Garden Treasures

Working in the garden can often reveal hidden treasures.  With careful attention you can spot the little surprises: colorful bugs as pretty as a painting, or the first delicate sprigs of a carrot seedling.  This spring I found some interesting things in the plot at the community garden.   After a long winter, it is easy to forget what bulbs went in last fall, so it was a delight to find garlic shoots a foot tall, and bright yellow daffodils bordering the plot. Mint shoots were coming up here and there, evidence of a determined underground trek.  So far, it’s not been a problem keeping them in check - the mint makes a fine cup of tea, fresh or dried.  What a treat to find a beautiful carpet of mixed lettuce greens, volunteers from last season’s plants left to self-seed.

As I was turning the soil in one of my beds, I noticed something shiny.  Looking closer, I spotted a lost earring, missing since last fall.  I was so glad that I hadn’t tossed the remaining earring.  A lesson my mother never taught me - if you lose an earring (or sock, glove, or anything else that comes with two) hold on to the remaining one, its match may reappear eventually. 

The harvest continues – the young collard leaves are about done, and now little flower shoots are appearing.  Cousins of broccoli raab, they were worthy of snipping.  A quick saute with garlic and olive oil resulted in a delicious dish.  Thanks Fran for mentioning the kale flowers – very similar.  This 100 pound challenge is changing what I eat.  Were it not for this experiment, my dinner vegetable might have been store bought cauliflower, instead of those tasty collard flowers.  It seemed essential to record at least 1 pound every week, and the leaves were 2 ounces short of that.  Collard flowers, young chives, baby lettuce – it all adds up - and the question becomes not "what do I want to have for dinner?" but "what is available for picking today in my garden?"
 

 

2 Pounds Harvested, 98 to Go

I finally made it down to the Community Garden this weekend. I was greeted by a row of bright daffodils, a welcome site in a relatively bare plot. Flowers in a vegetable garden?  Definitely!  As the season progresses, my plot will be dotted with the bright oranges of calendula and nasturtium, and the delicate white of buckwheat flowers.  Flowers are nice for esthetics, but they also perform an important function: attracting beneficial insects, such as lacewings, ladybugs, and bees.  These insects not only act as pollinators, but feed on other insects which like to eat our crops.  Read more about beneficial insects as a method of organic pest control.

 

Along with the daffodils, I was also delighted to find food ready to harvest. My first harvest of the season resulted in  2 pounds of leeks and collards.  There is a joy in harvesting a crop that survives the New England winter – as the leeks did.  What sturdy plants to remain unharmed by subzero temperatures and harsh winds.  The collards are the star of the garden in spring, unlike last summer when they stood in company of juicy ripe tomatoes and giant swiss chard.  So I harvested, weighed, and hunted for recipes.  In my experience, I’ve found that if produce goes straight into the refrigerator, it is more likely stay there until it is ready to be worm food.  So, as tired as I was from an afternoon gardening, no rest until the harvest was processed.  The leeks were easy – a standard improvised leek and potato soup – with chicken broth, cream and butter – a 5-ingredient recipe with lots of flavor.   For the collards, an interesting recipe with pancetta, mustard and vinegar.  I might just be planting more collards this season.

Each garden season has its gifts and challenges.  Spring is a season that shouts 'Now!'  Timing is everything, and the more we become attuned to the rapid changes in temperature and precipitation, the better conditions we can provide for our seedlings.  Rapid changes affect harvest as well.  One day the collard leaves are perfect to pick, wait 2 days and the plant has bolted, putting energy into a flower head.  No procrastinating on picking once you see those tiny flower heads appearing - unless of course it's broccoli.

It’s been a rough week in Boston – tragic and surreal.  I think that many of us find comfort in the activities which lend a sense of normalcy to our days.  For me, it is in the ordinary acts of tilling the soil and planting seeds.  Early spring harvests are a lovely reminder of what can grow from the tiniest of seeds, given sun, water, and nurturance.  In the midst of this season of hope and possibility, a horrible event occurred in this city.  Let us hope for an end to bombings everywhere.  Let us a hope for a world in which people do not lose their loved ones to such acts of violence.  Let us each do the hard work of cultivating understanding and compassion.

 

April Garden Planning

One of Dad's 2+ pound tomatoes.
Made a delicious sandwich.

2012 Cherokee Tomatoes.
Not large, but full of character.

This blog is about growing food - 100 pounds of it.  I'm not a farmer, but an apartment dweller in a high-density city.  We see plenty of snow - no 3 season gardening here, and mid-April could still bring freezing temperatures. I've got lead in my yard soil, too much to grow food.  But, I am fortunate to have a sunny deck full of containers, and a nice sized plot in a community garden.  Can I grow a hundred pounds of food this summer?  That's the challenge.  The benefits: healthy super-fresh food, interesting varieties, saving money, reducing my carbon footprint, plus of course the intrinsic joy of digging in the soil and those first delicious harvests.

I dedicate this blog to my dear father who passed away on August 1, 2012 at the age of 100. Jay Furman understood the joys of gardening.  He weighed his produce too.  Picture albums contained countless shots of tomatoes on the scale, peaches on the scale, cucumbers... you get it.  He planted grape arbors in his 80’s and grew tomatoes on his retirement home rooftop into his 90’s.  The Beefsteaks I ate as a child were legendary in size and taste.  He bartered surplus tomatoes for Jersey corn from the local truck farm and gave away many juicy gems to grateful friends and relatives.   We ate seasonal and local – hothouse tomatoes never appeared on our table in December.  I am thankful to my dad for helping me to appreciate the joy and wonder of growing my own food.

It’s spring in New England.  Well, almost.  The forecast is for sleet, so once again I dragged my deck pots of baby greens into the living room for the night. In the temperate Northwest, gardeners are snipping chives, and harvesting microgreens.  But here, I am planning, not planting.  So, I am still thinking about what I will grow this year.  How do YOU decide what you to put in your garden?

These are my criteria:

What’s tasty?  Last year my collard plants were ornamental.  I don’t have any great recipes for collards, so I rarely harvested.  This year I’ll be growing more of what I like to eat: swiss chard.

What’s beautiful? Purple! Shiny purple eggplants, striking purple yard long beans, cute purple peas, and maybe even some purple kale.  Shiso too – it’s prolific, colorful, and makes a great pesto.

What’s unusual?  Jamaican Calaloo.  My co-worker sent a recipe – I have to try it.  Oh, and those Styrian pumpkins from COWS orchard– no hulls – can’t wait to try them.  Thanks for the seeds Helen.

What was scarce last year? That one’s easy – Ground Cherries.  Not one ground cherry made it from the garden home last year.  They are just too tasty.  This year, I hope to have at least a dozen plants. I'm starting seeds now.  Two varieties: Pineapple and Aunt Molly's.

And then there are the tomatoes… and onions… and potatoes… and squash… and of course, basil.
Can't decide or new gardener?  Try a preselected Collection from Baker's Creek Heirloom Seeds.

What will you grow this season?  How do you decide?  Want to do your own 100 pound challenge?