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!

Anne sometimes likes to call this the crazy bed. The weeds and grass (and potential snakes in the weeds and grass) drive her crazy at times.  The bed is also home to a haphazard collection of shrubs, flowers and a growing number of trees. It seems to be the go-to bed for items that do not fit in other beds. Most of the trees in the crazy bed are very small at this point. But they too are crazy. Anne plants Redbuds like some people plant tulips — they can be thick. It totally makes sense though (in a crazy way) — the Redbuds are small and can hang out with a lone day lily, a dogwood, large swaths of euphorbia, winecups, primrose, wild mulleins, and dozens of others.

click the image for a much larger view.

I like the crazy bed for it’s unpredictability. Always a new species to be found that I didn’t know existed. Anne says there isn’t much going on there right now, but I say there is always something crazy going on. In time I’m sure this bed will have a new name. Maybe it will become the Redbud bed.

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.

Happy Valentines Day! (We planted almost twice as much garlic for the 2011 garden)

I try to contain myself when flipping through the 2011 seed catalogs on a zero degree morning. The sun comes out and warms the room, but outside it remains painfully brisk. The warm photos in the catalog entice our gardening minds to wander toward possibilities and good intentions. I intend to weed and water more frequently this season. I intend to protect my garden from molds and pests. I intend to mulch and fix up some row covers. I intend to plant some cover crops and enrich our soils.

Who knows what will really happen? At this stage, who cares? Let’s just dream for a while.

Our Pinetree Garden Seeds order:

SCARLET SPINACH (F1 hybrid 40 days)
HABANERO HOT PEPPER (heirloom)
BLOOMSDALE LONG STANDING (heirloom)
STARBURST BLAZE SUNFLOWER (F1)
DELICATA SQUASH (heirloom)
ARACHIS HYPOGAEA PEANUT (120 days)
JACOBS CATTLE DRY BEAN (83 days heirloom)
KELLOGGS BREAKFAST TOMATO (79 days)
PACKMAN BROCCOLI (F1 hybrid 52 days)
TENDER SWEET CARROT (heirloom)
PURPLE RUFFLES BASIL
BIG RED PEPPER (75 days)
BEER FRIEND SOY BEAN
LEMON CUCUMBER (65 days heirloom)
ORANGE SUN PEPPER (81 days)
HORN OF PLENTY SUMMER SQUASH (F1 hybrid 45 days)
HOMEMADE PICKLES CUCUMBER (54 days)
MATTS WILD CHERRY TOMATO (55 days)
LAVENDER TOUCH EGGPLANT (F1 hybrid 66 days)
EARLY GIRL TOMATO (F1 hybrid 60 days)
FANTASIA MIXTURE SUNFLOWER(F1)
REDBOR KALE (F1 hybrid 55 days)
PINETREE LETTUCE MIX
MINNESOTA MIDGET MELON (60 days)
SUGAR LACE II SNAP PEA (65 days)
PURPLE CAYENNE PEPPER (70 days)
ITALIAN LARGE LEAF BASIL

I also purchased some Burpee seed packs today:

BIG MAX PUMPKIN
HOT LEMON PEPPER

We were doing a little garden cleaning and this kiwano horn melon was sacrificed for better garden path clearance. The lemon cucumbers are perfectly ripe and so abundant it’s almost comical.

Click the image for larger view

The vines of the Kiwano’s have grown considerably well. They really want to ramble and climb. Much like the banana melons in this regard. I really should have given them more to climb on, but they managed to make their own trellis of the sunflower stalks and asparagus. The horns of the horn melon are indeed rather pointed. But even more of a nuisance are the fine spines along the vines and leaves. It is almost a necessity to wear gloves when checking on these plants. Otherwise I can expect to spend some time extracting the fine hair-like needles from my fingers. I have sensitive hands.

Click the image for larger view

At this yet to ripen stage, they taste like cucumbers. Nothing very exciting. When ripe I understand their flavor resembles bananas. If any ripen I will post again.

Close readers will remember we planted a few new melon varieties this year. I don’t expect we have any really close readers, so to recap, we planted MN Midget Melon, Pepino Melon, Kiwano Horn Melon and Banana Melon. All but the Pepino have more than taken their fair share of garden space. The Pepino have suffered in the shade of several tomato plants. Sorry Pepino.

We’ve had MN Midgets before, so while they are not new, they are a favorite. Perfect size and flavor. A small cantaloupe with super sweet flavor.

But now we have something new. Or new to us anyway. The Banana Melon.

Turns out this variety was popular back in the late 1800′s. It was in the seed catalogs of the day, so I’m guessing it enjoyed some level of popularity. Either that or some clever marketer realized we gardeners enjoy planting different varieties and was trying to sell us on an oddity. I know that’s why I bought them.

They are large. Much larger than I would ever have expected. This one was about 13”, but I gather they can grow close to 2 feet. I picked it slightly immature I think, but there was a little soft spot, so rather than let it rot, I thought we should try it.

It’s pretty good. The taste and texture is much like a cantaloupe. It was not quite as sweet as our MN Midgets, but maybe that was due to immaturity. The vines love to climb, and it appears to be a heavy producer – if only we had a longer Summer. And not to be a complainer, but many sites and catalogs claim this melon’s name is derived from it’s shape — sure, it’s oblong like a banana, but it doesn’t have that quintessential banana curve to it. I vote for renaming this the Yellow Mellow Melon.

(Click the image for a larger view)

This heirloom tomato variety, Kellogg’s Breakfast (aka KB), is wonderful. Great flavor, nice size, awesome color, and seems to be producing rather well considering it’s large size. The leaves are showing signs of fungus, but so are all the other varieties we are growing this year. I need to experiment with plastic for mulch to see if that keeps the fungus away. Each year we usually choose different tomato varieties, but this one is a keeper.

Here is a little eggplant + tomato dish we have been enjoying lately.

1. Slice eggplant – enough to cover the bottom of your pan/dish
2. (optional) Microwave eggplant to soften @ 6 minutes (this speeds up cook time), dump out any water
3. Arrange eggplant on bottom of pan
4. Add a layer of basil leaves
5. Add a layer of tomatoes
6. Add a little olive oil on top
7. Bake for about 20 minutes
8. Top with mozzarella/parmesan cheese and continue baking until cheese is toasty and/or eggplant is thoroughly cooked

Anne says she could eat this every day and never be tired of it. It is good, but we have beans and cucumbers to eat too.