My Garden : January 19, 2012

Parsley ...

Sage ...

Rosemary ...

and Thyme ...

and Bay ... : ( ...

Live, Laugh, Love ...

Especially laugh, 'cause what else you gonna do?

Midsummer At Paradise Cove ...

August 1st is Lughnasadh, the Celtic festival of the midsummer harvests.   To celebrate I'm participating in Northwest Edible Life's nosy neighbor homestead tour today.  Check it out!

Let's take a look at what's happening now that we have actually had a couple of weeks with some sunshine here in soggy Shelton, Washington!  We'll start in "The Garden", the "Edible Landscaping" on the lake side of the property ...

The "Three Sisters" wine barrel plantings (Anasazi and Cherokee Trail of Tears Beans with Golden Bantam corn and assorted squashes) are doing great!  I did have to add some trellising as the beans were outgrowing the corn in the cool weather we were having.

 The Delicata squash in the wooden crate ...

...has even started to form some fruit ...

The cedar log bed down by the lake is looking good ...

... more squash and Tiger Eye beans (the red gadget in the background is one of FitzGyver's toys ... a gasoline powered pump that takes water from the lake and sends it to a fire hose).

The "Dock Box" with buckets full of Rose Gold potato plants that are are starting to blossom now ...

Bingo Beans in one half wine barrel ...

Squash and Anasazi Beans in another ...

The Terrace Garden has a new resident ...

This was totally not my fault.  I HAD to buy him after reading this post on "The Bloggess".  When I saw him at the local nursery I was doomed ... so now Bunny has a friend ...

The two bay laurels in the Bell Garden have doubled in size and the herbs under the bell are ready to be cut and dried ...

I think that's about all that is new in "The Garden"; so let's take a look at " The Farm" on the back side of the house ...

The tomatoes and cucumbers are still coming along ...

I've harvested the potato bed and boxes and am getting ready to replant them ... and the logs in the garbage can are soaking in water.  Do you remember my mushroom experiment?  Well, it's time to see if it has worked; soaking the logs is the first step (I'll keep you posted).

Several of the beds have already been harvested and replanted for fall ...

These are root crops (carrots, beets and parsnips) ...

... and some green beans, beets and onions in the fore ground, snow peas and lettuce to the rear ...

More potatoes ...

...and more potatoes (I use a lot of potatoes in the winter time).

The wine barrel herb planting has come along nicely and I am very impressed with the Pesto Perpetuo Basil; that one is a keeper!

And last, but not least ...

The Cherokee Purple tomatoes outgrew their cages and needed additional support.  They are full of green tomatoes and I have my fingers crossed that the weather will continue to cooperate.

Enjoy!

Growing Asian Vegetables...and a cooking video

I've had a lot of response to my post about growing and cooking with Asian greens and vegetables and thought I might start a series of posts about these nutritious and easy to grow vegetables ... and the food that I love to cook with them.

I started growing Asian vegetables last year after reading Eliot Coleman's book, The Winter Harvest.  Many Asian vegetable are very cold tolerant and grow well all through the winter months in a cold frame or hoop house.  Mike and I love Asian cuisines and I was spoiled while we were living in Federal Way...we had many Asian markets in town and it was only a short drive to Seattle and the best of all Asian markets ... IMHO ... Uwajimaya (if you are visiting the Seattle area put this place on your list of things to see; and go hungry ...the food court is incredible!!)  Now that we are living in rural Mason County finding fresh Asian vegetables is not as easy.  I'm really glad that I can now grow my own.

I thought I would start my Asian Vegetable series with an introduction to one of my favorites, a variety of Pac Choi (Bok Choy) called Joi Choi.  It's available from Territorial Seed Company (under the heading of Oriental Vegetables).  It's a mild, sweet Pac Choi that grows very quickly;  this one will almost double in size in another three weeks...

I was first introduced to Asian cuisines when I moved to Washington in 1991.  I was working at a reference laboratory in the SODO area of Seattle (SOuth of DOwntown).  On the weekends (read no management staff on site :) the microbiology lab staff would get take out from Uwajimaya.  I had no idea of what to order the first weekend I worked and all my coworkers agreed that for an initial exposure to Japanese take out there could be nothing better than Yakisoba ...and they were right!  It was delicious!!

I had tried making Yakisoba at home many times since then and was never happy with the results.  A few months ago I went on the Internet, looking for a better recipe ... and that's when I met Francis and Chef ...




This is the best Yakisoba recipe ever!!  I usually use chicken instead of pork...and I vary the vegetables depending on what is ready for harvest ( Joi Choi is one of my favorites to add to this one).  Most groceries in our area carry the noodles for Yakisoba, I'm not sure about the rest of the country ...but you can always ask your grocer to get some for you...

Enjoy!

No Harvest Monday and a Present for My Readers.....

I have no harvest to report for "Daphne's Dandelions" Monday Harvest this week.  I used the last of the edible storage potatoes in my Oyster Stew...all the rest have sprouted now.  We have had more snow this week, so except for a little seedling maintenance I haven't done any gardening for several days now...

The seed babies are all still nestled snug in their beds.  I've checked them every day and the added row covers inside the mini hoop houses are keeping everything at a nice, toasty 33 degrees.  The peas are still growing like weeds and the just planted carrots are showing some greenery (more about them in an upcoming post).

On the home front; FitzGyver was busy last weekend....

I love the new fireplace insert...what a difference it makes in heating the room! 
And hopefully in the heating bill!!

So...what does an avid gardener do when she's snowbound; sitting next to a cozy fire?  She works on spreadsheets, of course!  After I posted my  "Five Season" Planting Guides on Google Docs Julie suggested that I might need a harvest spreadsheet...and I decided that she is right!  So here it is...click on the photo to go to the spreadsheet on Google....
.

And as long as I was making spreadsheets I thought it might be nice to have one for keeping track of my preserving inventory, too....

My readers are welcome to copy the spreadsheets and modify them as they choose for their own use.  If you don't have a spreadsheet program on your PC you can download one for free at "Open Office".

Enjoy!

Harvest Monday....and a New Raised Bed

It's been a pretty good week for my winter raised bed...first the Asian Greens for yakisoba:

And then a bunch of lettuce for a taco salad:

You can see what other gardeners have harvested, or how they are using their harvest at Daphne's Dandelions.

Over the weekend the plans for combining more "Edible Landscaping" with our raised beds started becoming reality.  Jo's Boys (I love calling them that...I was particularly fond of that Alcott book :), Alex and Johnny, came and lent some muscle to the project and many huckleberries were moved and a big ugly juniper went to meet it's maker.  Best of all, Mike started work on the new raised beds for next to the lake!  Mike has come up with a great design; easy to put together and quite attractive.  I've started a page with full details of how to build it and hope to have it finished soon.

Here it is partially constructed in the garage...

And here it is going into it's new home next to the lake. I was able to build it over the soil from the previously existing bed and it looks like I'll be able to keep what was already planted alive. I was afraid I would have to harvest it all.

I like the look of the natural cedar next to the water...the plan is for the lakeside landscaping to blend in as naturally as possible with our rustic setting.

Enjoy!

Deb

Caught Up....

I spent some time in my little greenhouse yesterday morning and got caught up on my seed starting.  I made 4 trays of soil blocks (144!) and planted chard, kale, broccoli, cauliflower, spinach and more peas.

I was cruising through Johnny's Select Seeds web site the other day and watched a video on making soil blocks.  I realized that I wasn't getting the soil mix wet enough...and that I could space the blocks a lot closer in the tray (notice how many more blocks I got in the trays on the top two shelves).

I also planted some onions and leeks in my old wooden crates...

I'm trying a new bunching onion, Shimonita,  from Territorial Seed Company and a Summer Leek from Irish Eyes...

And a harvest update from the experimental winter bed:

Tatsoi, Joi Choi, Orange Mini Cabbage and some radishes all went very nicely in a bowl of yakisoba...

The recipe is on You Tube..." Cooking With Dog".... I really love this lady and her dog...great, easy Japanese recipes....

Enjoy!

Deb

Hurry Spring!

It's January 11 and we are expected to get more snow tonight and tomorrow here in Western Washington.  But that isn't keeping me out of my garden.  Mike built me a great plant cart for starting my seedlings in the greenhouse...

I saw a metal cart online...they wanted $899 for it!  Mike made this one out of wood and some old light fixtures.  I love it!

I'm really sold on the soil block maker I bought from Johnny's Selected Seeds last year...it makes transplanting the seedlings so much easier...and no extra cost or waste with the plastic pots!

This is a tray of lavender and chamomile about 5 days after planting...

 

The seedling heat mats really speed up germination time and keep my seedlings warm in my "cool" greenhouse...

...I do have a small heater in there but it only comes on when the temperature really drops; the heat from the mats and the lights seems to be enough to keep the plants happy.

 I've already transplanted some of the seedlings into wooden boxes to wait for it to be time to go into their covered beds...we go over 10 hours of daylight here about the middle of February, so that's my target date.

And an update on the covered winter beds is in order...

 This was the lakeside bed after our first snow just before Thanksgiving.  I'm using only one 40 watt light to keep the bed from freezing...and here's a picture of the plants inside taken today...

 They've come through sub-freezing temperatures just fine!  It's actually time to harvest some of them...

Enjoy!

Deb