Delicious December

      It is quite unusual to be be able to pick many different veggies fresh from the garden in December.  But then again, not every winter has an El Nino believed to be the biggest in history.  Maybe harvests will continue awhile longer for the cold tolerant crops.  All pictures below are from today, 12/27/15.

Flat Leafed Kale

      Here are two more kale plants that volunteered from under a stack of flowered and seeded plants that were piled here in late spring.  It is actually surprising that there were not dozens of volunteers.  This strain seems to be very cold hardy.  I am hoping for them to survive this expectedly mild winter.

Lacinto Kale

      The darker kale in the middle of this picture is one of the kalette plants that I cloned earlier in the spring. The lighter kale surrounding the kalette is Red Russian kale.  From the similarities in the leaf form, I believe that Red Russian was the kale used in the cross with brussel sprouts to make kalettes.

      These plants are Florida Broadleaf Mustard that volunteered.  I even have some growing in the lawn where they seeded.  If only we would remember to harvest and eat it once in awhile.

The voles missed these two Swiss Chard plants

      These are Russian Red garlic plants that have sprouted from bulbs that never got harvested in July.  They will be needed to be transplanted in the spring to assure a crop for next summer.  Some will be eaten as green garlic over the winter.

Leeks, not garlic

Fresh mint still available

Smaller cold frame

      The cold frames have not been necessary so far because of the warmer weather.  However the deer have not figured out how to pull off the glass, so our lettuce is protected.  There are three tatsoi in the above frame.  Let's take a closer look.

They are beautiful

Leek Scapes

Leek Scapes,  June 6, 2012

      A couple of days ago I read on the net that leeks would be inedible when they sent up their flower shoots.  Bummer, wish I had known that two leeks ago.  Ah, I mean two weeks ago.  This morning the flower shoots looked beautiful in the sun so I took some pictures.  Then looked up on the net as to whether the flower stalks would be called scapes, as in garlic scapes.  Yes indeed.  I was going to make a pun about a picture of the leeks could be a "leek scape" rather than a landscape, but I found something even better!  The scapes themselves are edible, just like garlic scapes.  There are some interesting recipes out there, using the scapes like asparagus, making a pesto, or in a bean hummus.  All sound yummy.  So while I may have lost some leeks, I have gained some scapes.

      And if you leave these seed heads to dry for a bit on the stalk, followed by a couple of weeks in a dry paper bag, you will have hundreds of seeds for next year.
      Here are a couple of interesting links:

     http://www.knowwhey.com/2010/06/leek-scapes.html

http://www.recipething.com/recipes/show/33510-leek-scape-pesto

The flowers are pretty to look at, and attract beneficial insects.  So next year I will let some leeks go to seed, but be better about a late spring harvest for leek and potato soup for the freezer.

Plant Rescue 106 - Leeks

      A couple of days ago I was looking to get some dirt from the park compost pile to mix with mushroom soil to make a new planting container.  There used to be a sieve over by the compost piles, so I began a quest to find it by looking along the edge of the woods by the piles.  But I found something even better:

A beautiful clump of Leeks

More leeks a few feet away,  4/10/2012

      Yesterday I took my shovel to the park and dug up the leeks.  Dug too closely to the clumps and cut off the roots of three leeks, which allowed me to have one of them for lunch diced into my cottage cheese.  Makes cottage cheese pretty good stuff.

     The picture above shows the leeks after they were dug up.  The one on the right ended up being one of the kitchen leeks, as I severed nearly all of the roots.  That left eight leeks that I trimmed both the roots and the tops, as I have read that is the proper procedure for transplanting leeks.  You need to cut the roots to get the leeks back into the new hole, and you need to trim the tops to slow the needed uptake of water as the leeks regenerate their roots.

      I used these new leeks to add a top and bottom row to the single pre-existing row of leeks.  Using a mallet and a pointed post, I made holes about four to six inches deep.  You put the leek in the hole, but do not back fill dirt around the leek.  Just water well.  Rains will cause the dirt to fill in around the leek, while allowing room for the girth to increase as the leek gets bigger.  Planting them six inches deep will result in nice long blanched stems when they are harvested sometime next winter into spring.
      Yes, I did find the sieve while searching along the woods, but this leek plant rescue was more important than making new dirt.  Today is another day.

Park Garden Update, 4/1/2012

      The first of April is here, and already my garden at the park is full to overflowing.  It will be a challenge to be able to find room for the warm weather veggies.  Though in another month, a lot of the cold weather veggies will have had their day, and be ready to be pulled.

Cold frames open, 4/1/2012

Arugula frame

Assorted lettuce and tatsoi

      This cold frame has various lettuce plants that need a good picking.  The cell packs at the bottom have most likely been cut down by slugs.  The pack at the top with the single leaf was a five pack of purchased kohlrabi starts.  I was going to put them in the ground today, but the voles left just this one leaf out of the two packs of five that I had.  The voles are becoming public enemy number one.  The packs along the top are leeks, obviously not a favorite of the voles.  Maybe this garden should be all onions, garlic, and leeks.

Garlic on left, collards, transplanted garlic

Parsnips

Cardoon and garlic starts

Blooming cole volunteer, spinach, Beedy's kale, and Chinese mustard

Harvestable Egyptian walking onions

Fava bean row

Overwintered artichoke

Overwintered arugula and tons of potential garlic

Overwintered red russian kale and leeks

Overwintered Tango lettuce

Still waiting for the podded peas to sprout

Late February Harvest

      Usually I try to write a paragraph first to open a post before using any pictures.  Well I was so pleased with my leek harvest that I just had to share it first thing.  And the little turnip.  The bag on the right is mixed salad greens, and the bag on the left is tatsoi with immature flower stalks.  Talk about delicious.

2/27/2012

       You can see a dark hole in the photo above, that is where I just picked the leek.  Fortunately this year there are more than just the one.  The red russian kale at the bottom of the photo is bouncing back nicely after overwintering unprotected.  All the short stuff is chick weed.  As it is edible, I left it alone to grow.  Now it looks like a good source of green stuff for the compost pile.

New leeks at top in plastic packs

      Pretty uplifting pickings for February.  Garden on. Or maybe soon to begin.  There is green at the end of the tunnel.

Upside Down I Planted, Duh

      Sometimes you can read too much on the internet.  I was researching leek seeds and sprouting, and saw a reference to leek seeds that said they were unique, as the plant emerged first from the seed, not the roots.  That confused me, so on my first transplanting, I stuck the black seeds in the soil with the "plant" up in the air.  Let me explain with pictures:

Leek seeds started on 1/12/2012

Leek sprout

     The first picture is the pile of remaining leek sprouts after my previous transplantings.  The picture above includes a shot of my trusty little 2.25 inch Swiss army knife for size reference.  The little tweezers are perfect for grabbing the seed heads to tease the leeks apart.  On the sprout above, the seed is on the left side, the green part is the stem, and the little white part on the right is the main root emerging.  So, if you plant the seed down in the soil, you have planted upside down.  Duh.  And now you need to go back and reverse 100 little plants that you did a couple of days ago.  Many do look like they will make it.

Eleven day old leek sprouts

      Having learned a bit from that blunder, the new plan is to put the sprouts on soil, then using a small screw driver, tease the white root part into the soil.  That works pretty well.  These plants are obviously planted too close to each other and will need to be separated after they are two to three inches tall.  They will then be put into a bed to grow to maybe a foot tall, when they should be transplanted one last time for final grow out.  All the transplanting allows for the leeks to be planted more deeply each time.  That will blanch the bottom part of the leek for that nice white appearance.

Leek harvested 5/5/2011

      This leek was actually a volunteer last year, and the one and only leek I had.  This coming spring I will probably harvest a dozen that are now in the garden.  They are one of the most cold hardy crops, and will overwinter successfully even without protection.   So what I am starting now are intended mostly for January of 2013 or next spring.  I cleaned up the leek from above:

and enjoyed his company immensely.  Had I transplanted the leek to a deeper hole last summer or fall, that nice white part would be maybe eight inches long.  So now, I am thinking about the leek and potato soup that  I woulda, coulda, and shoulda made last spring!

Paper Towel Seed Germination

      The earlier post about the life expectancy of seeds got the old sap flowing in my veins to get some of those seeds started or trashed.  I have read about germinating seeds in moist paper towels to get little sprouts for transferring to cell packs.  The upside is that one can set the seeds up for germination in just a matter of minutes.  The downside is if you are successful with the germination, there is a heck of a lot of transplanting tiny seedlings required.  And yet, with all of the aging seed I have on hand, the temptation for easy germination has won out.
      The basic idea is to moisten a paper towel, place seeds on it, fold the outer edges of the towel over the seeds, then place it in a plastic bag or sealed plastic container to await germination.  Time required to germinate the seeds should be close to the suggested time on the seed packet.

Onion Seeds to dampen,  1/12/2012

      The photo above is of onion seed placed on a towel on 1/12/12.  I then used a small eye dropper to get a few drops of water to moisten the towel, not to flood the container.  The towel was then folded over the seeds and the container put on the shelf.

Parsley seeds,  1/12/2012

      I have found parsley seeds to be difficult to get good germination in the past.  This method seems worth a try.  These were dampened, and the towel folded over the seeds to make a little square packet.  This packet was then slid into a sandwich bag with a label.  You can watch the swelling and development of root hairs without having to pull the packet out of the bag.

Parsley ready to start,  1/12/2012

      On 1/12/12 I started this extra curled parsley, Krausa parsley, giant red celery (tiny seeds), American flag leeks, red burgundy onions, yellow sweet Spanish onions, giant winter spinach, American spinach, and sweet basil.  Yesterday, on 1/16/2012, I put on towels, more American spinach, corn salad (no germination last year), salsify (new to me), parsnips (no germination last year), Australian brown onions, and Lisbon white bunching onions.

Dollar store containers work well

      The basil I had started was not because of short seed life, but rather that in past years I have often had lousy germination.  Last year was pretty good, and this year is already looking good as the seed started five days ago is already sprouted!

Basil,  1/17/2012

      Lots of the basil seeds have sprouted roots, and some have little green buds that will be leaves.  I used my trusty little spatula (from my grandmother's kitchen) to move some of those budded seedlings.  Put them two to a cell, as they would not be too crowded if they all survived.  The cell packs were then covered with small panes of glass to maintain the high humidity for a couple of days.

Basil seedlings,  1/17/2012

      Peppers are next on my agenda, as they are slow to germinate and slow to grow.  This method seems to have promise, as it eliminates the possibility of waiting around for a month for a flat to show some sign of germination.  I will be very busy however, as the leeks, onions, and spinach planted on 1/12/2012 are all showing signs of root growth.  I might pot up the leeks even before any green stem growth.