Winter garden dreams

I have winter garden dreams every January.  I sit with my seed catalogs and dream about all the things I can do this next year.  I have so much energy to get it all done.  I never get tired and my body never aches.  

It is always a good idea to make your lists, fill out your order (in pencil), and take out your box of seeds and notes from last year (if you are one to write things down) and then let it ferment.  I like to let all my plans sit on a stack for at least a week before I commit to the purchase of next year's plants and seeds.

While I am waiting for my plans to ferment, I find ways to use of some of my fruits and vegetables in my crisper drawer that are awaiting new life as a side dish to the beef ribs I have in the oven.  Today I cut up the pears that we picked up late last fall, mostly Asian varieties, and added some chopped walnuts and blue cheese.  I have tossed it with a few dried herbs and fresh ground nutmeg.   I will toss in some balsamic vinegar just before serving.

Another item which I have in large quantity is daikon radishes.  I did a bit of searching to get some fresh ideas and came across several recipes for a fresh pickle.  One that caught my eye was posted by a Japanese blogger.  It had less liquid in it than all the rest which fit the sparing amount of rice wine vinegar I had left in my pantry.  It is just a blend of sugar, vinegar, salt, chili pepper and sliced daikon.  Everything is mixed in a Ziploc baggie and sealed with as little air as possible.  It is recommended to let it sit for a couple days and can be used for up to a month just kept in the refrigerator.  I am eager to see how this will come out in a few days.  

I also came across quite a few varieties of carrots that got lost under the lettuce and kale.  Crisper drawers should be shallow with four rather than two that are deeper.  I think these are going to join the slow roast process as long as the oven is hot.  I will venture up to the cold storage in the attic and grab a couple of parsnips to toss together with the carrots.  Roast vegetables always turn out so sweet.

Enjoy those winter dreams.  Until you place the order, those dreams are free.  Until the spring comes, there is very little effort involved.

Successes and Failures

It happens to the best of us and those of us who are usually pretty good at gardening.  I think I have been beat this year and will not enjoy my own garden beans.  I did everything the way I usually do, but I have a few miserable sprouts coming up.  I have them fenced to protect them from the big critters and covered them for the little.  Still there are a few lousy plants and some that look like they were eaten by something.  This is unprecedented in my gardening years.  I will put more in, bush beans that are short season.  I hope to enjoy some fresh beans before the growing season runs out.  My pole beans and the elaborate growing structure appear to be a futile attempt at gardening.

Instead of tender sprouts, I have a bed full of purslane.  Purslane is edible, but they aren't beans.  On the other hand, peas were very successful.  I grew both sugar snap and garden shelling beans.  I enjoyed cooking up three different meals from the last picking of shelling beans alone.

I went out and picked again before work this morning and got almost a full pail of both types.  They are starting to dwindle in number so there is probably just a meal left to grow in on the vines.  I am leaving some on to try and get some for next year's crop.

I am also pretty happy with the onion crop.  The tops are starting to get brown tips so they should be starting to shut down and start hardening up for harvest.  We have enjoyed several pullings of fresh onions that I have cooked or used fresh.  Garlic is also starting to brown at the top. The leeks also look pretty good, but those are still growing.  I put in carrots, but only those shaded by the adjacent plants actually germinated.  I think they got too dry when they needed it most.  We have not been getting timely rains this month.
I also enjoyed the first four blueberries on my bush today.  It is not going to be much of a crop.  I just bought the plants last year.  They were in pots all last year and through the winter.  I have them in a large above ground planter now that is filled with peat and compost.  In our alkaline soils, we can only grow blueberries in an artificial environment like this.
Fencing of some type still needs to go up.  I did get down soaker hoses around the tomatoes and peppers last week.  I am also going to put some around the squash just to cover my bases since I do have a few left.  I haven't peeked at the corn coming up under the floating row cover, but I can see some shoots pushing up the fabric.  Okra is small and in desperate need of weeding.  I do have to get busy in the weeding department as I know they will need it again when we come back from our first vacation.
I try not to linger on the failures and enjoy eating the food that is coming from the garden.  Lettuce is at it's end, so I need to enjoy salads this weekend rather than send it to the compost pile for lack of interest.  It is also time to forage for berries.  Enjoy summer as it is short.