Falling Behind

Well, well, well.  Missing in Action indeed.  Just a note to say I AM still alive and I have not given up either on gardening OR on blogging about it.  Our home in DC is sold.  We are living here full time now.  And today with the wind blowing hard enough to shut down the ferries for a second day, we are truly living on an island.  

My fence arrangement which has worked for me for almost a decade, was not sufficient to keep out the deer this year.  And once they got into the habit of night time visitation, there was no stopping them from marauding through the tomato and green bean crop with a vengeance.  I tried holding them off with a makeshift raising of the fence.  

I hoped to deter them from nibbling green beans to the ground with help from my local postman.


But each morning brought new heartache.  So I decided to give this year up for lost and commit myself anew to next season.

I was lucky that several new VERY local farm stands sprang up this summer to supplement my meager harvest.  When I say VERY local I mean that within a half mile bike ride I can get locally grown salad greens, kale, green beans, eggs, yogurt, raw milk, raspberries, heirloom tomatoes and honey.  In addition, within that same radius I can purchase locally raised beef, poultry and pork.  And I pass everyday the turkey I will eat for Thanksgiving.  

I have been busy putting the garden to bed and thinking about the fence I will put in for deer deterrence next spring.

Favas, Celery, and Eleanor Roosevelt

I have read rhapsodic blog entries about fava beans over the years.  This might not be the best year for me to experiment with a new crop, but I figured the nitrogen value alone would make the experiment worth it.  So when I returned to two rows of bulging pods and fallen plants, I dutifully took them from the vine and brought them in to try them.

I was guided in my culinary questions by Nigel Slater in his book, Tender: A cook and his vegetable patch. Slater devotes a chapter to the mystery bean.  I settled into the rocker on the back deck and eagerly read about stunning flowers (which I missed) and autumn plantings (which I assumed was a UK anomaly).  I decided that my beans were past the "cook them in their pods" stage, so I opted for a shelled bean recipe.

I had about a pound of pods.  A good pod yielded three beans.  But wait ... the uncovering continues.  You have to now peel the outer shell off of the bean.  Boiling salted water for 5 minutes followed by an ice bath.  Now the beans are both tender and easily removed from their jackets.  In the end I had about 4 ounces of edible bean.   Hmmmm.

But Slater proposed this lovely pairing of the beans in a sherry vinegar vinaigrette on thin slices of Spanish ham.  Prosciutto would have to do with a side offering of cheddar and fresh feta it made a perfect lunch.

So having relied on Slater's Fava Bean chapter, I turned now to the chapter on Celery.  You have to love a Table of Contents that reads like a seed catalog.  I knew celery was challenging so I was hoping to enjoy special tips on how to have a successful crop.  Once again, iced tea in hand, I settled into my outdoor perch and opened to CELERY.  Under the heading celery in the garden I read.  "I have never grown celery, and what is more I probably never will.  Celery is a crop only for the most committed of gardeners."

I was crestfallen.  Not that I have a prayer of getting a crop in THIS year, but I was hoping for some measure of encouragement.  I ate fresh celery once.  It was at a Farmer's Market in Pennsylvania and the experience was like eating a new vegetable for the first time.  It was sweet, crisp and bursting with flavor.  I think it was Eleanor Roosevelt who said "You must do the thing you think you cannot do."

The Lessons of Necessity

I returned to the garden on Thursday evening to find that good friends had tended faithfully to the watering chores and saved me from this very dry late spring and early summer.  I am deeply grateful for what they did.

I had made an executive decision to stop watering the garlic beds after the scapes had come and gone.  All the literature says to avoid watering after then to keep bulbs from splitting.  But normally I would harvest the garlic when the bottom 4-6 leaves had turned brown.  Given the early season, that date might have been July 1.  This crop was brown as toast from top to bottom when I returned, and I worried if maybe I had made a mistake.

One of the reasons you want to harvest earlier rather than later is to avoid THIS:

Only 3 head out of 200 harvested had this problem.

The truth is the bulbs were bigger than ever.  They had actually been curing underground in the dry soil and what ever moisture they might have needed, was provided by their very deep roots.   It is an EXCELLENT crop.

So if there is a lesson here it is that you CAN leave garlic in the ground longer than I thought, and as long as Mother Nature does not interfere with soaking rains, there is little risk to your crop.

In absentia

This is a different season ... a different spring.  I will not return to the garden until mid-July.  I have 21 tomatoes. 

2 Isis Cherry tomatoes - COMSOG (our community greenhouse)
1 Rutgers - COMSOG
7 Italian Sweet - from seed
6 Soldaki - from seed
6 Brandywine Sweet - from seed
1 Early Girl - farmstand

Cucumbers, shallots, fava beans, pole beans and bush beans, melons are in .  Garlic is scaping.  And most surprisingly, I have already eaten 3 artichokes.  7 artichokes overwintered successfully.

I am planting a salad mix called Ovation from Johnny's Seeds in my salad box.  It is tasty.  I am hopeful that there will be enough regular rain to keep the garden thriving, but I am also very grateful to dear friends who are tending things in my absence.  

Missing in Action

This has not been a gardener's spring.  We are trying to get our DC house ready for sale, and I have been missing in action from the garden.  However, I am here for two weeks and last night reveled in fresh asparagus.  I want to post this recipe I tried.  The lemon zest really brightens it up.  I used what we call Maine shrimp ... a North Atlantic shrimp that is small and briny.  Also I substituted zucchini noodles for fettuccine ... You can make them with a spiralizer, or simply use a potato peeler

Lemon-pepper fettuccine with asparagus and shrimp

Serves 6

Salt and pepper, to taste 1 pound asparagus, trimmed and cut into 2-inch lengths 1 pound fettuccine 3 tablespoons olive oil 30 large shrimp, peeled and deveined 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley Finely grated rind of 2 lemons

1. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Drop in the asparagus and cook 1 minute until tender-crisp. Remove the asparagus with a slotted spoon and plunge into a bowl of ice water.

2. Bring the water back to a boil, drop in the fettuccine, and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until tender. Drain the pasta, reserving 1/2 cup of the cooking liquid.

3. Meanwhile, in a large nonstick skillet over high heat, heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil. Add the shrimp, garlic, salt, and pepper, and cook for 1 minute. Add the asparagus and cook 2 minutes or until the shrimp are cooked through and the asparagus is warmed.

4. Return the pasta to the pot and toss it with half of the Parmesan, half of the parsley, the lemon rind, remaining olive oil, and reserved cooking liquid. Season with salt and a generous sprinkling of pepper.

5. Divide the pasta among 6 warm bowls. Arrange the shrimp and asparagus on top and sprinkle with the remaining Parmesan cheese and parsley.

Adapted from "Fast & Fit."

Rooting for Root Crops

Around 3:30 each afternoon I start to think about what will go on the plate for dinner. There is something very satisfying about being able to wander into the garden at this time of year and solve that problem.

Fleeting February

I hate to let a month go without at least ONE post. I have little gardening news to report. The garlic has stored well and I am still have a healthy supply. And there are still carrots and leeks and parsnips to harvest. I am thinking about a new "challenge crop" this year ... celery. I use LOTS of celery in my cooking. I know that fresh grown celery tastes SO much better than the industrially produced variety, but the work required is daunting.

Anyone in Zone 7 or lower have a celery variety suggestion?

August in January

I took a look out the window at this morning's snowy landscape and decided I needed to leaven it with a touch of August memories. I rooted around in the basement and found one of my jars of tomato juice and brought it up for breakfast.Real tomato flavor is a celebration for the taste buds. I rolled it all around my tongue before taking the first swallow ... I was transported. Here's to a taste of sunshine on a snowy morning.

Frisée

We are in Paris, and exploring local markets with a vengeance . I came home with WAY too much frisée on Saturday. .... Travel adventures are posted on our travel blog

The long and the short of it

The days are getting so short that pictures of both sunrise and sunset are not hard to come by. Yesterday was particularly stunning with soft clouds refracting pink in all directions. One would think that these hardy rutabagas would keep longer than a tomato, but such is not the case. I used my last Longkeeper Tomato to make an end of season (out of season?) BLT. Its orange color is not so inviting, but the flavor is better than anything found in a supermarket. The rutabaga on the other hand have a short span of freshness. That is why they are waxed in the stores. But it is a wonderful seasonal flavor, and I was glad to be able to offer them to the Thanksgiving table again this year.

Happy Turkey Day

These are local turkeys raised in a field near my house. I have one happily in my freezer for later consumption as I will be eating at another's table this Turkey Day

Through the night with a light from a bulb

The title here is from one of the lyrics quirks that kids come up with ... like Round John Virgin in Silent Night. It is a child's misinterpreted lyric to a line form God Bless America. But at this time of year it works. Bulbs bring the festivities indoors and stave off the early darkness of shortened days.

Gotta love the paperwhites. They are energetic little bundles and they always surprise me with their perfume. I also put several amaryllis to pot, including two new baby bulbs that came through this season when I went to repot.

What do these pictures have in common?

I thought before too much of the post season passed by, I would pose this question. What does this picture
have to do with this picture?

The answer is that these eggshells helped to create a series of heirloom tomatoes this summer (my Italian Sweets to be exact) that did NOT develop blossom end rot (BER). I got this idea from Daphne's blog, but learned it too close to planting time to have collected any eggshells. That is why I am bringing it up now. Once you have a few dozen, wait until a time when you are preheating the oven for some other reason. Lay the shells out on foil or parchment and bake for about 10 minutes at something over 300 degrees. Don't let them burn. The purpose for this is to kill any salmonella. The next step is to place the shells in your food processor and give them a good pulverizing. One word of caution, over time you will dull the inside of your plastic food processing bowl. Then I find an old container ... and mark it with a marker CRUSHED EGGSHELLS ... and pour my shells into it. The two of us did not consume enough eggs last year to fully plant out my tomato plants with the recommended one cup amendment of eggshells. But I was sure to use them on those that a prone to BER, and was very pleased with the results.

A slice of honey

This morning, after a two year journey, I have finally tasted the finest melon on the planet from my very own garden. It is called a Tranche de Miel cavaillon melon and I saved the seeds from a melon I had in the Aligre Market in Paris two summers ago.

I tried to grow these last year, but was thwarted by an early infestation of cucumber beetles that infested all my curcubits. This year I planted commercial Cavaillon melon seeds as well as my tranche de miel. I tasted the commercial fruit melon from my garden a few days ago ... nice, but nothing like the remarkable sweetness of this melon.

Who Knew?

Who knew ??? I looked with glazed eyes at this sidebar ad and thought to myself, "why have you been braising your fennel in a regular old skillet?" And even more worrisome ... "why did you not plant any fennel this year so you could USE your $205 fennel braiser?" It was only when I clicked on the side button that I realizedthat this one was not a pan for braising cherries.

THE CLASS OF 2011

The excitement builds

Despite the disappointment of losing a biggest tomato contender, the excitement continues to build for the Ag Fair. This year is the 150th anniversary of the Fair, and so yesterday there was a parade from the "Old Ag Hall" aka The Grange Hall to the "New Ag Hall. The parade route went right past my driveway. Here are some of the highlights.

The Whiting Farm ..........

brings sheep to the Fair ....
The alpacas are headed for the Fiber Tent

Biggest Tomato Heartbreak

Timing a Biggest Tomato entry is bloodsport. In hindsight, I should have removed the pink tomato from the vine the day before the big rain. But hoping for that last bit of water weight I left it on the vine and covered the vine with an improvised raincoat.

When I went out to check it last evening, it was starting to rot from the bottom. No way it could be saved. I brought it in and weighed it ...

TWO POUNDS, Eight and two tenths ounces ... THE biggest tomato I have ever grown. I put my ball cap on its head just for size comparison.


Then I cut away the parts that were rotting and tossed the good parts in a sauce pot.

Tomatoes

I planted a new variety of tomato this year ... Soldacki. I have been watching a few early ripeners trying to judge when to harvest. Then yesterday my eye fell across my Smith and Hawkin Heirloom tomato book on the shelf, so I opened up to the page on Soldacki.There I learned that they ARE pink ... that I should not wait for red ... and that they crack if left on the vine. So I harvested one. I have always been fond of May Dreams Gardens First Tomato ritual which involves eating the first slice without salt to get its "unimproved" flavor. So I did that with this one. It tasted as described in the Smith and Hawkins book "luscious, intense, with a good ratio of sweetness to tartness." This is one excellent tasting tomato.

And while we are on the topic of tomatoes ... I have a contender for "Biggest Tomato" among my Big Zacs. I am afraid that it will crack from its own weight sometime in the next 10 days, so I have placed it on a stool (homage to May's tomato pillow) and hope that it will fill out happily while on its little throne.

From the Garden Gate

Turning Points

It is 7:30 pm. The shadows are long across the field. There is a chill ... yes a chill ... in the air. We are a little less than halfway form solstice to equinox and already I can feel fall stalking me. I am always caught off guard by the shift of seasons. I mean with only 4 harvested tomatoes, how can one be thinking about the end of it all? Sure, there will be plenty of blistering hot days ahead. But the build UP is slowly turning toward the build DOWN. Some of it is the weight of the harvest itself. The garden can only sustain so much vertical rise before the weight of the fruit begins to topple into the pathways and cause the bean trellises to lean precariously in the wind. But some of it is that the plants are spent. The zucchini are no longer turning out the way they were. The artichokes have had their run for glory.

Each season I watch for the turning point ... the point at which the garden begins its natural decay. All season plants have been pushing upward ... escaping the soil and journeying UP against gravity, and now ... slowly ... it is gravity that is winning.

That is why root crops are the crops of fall. Leeks and rutabagas ... carrots and parsnips ... they are using gravity to their advantage.

Slide Show

Here is a recent slide show mostly of garden photos

Early August promise

While the general tenor of the garden is still one of promise, I DID have to pull up a zucchini yesterday that had succumbed to the squash vine borer. I had just about run out of zucchini options in the kitchen anyway. But I can highly recommend dehydrated zucchini chips as a solution for the squash overload this time of year.

My tomato knife is quivering in the knife block. So far I have brought in 3 red tomatoes ... a Better Boy won the race this year for first tomato. There is blush on the Soldaki fruit. I am curious as to its flavor. I have not been tending to "the biggest tomato" challenge as in years past, but there is one Big Zac out there that might be a competitor. I will have to give it a little more focus as there are only two weeks until the Fair.

I would really like to be able to put in some artichokes this year, but my timing may not be right. So far I have pulled in a total of 17 artichokes !!! A banner year.