Friday Favorite: Seeing Results

It’s nice to see results for our efforts. Sometimes in gardening it can seem like they are slow to come, especially when you are trying to improve your soil. I’ve been working on the soil in the back garden for two summers now and when I harvested garlic I could see a noticeable difference between the areas I had added amendments, chicken litter, cover crops, and compost and areas that I didn’t do anything to.

On the left you can see the original soil, on the right the soil I have been working on improving. Below you can see the original soil’s texture in the top image and the improved texture on the bottom. Notice how the clump of soil in the bottom image holds together, the top one is powdery and falls apart.


I notice a huge difference in the moisture retention in the areas I’ve improved. They need stay damp for much longer than the other areas. I’ve always said that gardeners grow soil not plants. I spend the majority of my garden budget on quality compost and soil amendments. The results are quite nice and the plants I do buy grow much better as a result. I can hardly wait to see how the soil looks in 10 years!

How is the soil in your garden? Have you noticed an improvement throughout the years? 

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A Summer Favorite

It is the season for zucchini noodles once again and that makes me very, very happy! I got this julienne peeler last year and starting making them quickly and easily.


Now we eat them all summer long and love them. You’ll find us topping them with meatballs and marinara, stuffing them into spring rolls, and tossing them with vinaigrette.

I wrote a blog post on how I make these lovelies last year, you can find it here. I always salt them generously to draw out some of the water, that way they have the a texture closer to noodles and aren’t as soggy. I also don’t slice up the inside of the squash, it usually gets way too mushy and the chickens make use of it.

Thankfully, my zucchini plants are producing like crazy and I have a second planting sizing up to last long into the fall.

Do you do anything creative to use up the zucchini from your garden?

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Golden

I was out working in the garden two nights ago and noticed the beautiful light washing over the goldenrod and queen anne’s lace.  There are no way that words could describe the beauty of this moment, I was happy that my camera was by my side.






Goldenrod gets a bad rap for causing allergies, but it really doesn’t. It’s the ragweed that blooms at the same time that is the culprit for seasonal allergies. Goldenrod is an important plant for pollinators, especially for monarch butterflies. I encourage you to let it bloom and thrive in your garden if you have it.

What beauty are you noticing around you this week?

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The First Onions

One of the reasons I grow different varieties is to watch how they do in my garden. I watch grow rates and harvest dates. This year ‘Martina’ onions are new to my garden. They grew well, sized up nicely and were ready to harvest this past weekend. This variety is a short day variety, so they size up without the 16 hours of sunlight that the long day ones require.

According to Baker Creek, this onion does well and summer/fall onion in the northern latitudes. I should have planted my extra seed and planted them out to see how well they sized up in the fall. It’s probably too late to sow them now, but I’ll throw the extra seeds in a tray and see what happens, perhaps with a little cover they might produce a crop that will last longer in the spring than the onions harvested now.

This is one of my favorite things about gardening, I get to satisfy my curiosity and get vegetable in return. I’ll be watching these onions to see how well they store.  This variety sizes up so fast, I will have to start some extra early next winter to have onions extra early from the garden. I could even grow onion sets one year to plant out in the spring.

What fun things are you doing in the garden this year? 

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Planting fall Crops

A month or so ago, someone said they couldn’t believe that I didn’t can vegetables for winter eating. I used to can, but I no longer go. I grew up in a canning family, we canned everything under the sun and ate on it all winter long. I guess I’d just rather eat a little more seasonally and I’d rather spend my time in the garden rather than in the kitchen over a canning pot.

Over the past five or so years I’ve been working on growing a wider variety of vegetables  in smaller amounts and in different seasons. Trying to expand the season that I’m harvesting from the garden rather than using from the pantry. I also try to grow things that don’t need preserving, more root vegetables, cabbages, and the like.

So far I’m doing well with my efforts, we’ve been eating only garden fresh vegetables for the past five months and will continue to do so until at least late November. Once I have a greenhouse we should be able to shorten the hunger gap a little more. I’d also successfully grow chicons, which we can harvest in the dark days of Dec-Feb. Yesterday I planted a lot of things that will feed us in Sept-November: broccoli, cabbage, tomatoes that you pull and hang in the basement, beets, carrots, herbs, and many other things.

There are a few things I will always can, tomato soup, roasted tomato passata, tomatoes, and a few jars of jam for Mr Chiots. Other than that, you’ll find me in the garden.

Do you can your garden vegetables? Do you grow cold hardy or heat tolerant vegetables to harvest during your off season?

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