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Monthly Archives: February 2011
Winter’s Bounty 2011
As the winter growing season is winding down, we’ve already planted some spring crops, and planned out the summer crops. There’s still one important thing to do, however, before we move on to spring:
appreciate winter’s bounty.
Even though we can see what’s growing above ground, there’s an element of surprise when harvesting root crops like carrots, parsnips and potatoes (okay – it’s a tuber, not a root crop). Students
always ask me how they will know when to pick their root vegetables. I tell them to run their index finger around the …
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How’s that Broccoli Coming Along?
Experimentation yields results – just not always the results we expect. Such is the case with our trail planting of the Italian broccoli, Cavolo Broccolo a Getti di Napoli. The picture on the seed packet indicates that this
sprouting broccoli is harvested mainly for it’s leaves, but those leaves (and the shoots of sprouting broccoli) are reported to be slender and spear-like.
Well… not so much.
While it’s true that this is a …
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Not a Shred of Evidence
NERD ALERT! This one is for you. You know who you are.
Question: How do you solve domestic disputes between husbands and wives who have differing opinions about how composting should be done?
Answer: You get a chipper/shredder and then everyone is happy.
The Problem: You see, I sit squarely on the side of the fence that prefers to chop up all the green and brown bits into small pieces before it goes into the compost bin – because it breaks
down faster, and …
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Oh Rats!
It started as an agreement for peaceful co-habitation. Then it ate half of my Christmas Lima Beans right through the young green pods. Then it pulled out all of my pea sprouts, nibbled on the ends,
and left them for dead.
That’s when we declared war on the rat.
Note the dark lines outlining the eaten area. Now dry, this bean pod was eaten through while green,
leaving the pod empty and the beans devoured.
Prior to this …
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Squash Bug Battles
A question came in last week from a concerned gardenerd:
“As we start to thaw (and possibly refreeze this coming weekend) out here in NE TX, I’m planning my garden for 2011. We will be starting seeds this weekend and a friend has offered us the use of
their greenhouse, as long as we share our harvest – no problem. My question as I start planning, and remembering last year, what can be done about Squash Bugs? I lost the battle last year, due to a
back injury that put me in …
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Lima Bean, Barley and Vegetable Soup
With all the talk of winter storms and canceled flights, it’s clear that comfort food is in order. As a blanket apology from Southern California and our lovely weather, I offer this warming recipe to
those in icy places across the country.
It starts with baby lima beans, but we used Christmas Lima Beans that we grew this past summer:
It also calls for pearl barley, but we didn’t have any on hand, so we used brown rice, since they cook in …
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When 1+1=10: Harvesting Potatoes
Garden math breaks the rules. It’s one of the only places where things multiply without the need for a calculator, or the stress of bubble tests or sweaty palms. Possibly the best example of garden
math is the potato. Plant one, get many.
Spring is a great time to plant potatoes, and lucky for us, spring is coming soon. In warmer climates, you can also plant potatoes in the fall. That’s what we did last October with a couple of
scary potatoes left in the pantry too long. Yesterday we …
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