First Seeds of Spring

My Jung Seeds came in the mail yesterday.  Today I sat in my sunny kitchen with new seeds, old seeds, and a cup of coffee.  An annual inventory of seeds is a must.  Usually I do this prior to the first order.  This year I took a quick look in my seed box and knew what was left without a written list to refer to while ordering.  I still have two more catalogs to order from, so anything I missed with Jung would go on Pine Tree Gardens or Select Seeds.  My daughter/bride-to-be and I will sit down with the last two for cut flower choices.
I thinned out the oldest of my varieties and put them in the Jung shipping box to take to work.  There is always someone willing to throw them in and see what happens.  I cleaned out the worst of them last year, so this year's discards will be a nice addition to someone else's garden plot.  

Some of the new seeds I look forward to getting in the garden:

BEANS!  I had a couple filet type beans last year and loved them!  Maxibel was one of them.  I have added Velour (purple) and Fortex (pole).

Onions - Going back to Copra to get a longer storing onion.  I have had luck with Alisa Craig and Sweet Spanish in the past.  Last year's hot weather may have had an effect on last fall's storage issues.  I had used most of the 30# in recipes for canning and also shared with my daughter and sister, so not too much onion flesh was lost to early sprouting.  I also am going to make sure I sun cure them at least two days.  I thought the intense heat may have been too harsh, but I think the sun is what is needed when curing onions for storage. Just putting them in the garage was not enough.  The new onion I want to try is Red Marble Cipolini.  Both will be seeded by the end of the week for mid-April planting.

Cabbage - A small hybrid of Pak Choi and a triple variety mix of small head cabbage (white, red and savoy).  I am going to do an early sow under lights to get these set in April for an early crop.  I am also going to use a cover of row cover to ward off flea beetles.

Radishes - Refreshed my French Breakfast seed supply (this will be in my garden every year) and also bought Red Meat aka 'Watermelon'.  This is a long keeper.  If you go to the grocery store, you will find it with turnips, parsnips, and other winter root vegetables.  It has been suggested that this is good in a stir fry.  If you have never cooked a radish, try it.  You will be surprised at the delicious transformation of this tangy root crop.

Cucumbers - Rocky Hybrid, a small snack size cuke that is parthenocarpic (all-male flowers).  This is what Jung's has to say about this type of plant:

Parthenocarpic cucumbers - Plant this type if you want to get seedless fruits without pollination. You can plant a single plant of this type and still get fruit. Many of these cultivars were developed for greenhouse culture where there are no bees or other pollinators available. However, the parthenocarpic varieties we offer and that are generally offered by other seed companies are suitable for outdoor planting in home gardens. 

I have a couple other cucumbers to try as well, but this is definitely the most unique one I have in my basket this year.

Peppers - Cajun Belle, sweet with a bit of heat. Ancho San Martin, sets a bit earlier with better production. I was disappointed with the inconsistencies of last year's ancho peppers, poor set and ancho pepper plants that weren't ancho peppers.  If you like a stuffed pepper dish with a South of the Border taste, ancho is your pepper.  Mucho Nacho Jalepeno promise to have a larger pepper with good set.  I let you know how much of these promises are delivered.  I am going to leave the farm market growers to provide me with regular green peppers this year.

When I get my flower order done, I will put in type my hopes and dreams for beauty in the garden.  This year I hope to add annual flower space around a patio in time for planting this spring.  I added a week of vacation on to my years of service.  Those five days are going to be taken as garden days this spring.  I always thought leaving the greenhouse and nursery would mean that I could now take mid-spring, warm weather vacations and it has.  I realized that breaking my garden chores up into single days would also be a good use of spring vacation.  I will see how much I get done with the extra time this year.  Here's to garden dreams!

Let the ordering begin!

I have my first order in the envelope and ready to be sent.  I concentrated my early efforts on ordering vegetables and berry plants.  This year I am branching out into fruiting bushes (again).  I had successful raspberry bushes on the south side of the garage.  I also had successful picking by my young daughter and the neighbor boys.  I did not see too many of the raspberries myself once they were aware of the treat.  
The patch was lost to moving of fenced areas for the dog and reallocation of the space to park our trailer.  The plants were diminishing with the increase of shade in this area, so I didn't bother saving any of the stock.  I also had no place to relocate them as the pool was still a large part of our backyard. 
Our nest is empty and my desire to grow more edibles is strong.  I plan on putting in a male and female hardy kiwi as well as a male and female honey berry.  I would also like to reestablish an asparagus patch and possibly get a dwarf fruit tree or two.  I will take it one plant at a time, though.  The literature is promising for the honey berries for our soil pH and heavy clay texture.  They even like a bit of light shade if the summers are hot.  I have all these things going for me.  
The kiwis will replace the spireas that now run on the west side of our fire pit area.  I plan on using the post I am digging out of the old deck area to create a sturdy trellis to grow them on.  My husband will be thrilled to hear I want to dig more post holes. There is still plenty of deck wood to create cross pieces on the horizontal.  I think I will use some strong wire to fill in the center.  More research is needed.
I have the onion seeds on the order and will be trying an Italian onion called Red Marble (which is a red storing onion) as well as Copra for a yellow storing onion.  I really liked the filet type beans last year.  Jung's has a pole filet bean which I am going to try instead of my usual purple trifiano.  I am also getting some pepper seeds to start this year as last year's seeds seemed to be a mixed bag.  The anchos didn't set as well as they did in 2011, so I have a variety which promises better set.
I still have to sit down with my daughter and pick out flowers suitable for a fall wedding.

Salsa Time!

Making salsa was a family experience this year.  My oldest daughter, Michelle, and boyfriend, Dan, became my very capable assistants.  Our family loves to laugh together and made it a much easier tasks than when I stand alone.  My other daughter, Bessy (you can call her Lizzy), didn't get her hands into the mix but hung out with us while working on a clothing class project.  This is a perfectly acceptable substitute to helping in my book.

We started the night with supper made with fresh ancho peppers from the garden for my first batch ever of Chili Rellonos.  I am not a fan of frying and decided that the very versatile crescent rolls would be thinly stretched around the stuffed peppers to hold the filling in as well as add a bit of coating like you would have with batter dipped and deep-fried recipes.  The vote was unanimous that it work out great and the flavor was perfectly complemented by a batch of lemon-cilantro rice Dan cooked up as our side dish.  Our only complaint was that 8 was not enough for 5 grown people.


Canning is a pretty labor intensive process and making salsa to can is probably 3 times the effort.  Besides blanching and dicing tomatoes by hand (food processors are too uneven and go too fine), we also do up onions, garlic, hot peppers, cilantro, lime with additional seasonings to round it off.  I like to use my Celebrity tomatoes and Roma tomatoes half and half.  The first adds the most flavor and the second adds the most "meat".  I also thicken with canned tomato paste.  If it's good enough for Newmann's, it's good enough for me.  I don't like to cook down the tomatoes to thicken as they loose too much of their body and get too saucy.  Tears were shed over onions and gloves were utilized for the peppers but we made it through.

 This was the first time one of my girls stuck through the whole process and both Michelle and Dan were able to learn the finer points of filling jars, cleaning rims, adding sterile lids, and dropping them into the processor.  Even putting on the screw bands is something best learned by being with someone who has done it before. The whole processes took us about 4 hours but we now have 14 pints and 14 half pints on the canning shelves for the next year's use.  We each had a quart of left overs to use fresh, and Dan took another quart to share with his family over the long, holiday weekend.  


Now that the salsa is done, I have the hardest job of my harvesting season put away.  The vines are still heavy with tomatoes which are still ripening.  This will be the first year in recent memory that not only will I have made salsa with all my own home-grown tomatoes, but I will also be able to can whole tomatoes and tomato juice for the first time in many years.

Working through the process of blanching, peeling, chopping and canning always reminds me of those hot summer nights that my mom worked at filling our basement shelves each year.  She would get in lugs of peaches and we would blanch and peel until our hands were like prunes.  When Michelle stepped away for a few minutes for that reason it reminded me of arms itching from peach juice running down them.  


We spent endless hours snapping beans, saucing apples, and scrubbing the pickling cucumbers.  It all seems like so much extra work!  Until you put up a few of your own veggies and fruits, you will never know the satisfaction of going into your pantry or basement and looking at the gleaming jars filled with good things to eat in the middle of a winter storm.  When the sun streams through the glass block on the late afternoons, the jars are like gems sparkling on the shelves.  


Start with something easy like jams and jellies.  The fruit pectin packages have the recipes right in them and it will be a small investment in canning jars and seals.  If you follow the instructions for turning the jars over when they are hot to seal them, you won't even need a canning kettle.  Fruits are the next easiest item as are pickled items as they also just need a water bath canner to sterilize and seal them properly and safely.  Vegetables are lower acid and need to be pressure canned so the temperature gets high enough to kill any microbes.  Water boils at a higher temperature under pressure.  It may sound intimidating but it really isn't.


If picking up jars at rummages and auctions, make sure to run your finger around the stop lip of the jar.  It should be smooth with no nicks or cracks.  Don't try using these jars for long term preservation as they may seal when you can them but the lid might slowly let air in and spoil your food.  Save these jars for putting in dried foods as they don't need to be completely air tight.  Some sites will say water bath canning is out but that has been debunked by experts.  People have been doing it for a long time with no ill effects.  Do follow the above rules for vegetable though.  Always use new lids when canning.  Even if the old ones came off with no bends, do you really want to risk having the rubber seal fail and lose the food?  Use these for sealing your dried foods if you save them instead of recycling them.   


If you feel daunted read up, take a class or find a friend to teach you.  It is such a wonderful skill to have and the rewards are big!