beds into a pepper garden and a tomato garden.  But of course, since we live in Suburbia and have about a thousand neighbors, these little side gardens cannot just be functional.  They must look pretty too.  To accomplish this, I use cocoa bean mulch.  I seriously love this stuff.  I just finished my tomato and pepper gardens tonight.

Pepper garden as seen from the deck.  We grow a mix of sweet and hot peppers.  I pickle the hot peppers and we eat all the sweet ones fresh.  One of my favorites is a sweet Italian heirloom pepper called "Corno di Toro."  I discovered this variety last year.  The multi-colored (red, orange, yellow, green) peppers are huge and so sweet!  I also snuck a tarragon plant into the middle this year.

The tomato garden curves around the posts of our deck.  The tomatoes are backed by a few miscellaneous perennial flowers, as well as a beautiful sage plant (show in the front left of the picture below).

I don't grow enough tomatoes to can, but I make really delicious "sun-dried" tomatoes in my mom's dehydrator.

Look for a post later about the "big" garden.  It doesn't look so pretty yet.  Plus I still need to plant red pototoes, pumpkins and watermelon.

It Survived!

Remember how I was worried that the garlic in my garden might not make it?  It was looking pretty brown a couple of weeks ago.  Look at it now.  What a comeback!  It's a plant built to survive.

And here are the spring onions.  It won't be long until we can eat these.

The kids have been growing some Early Girl Tomatoes, bell peppers and Zinnias in very small pots in our kitchen window.  Anna and I transplanted the seedlings into individual pots.  We also planted some seeds we saved from last year's garden (dill, cilantro, basil, and Corno Di Toro peppers).  We ran out of potting soil, so we'll have to finish planting our other seeds later.  It was definitely a day to get excited about gardening!

Oh Shoot!

Yesterday, Dan asked me if I noticed the garlic was up.  I had not, so Anna and I took a little trip out to the muddy garden to inspect the situation more closely.  There they were.  Shoots of garlic about 2-3 inches high, and they did not look good. 

I'm sure the garlic sprouted in the beautiful fifty-degree weather we had, only to be struck down by the snow and bitter cold that followed.  The varieties of garlic I planted last fall are new to me, so I'm not sure if they are hardy in our northern climate.  Time will tell.