A very wet weekend, cold is back for now

After a week of such fine weather, we were hit with precipitation most of the weekend.  Lots of precipitation in the form of rain.  The temperatures stayed mild which made being in the yard a pleasure when it was dry.
I have a few wooden garden items needing staining, so those I pulled into the garage to keep them dry.  If I can't work in the yard on my vacation, I will get something done.  The pots and flats that were stacked on my mobile plant rack had to find a place on the garage shelves instead.  Spring will come, and I am going to be ready for it!
I wandered down into the vegetable garden and decided to pull out the strawberry boxes and pots of perennial daisies that were heeled in.  I let them sit out and collect rain for the weekend.  The strawberries needed some cleaning out of dead foliage also.  The forecast for the week is cold, sometimes below freezing, so I provided some cover between the raised beds to hold them for a little while longer.  The planter box that I keep them in is one of my staining projects, so a home in the vegetable garden is suitable for now.  Taking the boxes out of their winter bed allowed me to prep one raised bed for spring planting.  I had just put down and secured the edges of the plastic cover when the first rain drops started falling.  There is one 4 x 8 foot spot in my yard that didn't get a total wash out this weekend.
I located my parsnips that I overwintered in the ground by the tiny green shoots poking up through the dirt.  I dug those out and cleaned them up, so this would make them (technically) my first harvest of 2014!  I also put some frost cover over the few plants that made it through the winter.  I was very disappointed to find that the two baby cabbage that made it through the winter were dug out by squirrels rooting around for hidden nuts.  My yard has divots in every garden bed from their spring time digging.  I have new seedlings in the basement for red cabbage and baby pak choi.  The Brisk Green pak choi and spring seeded baby cabbage is well on its way to being ready for spring planting along with my Alisa Craig onions as soon as the weather allows.  I seeded all my peppers on Sunday and the tomatillos as well.  I am going to give them a little more time than the tomatoes this year, hopefully give them just a little more growth before June planting.

Alisa Craig onions, Baby cabbage, Brisk Green pak choi

The weather men have cold and snow in the forecast for today.  They have promised that it will not stick.  Several of the local rivers, including parts of the Milwaukee River, are at flood stage.  I consider myself lucky to still have hope for getting in the garden soon.

It's Memorial Day, what NOT to plant today

We all have heard (at least in Wisconsin) that Memorial Day is the signal of the garden season.  I have posted plenty of things that I have planted and seeded.  Contrary to popular belief, Memorial Day is not the signal for everything to go in the ground.  These are the plants that I have found cold sensitive.  They may not be hit by a frost, but a cold night can set back their growth and delay flowering and/or fruiting.

• Basil (and other tender herbs)
• Tomatoes
• Peppers
• Salvia
• Impatiens (if they haven't been hardened off, you will see them suffer)

There are also other precautions you should take with plants.  I purchased a couple plants from a local green house and should have realized that it was a bit too warm in there for a cloudy day this late in the season.  I set the plants out yesterday while working outside all day.  When I went to tuck them back in the garage for the night, one plant was especially damaged by the cool winds.  They hadn't hardened off their plants by lowering the thermostats and opening up the vents.  The leaves will recover as the plant puts on new growth, but this beautiful (and not very inexpensive) plant, now has brown spots from being outside one day.  I will live with what I have and know that the plant will recover.  I shudder to think of what kind of complaints this greenhouse will suffer when other folks come back with brown leaves on their plants.

If you have to harden things off yourself, start in an area with some shade and protected from the wind.  Put your plants out during the warmest part of the day for a few hours.  Gradually increase the time and the sun exposure until the plants can take a full day in the conditions in which you will be planting them.  Another part of hardening off plants is giving them a little less water.  When you do water, have it come through the bottom of the pot (not like a waterfall, just a bit).  Let the plants dry out a bit before watering again.  Lift up the pots.  Weight is a better indicator of dry than just looking at the soil surface.  The tops of the pots can be dry from sun and wind, but just below the surface the soil may be quite wet.  You can put your finger in it, but that is a subjective judgement of what is wet enough.

The next week will be soon enough to get the rest of the garden in.  This will give you the opportunity to not go on a gardening marathon.  Sit back with a drink and enjoy a barbecue instead.

From summer to spring again

The weather has changed again.  Our 80's are gone and we are cool and rainy today.  This is a relief to me as I was going to have to water the raised veggie beds tonight if it didn't rain.  The cool weather crops of lettuce, radicchio, cabbage, chard, spinach, and peas are sprouted from the heat but enjoying a long cool drink that has been falling most of the day.  I took a quick walk after work to find most of these crops pushing the row cover up a bit.  I like to leave the row cover on so the bug problems are minimized and weather damage is greatly reduced.  The leafy crops are so much nicer growing under a sheet of row cloth.  It is a small investment that is easily recouped with better crops and less use of bug control products.

I moved the tomatoes, peppers, impatiens, and the younger seedlings in for the night.  It is best to not chill these plants and have their growth set back.  They really like it warmer, so I won't put them in the ground for another couple weeks.  I wait until at least the first full week of June to set their roots in the soil.

The lilacs are in full bloom this week and smell wonderful.  The crab apples are on the down hill slide and had a shower of petals falling on the ground this morning.  That is always a pretty sight to watch.  

The forsythia put on a good show this year.  The park has a large hedge row of them that had grown over with weeds and brush.  A former homeowner concerned about security in his yard had the park cut everything to the ground over three years ago.  The forsythia responded to the renewal cut with a very profuse bloom this year.

My husband is getting ready to set the posts for the kiwi trellis.  We are going to use a T-bar and wire support system.  I also want to espalier and apple tree, so he will set a third post and tie into one of the kiwi post for both applications.  I am looking forward to the new challenge.

The asparagus which I just covered is now 8" over the new soil that I just added to the trench.  I should be able to completely level the bed this weekend.  The purple passion stalks are different from the usual green.

The last of the seedlings are up.  I should be able to move more of the basement plants out to the outdoors this weekend.  Lights will be going out on multiple levels.  I will probably dismantle the light and shelf system over the kitchen sink and just go outdoors with most everything at this time.  I may still start one more crop of summer lettuce to put seedlings in between pepper plants and under beans.  It is nice to have them all space out when they go into the garden.

Big planting weekend coming up with Memorial Day giving us a long weekend.  Get out to the garden center these last couple days before the mob hits the garden centers.

Peppers

Chili Peppers

Peppers (also known as Capsicum if you are reading some cookbooks) have been an easy crop for me ever since I starting sticking them in the ground.  Even in soil that has seen tomatoes go brown and curl up, the peppers have managed to thrive.  I have a neighbor just over a back fence with a large garden that grows wonderful tomatoes but can't grow a pepper to save his life.  Even plants that I have shared with him, curl up and produces hard, deformed, miniature models of green peppers.  His wife loves peppers, so when mine start coming in, some of my peppers make it over the fence in exchange for the space loving veggies like zucchinni which he has no trouble growing in his ample garden space.

I have been starting my own peppers for many years from seed.  I give them a six week head start indoors before moving them out to the garden the first week of June.  It is best to wait for the warmer nights before setting plants in the ground.  You can grow or buy your peppers early to make sure you get the varieties you want, just put them indoors or undercover at night.  

This year I chose five peppers to grow.  Four are pictured above.  In addition to the Big Bertha, Big Red, Ancho and chili peppers, I also have jalepeno peppers.  The first two are mild, green peppers and the last three are various levels of hot.  Big Bertha and Big Red are both green to start but will age to a red pepper if left on the plant long enough.  Red peppers tend to be sweeter and are a beautiful addition to your cooking.  It is the extra time on the plant that makes red, yellow, and orange peppers more expensive at the market.  All three start out as some type of green pepper but different varieties need to be planted if you want the different colors.

Ancho chili peppers are mild in their heat intensity.  The seed catalog recommended them for making chili rellenos as they are not overpowering and are large enough to stuff with cheese.  I have used them diced in recipes and they have been a good pepper for adding a little heat to a dish.  The jalepenos are a hotter pepper.  Not the hottest but definitely use care when cutting and seeding these.  If your skin is sensitive or even average, a pair of plastic gloves is in order.   Make sure you do not touch your face or skin with the gloves while handing the peppers.  Contrary to popular belief, it is the white membrane inside the pepper, not the seeds that holds the most of the heat.  The heat comes from a compound called capsicum.  Milk is a good neutralizer for capsicum, both oral and dermal.  The hottest pepper in my garden is the chilies.  I grew these for ornamental reasons but also am interested in making my own chili powder.  I've heard many theories about what affects the heat in peppers from year to year (the hot peppers all have a range that they will fall into), but the most recent study has found that wind exposure will boost up the heat in peppers more so than water amounts or temperature.

Peppers, tomatoes and potatoes are in the same family and should be rotated with other crops to minimize disease in your vegetable plots.  It is recommended that you put these crops in the same soil only once every three years.  Depending on your space, you will have to decide if you can do it and how.

Those last days before the first frost are always a time of anticipation for me and how many peppers can I really bring to maturity at the end.  It is recommended that you remove the smallest peppers near the end of summer and allow the rest to grow to size, the theory being that the effort the plant makes will be going into these last, largest peppers.  I just can't do it!  

About eight years ago I was working in the garden and making supper on the grill when it hit me what to do with those last peppers.  I brought a bucket of water right down to the garden and picked every last, small pepper that was left on the plants, washed them, and put them right on the grill to blister and brown into a wonderfully roasted pepper.  I removed the stems and seeds and cut up the green peppers.  I just removed the stems on the hot peppers before putting all of them in my food dehydrator (in the garage, this was a pretty fragrant batch) until they were completely dried.  The pieces of green pepper went in a jar on the shelf for sprinkling in dishes for that a smokey, peppery flavor.  The jalepenos without their stems, went into my food processor and were ground into a somewhat course powder.  BE CAREFUL HANDLING HOT PEPPER POWDERS!  I have had rave reviews from friends and families about the uses of this powder in cooking anything that begs for some heat with that side light of smokey flavor.  It can be stored right in the cupboard and takes up very little space.  A food dehydrator is great for people who don't have all the freezer or cupboard space.  Go in half and half with a friend if you don't think you will use it enough to justify buying one for yourself.

Of course, eating fresh peppers are one of the best ways to enjoy them.  It always amazed my that my daughter who is a bit more picky in her eating has always enjoyed peppers.  I think taking fresh ingredients out of the garden is one of the best ways to teach kids to try new foods.  It doesn't work for everything, but it sure helps when they know where it comes from.

Big Bertha, Big Red, Ancho, Jalepeno, Chili