Tatsoi and Sue

Tatsoi is one of my favorite greens! Delicious quickly cooked, but tender enough to be used in a fresh salad. 

Salad Greens in December

Black Seeded Simpson Lettuce and Tatsoi, a tender Asian green.

Planted a few more garlic bulbs ...

Rocambole Garlic, German Red 8 - 12oz extra easy to peel, round, light purple/brown cloves. Flavor is strong, hot, and spicy. Keeps moderately well.

Can't remember the other variety. I accidentally threw the packaging away before I recorded the name. It'll be a surprise.

My friend, Chris, gave me these bulbs... back in October! They were misplaced in the hub-bub of refinishing our hardwood floors. Our entire first floor had to be moved out of the house! They resurfaced and are now in the ground.

November Greens

The kale is looking so robust...

and check out this lovely red-streaked Bel Fiore radicchio!

Black Turtle Beans

They're making beans, but will they have time to mature?? It's going to be a race against Mother Nature and the frost schedule. Highly doubtful ... maybe next year.

Halloween Treats from the Garden

Salad Turnips, Kale, Tatsoi, Italian Frying Peppers.

Never Refrigerate Tomatoes

I know better than to put tomatoes in the refrigerator. They don't taste quite right after being chilled, and the texture changes. But I never questioned, "Why?"

According to a new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, when a tomato's environment drops below 68 degrees the genes responsible for making it taste like a tomato get turned off.

Most tomatoes sold in grocery stores are refrigerated at a distribution center, and then again at the the store to keep them looking good. Maybe that's why supermarket tomatoes typically taste like cardboard.

Read the entire article from the LA Times here:
http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-tomatoes-refrigerator-taste-20161017-snap-story.html

Hibiscus Sabdariffa - A new plant for the garden?

My friend, Betsy, shared some gorgeous hibiscus sabdariffa (aka Roselle) calyxes that she found at one of our local farmers markets. She included instructions for making Iced Hibiscus Tea. Now, isn't that a lovely red drink?

Ingredients:
5 ounces fresh, or 1/2 ounce dried, hibiscus calyxes
1 small cinnamon stick
3 whole cloves
3 whole allspice berries
sugar, to taste
4 cups cold water




Directions:
If using fresh calyxes, prepare them by slicing in half lengthwise (through the stem), carefully popping out and discarding the green fruits, and reserving the calyx halves.

Combine the hibiscus and spices with 3 cups of water in a saucepan. Cover and bring to a boil. (Hibiscus tea must be boiled to bring out the red color and distinct flavor.)

Remove from heat and allow the mixture to steep for 10-15 minutes if using dried hibiscus and 20-30 minutes if using fresh.

Strain the mixture into a 1-quart jar or pitcher and stir in the desired amount of sweetener and the remaining cup of cold water.

Serve chilled.

Read more about Roselle:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roselle_(plant) 
Mother Earth News article .

Controlling pesky caterpillars in the garden

Many varieties of very hungry caterpillars are eating up the late summer garden. They found the baby cabbage and collard plants almost as soon as I put them into the ground. They've transformed the sweet potato vines into lace. I've been smooshing them by hand, but the job is getting a little overwhelming. Yesterday, I dusted with bacillus thuringiensis (Bt). Bt is one of the safest natural pesticides you can use to control caterpillar pests without harming beneficial insects. Read more about using Bt in this Mother Earth News article.

Three Raised Beds, Seeded

Shanghai Green Pac Choy
Dark green leaves are spoon-shaped w/wide, light-green midribs. Densely packed, vase-like heads.

Tat Soi Asian Green
Petite green leaves w/white stems form a tight rosette. Harvest leaves or entire head.

Hotshot Spicy Blend Mustard
Over a dozen mustard varieties including Red Giant, Purple Osaka, Green Wave create a diverse mix.

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Giant Winter Spinach
Semi-savoyed, selected for cold hardiness. Glossy, dark-green leaves.

Arugula
Sturdy, leafy green that is cold tolerant, aka "Rocket", strong aroma and peppery flavor.

Optima Butterhead Lettuce
Darkest green of the butterhead lettuces. Large and thick-leaved.

Black Seeded Simpson Lettuce
Loose leaf lettuce variety

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Lacinato Dinosaur Kale
Very dark-green leaves. Best for making kale chips because this variety crisps rather than wilts. Long tradition in Italian cuisine.

Red Russian Kale
Grey-green oak-type leaves w/purple stems. Tender and mild tasting.

Dwarf Blue Curled Scotch Kale
Blue-green crinkled leaves, very cold hardy. Perfect for cut-and-come-again baby leaves.

Remnants of Hurricane Hermine

It's a cool 64 degrees this morning, the day after a perfect soaking 1" of rain, delivered courtesy of the downgraded Tropical Storm Hermine. I'm roasting peppers on the grill and enjoying this September moment.

Beginning the Fall Garden

We're expecting some much-needed rain in the extended path of Hurricane Hermine tomorrow. Could be 1" ... could be 4! I'm planting these starts, but will hold off on sowing seed. Don't want to risk washing them away! But I did pull up the pink-eyed peas and zinnias to make way for direct seeding of leafy greens.

Cabbage
Imperial - Known for over 100 years for its superb reliability. With a neat, compact habit, 'Wheelers Imperial' produces firm, well-flavored, pointed, tender hearts for a spring harvest, or can be cropped as 'spring greens' in February.

Tiara - Produces beautiful, avg. 3 lb round heads packed with mildly sweet leaves that are excellent for cooking or fresh use.

Collards
Vates - In the 1950's, this strain was praised as a "new dwarf strain," longstanding and heat-resistant, like all collards. Winter-hardy to the mid-Atlantic, producing a crop into very cold autumn weather. 

Morris Heading - This variety is called "Cabbage Collards" by southern Old-Timers, because it makes loose heads that are dark green and slow bolting. Tender leaves are very delicious; a popular heirloom that is fast growing.

Raddiccio
Bel Fiore - Technically of the Variegato di Lusia types, this chicory produces beautiful deep red/pink spots. Bel fiore, or "beautiful flower"in Italian, refers to how the round-to-oval heads are sometimes displayed in Italy, with their centers opened to resemble a flower. 3-1/2 to 4-1/2" heads have a mildly bitter, radicchio flavor. Often used in salads.

Fried Cubanelle Peppers

It's pepper time in the garden!

Here's the post from IDigMyGarden.com that inspired me when learning how to prepare cubanelles, a type of sweet Italian frying pepper. Makes a delicious appetizer served on a nice cracker or a toasted thin slice of Italian bread. Worthy of a last minute drizzle of high quality olive oil!
Fried Cubanelle Peppers

Midnight Black Turtle Beans

Well, this might be an exercise in futility. I put out some old black turtle bean seeds today. I'm a little late. It is unlikely that these plants will reach maturity before frost hits, but the stubborn optimist in me says, "Let's give it a go!" At the very least they'll make a nice cover crop.

Black turtle beans are native to Mexico. Typically eaten as dried beans, they are delicious in soups, burritos, and other dishes. This variety produces a small bean with nice flavor. Harvest when leaves are falling off and have lost most of their color.

Grow fast, bean plants!

Improvisational Cooking

My style of cooking is to begin and see where it takes me.

Yesterday, I needed to clean up the produce that was on the counters and in the 'fridge. The first thing I tackled was a pile of too mature, too tough Rattlesnake pole beans. Nothing to do but shell out the beans.

My first thought was to make a nice pot of bean soup. And so I began.

I put the shelled beans into a pot with just enough water to cover. I added a tablespoon of bacon grease, brought it to a boil, then simmered for a long time (adding water as needed).

In the meantime, I had tomatoes to deal with. Hmmm ... my second thought was ... these tomatoes will make a fine base for a bean soup.

I quartered the roma tomatoes and halved the black cherry tomatoes that had accumulated on the counter. I tossed them into a pot, turned the heat on low and cooked them until they were soft. Then, I forced them through a food mill to remove seeds and skins.

While the tomatoes were cooking, I sautéed finely chopped onion, sweet red snackin' peppers, and fresh garlic in olive oil. Once tender, I added a small, finely chopped, yellow squash, continuing to sautée everything until a lovely golden brown. Then I added the tomato mash (sans seeds and skins) to the sautéed vegetables. Continued simmering.

Once the beans seemed to be tender (they never lost their shape) I added them AND the pot-liquor to the tomato mixture. I added salt and pepper to taste. I added another tablespoon of bacon grease. I let the pot simmer for a while longer, thinking the beans would get a bit more tender and meld with all those good flavors.

But they never did get more tender. They were "done," but they had a firmness similar to kidney beans. Plus, my tongue said something was missing. So I put them in the refrigerator and slept on it.

Tonight, it was time for supper. I got out those tomato-y beans. I tasted them again. Hmmm ... my third idea was that these beans would be perfect as "baked beans!" The texture was right. But they still needed a little something. So I added two tablespoons of cherry BBQ sauce - a product from Glen Arbor, Michigan and a recent gift from my SIL. I baked the beans for 30 minutes at 350 degrees. They were bubbly and thick. Turns out that the cherry bbq sauce was the perfect "secret ingredient." By the end of the meal, these beans were history.

See you later, home-grown tomater!

Looks like home-grown tomatoes will soon be a memory until another season. The cherry tomatoes are looking sparse. Only a few Romas remain on the plants. In the meantime, I have a pile to process!

In between all that pepper work yesterday, I canned three jars of beautiful tomatoes in their own juice. Then I cleaned up the blemished fruit and cooked it down for spaghetti sauce. Combined with a helping of roasted sweet Italian peppers, a healthy dose of home-grown garlic, and the last bit of sausage we brought home from Rome ... well, it made a super sauce for supper!

Peppers Permeate the Air

I declare! Peppers are the star of the end-of-summer garden.

It's hard to believe that the majority of my life-time pepper-eating experiences have been with boring bell peppers. Don't get me wrong. I like bell peppers. It's true. I tried growing the familiar bell pepper during the early years of my garden experiment. Fail! Maybe I hadn't cut down enough trees yet, but yields were low and the ripening process was slow. I was ready to give up on peppers. Then, in 2010, after hearing that hot peppers do better in this locale, I decided to try a few. And the rest is history!

There are so many interesting and delicious pepper varieties available! Since those first trial plants, I have discovered that hot peppers do grow well here, but many sweet peppers do, too. Currently, I grow one full bed of sweet peppers, and one full bed of hot peppers. I have my favorites, but I'm not afraid to try something new. I have learned how to cook and eat sweet Italian frying peppers, sweet Italian roasted peppers, snacking peppers, anaheim chilis, jalapeñas, poblanos ... to name a few.

Now it's time for the 2016 harvest, and it's smelling good! I started at 8am this morning ...

... with fully ripe jalapeñas, bright red. They make a gorgeous, spicy jam. So easy to make! Only four ingredients - peppers, vinegar, sugar, liquid pectin. The recipe is from the Ball Blue Book of Preserving, except I do not remove the seeds and membranes. I want all the zesty heat I can get! And I never use food coloring. The recipe shows green jalapeñas, which make a lovely jam, too. I like to make at least one batch of each - red and green. I already have five jars of green jam in the pantry.

Today I added six jars of the red. Light was shining from behind these jars after they were processed this morning. What a color! (Do not mix green and red peppers when making this jam. It comes out an unappetizing browny-green.)


Then I fired up the grill and roasted a pile of sweet Italian peppers. The red peppers pictured here are a variety called "Carmen". They are a horn-of-the-bull type pepper, so named for their distinctive shape. Best picked when deep red. Great for roasting! The yellow peppers are called "Escamillo", similar to Carmen, but ... yellow!

Sweet Italian peppers placed on 500 degree grill

Roasting in process

Roasted and rested. Ready for skin to be removed.

It's a messy job, and sort of tedious ...

Roasted peppers, cleaned and chopped.
1/4-cup blops ... ready for the freezer.

Held out a few for my lunch! with hummus on cracker.

Finally, I blanched a couple dozen hot banana peppers and a dozen poblanos. Stuffed them with a spiced ground beef and cheese mixture. Put them into the freezer. Convenience food... this is how we do it! (Ha! Ha! 6-1/2 hours later!)

Back Home to Overgrown Garden

I had invited a friend to pick the garden while we were away. Alas, that did not happen. Getting caught up will include discarding lots of too-big veggies. Don't you hate it when that happens!

Giant Okra Pods
I could dry them ... but I'm not!

Over-mature Asian Long Beans

Plenty of rain while we were away...
too much of a good thing for the cherry tomatoes.
They're all split.

Tough and pithy green beans

It's not ALL bad news! The peppers are thriving. We are sure to have a bountiful harvest.

Hot Banana Peppers

Jalapeñas in the foreground, Poblanos behind

And take a look at this tower of Moonflowers! Alas, the tall sunflowers in the bed behind had flopped in the rain storms.

Moonflower Madness

Sue is NOT in the garden ... again!

I've been treading trodden trails in Colorado with my family. I love walking through the mountain meadows ... covered in the most incredible display of wildflowers you can imagine! The first pic is along the 401 Trail out of Crested Butte, the wildflower capital of Colorado. The second, is along the West Maroon Pass trail. If you're a hiker, go there!

Tomatoes

I must process the Romas and the cherry tomatoes before we head out of town for another week of fun. I canned the "perfect" Romas in their own juice. The blemished ones were cleaned and trimmed, then cooked down with the bounty of cherry tomatoes to make a spicy tomato juice. The pantry is looking good!

Snackin' Peppers

Sweet, crunchy, great for scooping up a mouthful of hummus!

Lovely Moonflower Blooms

Gorgeous Garlic

The good news: The garlic is dry.

The bad news: I let it dry too long. The leaves are brittle, no longer suitable for braiding. There will be no pretty braids of garlic decorating the kitchen this year!

The good news: No problem for the bulbs. They're perfectly fine.

So ... I cleaned up the bulbs and they are living in a basket at the bottom of my pantry. Hard-neck on the left. Soft-neck on the right. Isn't that a pretty sight?

Prolific Peppers

Poblanos in the Garden

These poblanos and hot banana peppers will soon be stuffed!

New Toy

Shelling southern peas is a royal pain in the you-know-what. Too late for this year's crop, but I'll be ready next year, by golly! I bought a simple, hand-cranked, home-model, pea sheller. Woo hoo!

Thanks, Mom!

Caught up with my mom at the family reunion over the 4th of July. She came home with us. Then she and I blasted off to Illinois for extended family togetherness. Now we're back at my house and I've put her to work doing garden chores. She sure knows how to snap and shell beans! And sometimes - when I leave the room - I come back to a clean kitchen. I think she's the kitchen fairy I've been dreaming of all these years!

You know, it's so much more fun to do chores while visiting with my mama, chatting away over busy hands. Then we all get to sit down to a delicious garden feast!

Fennel

First time planting fennel. Got it in the ground sort of late. Picking it sort of late. But the long cool spring allowed for an unusual growing period. The thermometer has finally caught up with the season. It's hot! The bulbs are small, but must be harvested now.

Sun Golds Rule!

Finally! Here come the tomatoes...

Sue is NOT in the garden ... again!

This time, I'm off galavanting with my mom in central Illinois. Rouse the Spouse took this selfie to prove he's on top of things in the garden. He picked ... AND shelled ... AND cooked ... a pot of pink-eyed peas. Now, that's an awesome man!

Mother Nature helps with Watering

Mother Nature has been watering the garden while we're gone. We returned from the family reunion to find the garden thriving, and a nice mess of southern pink-eyed purple-hulled peas ready to pick.

The okra is finally coming in strong. Cut in half lengthwise and sautéed (cut side down, in olive oil, until brown and caramelized, lightly salted) is our favorite way to cook it. The finished product rarely makes it to the dinner table. We dig in as soon as it comes out of the pan!

Green Bean Harvest

The beans are coming in hot and heavy. Picking the pole beans is relatively easy, while getting all those lovely bush beans is back-breaking work! I have to say, the effort is worth the reward. These 17 pounds of green beans are destined for our 4th of July family reunion weekend. I'm counting on some help with the snapping!

Still up to my eyeballs in cucumbers!

I can't stand for anything to go to waste. Must use these cucumbers!

Summertime calls for a nice cool cucumber soup. You'll find many cold cucumber soup recipes out there ... basically raw cucumbers puréed with yogurt or sour cream, typically topped off with fresh dill. Those recipes are good, but check out THIS recipe. Delicious served warm OR chilled.

Creamy Cucumber Soup

http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/creamy_cucumber_soup.html

Quinoa Tabbouleh

Oh, boy! Look at these fabulous ingredients! Fresh parsley, mint, cucumbers, tomatoes ... tabbouleh is a no brainer. 

Here it is, all chopped up. I use a recipe found on Epicurious ... quinoa instead of bulgur to keep the gluten-sensitive diners happy. Here's the link: Quinoa Tabbouleh 

 And now for something totally different...

Cucumber Infused Vodka

~Peel, seed, coarsely chop cucumber and put in a jar.

~Fill jar with vodka. Close with tight fitting lid.

~Store in a cool, dark place.

~Give it a shake once or twice a day. After two days start checking the flavor.

~Once the flavor is acceptable, strain out the cucumbers and discard.

~Store infused vodka in the 'fridge.

~Create delicious summer drinks!

What a week of cukes! Fresh sliced cucumbers, sweet pickle relish, two kinds of refrigerator pickles, soup, tabbouleh, infused vodka ... in the end I'm left with four cucumbers. Thank goodness, son Andrew took them home. Now I have a clear counter ... until the picking begins again tomorrow!

Beans!

Here we go. Green bean season! It's been a long, cool, wet spring. The beans are lush. Expecting good yields.

Picked 5 pounds of Jade bush beans yesterday. Half went into the freezer. The other half went onto the dinner table.

The first picking of the pole beans ... always so perfect! The beans are big, well-formed, hanging in bunches, no bug damage. Rattlesnake variety is pictured here.

Picked my first little batch of pole beans this morning. Lots more to come! Rattlesnake on the left, Garden of Eden Italian flat beans on the right. The golden sunshine and the cool indoors sure make different lighting in these pics!