APRIL PHOTO A DAY: MORE GARDENING THE LAZY WAY

29 Friday Apr 2011

Posted by backyardnotes in Vegetable garden

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lettuce, plant starts, planting, potatoes, shallots

AS I NOTED TWO WEEKS AGO in this post I am often a lazy gardener or maybe I’m forward thinking. The bed above was planted last fall with immature shallots and purple potatoes, lettuce starts, of which two are volunteers, the red oakleaf and radicchio. This means I will have heads of lettuce to harvest while I wait for my new starts to reach transplanting size and the potatoes and shallots are months ahead of the normal spring planting schedule and growing well. The air and soil temperatures have been so cool well into April that I have not had the enthusiasm to get the beds tilled and sown. Lettuces and members of the brassica family are sprouting in the coldframe and cukes and squash are starting in the house under lights, along with tomatoes, peppers and eggplants. I haven’t been a complete lazy bones!

Today we are off the see the tulip fields in the Skagit Valley around Mt. Vernon.

APRIL PHOTO A DAY: THE LAZY GARDENER’S WAY

11 Monday Apr 2011

Posted by backyardnotes in Vegetable garden

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lazy gardening, volunteer plants

I AM OFTEN TIMES A LAZY GARDENER. NO APOLOGIES.

This nice full head of radicchio ‘Castelfranco’ was started by letting one head go to seed last year, then shaking the seed around the vegetable garden. When the seeds decide to germinate in the fall, I poke the little starts in wherever there is room to winter over. This one is planted among garlic. I like to let lettuces go to seed; the flowers attract small birds and insects, and the seeds, when dispersed about the garden come up on their own schedule and when they are large enough, I transplant. Red tinged oak leaf lettuce sprouts too at the end of summer, grows slowly through the winter and is ready to harvest about now. I also let a few leeks self sow each year and about this time of year it is time to move them to their own bed. Their big, round airy heads are quite lovely when left to bloom but not as showy as some of the large ornamental alliums. So, be a little bit lazy!

APRIL PHOTO A DAY: BLOOOMING LEGUMES

07 Thursday Apr 2011

Posted by backyardnotes in April flowers, Vegetable garden

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fava beans

THE THRILL AND ANTICIPATION OF EATING FRESH, SWEET FAVA BEANS HAS BEGUN with the first sign of fava bean blossoms. By June we’ll be shelling the first of them.

CATALOG SEASON IS HERE

07 Friday Jan 2011

Posted by backyardnotes in Uncategorized, Vegetable garden

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YESTERDAY I RECEIVED MY SECOND SEED CATALOG so it must be time to start thinking about this year’s vegetable gardening plans. So far I have received Johnny’s and Seeds of Change catalogs. I really need to replace a lot of older lettuce seed. Part of the enjoyment of leafing through the catalogs is all about trying new varieties, of which there are plenty every year. This is an excellent way to pass the time on rainy winter days.

Already, in just a brief look through, I see a Blush tomato that I may have to try from Seeds of Change. I love the planning; figuring out how much I can cram into my small space, what to leave out, what to try that is new and different. I do know that this year I will definitely be planting the costata variety of zucchini to make bread and butter style pickles. The ones that I made last fall have a great crunch and flavor. I also like Franklin brussels sprouts; the sprouts are a nice size, the plants are compact and they have good flavor too.

Dream, dream, dream.

DOING THE APPLE CAN CAN!

09 Saturday Oct 2010

Posted by backyardnotes in Canning & Preserving, Jellies & Preserves, Vegetable garden

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LAST WEEKEND I finished picking the all of the Spartan apples, fourteen pounds in all. Our little tree produced a total of thirty-two pounds of apples this year. So, what to do with them all? Most of the Akanes went to applesauce.

On Tuesday, five pounds of Spartans became seventeen half-pints of Apple Chutney.

On Wednesday, another five pounds were turned into eleven half-pints of Brandied Apple Preserves with dried cherries and ginger; a variation on Jam Lady’s Apple Maple Preserves. Delete the maple syrup, replace with brandy and add dried cherries and fresh ginger. Kind of like concentrated, spicy, apple pie filling; should mellow out in a couple of months. And I still have four and one-half pounds of Akanes and Spartans in the fridge! Some apple turnovers for the freezer, maybe.

And yesterday I picked the last head of Graffiti cauliflower (two pounds trimmed florets) to make five pints of purple pickled cauliflower, using red onions and red wine vinegar to preserve the purple-red color. It looks beautiful in the jars!

I think I am ready to give the canner a little rest until I have nothing but green tomatoes to turn into pickles or relish or salsa. I think there will be enough ripe ones to pick over the weekend to make sauce for the freezer. And that’s enough for this week!