Rain, rain, and more rain!

Flash floods. Approaching record water levels at Jordan Lake. The grounds are soggy. And it's not just here. A freak winter storm (that led to two tornado outbreaks and disastrous flooding in the US and beyond) has pushed North Pole temps to 50 degrees above normal ... and above the freezing point!

More erosion in the garden

The gravel drive will require some work when Mother Nature is finished!

Little Sprouts

There's hope yet for a few greens this winter!

Garlic is Growing!

Would you look at that!

It was a gully washer!

The wet-weather creek was overwhelmed, as was the gravel drive to the barn.

Mulch washed to the bottom of the garden, fence stopped it, created a whirlpool.

Beautiful Purple Bok Choi

Better late than never?

It was 73 degrees today under clear blue skies. The calendar says December 12, but I feel compelled to plant something! I just can't stand missing out on winter greens.

I threw out some seeds, will cover the beds with a lightweight fabric row cover tomorrow, and hope for the best. Maybe the seeds will germinate and grow. Maybe they'll lie dormant, then germinate in early spring giving me a head start on spring greens. Maybe they'll rot in the ground. Whatever. Nothing gambled, nothing gained!

I planted three varieties of KALE in the first bed:
red russian, dwarf blue curled, smooth spring

In the second bed, I planted:
black-seeded green leaf lettuce, dark green bloomsdale spinach, mustard-spinach, arugula

November is the ideal time to plant garlic here in central NC, so I'm not THAT late. Reason for optimism? I filled half a raised bed with a soft-neck (unknown) variety from my own harvest this year, and the other half with a hard-neck variety called Duganski.

Last summer's rainbow chard is hanging in there. And the only thing I planted in a timely manner this fall ... purple bok choi ... has bounced back and is looking good, despite damage suffered from cabbage worms in early/mid-October. We'll certainly get a few nice meals out of it.

Sue has NOT been in the garden ...

... she's been traveling to exotic places, such as Rajasthan, India and Kathmandu, Nepal.

The city markets are full of colorful produce.

 
What a lot of corn to shuck! (village walk)

Beautiful organic garden plots near Bassi. Women and young girls work the fields dressed in lovely saris.

Mustard, kale, cabbages, radishes, fenugreek, garlic, turmeric, etc etc ... I so regret not getting my fall/winter garden planted.

Marigolds are used extensively to decorate for religious festivals.

The neat and tidy terraces of Kathmandu, Nepal.

Moon Flower

Spectaclar blooms in the evening. Flowers the size of a small plate.

Dried Rattlesnake Pole Beans

Tomatoes & Peas

I have the most tomato success with cherry tomatoes.
The "Black Cherry" variety is delicious, big enough to use in preparing sauces ... and prolific!

Fresh southern peas are hard to beat, and hard to find in the markets. That's why I grow them.

Pepper Picture Gallery

Italian Frying Peppers

Banana Peppers

Horn of the Bull

Mexi Bells - a bit hotter than regular bells

Eastern Black Swallowtail Caterpillar on Parsley

A very hungry caterpillar. It will devour a parsley plant in a matter of days, but will then morph into a beautiful butterfly. I have a few extra plants to support this creature ...

Lotus

Not actually in the "garden" ... but we do have quite a nice collection of water plants in our little pond. A glorified mud puddle, there's no fresh-water spring. The level of the pond is dependent on run-off from a very limited watershed.

Today happens to be our wedding anniversary. Rouse the Spouse waded in the water to pick me one of the most beautiful flowers found in the natural world ... a lotus blossom. The time of year is such he was able to cut a blooming flower, a green seed pod, and a dried seed pod. Such a weird and wonderful plant!

Stuffed Peppers

Horn of the Bull and hot Banana Peppers
Before:

After:
Stuffed with lean ground beef and the sharpest cheddar cheese.

In the freezer for future use.

Aptly Named ... Asian LONG Beans

I strung up string in four different directions (see July 28 post) for the Asian Long Bean vines. The result: plenty of room for beans to grow unimpeded AND easy picking. Look how long these things are!

Sautéd Okra and Long Beans

When the day's okra harvest is a bit scant, the long beans make a good compliment. These veggies,  sautéed in olive oil, never make it to the dinner table. They are delicious - hot and salted - straight out  of the skillet. They make the perfect appetizer as we wait for the entree to come off the grill.

The last of the garlic ...

... dried and braided.

This collection is made up of all hard-neck varieties. Soft-neck varieties are easier to braid. You can braid the hard-neck, though. Just remember, it's best to work with it as soon as the bulb is sufficiently cured, after about two weeks of drying in a well-ventilated space. The longer the stems and leaves are allowed to dry the more stiff and brittle they become.

This garlic has been hanging much longer, resulting in very stiff necks! I mashed the dried stems with my fingers to make them more pliable before putting them together. It worked well enough. None of the stems broke as I was plaiting them.

For links to instructions on braiding garlic, see posting June 9 .

Giant Millipedes ... Friend or Foe in the Garden?

Finding several of these creatures in my potato bed yesterday has me wondering ... good critter? bad critter? They're so big, and sturdy! Seems like they'd do a good job aerating the soil.

From Grow Organic:
Some feed on decomposing vegetation and fallen fruit while others will occasionally damage seedling plants by consuming stems and leaves. They eat all kinds of potatoes, flower bulbs, and tubers. They live in the garden in areas of moist mulch, compost, and lawn thatch.

Well, the first part sounds pretty good, but that appetite for roots? They were coming for my potatoes! That's enough for me ... I don't want them in my potato bed! The good news ... chickens eat them!

Potatoes Unearthed

We've been eating a few new potatoes here and there. Today, I dug up the entire bed. Ended up with about 12 pounds for the season, all-in-all a disappointing yield. I'm sure dry conditions contributed to the low yield.

We had minimal rainfall while the potato plants were growing and I did not make a point of irrigating the potatoes. The plants died back earlier than expected. Not surprising ... not many taters this year.

On the plus side, the tubers look great! A bit of scaliness on the German Butterballs, but only a few potatoes were lost to little teeth marks or other serious damage. The red-skinned French Fingerlings are perfect!

The potato bed was full of critters ... wiggly earthworms, giant millipedes, and a million tiny ants that were VERY disturbed! Glad I got to the potatoes before those giant millipedes did ...

The bed was FULL of ants and lots of other earthy creatures.

German Butterball and French Fingerling

Basil Vinaigrette

In a blender, combine:

• 1/2 cup packed fresh basil leaves
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon water

Blend until smooth, 2 - 3 minutes.
Season vinaigrette with course salt and ground pepper.

(Adjust ratios to your own taste. I found this recipe to be a bit heavy on the vinegar.)

Drizzle over home-grown tomatoes!

Recipe from Martha Stewart's website

Roasted Tomato Sauce

The tomatoes are piling up. Time to do something different.

Toss together ...

• 3# of cored and quartered tomatoes
• a halved and sliced onion
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 2 sliced carrots
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

... in 2 tablespoons of olive oil.

Season generously with salt and pepper.
Roast for an hour at 425 degrees.

Here's the recipe from Martha Stewart:  Roasted Tomato Sauce
PS:  I did not remove the skins!

All this chunky goodness would be good as is, before blending into sauce

Long Beans Run Overhead

The Asian Yard-Long Beans yield prolific amounts of impressively long beans. They are climbers, and Rouse the Spouse laughed when I placed jute twine up the cedar teepee structure, then OUT to a nearby garden corner post AND to a couple of tall posts in adjacent beds AND to the cable that stretches across the yard formerly used as a dog trot line. Imagine bean vines running overhead in four different directions.

Teepee structure in the bed to the left of the watering can.
Vines running to the cable (upper left corner),
to the two tall posts outside the bed to the right,
to a tall post in the bed behind.

The set-up works great! The beans hang straight down for easy viewing and picking. Maybe it's grown on me, but I don't think it looks as silly as we originally thought it might!

See recipe for "Dry Fried" Green Beans posted July 25.

Okra, One Good Thing That Comes Out of the Summer Heat

Finally! The wait is almost over!!

Zinnias

The zinnias have been glorious this year! After helping me trap the Japanese Beetles earlier in the summer (see June 20 post) they are now attracting goldfinches and butterflies, along with many other pollinators. What a scene!

Chinese "Dry-Fried" Green Beans

An easy and delicious recipe using the Asian Long Beans, with no hard-to-find ingredients! I served this alongside our Friday Chinese take-out.

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/member/views/chinese-dry-fried-green-beans-50054525

Little Tomatoes

Finally! Little green tomatoes ripening into sun golds and red and black cherry tomatoes. I have them espaliered against 8 foot tall black plastic fencing. Makes for easy picking and looks pretty, too!

Summertime Feast

Plenty to fill our plates, and sunny zinnias for a center piece!

• Pink-Eyed Purple-Hulled Peas
• Jade Green Beans
• Garden of Eden Italian Flat Beans
• Banana Peppers
• Cucumbers
• Blueberries

THIS is why I garden!

In addition to the edamame harvest ...

• pink-eyed purple hulled peas
• our first tomatoes
• plenty of cucumbers

Time to Pig-Out on Edamame!

When, oh when, to pick the edamame??

I declare it done today!

• The entire crop harvested at once.
• Plump pods removed from stems.
• Pods washed and blanched.
• A pile set aside for dinner.
• The rest frozen for future use.

Edamame

Today I noticed the edamame pods are looking plump. Counted back to the day the seeds went into the ground: 75 days! Harvest is imminent.

Ripeness is expected 75 - 110 days out from planting, but these beans should be harvested 2 weeks before full maturity is reached. I'll be watching for:

• bright green color (like snow pea pods)
• pods 2" - 3" long
• beans that occupy ~90% of the pod
• BEFORE pods begin to yellow

Summer Sunday Supper

Summertime dining ... al fresco. A glass of wine, something on the grill, and lots of fresh garden goodness to share with family!

• Garden of Eden, Italian flat green beans
• Cucumbers, transformed into crisp refrigerator pickles
• Cucumbers, diced and tossed in a salad with black-eyed peas
• Beets, blended with goat cheese and spread on crackers

Cooking Green Beans

We have 3 types of green beans currently coming in from the garden:

• Jade bush beans
• Rattlesnake pole beans
• Garden of Eden pole beans - a flat, Italian variety

I think that cooking green beans under pressure is the ONLY way to go! It's quick and it's energy efficient. I have figured out exactly how long it takes to cook each type of bean in the pressure cooker to a perfectly tender condition that suits our family.

• Italian flat beans:  2 minutes
• Rattlesnale beans:  2-1/2 minutes
• Jade bush beans:  4 minutes

Meantime: Sauté several cloves of garlic in olive oil and butter in a large skillet. Remove the garlic once it starts to brown. Remove the skillet from heat until ready to serve beans. For variety: Try coconut oil.

Just before serving, toss the cooked beans with the seasoned oil in the hot skillet until heated thoroughly, adding salt and freshly ground pepper to taste.

Each bean has its own distinctive flavor and character. I'll leave it to you to figure out which is the "best".

Garlic is in the house!

“To dream that you are eating garlic denotes that you will discover hidden secrets and meet with some domestic jar. To dream that there is garlic in the house is lucky.” ~ Richard Foulard in 'Plant Lore' (1884)

The smell of garlic in the air as one lifts it out of the ground is heavenly! And now that the curing and cleaning is finished, the aroma of garlic will be wafting out of my kitchen. You have been warned!

After the drying ...

... the cleaning and trimming ...

... the braiding ...

Garlic Braids - hard neck on the left, soft neck on the right

... the enjoying!

"Tomatoes and oregano make it Italian; wine and tarragon make it French. Sour cream makes it Russian; lemon and cinnamon make it Greek. Soy sauce makes it Chinese; garlic makes it good."  ~ Alice May Brock (of 'Alice's Restaurant' fame)