Snippets from the garden

How many of you have too much squash in your garden?? LOL Zucchini, delicata, pattypans, summer, cousa..the list goes on and on here. Now, it's pepper time.. hot hot hot!  Love em all! And then the beans.. gads we have so many green beans this year.  After a touch of the Japanese bean beetle--I was surprised our yields would be so great.  I've been doing a lot of canning this season--pickling much, preparing many relishes and then of course there's the jams & jellies...  blueberry, raspberry, plum, and peach amaretto so far.

                                   The edamame are coming along.. I can't wait to steam these up.

And I couldn't wait on the red fingerlings.. just had to pick a few for dinner the other night. I can't believe how well they've grown. Besides being so gorgeous--they were just scrumptious tasting too!
 

 

 

Bread and Butter Pickles

Bread and Butter Pickles

3 lbs Kirby cukes (known as pickling cucumbers)
1 lb yellow onions. thinly sliced
1/4 cup kosher salt - don't use regular salt or your pickles will look cloudy and not so perdy
1 1/4 cup white vinegar
1 cup apple cider vinegar
1 3/4 cups sugar
1 TBLS mustard seed
1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
3/4 tsp celery seed
1 tsp pickling spice
1 inch cinnamon stick ( to be removed at the end of the cook
6-8 allspice berries plus a pinch of ground allspice
6 whole cloves. plus a pinch of ground cloves
1/2 tsp tumeric

Clean the cukes and cut off the ends. Slice them into 1/8th - 1/4 inch slices and place in a large bowl. Slice the onions and also add to the bowl sprinkling pickling salt over all. Toss this mixture up well. Now cover the mix with a clean towel--really. just set the towel on top of all the cukes and onions. Then cover the towel with ice cubes so the whole towel is covered. Put the bowl in your refrigerator for several hours.. (at least four.. overnight even better). Take the bowl out and throw away the ice. Rinse off your cukes and onions and drain the water. Do this a second time now to remove any excess salt.



Now--if you intend to keep your jars of pickles on a shelf. or give them away at Christmas. you'll need to process the jars appropriately. If you're bringing them to a picnic this weekend. move on to the next paragraph now. Clean your jars and lids with soap and water. then. while your cooking the pickles. pour boiling water over the lids in a separate bowl. Most people consider the dishwasher to be enough sterilization for jars. so go ahead and just set the jars aside. ready to fill. If you insist on actual sterilization (I happen to do this with everything I put in a jar). place the jars in boiling water in a big stock pot for 10 minutes. Then. take them out just before you put the pickles in them so they are still hot.

Grab a six quart pot and bring the vinegars, sugar and all the spices to a gentle boil. Once the sugar is dissolved, add the cukes and onions and bring this to a boil again. You'll want to stir frequently. When the mixture starts to boil again, use a slotted spoon to pack just the cukes and onions into your clean jars. Pack them up to an inch from the top of the jars. Then use a ladle to pour the vinegar syrup over the cukes and into the jars, up to half an inch from the tops. Wipe all the rims of the jars clean with a damp paper towel, then take your lids out of the hot water to cover your jars. If you're not keeping these on a shelf, go ahead and let them cool, then put all the jars in the fridge. Viola.. done! I hope you took a minute to get a taste before you sealed your jars!

What's at stake--pole beans

  My  Romano green beans have sprouted, and they are looking for my support–something I’ve come to expect in a good pole bean, and gardening along the ocean can have it's pitfalls, namely high winds.   After trying all kinds of structures and contraptions–trellises, teepees, stakes, sticks, I've decided to stick with my tried and true teepee. With just a little adjusting of two 15 inch rods to anchor it into the ground--this expandable teepee isn't going to budge. And best of all, at the end of the growing season it simply collapses for easy storeage. Made of bamboo, this will be the eighth year of use for us.  We've grown peas as well on this teepee and it never seems to fail us.How do you stake your beans?

Garden snippets

I've been trying to keep up with the season, but Mother Nature hasn't been too accommodating.  There is just so much to do in the garden in the spring. I have spent a few mornings this week - soaking up the sun and working hard...before those inevitable showers move in on us. Farmers market opened on Saturday--a great opener!  Seeing all my regular customers and  farmer buds was grand.  I came home with trays of new veggies, herbs and perennials for the garden. I just love the bartering system.  My friend Luke gave me a flat of Italian kale and edible golden gem marigolds, that went right into the ground asap as I arrived home. 

Spinach harvest: I picked my first yesterday. I couldn't believe how sweet it is! Only part of my harvest made it home. It is so sweet to nibble on! The rest was steamed  with a lemon thyme sauce.

New Composter: I moved last year's pile out to the other side of my garden  to make room to expand my new composter and added a strawberry bed. I will divide and spread out the crowns I have, and add a few more. I'm attempting to get three plantings in, to hopefully stretch the berry season.

Potatoes: I planted two varieties on Saturday. My reds and Yukons that were planted two weeks ago have finally made an appearance.  .

Salt hay mulch: On Monday I turned over 4 raised beds and spread salt hay in my paths, and around the cabbage. Those nasty slugs don't care for the rough shards of straw, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed this will help. .as last year they were becoming addicted to Sam Adams beer.  Salt hay is an amazing garden mulch with no weed seeds and lasts forever. I love this stuff, even with harvesting my own--it's free!

Peas and favas: I planted peas three weeks ago and favas this weekend. The peas are up 2 inches now.  I'm going to hold off another ten days before planting the scarlet runners--need to have this chilly rain move out before I'll set them in the ground.

Sowing: I planted my cukes and squash an into the cold frame they went. They'll be up in no time and  I decided to move my tomatoes into the hoop house to see how they fare.  The peppers that were transplanted last week are enjoying their warm new home.  Now only if we could get two straight days of sunshine, they will be happy campers. Til next thyme..happy gardening.

Chick Pea Salad

Chick Pea Salad

2 c. cooked chick-peas
3 roma tomatoes, diced
3 scallions, sliced
1/2 c. diced pepper
¼ red onion, diced
3 TBLS.extra virgin olive oil
1 TBLS. red wine vinegar
2 garlic cloves, minced
zest of one lemon
1/4 tsp. basil
1/4 tsp. Oregano

Combine the chick peas, tomatoes, scallion, red onions and peppers in a bowl. Mix the olive oil, vinegar, garlic, basil, oregano and lemon zest in a measuring cup. Blend well together and pour the dressing over the chick pea mixture, tossing gently. Cover and chill for a few hours before serving over a bed of fresh garden greens.

Spring update

April is when things just start to happen in the garden, even though some wintry weather can still muddle up your gardening plans.  You can't help but begin to notice the lilac buds swelling and the birds singing.  I think it's old Mother Nature's way of letting us know that winter is just about over.  Now I can really get excited about the trays of seedlings that have taken over just about every sill in my house.  At least it's this way around here. 

I'm a month behind schedule getting these hands in the dirt but these old fingers will go just so far into still frozen earth, so I've had to bide my time this month.  Instead we rebuilt and added more raised beds in the interim.  We've hauled so much llama, chicken and cow manure-- You know you just gotta make hay when the sun shines, even if the ground is still a bit frozen.

Around the fifteen I was finally able to get my fork into the ground and just went to town.   So far the chards, kale, turnips, red and yellow onions and beets have been sown. The chives have been split and transplanted and already I'm finding the buds forming.

The rhubarb patch is finally crowning and coming alive, and the grapevines, raspberries have been trimmed back.  I'm adding four new varieties of grapes to the garden this year. I can't wait to see how they do.

   I was able to get my peas in around the sixth of this month and they are happily popping out of the ground now.  I took a gamble and planted two rows of red potatoes.

               What a sweet surprise to shovel off all that snow from the cold frame to find this!

Salad greens that I sowed last October--lush and healthy..I just love that first salad of the season.  Let the real gardening begin now! Today I'll be sowing carrots, more potatoes and finally the cabbage, broccoli and brussel sprouts will go in. Til next thyme.

Winter thoughts

 Winter being the longest season here, at least for me, it's time for rest.  Many of the other seasonal chores have been put to bed under a blanket of snow..lots and lots of snow.


The seed catalogs are quite the gayest blizzard afforded during this cheerless month of January.  Since about half of every catalog is given to annuals, is it any wonder that these visionary Edens are a true delight of three-foot larkspur, glowing snapdragons, fragrant mignonette... and culinary herbs, Rosemary and Thymes.. and vegetables--so many delicious varieties of tomatoes, squash, peppers and every other perennial flower we've ever wished to grow to perfection?


We can sketch some tentative plans on paper, make out seed lists... and think green!  Then, about the first of February, my growing season begins in the grow room, with about as many flats of herb seedlings you can imagine--setting, all in rows over heated benches.  And here they will remain until mid March, when they can safely be moved out into the greenhouse for hardening off before their final stages of growth  into the garden in late May here in Maine.

Last season a friend send me here, GrowVeg.com where I was able to design my garden plot.  It was a fun project, and it gave me a good resource guide, (because I can no longer depend on this old memory) as I put to paper my plan for this years garden.  You might want to give it a try--it surely beats shoveling snow ;-)

                                                                 Garden Plot 2010

                                                                

The days are getting a little longer--the sun is getting a little brighter when we see it and my seeds are beginning to arrive!!
Spring is just around the corner, or so I keep telling myself, about 53 more days or sow. ;-) Think warm thoughts, and dream of luscious fresh vegetables fresh from the vine. Til next thyme..