What's Up Wednesday!

Lots in bloom in the garden this week! All of my plantings for the Fall are really starting to grow- carrots, onions, broccoli, swiss chard, prize choy, lettuce, and sugar snaps. The tomatoes are starting to produce a bit less, so I thinned out the dried and dead stalks to try to make some space for new growth. Here are some pictures of what's up this week:

My one lone sunflower is blooming!

The fall broccoli is looking healthy and getting taller every day

I think it's about time to pick this cantaloupe!

I transplanted some of the "walkers" from the Egyptian walking onions I got this spring.

They are now popping up everywhere in the designated "fall section" of the garden

that will later be covered with a quick hoop. 

 Made and canned some cucumber pickles this past weekend!

Used the Dill Pickle recipe in the Freshly Packed Pickled Foods section of the

Blue Book of Preserving. It's a new recipe for me- we'll see how they turn out!

What's up in your Garden this week?

What's Up Wednesday

Laundry is up (literally)! I only recently discovered the joy that is line-dried laundry.
For me it falls into that 'retro and awesome' category, along with canning and apron-wearing.

The tomatoes I started in the spring that weren't doing well are now finally starting to ripen-

I guess I'll have a sort of staggered tomato season!

 My one lone sunflower this year, getting ready to bloom!

 Prize Choy! A new addition to the garden for Fall.

 'Parade' Bunching onions, and pumpkin plants in the background

 The canned goods shelf is starting to fill up!

Apricots, Blueberry jam, Raspberry jam, Corn, & Green beans!

Tell me- What's Up in your Garden this Week?

Planting in Late Summer for Fall & Spring Harvests

This is the year that I'm going to do it, guys- make the leap and do some serious Fall planting! I think I'm usually tuckered out by the time the end of the summer rolls around. Before I know it, the time to plant for fall has passed me by. Not this year!

I'm been direct seeding Fall veggies in my garden for the past 3 weeks now, and I will finish up the last bit of planting tomorrow. If you're in S.E. Michigan, Northern Ohio, or a place with a similar last frost date (Oct 7th), you still have a few days to hop to it!


Fall Planting list:
Super Sugar Snap Pea
Prize Choy
De Cicco Broccoli
St. Valery Carrot
Grandpa's Admire Lettuce
Winter Density Lettuce
Parade bunching Onion
Rhubarb Red Swiss Chard

I've tried to seed most everything in the new, larger bed (pictured on the left)- it's closest to the side door of our home so if I need to dash out during the winter I'm one or two steps closer, and it already has crazy, thriving Kale there.

I'm planning to put up some quick hoops over the first 8 feet of the bed, enough distance to cover up the Kale, fall onions, and sugar snaps. I might want to do another 8 feet of hoop down at the other end (by the lovely garbage bins), because there are broccoli, a few carrots, and some speckles lettuce down there!

I'll be sure to share pictures of the quick hoops once I get them put together, as well as some guidance and assembly photos. I've been wanting to do serious season extension for a long time, and it will finally happen this year! One step closer to that ideal Badass Garden that's always floating in my mind...

What are you planning on planting this Fall?

Warm Kale Salad with Peppers and Onions

A recent favorite recipe to whip up has been what I'm calling Warm Kale Salad. I'm not sure about the techincal details of what constitutes a salad, but this one includes greens as a base with other featured vegetables, which is good enough in my book to qualify as salad-esque.

My mother-in-law can take the real credit here; she first made a version of this for us years ago, and I remembered it this year as I began drowning in a sea of abundant kale. It's another Kale-hiding recipe, which I am fond of, as I like kale in small pieces in tandem with other veggies.

Without further ado..

Warm Kale Salad with Pepper and Onions

Ingredients:
3 large Kale leaves, de-stemmed and chopped up

1 large Red Pepper, cored and sliced into strips

1 small onion, peeled and chopped

1 cup of corn

2 tsp olive oil

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 teaspoon lemon juice

 

Directions:

Heat the oil in a frying pan on medium heat

Add the onions and the peppers to the pan once the oil has heat, let the peppers sear on the fire.

When the peppers start to get nice and tender, add the corn, and the garlic to the pan. 

Once the corn has cooked for 2-3 minutes, add in the kale, pepper, and salt, and stir for 1 minute.

Empty the mixture onto a plate.

Serve and Enjoy!

Drying and Curing Veggies & Herbs from the Garden

There's lots of things growing in your garden right now (or waiting for you at the Farmers' Market) that you can dry and essentially preserve for use later on in the season. I personally think that is one of the most awesome aspects of growing your own- the ability to have a Winter's supply of some great thing you worked hard to grow! I know, I know- I'm a nerd. While I won't cover all of them in detail, and this isn't an exhaustive list, there's a lot to be saved from the garden come late summer/fall time!

Produce/Herbs that you can Store by Drying:

Almost any herb

Beans

Chamomile blossoms

Cilantro (into Coriander)

Garlic

Onions

Potatoes

Squash

Cilantro

When to Harvest:

You can simply let the plant flower. Little white flower clusters will form, which will soon form seeds. At first, these seeds will be green but then they will slowly dry from green to brown, then they will harden. 

How to Cure/Dry:

The nice thing about cilantro is it's very low-maintenance to dry. When the seeds are dry, you can just pull the whole plant out by the roots, and harvest the seeds from it. 

Long-term Storage:

Put seeds in a glass spice jar or air-tight plastic container. Grind into a powder as needed, and use in asian dishes (or any dishes, for that matter!)

Chamomile

When to Harvest:

The chamomile plant will produce little white flowers with yellow centers- they look sort of like daisies. Plants bloom in mid June-late July. When the petals begin to droop down, time to harvest! Pluck off the individual flower heads and new ones will grow.

How to Cure/Dry:

Spread flowers across on a dry surface in a warm, dry area for 72 hours.

Long-term Storage:

Store in a glass jar, a tin, or an air-tight plastic container. Put a tablespoon of blossoms into a tea bag for chamomile tea any time you desire!

Garlic

When to Harvest:

Garlic plants have corn-like stalks. When stalks start to turn yellow-brown with 5-6 green stalks remaining, it's time to harvest. Grab each plant firmly, near the base of where the plant meets the ground and pull.

How to Cure/Dry:

Garlic needs to cure (dry out) for a week + before it is stored permanently. If you don't have pest problems, harvest your garlic and simply lay it on top of the soil to dry, on your porch, or bring it in and lay it out in your mudroom.

Long-term Storage:

Once the stalks are completely brown and feel like parchment paper, you can cut them down to several inches in length. Garlic needs good air circulation in order to store well. I recommend a wicker basket, or if you only have a few heads of garlic, one of those ceramic garlic containers.

Onions

When to Harvest:

You can harvest onions then the tops/stalks have start to brown and droop towards the ground. (Or if you're impatient, whenever you want, as demonstrated in the picture) The longer you can be patient, the larger the bulbs will be. If you harvest them too early, just use them as a bulb and a green onion too!

How to Cure/Dry:

Lay onions flat out on paper or some other type of dry surface. Onions are like garlic in that they need to cure for several days for optimal storage.

Long-term Storage:

Again, like garlic, onions need good air circulation to prevent them from rotting during storage. A hanging wicker or mesh bag could work well for storage.

Best of luck as you try out some drying/curing at your own home.
I hope the tips are helpful!

What's Up Wednesday

Heirloom tomatoes are freaking gorgeous!

Whoa- onions are popping out of the ground! I'd better tuck them in.

Ole' Faithful a.k.a. kale

These Yolo Sweet peppers are cherry-sized right now , 

but getting bigger each day though.

If you are looking for a cucumber variety, 

Spacemaster are fairly compact and they are dang good.

I see some empty spots for more veggies, don't you?

What's Up in your Garden this week?

What's Up Wednesday

Most of the herbs I started indoors are establishing outside really well! The cilantro is starting to bolt though- I think I'll start those from seed outdoors next year.

The walking onions I got from my neighbors look so fun- they have little curly tails and they'll start to flower soon- if I'm correct I think they'll start to bend down to the ground and will spreads!

The Leeks are fattening up, finally. Every day I want to pull them out and eat them!

Woah! So green, right? Makes me happy every time I look out the window :)





What's Up in your Garden today?

Springing into Summer

Almost everything I started indoors under lights has been transplanted outside to the garden. One of the last things to go out, yesterday, was little German Chamomile starts (on Left). I hope they do well- this is my first year growing lots of herbs so we'll have to wait and see! Harvesting chamomile blossoms and drying them to make tea is definitely on my list of Self-sufficiency Nerd goals.

The garden is growing GREAT- there's so many tones of green out there! We're just about at the point here of planting summer crops in S.E. Michigan; tomatoes, peppers, cukes, squash, and more.

I've been consistently harvesting lettuce and kale from the garden, as well as a few spinach leaves, chives, and green onions from the plants my neighbors gave me. The beans and peas are doing nicely, and the potato plants are shooting up- it's about time that I mound up the soil around them, now that they're getting taller. Leeks seem to be fairing well- the jury's out on whether or not my toilet paper roll blanching method is truly working. The lettuces are starting to bolt and get a bit bitter, so we'll be having lots of salads for dinner this week!

I've started to plant a few tomatoes and peppers outdoors. All the ones I started from seed indoors didn't do very well, but I put them in the mudroom to get some natural sunlight and they've been perking up. If you didn't start any seeds of your own this season, head out to your local nursery and buy some locally-grown transplants :) 

How's your Garden Growing?

Silent Sunday

Kale

Lettuce

The onions I started from seed indoors- looking great!

 Happy Sunday, friends :)

Silent Sunday



 Chives!

    

'Speckles' Lettuces looking beautiful in the garden



Kale and onions in the side yard bed

 

If I can get my hands dirty in the garden, it's a good day.

Happy Sunday :)

     

Homefries with Kale, Onions, and Garlic

I harvested my first kale leaves (curly dwarf kale) from the garden this morning, as well as a green onion, and though, "What to make for breakfast with these?" I spotted russet potatoes I have left over and thought "Homefries!" 

I'm always trying to sneak kale into different recipes- I don't love it as much as others do, but kale is really healthy for you, it's pretty, and it's cold-hardy which is important here up North! So here's the recipe I cooked up- it was quite good. 

Homefries with Kale, Onions, & Garlic

Ingredients:
2 medium russett potatoes, peeled
3-5 kale leaves
1 scallion/green onion
1 clove of garlic
4 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

• Pour the olive oil into a small frying pan and set on the stove, on medium heat
• Meanwhile, dice up the potatoes into small, hashbrown-ish pieces (1/2 inch is good)
• Add the hashbrowns into the sizzling pan, and let them brown a bit
• Dice up the green onions and mince the garlic- add to pan after about 5 minutes 
• Cut the kale leaves from their stems, and chop into small pieces
• Taste potatoes or poke with a fork, to see how much longer they need
• Add kale to the pan when potatoes are almost finished.
• Add salt and pepper to the dish as needed

Serve and Enjoy!

What's Up Wednesday

This is what's "up" in my urban garden today!

Monday I transplanted the first of the Valencia onions I grew indoors- they seem to be thriving in the garden, despite the cold temps.

I direct seeded some carrots 2 weeks ago, and they are coming up quite well. So nice to see their little green shoots lining the garden beds in rows.

The mystery spinach I started indoors has taken off well outside too! Anyone have any thoughts on what type it is?

Apple trees are blossoming- so pretty!

The 9 Speckles Lettuces in the garden are getting bigger each day- right now they're about 8 inches across! Lots of delicious salads in our future.

What's Up in your garden today?

Silent Sunday

Frog weather vane in the garden

Aloe plant drinking up the sun

63 tomato plants, 9 varieties

"Parade" bunching onion starts

Cilantro we started from seed!

Seed potatoes hanging in the window to encourage sprouting