Kale!

From what I've heard, kale is a cool-weather vegetable.  I was thinking I'd be able to grow some in the spring and a second batch in the fall.  I planted it from seed at the end of March, but nothing happened. No kale. I tried again a few weeks later: still nothing.

At the beginning of August, I'd given up on some other things I'd allocated space to that weren't succeeding either (thanks a lot, cucumbers), so I used that section of the garden to give the kale one last shot. Finally, they've germinated.

To celebrate, here's a salad I made a few weeks ago, using grocery store kale (BOR-ing, but what can you do?).  Hopefully it'll be in the rotation again before the end of the summer, if the stuff in the garden can keep from being eaten by bugs and woodland creatures.

Sweet Potato Kale Salad

Big bowl full of kale, washed and torn into pieces
Sweet potato, peeled and chopped
Olive oil
Kosher salt
Lemon juice
Garlic, 2-4 cloves, minced
Chives, to taste, minced
Feta

Roast the sweet potatoes, tossed with olive oil and kosher salt, in a baking pan at 400F until they're soft in the middle and browned on the edges.  I think I stirred them around at about 15 minutes, and they may have needed another 10, but it depends on how small the pieces are chopped. 

Add the chives, garlic, feta, a splash of lemon juice, and a splash of olive oil to the big bowl full of kale. Plop the sweet potatoes, piping hot and right out of the oven, on top of everything else and toss.

That's it!  Enjoy!

in bloom: front yard daylilies

When we were given several types of daylily plants last summer, I wasn't entirely sure which varieties would bloom with which color flowers, and which should go where.  As they sat, waiting to be planted, for probably more days than was advisable, I realized it was better to just get them in the ground and hope for the best.  So, at the end of the day, we ended up with the funky, exotic maroon daylilies in the backyard, and these salmony-peach ones in the garden along the front of the house.

They're ok.  I mean, they're flowers, so they're pretty.  They're very close to the traditional orange color of daylilies all over the place, but not quite, and I'm not sure if I think that's good in a we-know-they're-different sort of way, or annoying in a they-just-look-boring sort of way.

Either way, they help the front of the house look more interesting, and they're relatively maintenance free, so they get to stay!

in bloom: first daylilies

We were lucky enough to be given several varieties of daylilies from family and friends at the end of last summer.  There were so many plants, in fact, that we had the luxury of doing a little experiment: some went to the front yard, where they get full sun, and the rest were planted in a newly created, make-shift garden along the back of the house (which is to say, we dug up some grass and plopped these guys in). 

The backyard is fairly shaded, but oddly enough these were the daylilies that bloomed first.  They're taking an incremental approach, just a couple flowers each day.  I suppose that's fair considering it's their first year here.

From the garden: zucchini!

This is the first season I've grown zucchini.  Years ago, when I lived in an apartment and had a community garden plot, I remember walking by someone else's zucchini plants and marveling at how much space they took up.  I made a mental note not to give up so much valuable real estate for a crop I didn't particularly care for, anyway.

Last summer, though, I discovered the deliciousness that is marinated grilled zucchini.  So we bought kind of a lot of it.  And when we buy a lot of something that could realistically be grown in zone 5, I start thinking about whether we should add it to the garden. 

And so, this year, there are four zucchini plants in the garden. They're doing really well! 

Much to my great and pleasant surprise, they seem to be a relatively efficient use of space; there are so many little zucchinis on each plant. A few of them might even be ready to eat this week.

in bloom: hydrangea

I find it so interesting that hydrangeas can be bluer or pinker depending on the soil they're growing in. At our house, we clearly have blue-ifying soil, whatever that is. And I've decided that "bluer" and "pinker" are words for today.

We got this plant from a dear friend when she sold her house and moved across the country. (Psst, M, let me know in the comments if I can link to your blog!) The Little Hydrangea That Could had a tough go of it last year, what with being transplanted and all, but it's rebounded a bit. Apparently it's also one of the more thirsty plants in the front garden; it wilts alarmingly after a dry day of sun and will only perk up with a couple gallons of water. 

 

win some, lose some (garden edition)

One of the most exciting (and sometimes frustrating) things about hobby vegetable gardening is that every year is different. Just because something did well last year doesn't necessarily mean you can count on another good crop this year. I'm not a huge fan of uncertainty, but if I wanted to frame this as a positive, I'd focus on how fun it is to see which things produce more than expected.

This year, what I'm finding is that the successful stuff is going gangbusters, and everything else is just pitiful. There's no middle ground like there's been in the past. Nothing is doing "just ok." I don't know if it has to do with the abnormally warm spring we had or this being the first summer in ages that The Awesome Husband and I are both employed full time, or just the fact that sometimes things work out that way.

Here's what's struggling:

- Beets. These were planted twice, and both times were decimated by cutworms. There's one lonely little seedling left, with one leaf still standing. Bummer, too, because The Awesome Husband loves beets.

- Basil. I started seedlings inside, and then inadvertently killed them by leaving them outside and letting them dry out. Replanted outside, and the cutworms got 'em. Replanted again in containers, so we'll see, but they're way behind schedule.

- Tomatoes. Same as the basil.

- Cucumbers. Same as the basil and tomatoes, except with these guys I caved and bought seedlings.

- Radishes. Planted once, and they halfheartedly germinated. Planted a second time, and they grew two feet tall and went to seed. No edible radishes, though.

Here's what's hitting it out of the park:

- Garlic. I've never grown garlic before, but so far I quite like it. Plant it in the fall, forget it's there, and watch it pop up in the spring? I'll take it!

- Raspberries. After a couple years, they've really established themselves. They're currently absolutely covered with unripened berries.

- Spinach. All through March and April, we ate spinach pretty much every day just to keep up.

- Peas. They're not doing quite as well as they did last year, but they're still pretty impressive. They've got tons of white flowers, and I noticed yesterday that a few tiny pea pods have appeared!

Forget what I said.

The other day I mentioned that one of my goals this year is to show you pictures of flowers from the garden than I hadn't posted about last year. I still think there'd be enough variety to do that, but... well, the irises are out in force again this year.  And they had rain on them this morning.

They weren't rainy last year.

So it's different.

Right?

Blueberry pie, coming up! In about ten years.

Our yard is the stuff of high hopes (pipe dreams?) and long term plans.

We'd like to have a deck.  And a place to store our kayak and canoe.  And a couple flower gardens that look purposeful rather than haphazard.  Maybe a better spot for the hammock so we can have it set up for the whole season.

While we're at it, one of these days we'll get around to trying to make grass grow where we want it to (the lawn) instead of where we don't (the vegetable garden).  Details.

One thing we've started -- and probably will be tackling for the next several years -- is creating a hedge along one side of the back yard made up of useful perennials.  We have raspberries there now, and the solitary blueberry bush in the picture above.  Maybe we'll move the asparagus plants over here too.  I don't know how well they handle transplanting, but actual soil with nutrients has got to be better than the sand pit where they live now.

Because clearly we don't have enough to do here... what are we missing?  What else would you have in your ideal back yard?

mixed bag

It was super nice outside Monday and Tuesday of this week.  So nice, in fact, I figured I'd do the right thing and get the seedlings I'd started indoors used to the elements.

Now, when I say "do the right thing," I don't necessarily mean "executed in the right way." I've since learned that what I did -- set the seedlings outside in the sun, leave for the day, and forget about them until bedtime -- was a recipe for overheated, underhydrated plants.

That's pretty much beside the point, though, because something, be it a strong gust of wind or a hungry and inquisitive woodland creature, scattered the peat pots hither and yon.  Yes, hither and yon.  There might be one butternut squash survivor, but otherwise it looks like we'll be hitting up the farmers market for seedlings. 

Today's a mixed bag though, and the positive element is the early success of the asparagus in the front garden.  I think this may be the year we can start harvesting it.  Two bites for everyone!

It's only cute because I know it isn't poisonous.

Category: "Blog Post Titles I Never Thought I'd Use"
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This'll be the last garden post of 2011. I think so, anyway. We still have leeks growing, but those will show up in a cooking post, not a gardening post. A garden version would involve some truly boring pictures. Snoozefest.

Anyway, I had my camera with me in the yard a couple months ago because I'd been taking pictures of whatever flowers were in bloom that day. The universe completely enabled my tendency to be lazy very efficient when making trips back in the house, and rewarded me for still having the camera in the pocket of my jacket when I'd moved on to the weeding of the overgrown vegetable garden* -- I spied a visitor next to one of the raised beds, and it was kind enough to model for me.

Have a good winter, my friend. Please stick around and eat more of our bugs next year -- I suspect there will be plenty to offer.


*For those of you who don't garden or didn't pick up on the context clues here: weeding an overgrown vegetable garden is decidedly not a photographically important pursuit.

the holy grail of lazy gardening

So I'm a lazy gardener. All other things being equal, I prefer to grow perennial flowers that I won't have to plant each year. I'll make more of an effort for vegetables because there's a tangible benefit involved (yes, I think of edible food as a more valid benefit than "oh, those flowers are pretty"), but I still prefer things that can be planted directly in the ground with no need for transplanting or otherwise fussing. Don't get me wrong, I definitely enjoy gardening. I find weeding to be oddly calming. I just prefer to get as much benefit for my work as possible.

This year, we had something in the garden that's even better, even lower maintenance than tossing seeds on the ground, watering, and waiting: a volunteer cherry tomato plant.

This thing grew in the flower garden on its own. We didn't plant it, we didn't plan for it, and we certainly didn't put in any effort for it. All we did was put some compost aound the asparagus (yes, the asparagus lives in the flower garden -- it's a perennial, so it doesn't live in the raised beds with the other veggies), and this cherry tomato plant was so determined that it presumably grew from a stray seed that hadn't decomposed.

A plant that provides edible food without a speck of effort required on my part is my kind of plant.

And as a bonus, it's pretty cute:

The peas are dead. Long live the string beans!

Yes, I think we've finally kicked the peas. Cue melancholy music, lots of plaintive violins and so forth. There are only a few pods still on the vines, and they're staying put for a while so they can dry out and fulfill their higher purpose of becoming seeds for next year.

Fear not, though, we're still awash with fresh-picked vegetable goodness.

And that's not all of them. The bowl there is 2 quarts, I believe. Some have been refrigerator-pickled, and many are destined for the freezer.

The tomatoes have got a lot to live up to this year.

In bloom: sweetpeas

The first time I grew sweetpeas was completely by accident. I thought I was buying pea plants at the farmer's market (have we gone over how much I love fresh peas? I think we have...), and I was really bummed when I realized I'd only bought flowers. (Yeah, they were pretty. Whatever.)

I planted sweetpea seeds intentionally early last spring, even though they're technically supposed to be planted in the fall so they bloom in early spring. My intent was to trick mother nature into having them bloom in time for our wedding. Take a guess how that went. They grew leaves and more leaves and then -- wait! -- more leaves, but of course no flowers last year. This year they bypassed "early spring" and decided to break out the flowers in July. Alright then.

From the garden: raspberries!

So apparently self-imposed blog rules (must post about something other than ice cream, peas, or Cecil), only serve to keep me from posting for a week.

I don't think we're going to have quite the avalanche of raspberries that we saw with the peas (are seeing... wait, no, can't blog about the peas today!), but they're certainly doing respectably. I was worried last week that they were sputtering out before they'd really done much of anything, but that apparently was only my impatient nature talking. A few days after I'd written them off, I took another look, and KAPOW, tons of raspberries. And by "tons," I mean about 50. Numerically, that sounds like a lot, but it translates to about a half a cup. Ok, I suppose it is quite a lot considering it's from plants that take up only 2 square feet of the yard.

They're impressive! ... but not really! ... ok, maybe they are! Anyway, they're tasty.

We probably won't have enough berries to make any recipes. I for one am not going to put in a whole lot of effort for a few tablespoons of jam. But I betcha my cereal will be pretty darn tasty tomorrow with these in the bowl.

Who needs a balanced diet when you have vast quanities of awesome?

Ok, so even though I used all caps last week, I still think I may have understated the status of our garden peas. "Ready for eating" doesn't do them justice. Try "12 linear feet of pea plants in excess of 6 feet tall are overflowing with pea pods such that my approach just now was to only pick the ones that might not make it another day before turning starchy, and even then I had more than I could carry in three minutes."

I am in heaven.

Sugar snap peas are my favorite thing we grow, hands down. I suspect it's partially because they're available for such a short period of time each year. Raw peas from the grocery storey just aren't the same because they've invariably lost a lot of flavor in transit. I'll eat the frozen ones in a recipe if I have to; I find canned peas horrific. I really only eat them straight from the garden. If they were readily available year round, I'd probably get sick of them. For a few weeks a year, though, a quart a day is fine by me.

The pictures don't do them justice either, but here you go.

highlight of my summer

Sure, we've been grilling and making batches of homemade ice cream.  We've been going for walks at 8:00 in the evening without bringing a flashlight.  Last weekend, we went kayaking.

That's all great, but here's what I'm really excited about:

THE PEAS IN THE GARDEN ARE READY FOR EATING!

Some of them, anyway.  The rest will be ready soon enough.  It is now summer.

In bloom: irises

Last year in the spring we had tulips, daffodils, and one lonely iris cheering up the front of our house. The tulips and daffodils took a nosedive this year (I've since learned that you apparently do need to replant them each year if they're to look impressive), but thankfully the irises are picking up the slack. The other day I counted eighteen (EIGHTEEN) buds, and now they're starting to open.



Man, I do hate those house shingles (which is a story for another day and a project for another year). To avoid them, I walked in behind the plants and took some photos facing away from the house.



Annnd, this angle shows off our lovely sandy beach. I mean lawn. Awesome!







I thought I'd go out on a high note with the power lines there. At least the irises are pretty!

Strawberries-in-waiting

Spring is finally, officially, and indisputably upon us. You know what that means, don't you? When nothing much of interest is going on in my life, I'll at least have garden pictures to post.

For those of you not in New England, we've had a lot of rain this month. I haven't watered at all, and everything's doing just fine. In the backyard we have peas, lettuce, and spinach that are sufficiently hydrated and will likely grow like gangbusters once the sun comes out, and I planted beets and string beans this afternoon. In the course of turning the soil in the raised beds for approximately 20 minutes, I found eight grubs. Wish me luck on getting a good night's sleep, nightmare-free, ok?

The front of the house, where we tried to grow most of our wedding flowers last year, is the site of decidedly less high-stakes gardening this year. We had a pretty poor showing of tulips and daffodils in April, so we took some time today and improved the soil with several shovelfuls of black gold from our compost bin. Moving black gold, I should say: the stuff was positively writhing with earthworms. If I didn't remind myself repeatedly how good they are for the soil, that image certainly would have been another candidate for nightmare fodder.

Anyway, the front garden is home to asparagus, azaleas, anemones, sedum, irises, and strawberries. The strawberries in particular are having a banner year so far. If half the flowers turn into berries, we should be set for several breakfasts' worth. I snapped some photos, none of which really capture the extent to which the strawberry plants are thriving, but on a whim I decided to try out some photo effects via Picasa's Piknik program. I left one photo unchanged for the sake of comparison (three guesses which one). I thought I was doing pretty well with my little point-and-shoot, but man, do the original images look disappointing next to their doctored counterparts!






Happy spring, everyone!

SuperTomatoes!

I think the garden heard me talking about how I was on a cooking kick over the weekend. That's the best explanation I can come up with for the last, sputtering efforts of the tomato plants... and the fact that the fruit on the vines somehow managed to make it through last night's sub-freezing temperatures.



It gets better, though. These tomatoes weren't thriving in the confines of our raised beds and chickenwire fencing. Oh, no. They're from a very prolific plant that grew directly out of our compost bin.



They also look like plum tomatoes, which means they wouldn't have grown from a tomato seedling that got thinned from the garden and put in the compost, but from a seed of a plum tomato that we'd purchased from the grocery store. Crazy and impressive! SuperTomatoes! I feel like I should put little capes on each of them.

... Or I could figure out what to cook with green tomatoes. Any ideas?

they have arrived

Remember when I said we had lots of tomatoes on the plants but they were stubbornly refusing to ripen?  Well, they've apparently realized that resistance is futile. 

We've picked what you see here, plus what we've eaten and given away so far (probably about the equivalent of what's in this photo).  Lots of their friends are still outside in various stages of ripeness. 

So far we've had lots of sandwiches and salads, and we made the soup/sauce/whatever-it-is deliciousness I raved about earlier this week.  And yet, there's barely a dent made, so some new recipes would be great to try.   Anyone have a favorite to share?

(And yes, I know, we should can them. Next year.  Cannot fathom taking on canning until next year.)