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 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.

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.

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.

Please indulge a little introspection. I am not much of a planner – while I enjoy puzzling things out from every conceivable perspective, I don’t ever really want to begin. To begin would mean all perspectives have been exhausted, and how likely is that really?  I have learned/inherited some pack-rat tendencies. Thanks M & D! “I might need this” is etched into my bones.  I’m nowhere near hoarder status, but I sympathize with the psychology. And I am certainly a good consumer – a sucker for seed catalogs in the Winter or any time of year.

Red Burgundy Okra Seeds and Pods. Click image for larger view.

With all this in mind, I collected seeds today. This appeals to the perspective seeker and saver in me. It disrupts the good consumer, but I’m okay with that. As a Midwesterner, I am certain my consumption is well beyond my needs.

Cleome Seeds and Pod. Click image for larger view.

Seeds are relatively inexpensive and hold much promise during those cold Winter months. Low cost and promise is marketing genius.  Their shapes and sizes are as interesting as they are extreme. The general size of the seed tells us little about the size of the plant. And each holds the genetic key to an entire plant that might grow over 100 feet tall. The tobacco seed pods hold hundreds if not thousands of tiny little specs of seeds. I have a feeling we will see some volunteer tobacco next year, but I saved some seeds anyway.

Tobacco Seed Pods. Click image for larger view.

From the tiny to the large – the sunset pole bean wasn’t my favorite fresh green bean, but the blooms were a subtle salmon color and the seeds are dark with bright pink blotches. The seeds appeal to me, and so they win the game of natural selection. This is a plant I am actually considering growing again for the seeds themselves! Yes, the blooms are nice, but the seeds are even better.

Sunset Pole Bean Seeds and Pods. Click image for larger view.

It was our first time. We were virgin bean shellers. And I’m afraid it showed. Our technique needs some work. Shelling these two pints of Dragon Tongue bush beans took us over an hour.

Click on the image for a larger view

Beans are amazing. They produce frantically and for an extended period of time. They can be harvest fresh, they are good frozen or canned, and they can be dried. That’s crazy versatility. I can completely comprehend the Dave Ramsey’s beans and rice economy diet in terms of production quantities. At least I can speak to the beans half of the equation.  It would be interesting to plant a rice patty some day.

Click the image for a larger view

I’ve read of gardeners slamming the entire bean plant with dried pods against the sides of a metal garbage can. The seeds presumably fall to the bottom, and I’m sure much of the chaff would too.  I didn’t look very hard, but I couldn’t find any metal garbage cans lying around.  And most of our beans are pole varieties, so pulling out the entire vine is not a great option.  Shelling by hand, one bean at a time, was fine – just time intensive. It would have been nice to have an air compressor to spray the chaff off the seeds. That could work. Or maybe just a strong fan. The amount of beans we grow can certainly be done by hand in a few hours so I don’t plan on running out to buy an air compressor tomorrow. Then again, we did lose our tire pump the other day. What would Dave Ramsey say to that?

A peck (1/4 bushel = 2 gallons) might be a conservative estimate, it’s been a great year for peppers.

Click the image for larger view

Above is a paprika pepper. It’s been a decent producer and much larger peppers than I expected – bigger than a golf ball and smaller than a billiard ball. I had anticipated more spice to them, but there isn’t really any kick to these. They aren’t exactly sweet though either. I’m not sure how to describe the flavor. Smokey?

We grew a large variety of peppers this year. Let’s review.

Canary Bell – A green to yellow/orange bell. Nice size and flavor. Best when allowed to ripen rather than eating green. Most susceptible to blight this year.

Healthy Red – A sweet yellow to red medium sized tapered pepper. Very solid. Very aromatic. Very good. Heavy producer. Needed staking.

YumYum Gold – A sweet green to red (even though the name and pictures suggest more orangish hues). Smaller tapered shape. Perfect for morning eggs, salsa, pizza, etc. Probably my favorite of the sweets this year.

Paprika – See above. Also somewhat susceptible to blight. I thought I might try to dry some, but eating them proved easier and delicious.

Cayenne -A spicy green to brilliant red. A small, quintessential chili, crinkly shaped pepper. Has some serious kick and nice lasting burn.

Bulgarian Carrot – A spicy green to orange, jalapeno shaped pepper. These were grown from last years seeds and did not seem to produce as much. And one plant turned out to be mutant. Fun. Looks to be a cross between the B Carrot and Tabasco (also grown last year).

Tabasco – A very small and very spicy pale yellow to orange/red. We grew these last year too, but none had time to ripen red. I have collected over a pint now. It seems to me the spice of tabasco doesn’t linger for long. The fruiting habit of the tabasco is interesting as the peppers are small enough to point up to the sky (image below).

Click the image for a larger view

Two years ago I wrote about a cucumber glut and a fresh pickle recipe. Last year, our cucumbers didn’t do so well, and I didn’t plant nearly as many. The 2010 garden was planted with three varieties of cucumbers but in what I thought were realistic, appropriate quantities – two hills a piece with about 3 plants per hill.

two cucumber hills climbing tomato cages

It turns out 18 cucumber plants is way too many. In my defense, I was still rebounding from last year’s poor garden-cucumber relationship. I know, it’s unhealthy.

3 varieties: Lemon, Suhyo tk, Homemade Pickles

That unhealthy relationship has led to some nice cucumber salads, several trips to local food banks (they welcome fresh produce donations), and the realization that canning pickles isn’t so hard.

Step 1: Collect and wash cucumbers

Only one of our varieties is actually a pickling kind – I’m sure the others would likely do fine, but they wouldn’t look like pickles. Aesthetics are important.

Step 2: Slice cucumbers into halves or spears

I found some fresh-pack dill pickling canning recipes. Fresh-packing means there is no soaking or cooking of the cucumber for days/weeks, but it does still call for several ingredients. I was at the store purchasing quart jars when I noticed some packaged mixes. Much simpler than purchasing all the ingredients separately. Perhaps I have sacrificed on overall pickling potential, but I wasn’t really setting out to win any awards. I just wanted to can some pickles.

Steps 3-8: Follow instructions on pickling mix package

I’ve used two different pickling mixes now: Mrs. Wages and Ball, both Kosher Dill mixes. They appear about the same, but Mrs. Wages is a slightly larger package making an additional quart jar. That’s good if you have many cucumbers, but not good if you have a small stove that requires a smaller hot-water canner.

Please note that I refrained from using the following puns and word-plays when writing this posting:

• In a bit of a pickle
• That ain’t kosher
• Dill-iberate
• Dill-ectable
• Canning what you can can
• Had a ball
• Indistinguisha-ball