I think it’s mostly all there, yet it seems short. What am I missing? Anne has already pointed out the lack of swiss chard in a rainbow of colors. We might have some seed remaining from last year though – I need to check on that. Same goes for spinach and radish. I now wonder if I shouldn’t order another variety of sweet pepper. I purposely left off pumpkins. We finished last year with too many squash beetles – I’m hoping that taking a year off will confuse them.

I am a bit saddened that the hot lemon pepper seems to have disappeared from the catalogs this year. It was a great spicy pepper. Also still need to order the mushroom plugs, but if I understand the recommendations, these need to be dealt with upon receiving so they will need to wait for March or April.

SUHYO TK CUCUMBER
BIG RAINBOW TOMATO
KELLOGGS BREAKFAST TOMATO
TOMATOBERRY GARDEN TOMATO
DETROIT BEET
DRAGON LANGERIE BEAN
Antohi Romanian > Sweet Specialty Peppers
Fairy Tale Eggplant
Carson Beans, Bush > Yellow, Round Pod
Amadeus Broccoli
Habanero
Hot Paper Lantern > Hot Specialty Peppers
Skyphos Lettuce > Butterhead/Boston > Red
Allstar Gourmet Lettuce Mix
Amethyst Improved > Basil
Genovese > Basil
Nelson > Carrots
Sunburst > Squash > Patty Pan/Scallop
Sugar Ann > Peas
Fall Green Manure Mix > Cover Crops/Farm Seeds

Special thanks to Nick and Jamie for the gift of Johnny’s Seeds this year. The garden thanks you.

Welcome to 2012 everyone! The coming of a new year often makes me think of trying new things. We have grown pumpkins for several years, but 2011 was the first year we ever used them for anything besides decoration.

It didn’t seem like too much extra work, not that I did any of the cutting or scooping or baking. It did take longer than simply opening a can of pie filling, but that process would have been much less photo worthy.

The flavor and consistency were spot on. If it were not for the plague of squash beetles, I’d be looking forward to this year’s pumpkin patch and homemade pumpkin pies.

(I haven’t completely ruled out the possibility of a small patch. Row covers for the squash vine borers and some kind of organic pest control for the beetles would be necessary.)

We are looking forward to more new adventures in 2012!

I have always wanted to grow horseradish. So I did. I thought I was undecided when it comes to horseradish. Then I learned that the wasabi often served in Japanese restaurants may actually be horsey-sauce with green food-coloring. Seriously? I know I like wasabi, or what is served as wasabi, but it’s typically only a part of sushi meals and maybe classy mashed potatoes.

Many gardeners have been down this path before. And many have noted the tenacity of the roots. Once you plant horseradish, they say, you will always have horseradish. That’s fine. Even if the condiment doesn’t rock my world, it feels like a good staple to have around.

Digging the root was more difficult than I expected. The tentacles sprouting from the crown seem to run in every conceivable direction and some were well over fourteen inches long. Even after uncovering what I assumed to be the majority of the root, pulling only resulted in snaps somewhere deep below the earth. This is why they say what they say about having horseradish forever.

I was able to extract a nice collection of root, replanted one section, and took the rest inside for processing. Horseradish really cleans up well after some washing and peeling. Then it was into the food processor with a bit of water and salt and then vinegar. Most sites advise processing outside or at least in a well ventilated area. The fumes can be powerful. I did open a few windows and was a little careful not to inhale too deeply. With all the warnings I read, I kind of expected it to be insane. It wasn’t insane. Maybe my horseradish is mild?

Now I need more recipes. I’d like to try it on some fish and perhaps in some mashed potatoes. I’ll be bringing it to Thanksgiving dinner so the connoisseurs of the family can tell me if it’s any good.

I like carrots. I wouldn’t say I love them or seek them out every day, but they can be a sweet, convenient, healthy snack. They add crunch to a salad. I’ve been known to drink carrot juice on occasion. If attending a pot luck and one of luckers brought a plate of cut vegetables with a ranch dipping sauce, I would likely take a carrot or two on my plate. Sure, I would rather take the raw broccoli, but it’s rarely cut to an appropriate bite size, and I have been told it’s not polite to dig through the stack of broccoli to find the pieces that are. Soups are often good with carrots. The carrot rarely encounters pests in the garden. I understand rabbits can be an issue, but not so much here. It’s a solid vegetable.

And so I was troubled this year with the carrot crop – not that they didn’t grow, because they grew just fine, wonderfully even. They just taste bad. Anne is holding out hope that with the frosty weather they will sweeten up a bit. I’m skeptical, but willing to keep trying them. And next year, a different variety will be ordered. Maybe a couple different varieties.

(click the movie poster for a larger view)

It’s nice to have too many tomatoes. This doesn’t always happen, so when it does I start looking for potentially delicious ways to consume them. I’ve had several absolutely perfect tomato sandwiches this year. I actually prefer the simple cheese + mayo+ tomato combination to the more classic BLT. But a sandwich really only uses one tomato, and I have many. Sauce is already made and frozen. We’ve given to friends and food banks (and to be honest, some of these season finale tomatoes are a little over-ripe).

Soup is an idea. Ketchup? Perhaps, but I don’t use that much ketchup unless I am eating fries. Fruit and veggie juices, on the other hand, if tasty, disappear rather quickly from the fridge.

The recipe is simple and not my own creation. As with all things, I learned this one on the Internet. These proportions are rough and can be adjusted to taste.

8 cups chopped tomatoes
1 cup chopped celery
1/3 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup chopped pepper
2 Tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
(optional) 1 spicy pepper

Add all ingredients to a stainless steel pot and simmer from about 1/2 hour. Press through sieve or food mill. Chill in fridge. The site I found this recipe on mentions it lasting in the fridge for about a week to 10 days. It’s really quite refreshing.

Behold! The awesome yellow power of the lemon pepper!

Okay, you have that beheld? Good. You can stop now. I know, it’s difficult to turn your gaze away from the starburst tint that gives this pepper its name. The color is certainly lemony, but the flavor is so hot I might be missing out on what others describe as citrus tones. The hot lemon pepper rates surprisingly high on the Scoville chart. Some rank it akin to Cayenne while others place it nearer the mighty Habanero. If enough ripen before the heavy frost, they will make for an attractive pepper jelly.

In addition to the fiery lemons, I also planted sweet bells, purple cayenne (they start purple and green and ripen red), and habanero. The bell peppers ought to have been red (big red), but they are ripening orange/yellow. Either I planted some old seeds and mixed up my planting (entirely possible) or the red pepper seeds I ordered were not very red. The peppers have been sluggish this year.

Part of the sluggishness was gardener error. I planted them out before it was really warm enough and before the seedlings were big enough. That likely shocked them a bit. The bells also had too much competition from poppies. As pretty as the poppies were, I should have ripped them out. Or maybe that wouldn’t have made any difference. The green habaneros in the photo were picked from a casualty limb. All the pepper plants are heavy with peppers and without caging or staking, limbs will snap. All the pepper jam might come out green this year – maybe with a hint of purple.

The garden is bursting with fresh produce that would make most McDonald’s lovers weep. Every night, we toss freshly torn basil with a different assortment of beans, tomatoes, and cucumbers. Green tomato salsa has adorned cheese and bean filled quesadillas. Tonight we will slice melons – cantaloupe or watermelon, I can’t be sure yet.  There is an abundance of flavor and goodness. Eating well makes us feel good.

But the other day, I was thinking about how much I like French Fries. At first, I was searching for a recipe to make squash fries. So I really started out with good intentions. And I found some reviews of Butternut Squash fries that looked okay. I had a squash (not butternut) sitting on the counter that I wanted to use. It was an accidental pick about a week ago – sometimes fruit falls off when weeding or manipulating vines. So, I cut it open — It wasn’t ripe. Disappointment. The flesh was so thin it wasn’t going to work for fries. And by this time, I really wanted some fries.

Lucky for me, I had some potatoes sitting on the counter too. They were starting to green a bit from the morning sun. I read somewhere that green potatoes are poisonous, but then I thought that might be a myth and these weren’t that green yet anyway. So I peeled and sliced them, tossed them in a bag with olive oil and kosher salt, spread them on a cookie sheet and tossed them into a cold oven and then cranked the heat to 425. They took about 30-40 minutes and I did flip and stir them a bit every 10 minutes or so. They were the most amazing fries ever! And honestly, they aren’t so terrible nutritionally speaking, right? Especially if we don’t count the ketchup.

Cole crops like broccoli, brussel sprouts, cabbage and kohlrabi have always presented challenges. This year we are thrilled with our modest success!

The most troublesome is the cabbage worm. These green worms must be dealt with swiftly and often. Most people spray or powder, and two years ago we tried some of the Dipple, but we were neither consistent enough or swift enough. Another difficulty is their preference for cooler temps. Not much I can do about the weather, so I focused on the bug issue this year.

It’s a simple and inexpensive crop (row) cover made from old lace curtains sewn together. We found the lace at Goodwill and I did the sewing myself, thank you very much. The cabbage worm moths cannot penetrate the elegance of this drapery. And so they cannot lay their evil eggs that become the voracious worms. Perhaps next year we can try some cauliflower too.

Thinning veggies is often neglected as the act ends the potential of the sprout. Eating mature veggies, technically vegecide, doesn’t seem to bother anyone around here. The potential is so marvelous and unknowable. And even though we understand that this potential will never be achieved if left to compete with a carrot or beat rubbing elbows, we have traditionally been reluctant to thin.

I’m improving though. These carrots were satisfying to thin since we could actually make use of them. The radishes and beats were not quite so giving, and I still have a ways to go with squash, pumpkins and cucumbers. When five seeds sprout on a hill, I have difficulty deciding who stays and who goes. I then allow more to stay than I should. I rationalize that some might fall ill, or sustain dog or deer damage. Surely there is enough soil and nutrients for four, right?

Asparagus is amazing. It’s tough, grows in ditches, tastes incredible, grows quickly (once established), comes back year after year (perennial), has attractive foliage and winter interest, good raw or cooked, early Spring crop, nutritious, and it makes your pee smell.

Here are a couple of ways we have enjoyed asparagus lately.

• Raw with capers and mustard vinaigrette dressing
• On pizza with roasted garlic-white bean sauce (more of a paste really)
• Omelet with cheese
• Lightly steamed with pasta and olive oil
• On a grilled cheese sandwich (haven’t done this yet, but it sounds great)
• Just steamed, grilled, or raw with a bit of salt

What are we missing? Is there some kind of cream of asparagus soup recipe anyone enjoys? I also wonder about freezing asparagus – how well would it hold its flavor and texture? And so it is with everything we grow – always curious to know more.