Promises, Promises

Not much happening in the garden, so not much happening here on the blog. Ah, but there are signs, early signs of spring. We are in the middle of a warm, wet week, and the plants seem to be sighing in relief and relaxing, after a week of cold, dry freeze.




This is the kind of warm spell that makes me want to do crazy things, like plant lettuce seeds.



I admit, I'm soft. I grew up in San Diego, and I know I couldn't hack a real winter, a Chicago winter, or a Boston winter. Winter in Portland feels cold to me. But it's short and mild. And I do like to pile on the sweaters and sit beside cozy fires.

And now, only into the middle of January there are signs of spring.

Winter Jasmine isn't a big surprise, I expect it to bloom in January. But buds are swelling on other plants too. And the biggest shock was this...Cherry Blossoms!










So tonight the Bean Queen and I will review the seed catalogs that have arrived so far, and start making our lists.

Definitely Winter Now

Hard to believe it was only a few short weeks ago that we were still basking in sunny, warm afternoons. A few days of temperatures in the teens and twenties have quickly and thoroughly erased the memory of those last few days we clung to.

Until just before the freeze the arugula was providing salads aplenty and the mustard greens were prolific. But they have all faded and fallen. They'll be back though. Both are in well established spots that have been reseeding themselves for a couple of seasons, for an almost continuous harvest.

The Carrots made it through the cold and there are probably some beets I have overlooked. These are called Purple Haze, and they are sweet and delicious. Only a week ago they were trapped in the ground, frozen in place.

And although I miss the hens, I'm glad I didn't have to try and keep their coop warm and their water thawed during the cold snap.

And now the garden really does feel as if it is sleeping. But we aren't far from the shortest daylight of the year and after we turn that corner, around Christmas, the days will get longer, not by much each day, but still moving in the right direction. Seed catalogs will start to arrive in the mail and daydreams will be filled with what to plant next year. I know I am getting ahead of myself, but there you have it. It's a common strategy among gardeners during the winter.

Every fall I plan to put some bulbs in the ground for early spring color and life. I just got them last week. Just a little late. And I'll probably just put them in pots so I can enjoy them indoors. Hyacinths and Narcissus for color and fragrance.

Just a Little More Indian Summer

Although we've had pah-lenty of rain in the last few weeks, temps are nearing record highs for the next few days, high 60s, maybe a 70 or two. The warmer weather has been great for the herbs and greens that are still providing delicious salads.

And so this, the overgrown zucchini, which turned out to be an acorn squash upon examination of the interior,


turned into this.

Scenes From The Fall Garden

Fall sure is doing a good job of making up for the disappointments of summer. We've had many sunny, beautiful days lately.

Here is an example of one of my annual traditions; growing a giant zucchini. I just let one of them go and see how big it gets. Pearl has kindly agreed to stand beside it to lend scale. I may carve this instead of a pumpkin this year. And hopefully I won't graduate up to growing gargantuan pumpkins.







I love to grow peppers, but there is no way I could consume all of them. I like to string them up into ristras and hang them in the kitchen, or a front door ornament.

And speaking of peppers, I found this beautiful produce on a recent visit to Montreal at the fabulous Marche Jean-Talon.











A visitor stops to rest on one of the zinnias.

This Might Be Brilliant...

Because I grow mostly annuals in my garden I end up with a lot of bare dirt during the winter months. So I came up with a plan that might help alleviate this problem and increase my fruit production at the same time.

I have a patch of strawberries in the backyard, in less than perfect soil. This patch has also been neglected and not thinned out. I planted 13 plants 2 years ago and there are hundreds now. It has been prolific, but the berries were smaller this year.

So, as I removed withering tomato plants and many pounds of rotting or slug infested tomatoes from the raised beds, I hatched the idea to move strawberry plants into their place. This will give the strawberry plants a fresh start in good soil with plenty of room to clone themselves. And it will cover the dirt during the wet and cold. I will also plant some cover crop or spinach or lettuce in between the strawberries.

When I need space for the summer plants again I can just remove enough strawberry plants to make a space. This will hopefully keep me on top of the thinning. And next year I'll have a bumper crop of these delicious, fragrant, Rainier berries. I like the idea of a plant that provides food and also multiplies itself, like garlic, or Jerusalm Artichokes.

Not Too Shabby

For all of the complaining that has gone on about the weather this "summer", and I have done my fair share, it hasn't been as bad as we all thought. I have to admit I didn't think I would get this many ripe tomatoes. The star performer has been Black Krim, producing lots of beefy, juicy, luscious fruits.

Here are several at the bottom of this group shot, and one in the spotlight dance.











I've grown this variety previously, but not had much luck with it. I do love most of the tomatoes described as purple, dark, or black. They seem to have a real depth of flavor and good balanced acidity.

Among the other varieties I grew this year were Japanese Trifele, a gorgeous little pear shaped tom. Very prolific. Another called Polish Linguicia; a paste/sauce variety. The fruits on this plant are huge, but none are ripe yet. Also Aunt Ruby's German Green, which don't seem ripe when green, in fact they turn quite pink before they seem ready to eat. So maybe I didn't really get what was on the label. And Cuore di Bue, literally translated to Oxheart. These are big, beautiful pouch like tomatoes, but the yield has been disappointing; only a few pleated beach balls have appeared.

So that's the tomato roundup. A few weeks ago I didn't think we'd have anything but cherry tomatoes, but the bigger ones are ripening and I think we'll have good enough weather so that they won't all have to ripen on the kitchen counter.

A week ago I planted some salad greens and rapini. I also planted some Dutch White Clover as cover crop in some of the beds. Happily all of these seeds have come up and hopefully will get a good start before the weather turns cold. I hope I have done a better job of covering bare dirt this year than last.

Banking Food For The Off-Season

Today I harvested about 3 quarts of Sungold cherry tomatoes. I washed them, cut them in half and put them into small containers and popped them into the freezer. They are destined to be thawed on dim days and tossed with hot pasta, or stirred into risotto, or spun into salsa.

I also reaped about 2 quarts of blueberries. Washed and frozen too.

And since I have so much garlic this year, and so much of it was harvested a little too late, and was splitting apart, I decided to roast up a big pan full and hopefully freeze it for later use. As a sneak preview we schmeared some onto crusty baguette, drizzled with olive oil and seasoned with coarse salt and pepper.

The garlic can be thawed and spread on bread, stirred into soups and sauces. This may turn out to be one of my best ideas ever. It's got to be better that dried out cloves before the new crop is ready to dig up.

And I trimmed all of the excess leaves off the tomato plants, along with any fruit that didn't look mature. I really just want the plants to ripen any exiting fruit.

But what I really need to do is plant some salad greens. I may have left it a little too late, but it's worth a try. Who knows what kind of weather the next few weeks will bring. If the rest of the summer is any indication it should be changeable and unpredictable. At least we can count on that.