The Garden in Winter & Worms

Not much is going on in the garden - at least not on the surface.




Soon it will be time to start seeds indoors. Since I'm not doing onions and leeks from seeds this year (disaster two years running), I can put it off a little bit longer. Tomatoes, eggplants, cauliflower, broccoli, squash, peppers, and assorted flowers and herbs will be this year's seedlings.


Although, if one is to follow the Biointensive technique, everything should be started as seedlings indoors. Of course, if one has a greenhouse this is feasible. If one has four grow lights and limited counter and table space, it isn't. Still, I can't quite fathom starting lettuce and wheat indoors, can you? To me, starting stuff inside is for plants that need a longer growing season, or plants that are not cold hardy. Beans, peas, greens, corn - they all do well as seeds in the ground.


And yes, you did read "wheat" up there. I am going to attempt growing some of my own grains this summer: wheat and oats. Of course, that will entail having to get a grain mill, if things work out, but I figure I can cross that bridge if and when I ever reach it.


I got my worms a couple weeks ago. Vermicomposting - the latest thing. Compost indoors with worms. Why? Because this is what my compost bin looks like this time of year:




The birds and squirrels might be enjoying it, but I don't compost to keep them fed! So, I bought a plastic bin (on sale at Home Depot for $4), drilled some holes in it, filled it partway with potting soil and newspaper, and placed an order for 1000 worms. They arrived in bone dry peat moss (so they wouldn't freeze in shipping) and I dumped them in the bin, along with food scraps. So far I haven't seen much action. Haven't seen many worms, either. I'm having my doubts that there were really 1000 worms in that bag! I've never seen more than one worm at a time, and the food scraps are not disappearing. And mold is growing. HM...vermicomposting isn't as easy as I thought it would be. It could be I'm overwatering (keep as wet as a squeezed out sponge, they say...maybe I don't squeeze my sponges dry enough). I will have to monitor it more carefully this week and see what happens.

Can Spring Be Far Off?

Seeds are coming in! I placed most of my orders 2-3 weeks ago, and the seeds have been rolling in. It's very exciting! Soon I will have to dust off my growing lights, get some seed starting soil, bring in the seed trays, and start planting the ones that need a few weeks' head start.

This year I'm going to try something new: grains. I've placed an order for some wheat and oats, with the great idea of producing my own flour. Far fetched? Perhaps, but I'm dreamin' big here. According to the folks at Ecology Action (formerly Biointensive Gardening, or some such name), 300 sq. ft. of grain is enough to produce one loaf of bread a week for a year. Hm. We'll see. I'm not planning to plant that much, but I will give it a try. Of course, I will have to purchase a grain mill, too...maybe if this works out it will pay for itself in a few years, eh?

I've had my paper and pencil out and have been trying to draw up the schematics of what will go where this year. I really should be better organized - this would greatly enhance my crop rotation. Still, haphazard works, although not quite as well.

I've also ordered five more apple trees, as well as a variety of native shrubs (nannyberry, grey-stemmed dogwood, staghorn sumac, serviceberry, hawthorne) to replace the honeysuckles that were cut down last fall. This should make all the birds very happy.

Spring can't come too soon this year!

Catalogues Already!

It's hard to believe, but the seeds catalogues have already started arriving in the mail! First I got one called "Pinetree" - a new one. Then came "High Mowing Seeds", followed by Fedco and "Totally Tomatoes." And it isn't even Christmas yet!

Last year I ordered seed from several different companies, just to spread the wealth and see what some of the smaller heirloom outfits had to offer. This year, though, I will probably be sticking to three major sources: Fedco, High Mowing, and Johnny's. All three come highly recommended from me as sources for heirloom and organic seeds.

So, I sat down the other night and started to fill out order forms. Fedco (despite the rather clinical name) is one of the best seed catalogues out there. I get my seed potatoes from them (Moose Tubers), as well as most of my vegetable and flower seeds. The prices are among the best, the service is great, and their catalogue is a riot to read. Some of their seeds are in limited quantity this year due to crop failures or seed producers going out of business, so you'll want to place your orders early if you use them!

Johnny's Selected Seeds is my source for gardening supplies, as well as some seeds. I usually get my ground covers/mulches from them, as well as row covers, hoops, etc.

So what am I going to do differently next summer? Well, looking at my order forms, it looks like a lot of pole beans! I'm not a big bean eater, but for some reason I feel the need to grow them! Toby likes beans, though, so they are good to put in the freezer for his meals all winter. I had lots of peas this last summer, and I want to have lots next summer, but I haven't found any organic shell peas in the catlogues yet. It seems that lots of people like to eat the pods, so snap peas are the popular ones.

I've almost given up on corn - but I will try one more time. Maybe the third time will be the charm. The celery was a complete bust this summer, but I will give that another try in '09. Hey - you never know.

I'm increasing my potato plantings next summer, and am actually going to order seeds for zucchini! It is great to grate and freeze for breads. Mmmm! The pumpkins did very well, so I am going to plant more of them, and two different varieties. Maybe I'll try the gourds again next summer, too - plant them directly in manure like the pumpkins.

Onions - no more by seed. The sets I got last year, however, were very good and I will get more this year. Leeks, well, I've given up on them. No great loss, though. And hopefully all the garlic I planted will do well. And even if only half does well, I will still be ahead!

So, bring on the rest of the catalogues - I'm ready!!!

The Last Planting

Two nights ago I got the last of the garlic planted. Even though I know that garlic is a late season plant, it still seems odd to be planting at this time of year, when most things are dead or dying, and when snow has already covered the High Peaks!

If all the garlic comes up next year, I will be well-endowed with the stuff. I'll be giving it away at Christmas! Maybe I'll try to sell it at the Holiday Fair! This is, of course, putting the proverbial cart well before the proverbial horse! Let's see if the stuff grows first, eh?

Yesterday afternoon I pulled up the corn stalks. I had thought of leaving them up to provide some sort of shelter for small birds in the winter, but in the end I just decided to yank them out. Now they are lying on the ground between garden plots, in theory blocking weed growth (ha).

2009 will be another year of weeding. I didn't really keep up with it this year and the buggers took over several beds and most of the "paths" in between. This is what happens when one runs out of mulch.

I've finally given up on the butternut squashes. I had three coming along, but even covered with row covers to protect them from the frost, they just weren't growing. So, I've cut my losses.

Three beautiful Northern Spy apples grace the tree this fall. I am so tempted to pluck them now, but I know that Spies are one of the latests apples to harvest, so I wait.

It is a glorious autumn day here in the North Country and I should be getting home and spending some time in the yard with the animals.

Happy gardening to all!

Fall Plantings

Although I have mostly put the garden to bed for the year, I still have more garlic to plant! The mail order bulbs have now all come in, and I must say that the latest batches have been more inspiring than the first one was! The bulbs that have recently arrived (Inchelium, Chesnok, Kazakstan, and German Hardy, which I suspect is German White) are of good size and quality - almost as nice as what I got in Sharon Springs! So, sometime in the next week or two I must get the last of the garlic planted. If it all grows, I may have garlic to sell in '09!

Meanwhile, I suppose it is about time to pull the rutabagas and carrots. I grab a few more carrots each time I go by the garden, and although they are small, they do mean that many fewer carrots I need to buy at the store!

And with all the harsh frosts we've been getting, it is probably time to actually move the pumpkins inside and set a weekend aside for doing pumpkin puree. I've been using a "recipe" for puree which utilizes the oven rather than the stove (who wants to peel and cube fourteen pumpkins?). It's pretty much the same as cooking acorn squash - cut them in half (and remove the seeds), put them cut-side down in a roasting pan with a cup of water, and cook in the oven at 300-350*F for up to 90 minutes - until "meltingly soft." Scoop and freeze.

A Final Gasp from the Garden

Just when I thought the garden was finished, and just when I had finally cleared the last tomatoes off the kitchen counter (batch #4 of sauce), I go out to put away the row covers only to find...more tomatoes!!!

>sigh<

Planted some more garlic over the weekend. This was one of my mail order varieties: chrysalis purple. $12 for two very tiny bulbs (yielding 13 cloves). I think in the future I will stick with the garlic at the Sharon Springs Garlic Festival (bulbs the size of your fist for $1 - $2.50 each)!

Garlic planted to date: Purple Stripe (14), German White (23), German Red (26), Elmer's Topset (45), and Chrysalis Purple (13). Cost: $16 for 108 cloves from Sharon Springs, plus $12 for 13 cloves from mail order. Kind of makes one say "hm," eh?

I should have two more varieties arriving via the mail. Hopefully they will be worth their price.

Frost and the First Fall Harvest

It was bound to happen, and sure enough, it did. We had our first killer frost last week. I covered what I could, but even so, some things took a hit.

When I got home after work that day, I pulled up all the pole and dry beans, tied them in bundles, and they are now hanging upside-down on the porch to dry (makes going in and out the back door a bit of a challenge). I threw row covers, blankets, tarps, sheets and towels over tomatoes, corn, squash and pumpkins. Since then we have been having very summery weather - hot and humid. So things are getting a second chance to ripen.

Saturday, after I returned from the Garlic Festival in Sharon Springs (highly recommended, by the way), I pulled the rest of my onions. Those that still had stalks have been braided and are hanging in the garage (the porch is already full of onions and the afore-mentioned beans, and the kitchen is full of onions and tomatoes). I pulled some carrots, too, including one monster that is as big as a silver dollar at the base of the leaves and close to a foot in length! A few small rutabagas joined the harvest.

A second batch of tomato sauce was brewed up that night and stuck in the freezer Sunday morning. Yes, indeed, using paste tomatoes makes all the difference when making sauce. My recipe? Well, hard to say - each batch is different. But here are the basics:

Ellen's Tomato Sauce

1. Run a bunch of tomatoes (mostly paste, but add whatever else you have that is ripe) through a tomato food mill (like Squeezo - I kid you not, that is the name). This wonderful machine, which works like a meat grinder, squeezes out the juice and pulp in one direction, and the seeds and skins in another, nicely separating the two. Do this until you have about a gallon or more of juice.
2. Pour the juice into a large kettle, preferably an enamel kettle and set on medium heat to start cooking. You want as much of the water to cook away as possible.
3. Meanwhile, dice up an onion or two and saute in butter. When soft and tender, put the onions in the sauce.
4. Additionally, cut up a few carrots. If they are small, use two or three. If large, you can probably use one. This will provide some sugar to cut the acid of the tomatoes. Toss into the sauce.
5. Chop up some green peppers and add them to the sauce as well.
6. If you have fresh basil, oregano, parsley, chop them up and put them in the pot. If not, used dried. I also put in some freshly ground black pepper.
7. Cook. This part can take several hours. You want the moisture to go away, leaving you with a nice thick sauce. I usually give it three or four hours, then I'm ready for bed. I could probably go longer.
8. Before you finish, toss in some grated Parmesan cheese. Mmmmm. I add maybe a half to three-quarters of a cup.
9. Cool.
10. Ladle into freeze-able containers and stick in the freezer. Voila!