Bolting Brassicas
This spring has been HOT, HOT, HOT here in NE Ohio. We’ve already had days in the 90’s and next week looks to be just as hot. We never really have a spring as most people think of it, we go from winter directly into summer here. It makes growing brassicas a bit of a challenge. These little napa cabbages never had a chance. I planted in a raised bed in the back where they get some shade, but that wasn’t quite enough.
I suppose I could still harvest some of the leaves, but I decided to pull them all out and use them as mulch instead. They were replaced with celery, which will come in handy when making quarts of my homemade tomato soup.
In the Midwest, growing brassicas can be challenging. This year a few of my broccoli plants produced nice heads and the ones that started producing after the heat stroke hit are producing little button heads instead.
Of course that’s what we get when we try to grow things outside of their comfort zones, so we take a risk and roll the dice on what kind of summer we’ll have. Tomatoes and peppers don’t like the cold, brassicas and peas don’t like the heat. Different varieties also fare differently in weather extremes, thus it’s worthwhile to try a few different kinds. I have one type of broccoli that’s definitely weathering the heat better than the other. I bet the other one does better as a fall crop.
The beautiful thing is, I can simply pull out the bolting brassicas and replace them with something that’s going to LOVE the hot dry summer ahead – like peppers, tomatoes and squash. Sometimes it’s best to go with the flow and take advantage rather than trying to fight it! Looks like my pantry will be stuffed with lots of fire roasted peppers for the winter!
Are there any plants that you would love to grow but can’t because of the zone/climate you live in?
Share this:
Friday Favorite: The Big Berkey
For a few years now we’ve been using a Big Berkey Water Filter for all of our drinking/cooking water. It’s one of those workhorses in the house that you don’t notice, but you’re so glad it’s there. It’s my Friday Favorite because I got my water test report from our water supplier yesterday.
This filter is great because it filters just about everything out of the water, heavy metals, VOC’s, radon, etc. They are very similar to the filters we used in Colombia growing up to filter our collected rain water for drinking.
In our Big Berkey we use the Black Berkey filtering elements and they remove or reduce the following:
Pathogenic Bacteria and Cysts (E. Coli, Klebsiella, Pseudomonas Aeruginosa, Giardia, Cryptosporidium, Raoltella Terrigena) – Reduced to > 99.9999%
Viruses (MS2 – Fr Coliphage) – Reduced to > 99.999%
Parasites – Reduced to > 99.9999%
Harmful or unwanted chemicals such as herbicides and pesticides
Chlorine – Removed to Below Detectable Limits
Detergents
Organic solvents
THM’s (Trihalomethanes – Bromodichloromethane, Bromoform, Chloroform, Dibromochloromethane) – Removed to Below Detectable Limits
MTBE’s (Methyl tert-Butyl Ehter) – Removed to Below Detectable Limits
Other VOC’s – Removed to Below Detectable Limits
Cloudiness
Silt
Sediment
Radiologicals: Radon 222, Removed to Below Detectable Limits
Nitrates & Nitrites
Heavy metals – Up to 95%
Iron
Foul tastes and odor
Our water here is drawn from very shallow sources, and thus there are a lot of contaminates in it. Most of them are reduced to “levels below that which would harm a healthy person” but that doesn’t give me much consolation. Some of them are quite high and above the limit listed as “safe”. I’d rather filter my water so I’m not drinking all these baddies! Since our water also contains arsenic and fluoride we use the additional Fluoride/Arsenic filters in addition to the Black filters. I really don’t want to take any chances with the arsenic.
One of the things I love about the Berkey is that it’s a gravity filter. I fill the top chamber and it filters down into the bottom. It will store about a gallon of water in the bottom reservoir. We also keep a gallon pitcher of filtered water on the counter. That way, whenever I need a lot of water for making soup or pasta I’ve got it ready.
We love our Berkey so much and the great water it provides us that it always travels with us when we hit the open road. There’s nothing better than having good, tasteless, odorless water wherever you are!
Even if you have great water, keeping a good filter in the house for emergencies is a good idea, it can be a small camping type one or a gravity feed one like the Berkey. If there’s ever a natural disaster or a water main break that disrupts or contaminates your water supply you can use it to filter water to drink. I like knowing that it doesn’t matter what happens, I can put the water from my rain barrels or from the lake through my Berkey and have safe drinking water.
Do you have well water or city water? Do you keep a water filter for emergencies?
Share this:
Bloom Where You’re Planted (or wherever)
Last summer when Mr Chiots and I were at a wedding, I spotted these lovely teeny tiny daisies blooming in the lawn. Some of them had gone to seed, so I picked a few seeds to try to sprout. When I got home, I planted them in a seed flat, but by fall nothing had germinated. I emptied the flat of soil onto the back hillside when I planted all those tulips.
Wouldn’t you know it, a month ago I spotted this one tiny little daisy blooming on the back hillside among the browning tulip foliage. It’s so sweet and so tiny.
Perhaps the seeds need to go through a cold spell before germinating, or maybe they just like dry sandy conditions. Isn’t that how gardening is, sometimes plants have a mind of their own, or we just don’t know what they really need.
Have you tried to start something from seed with no success and then had the plants start themselves when in the right spot?
Share this:
Older is Better
I’ve been wanting to get Mr Chiots a White Mountain hand crank ice cream machine for quite a while. I looked at the new ones, but after reading some of the reviews, I decided a vintage one would be better quality. For the past couple months I’ve been looking for a used one for sale that was in great shape. Last week I finally found on over on Yesterday & Tomorrow store on Etsy.
It’s a 6 quart beauty in almost mint condition and I scored it for only $110! It came beautifully packaged a vintage pillowcases with lovely crocheted lace (and they sent it’s pair). Needless to say, Mr Chiots is really excited to make sure it works.
I love it when I can find something vintage instead of buying new, generally I find that it’s much better quality than a new one. Every now and then I get impatient and buy something new and usually I’m disappointed with the quality. I’m very thankful for places like Etsy that make it much easier to find great vintage items.
What’s something you’ve purchased new that you wish you had been able to find an older version of?
Share this:
Filling my Pockets
On Sunday afternoon I went out to check on the garden since it had been a few days since I had done it. First stop was the edible garden of course and I noticed right away that there were some peas ready to harvest. I picked and picked until my pockets were full, then I made a beeline back to the house to shell them. These are the ‘Dakota’ peas that a few of you recommended.
These peas are quite nice, they plants are very short, they probably wouldn’t even need support. They seem to be blooming and producing quite prolifically. I planted a few other varieties of shelling peas as well, but the deer have munched all of those off. Thankfully these are planted where the deer can’t get to them. The golden peas are ready to harvest and I have a few nice heads of broccoli as well.
We enjoyed these peas with dinner that evening, steamed and sprinkled on top of the Hungarian Goulash we were eating. They were simply divine. One of the best things about eating seasonally and growing your own is tasting freshly harvested items after a long time without them. You remember you like peas or beans, but you forget the complexity and freshness of just harvested vegetables, I can’t wait for the first tomato!
What fresh vegetable are you most looking forward to this gardening season?
