Beets

It's official: beets are the DIRTIEST thing I have ever grown and then brought into my house to eat. Ever. Their dirtiness only slightly tarnishes my love for them, though. There is nothing better than a handful of previously-roasted-then-chilled beets tossed into, well, anything. I usually put them in my salad. And you can eat the tops, too! This is new to me, actually, since I have never grown beets and only ever bought them at the store where their dirty tops were already lopped off.

So far I've put beet greens (as you can see, these are actually purple rather than green, but some of the tops of my yellow beets are green) in stuffed pumpkin and quiche. Tonight I have some sort of sweet potato scenario planned for the remaining greens in my fridge. And there are plenty more out in the garden. Talk about an easy crop - these were literally a plant-it-and-leave-it experience, which rarely happens for me in the garden. No pests, lots of big shiny leaves... I will definitely be growing beets again.

And, on a quick side note, does anybody know what these are? I planted "Mixed Chinese Greens" in my Cursed Garden Bed, and these are the only things that came up. I harvested them and dumped a bunch of horse manure and compost in the bed, in hopes that I can grow peas there this February. But now I have these pretty green things that I don't know what to do with. Should I cook them or eat them raw? If it looks familiar to you let me know!

Belated Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving I was reminded that Thankfulness is just as much a decision as it is an emotion. It is easy to celebrate Thanksgiving when everything is going to plan and you find yourself facing a long weekend to spend relaxing with friends and family surrounded by delicious food. At those times, thankfulness is an emotion, something that wells up out of you without bidding. It is easy. And such has been the case with all of my Thanksgivings to date.

This Thanksgiving, however, I found myself quite sick. After a month of ever-increasing symptoms of Candida, I woke up on Thanksgiving feeling as if I had been hit by a truck. I follow an extremely strict diet of mostly vegetables, chicken, and fish, and this has helped me make great strides towards recovering from Candida infection. However, little bits of cheating here and there coupled with stress and not getting enough sleep had taken a toll on my too-sensitive system. Needless to say, THANKFUL was not the emotion at the top of my list. I actually felt quite sorry for myself. It just didn't seem fair that everyone else in the world could sit down to a delicious meal while I had to eat only the salad, and, if I was feeling crazy, a small piece of turkey. Mashed Potatoes? Too starchy. Stuffing? Full of gluten. Papa's famous green-bean casserole? Nope, there's dairy in there. Sweet Potato Pie? Forget it. So I followed the rules and ate a gigantic plate of salad with turkey on top, and woke up the day after Thanksgiving feeling even worse. And the death-knell to any residual feelings of thankfulness: when I went out to water my glorious patch of brussels sprouts, I saw that the chickens had gotten in through the protective fence and eaten every single sprout and half the leaves off all my plants.

As I trudged my sick sorry self back to the house I found myself thinking dark thoughts about thankfulness. I am not thankful this year! And then I stopped. What in the world was wrong with me? Here I was in my new cozy sweats walking outside in the most glorious California weather, surrounded by happy chickens, my two healthy kids playing together in the sand pit, my amazing husband doing the dishes, with the full use of my body and mind, and I was telling myself and the world that I wasn't thankful??? Shame on me.

So, in the absence of thankful feelings, I resolved to be thankful anyways. Yes, I felt sick but I wouldn't use that as an excuse to be grouchy or tune out my family. No, I couldn't eat any Thanksgiving left-overs, but I wouldn't complain or feel sorry for myself. I would take the necessary steps to feel better (in this case it meant going on a 3-day green juice cleanse: YUCK), but wouldn't paint myself the victim or broadcast my misery to those around me. I would bask in the late-November sunshine and be happy that I live in a place where brussels sprouts can be bought if the winter crop is decimated by rogue fowl. And, as has happened so many times in my life, when I made the decision to be thankful, the emotions followed.

Today, as we launched back into real life, I am thankful for my darling family, my super-hot husband, our too-small but cozy house, and the fact that my 3 day juice cleanse is OVER! I am thankful that I didn't wake up with a headache, ringing ears, and a rash for the first time in over a month. I am thankful that God has committed to change me from a self-centered person to someone a little more wholesome. And I am thankful that this morning I harvested the last of my tomatoes and the first of my broccoli. It may be a few days late, but I am thankful. I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Just in the nick of time

The bulb packages said "plant before the first frost" and I unknowingly put it off until the very last day. The morning after I got these guys in the ground, we woke up to a layer of crystalized dew on the yard and it was harder than usual to get out of our warm beds. Normally daydreams of what will grow in the spring keep me motivated while planting, but putting these bulbs in the ground required me pick-axing solid chunks of dirt out small sections at a time, cursing the daffodil bulbs all the while. "SIX INCHES below the surface?!?!?" I'm sure the beautiful border of daffodil, ranunculus, anemone, and hyacinth flowers will have all been worth it this spring. (By the way, NINETY Ranunculus bulbs is way more bulbs that you need. Thanks Costco, but next time I won't be buying in bulk.)

And I apologize for being more absent here on the blog that I have intended. I share a big birthday weekend with a newly-4-year-old, and we had a lot of social engagements to attend between those special days and celebrating the end of soccer season. I hope you are all doing well and growing some great stuff!

All tucked in for the winter

For my entire garden career I have endured fall and winter as the "boring season" when the only gardening activity I could do was daydream about what to plant in the spring. But not this year! This year, fall and winter will be my season of soil amendment. I am determined to get my depleted soil up to snuff so I can grow huge fabulous vegetables in the spring. In the past I thought of all the composting and fertilizing hoopla as something only for gardening geeks, but this year I saw a definite decrease in my crop yields, and I believe it is because I have never done anything to replenish my dirt.

This was today's accomplishment. Titus and I spent the morning out in the pasture gathering sheep poop. I did my best to pick up the precious little pellets without getting too much dead orchard grass (don't want those seeds getting into my dirt!) and Titus helped by screaming in panic and trying to climb up my back in escape every time the sheep came anywhere near us. After we had a bucket full of poop, we spread it out in the smallest garden bed I have. Man, I'm going to need a lot more poop! A second layer of dry leaves went in over the poop and I gave the whole thing a good douse with the hose. I'm hoping everything will rot down over the fall and winter and I'll have beautiful dork rich crumbly soil to grow tomatoes in when spring rolls around. Now I just have to do the same thing for all the rest of my raised beds! How about you - do you put your garden to bed for the winter? Any special soil amending tricks you'd like to share?

Fall?

I love these pictures of the heirloom popcorn my dad grew a few seasons ago. He grew so much that there are still a few ears in a basket decorating his kitchen table. The colors encapsulate fall for me. I remember the day he and the kids and I harvested this popcorn. It was a gray day and we shuffled around through the dry corn stalks pulling off everything we could find and shucking them. It was like a treasure hunt - every ear we shucked was a different color. The best finds were the ears on which every kernel was a different color like a mosaic.

Today marks the third day in an above-90-degree heat wave for us. It was very weird - I picked the first two pumpkins of the season in flip flops with sweat running down my back. Not quite the way I like to usher in the "fall" gardening season. But I think my tomato plants are enjoying the long summer season, so I won't complain. I just keep watering my baby kale and broccoli hoping they won't decide it's June and give up. Hang in there little cole crop - cool weather is just around the corner! (right?)

Fall Garden Progress

How is your fall garden coming along? Mine has been a process of planting, waiting, planting again, waiting, planting again... Finally things are germinating and it is looking like we might have at least a few fresh veggies this fall and winter. Would you like the tour? Up above are my baby beets. This is the first time in three years of trying that I've actually gotten beet seeds to germinate. The trick seems to have been keeping the soil moist, which has meant watering sometimes three times per day.

Next we have baby broccoli. Broccoli has worked well for me in this particular raised bed - a cheap-o soil test showed that the pH level is perfect for growing broccoli here. Sure enough, every little seed I plunk in the dirt sprouts right up. So I keep on planting more and more - I have a feeling my family will lose its love for broccoli by winter's end.

The brussels sprouts are starting to develop teeny tiny little sprouts at the base of the leaves. I'm SUPER excited about these; brussels sprouts are my all time favorite vegetable. I just wish I could eat them endlessly without suffering the embarrassing consequences.

And finally we have lettuce, showing evidence of visits from snails. I usually cover my newly-planted beds with bird netting, which keeps out the biggest snails. The little guys can still sneak through, but the netting keeps most sprouts from being bothered. Time to buy some more because I don't want to lose my fall lettuce crop!

I didn't take pictures of my cauliflower sprouts, or the "cursed bed," where I have been unable to grow anything other than salsify and two stunted sunflowers. I have put collard, chard, spinach, lettuce, kale and pumpkin seeds in this bed and nothing happens. I did a soil test, which didn't show anything unusual, so I really can't figure out what is wrong. I think I'm going to gather up all the sheep poop from the pasture, cover the bed with it and let things marinate over the fall and winter. Hopefully the problem will have rectified itself by spring.

I am constantly daydreaming about feeding my family from the bounty of my garden, but it looks like we'll be frequenting the farmer's markets again this fall and winter. There just aren't enough beets, kale, broccoli and lettuce here to sustain us. I have to keep telling myself that this year is better than last year - last fall all I could grow were kale and swiss chard. Gardening seems to be like any other skill - practice makes better, and perfection is pretty much never attained. How is your fall garden going?

Fall Garden FAQ's

I don't consider myself an expert on fall gardening, but enough people have asked me questions about it lately that I thought I would post the few things I do know here on the ol' blog.

1.) Is it too late to start a fall garden?
If you live near me, in the California bay area, I'm pretty sure you still have time to plant some fall veggies. You probably don't have time to grow brussels sprouts because they take so long to grow, but other fall veggies still stand a reasonable chance. It stays relatively warm and sunny here until very late in the year, and all that sun gives the seeds a good chance to germinate and grow before the cold winter weather sets in. Last year I got the urge to plant sunflowers LATE in the season - you are supposed to plant them in the spring along with other spring veggies. I took a chance and put my seeds in the ground in early September - and they grew and flowered! All that to say: around here the conditions for growing things are pretty ideal. Give it a try and see how it goes.

2.) OK, so what should I plant?
Your best bet for fall veggies are broccoli, cauliflower (both of which I have not yet successfully grown in the fall, but I've heard they do well so I'm trying them this year), carrots, beets, kale, radish, swiss chard, cabbage, and lettuce. Last year I planted Kale and Swiss Chard and they overwintered, giving us fresh greens through the entire winter. It was awesome!

3.) Should I plant seedlings or just put seeds in the ground?
I garden exclusively with seeds, but this is also a good time to get seedlings at your local nursery. Some plants like broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage, are traditionally sprouted into seedlings before being planted out into the garden. I have never had much luck with seedlings - they usually linger in the garden not growing for a LONG time once I plant them, and are eventually bypassed by any seeds I planted in the dirt next to them. If you have a green thumb, though, the seedlings will give you a head-start on growing time.

This year I planted cauliflower seeds directly in the ground (about 10 days ago) and they have all germinated and are growing quickly. The beet and broccoli seeds I planted 3 weeks ago didn't germinate (maybe it was too hot and dry?) so I replanted them a week ago and now they are sprouting. Yesterday I planted lettuce seeds and have my fingers crossed - lettuce usually likes cooler weather in order to germinate so it may still be too hot. The great thing about gardening with seeds is that it is always easy to try again - just scatter a new batch of seeds if the first ones don't pop up within a couple of weeks.

4.) I'm convinced! So where do I buy some seeds?
My go-to seed store is Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds. They sell exclusively open-pollinated seeds which I greatly prefer. They haven't been genetically altered like many commercially-sold seeds you can buy, and there are tons of exotic varieties of vegetables available that are not sold anywhere. You could easily grow vegetables that you would never be able to eat otherwise. This is a great article about the benefits of non-GMO, open pollinated seeds which is definitely worth a read if you are considering growing anything that you plan to eat.

One other thing to bear in mind as you plan your fall garden: club root disease. Club Root is a fungus that lives in your soil that will destroy cole crops (kale, brussels sprouts, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower) and is almost impossible to get rid of once you have an infestation. The trick to avoiding this dreaded soil condition is to rotate your cole crops. This fall, don't plant any of your cole crops where you grew cole crops in the spring. Also, don't plant any cole crops where you plan to plant cole crops next spring. I planted all my broccoli and cauliflower seeds in former zucchini beds, and plan to grow peas there next spring. From what I've read, rotation is the key.

Hopefully you're feeling inspired to get out in the dirt and grow some yummy veggies for your family this fall. Let me know what you plant and how it's going! And as always, I can use as many gardening tips as you have. :)