Peas and Twigs
Perhaps you have seen peas growing among twigs in garden books, on-line, in other gardens or you do it your own garden. It’s an old tradition to grow peas up twigs. (note: these are not the peas currently in my garden, these photos were taken last spring at the end of April, my peas haven’t even germinated yet).
I’ve always used this method for supporting peas, mainly because it’s convenient and cheap. Since my gardens are surrounded by woods,, I have access to as many saplings and twigs as I need.
I’ve also heard it’s helpful for keeping rabbits and other critters out of the garden. It didn’t work for me last year with the deer, so I’m not sure if this is true.
I read a few weeks ago that peas are traditionally grown up twigs because they are planted at the same time as the trees are pruned. How convenient, you remember when to plant your peas and you have plenty of free supports for them.
Do you have any great old gardening traditions/sayings like this or any cost cutting measures you employ in the garden?
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The First Tomato Seedling of 2010
Exciting things are happening in the Chiot’s Run basement seed starting headquarters. On Saturday morning while working in the basement, I spotted the first tomato seedling of 2010. Can you guess what kind it is?*
This is when that new macro lens Mr Chiots got me for Christmas comes in handy, I never would have been able to get this close with my other lens. It’s a thing of beauty, since I was working in the basement so I caught it before it even fully emerged from the soil and stood up. I had just checked them that morning and didn’t see anything, later that afternoon there was a tiny speck of green.
I still haven’t started all of my tomato seeds yet, that will happen this week when I can leave the flats on the front porch to warm (it’s supposed to be in the high 60’s). Of course I ended up with more variates than I wanted to grow, but fewer than last year. I’ll give you the full list when I start them.
Do you have any tomatoes growing yet?
*It’s a San Marzano
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Perennial Potato and Egyptian Walking Onions
Over the past couple years I’ve been reading about permaculture and have been looking for ways to incorporate more of these techniques into my gardening. One of the things that many permaculture advocates suggest is using as many perennial vegetables as possible to limit the need to disturb the soil by working it too much. Adding more perennial fruits and vegetables would also help with the gardening work load! Since I love trying to things, especially in the garden I decided I’d try my hand at growing perennial onions and Egyptian Walking onions. I searched on-line and found them at Southern Exposure.
According to Southern Exposure:
Heirloom potato onions enjoyed widespread popularity before the turn of the century. Nearly every gardener grew potato onions and they were available in yellow, white, and reddish-brown varieties, the yellow being most common. Potato onions are still a local favorite in some areas of Virginia. Each bulb cluster of potato onions may contain many bulbs, averaging 2 to 2-1/2″ in diameter. When a small bulb (3/4″) is planted, it will usually produce one or two larger bulbs. When a large bulb (3 to 4″) is planted, it will produce approximately 10 to 12 bulbs per cluster. These bulbs of various sizes may be used for eating, storing, or replanting. By replanting a mixture of sizes you will have plenty of sets for next year’s crop and plenty of onions for eating during the year. Potato onions can increase 3- to 8- fold by weight each year depending on growing conditions. Potato onions store better than most seed onions, and individual bulbs can be grown in flower pots to produce a steady supply of green onions during the winter.
The potato onions looked like shallots and the Egyptian onions were tiny little bulbs, not quite what I was expecting.
Egyptian Onions are described by Southern Exposure this way:
The onion to plant if you always want onions. Egyptian Walking Onions grow perennially in a bed. Hardy bulbs set bulblets on stalks. Air bound bulblets will sprout new smaller stalks, which fall over and replant themselves, hence the name “Walking”. Bulbs can be harvested over Fall and Winter. Green Onions can be harvested selectively as they grow. Plant them where you intend to have them for a long time, as they are quite hardy.
I planted both of these last fall and I was pretty excited when I saw the potato onions and the walking onions coming up this spring. I’m interested to see how they do here in the gardens and what the flavor is like. Not having to plant as many onions each year will be nice if these work out. I’ll be sure you keep you posted.
Do you have any perennial vegetables or fruits in the garden?
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First Seeds Planted this Season
We’ve had some beautiful sunny warm days this week that have awakened my gardening spirit. I spent some time on the front porch in the sun starting a few flats of seeds. The first seeds of the 2010 gardening season. What did I plant? Onions, of course.
Onions take a long time to germinate and they can be planted outside earlier than many other plants. So typically onions are the first seeds to start in late winter. Many people prefer using onion sets since they’re easier, but I like the variety offered by onion seeds. I planted 2 different varieties of heirloom onions this week.
Jaune Paille Des Vertus (onion) – Introduced about 1793, this old onion is now hard to find. It is also called Brown Spanish by French seed house Vilmorin; in 1885 they said, “The winter supply of Paris and of a great part of Europe consists chiefly of this variety, which may be often seen hanging up in dwelling-houses in long hanks formed by interlacing and plaiting the withered leaves together.” The roots are flattened and 3″-4″ across, the skin is a brownish yellow and the flesh is flavorful. This antique is known for its keeping qualities that made it a standard in Europe for over 200 years.
Yellow of Parma (onion) – Long-day type–Large, golden onions are oblong-globe shaped. This late onion makes an excellent keeper; a rare and hard-to-find Italian variety.
I waited a little longer this year to start onions. Last year I had onion seedling that needed to be planted outside and nowhere to put them due to weather and too wet conditions. (this is a photo from April 10, 2009)
Later this spring (as soon as I get the seeds and the ground thaws), I’ll be direct sowing a few other varieties of onions in the garden as. I’m going to compare the effects of starting the seeds indoors or direct sowing in the garden. If direct sowing works well, that will sure save me some time each spring.
Any seeds being starting for your 2010 gardens? Which ones?
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Some Like it HOT
I’m a big fan of hot food, and by hot I mean spicy hot. You’ll find me adding crushed red pepper to just about everything I eat. Because I like it so much I decided to grow some in the garden last summer. I ended up with quite a bounty thanks to the full sun conditions in my mom’s garden and the few plants I had here at Chiot’s Run as well. I dried the ripe cayenne peppers and have them stored in a big jar in the basement pantry.
Every so often I add a few to my spice grinder (which is a coffee mill only used for grinding spices, who wants spicy coffee?). I grind them a few seconds for freshly ground red pepper flakes. I’m sure enjoying my homegrown cayenne, it’s much hotter than the red pepper you buy in the store and has a great fresh flavor. BEWARE – don’t inhale too deeply when you open the grinder, you’ll end up in coughing fits!
I’m glad I like cayenne pepper because it’s health benefits are quite numerous, see references below. There’s even an entire book about it The Health Benefits of Cayenne, I must get this from the library.
I love spices because they make your food taste so much better and they really up the nutritional content by adding all kinds of vitamins, minerals and trace elements. They’re a great way to layer on the flavor and the health!
So what about you – are you a hot & spicy kind of person, or do you have a more sensitive palate?
read more about the health benefits of cayenne pepper:
Organic Facts
The Worlds Healthiest Foods
The Health Benefits of Cayenne Pepper
