Saturday, October 26, 2013

Chile Verde

Roasted Anaheim Peppers

Remove seeds, membranes, and skin.

They don't look that appetizing, but they sure smell delicious!

Chopped and ready for the freezer.














Want to know how to roast chiles? See previous post:
http://sueisinthegarden.blogspot.com/2013/09/home-grown-pepper-festival.html

Another Pepper Party this Weekend!

Frost was expected last night, so I picked all the peppers this week. Today I cleaned and chopped the "sweet" ones ... mostly green ... and put them into the freezer. It was a LOT of chopping. I discovered that a grapefruit spoon works great for scraping out the seeds and membranes. I'll put my gloves on later and tackle the hot peppers!

Monday, October 21, 2013

Garden Terrorist

I love my kitty, but she is a terror in the garden! She's fascinated by my gloves and wants to be right where my hands are as I'm attempting to sow seeds or set out young plants. She loves to roll and dig and dash about in the freshly turned and fluffed soil. She wrecks perfectly formed rows and hills, scattering seeds and uprooting tender seedlings. I had to lock her in the house in order to get the garden work done this weekend. Bad kitty!

Sunday, October 20, 2013

More prep and planting + row covers
















I planted one more bed of lettuces, alternating rows of:
  • buttercrunch bibb
  • dubuisson endive
  • new red fire leaf
  • baby oak leaf, green
  • coastal star green romaine
Many hands make quick work. Andrew and Brittany were a big help in the garden today. We were able to get several of the row covers in place. First frost is expected in the coming week. These lightweight fabric "tents" will serve to exclude bugs, squirrels ... and cats ... while magnifying the effects of the winter sun. The fabric is designed to let the rain in.




Friday, October 18, 2013

Time for Change

Autumn is rapidly progressing. Change is in the air. Temperatures are dropping, and while the leaves have been less than showy this year they are dropping, too. Past time to clean out and prepare the beds for the winter garden, but I'm hopeful seeds planted now will germinate and flourish under lightweight row covers.

Andrew was a big help, adding muscle to the task and helping with little decisions along the way. We removed the spent okra, long beans, cherry tomato plants, volunteer melons, etc. We decided to leave the peppers until frost.

Andrew prepared the soil, turning it and fluffing it, defining the rows by creating little hills. He makes it look so easy!


Today we sowed a variety of seeds ...

One bed full of:
  • Spinach - Raccoon smooth leaf, Tyee savoy leaf
  • Asian greens - Yukina savoy, Tatsoi
One full bed each of:
  • Beets - 2 rows Cylindra and 1 row Red Ace
  • Kale - Red Russian, Toscano, Dwarf Blue Curled Scotch, & Smooth
Two small mixed beds of:
  • arugula
  • baby oak leaf lettuce
  • new red fire leaf lettuce
  • buttercrunch bib lettuce
  • dubuisson endive
  • hakurei salad turnips
  • radishes
  • red cardinal spinach
  • lettuce