And The Wait Goes On...

When I wrote about the beginning of the wait for my asparagus, I meant waiting for the harvest.  I did not mean waiting for the darned crowns to arrive!  Aargh.  It is now three months since I ordered asparagus and I have despaired.  We are two months past asparagus-planting season here; I'm writing them off and will plant them in 2012.  Sigh.
T-bone here isn't impressed:

"No asparagus?
Really?"

On the plus side, that leaves a whole bunch of garden space that I can fit other things into- like tomatoes!  Instead of competing with the garlic, the tomatoes can have their own space in the future-asparagus bed.  I'm gonna call this one a blessing in disguise.  I get space to grow my tomatoes and space for my garlic to mature, in exchange for one more year of waiting for aspar-grass.  I can be happy with that. 

Now, if only I can convince T-bone that this is a Good Thing.  He's kinda hard to please.

p.s. Next week I'll be posting a green garlic recipe and the 2011 MKG veggie varieties!  Maybe T-bone will like those but I doubt it- he's partial to kale.

A Madness of Rhizomes

Oh, Bermuda grass!

You torment me SO

I dig and dig and dig

and dig and dig

Yet you still continue on

Under the ground

ad infinitum

Perhaps to China

But more likely

to Bermuda.

I wish you would have just stayed there to begin with.

*************

And now, to mangle some William Carlos Williams:



so much depends

upon

a green weed

barrow

filled with grass

shrapnel

beside the grey

kitten.

*************

  

You know how it's called a pride of lions or a murder of crows or a pod of dolphins?  I have come to the conclusion that we gardeners should start calling Bermuda grass, with its unbelievable tenacity, "a madness of rhizomes."  Those rhizomes will surely drive me to the brink of insanity.  Behold above, the results of 8 hours hard labor: a weed barrow.  And still the Bermuda grass persists.  I'm telling you, it's definitely a madness of rhizomes. 

Planning the 2011 MKG

With the danger of frost behind us here, it is high time I got to planning the 2011 Mighty Kitchen Garden!  In fact, I could have started planning things out months ago but I was a little busy landscaping the rest of the yard (several posts for another day).  I have three 4' x 12' raised bed that I rotate my main crops in so I already have the main garden plan in mind.  I just need to work out some of the details.  This is (theoretically) what those three beds are going to contain this summer:

Bed 1 - Cucurbits

Last year, this bed held beans and roots in summer and brassicas in winter.  For the 2011 summer season it will play host to the cucurbits, also known as zucchini, squash, cucumber and melon.  The winter squash and cukes will go up a trellis at the north end of the bed, the zucchini and summer squash will fill the center of the bed, and a cantaloupe and watermelon will be grown in a mound at the south end of the bed. 

Sunburst summer squash blossom

I have yet to grow a watermelon that produces fruit... maybe 2011 is my year.  Zucchini and cukes tend to grow like gangbusters and I'd love to fry up some stuffed squash blossoms.  Also, this year I am determined to grow and successfully store some winter squash.  Somehow I'm not curing them right...

Bed 2 - Grass, Morning Glory, Legumes

Last year this bed hosted the tomatoes in summer (and through most of the winter).  For 2011 it is going to be a truly random assortment of corn (grass), beans (legumes) and sweet potatoes (morning glory).  This planting scheme is a little crazy; we'll see how well they all play together.  I ordered bush-type sweet potatoes so I am hoping they don't take over the world. 

Last year I planted an entire bed of beans including a bunch for drying.  I came to the conclusion that you need a really big field to be able to grow a meaningful amount of dry beans and I can buy amazing ones from Rancho Gordo so this year I'll just stick to fresh eating beans.  This will be my first attempt at growing both corn and sweet potatoes- I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

Bed 3 - Solanaceae

Last year this bed was home to the cucurbits in summer, and it is currently occupied by alliums.  For 2011, this will be the bed of quintessential summer vegetables- tomatoes, peppers and eggplant.  I might throw a tomatillo or two in there as well if I can find the space. 

Black Cherry, Sungold, and Green Grape cherry tomatoes;
Amish Paste, Purple Russian and Ginger's Golden Delicious tomatoes;
Lemon and Cool Breeze cucumbers.

Alas, I wasn't really planning ahead last winter when I planted my garlic and onions because I planted them right where I knew the tomatoes were going.  Ugh.  Oh well, my tomato planting will just have to wait until after the garlic harvest.  Either that or I'll have to move them to the south end of the bed and grow the peppers and eggplants in their shade.  In most climates this would be a bad idea, but it just might work here in the land of perpetual summer sunshine.

So there you have it, the outline of the 2011 MKG!  I'll post my variety selections soon.  In the meantime, let me know what you're planning to grow this season!

Simply Delicious

Ah, it seems as though summer has finally arrived.  After a week of drizzles, the sun burst out this weekend and looks like it intends to stick around for the next four months.  The season has barely started and I'm already behind on my garden chores.  No worries though, the point of gardening is that it's relaxing and I therefore refuse to stress out about it.

In addition to planting, eating is always a good way to welcome a new season.  There are so many delicious foods to herald the coming of summer, particularly anything involving tomatoes.  But we aren't quite ready for that yet.  Instead we have been enjoying a dessert that is not season-specific, yet perfect for right now: Vanilla Ice Cream with Honey.

It might not look like much... but I promise it's awesome!

There is just no way to describe how something so simple can be so delicious.  A few weeks ago I had friends coming to dinner and I was feeling a little too lazy to bake something for dessert.  Instead, I picked up some vanilla ice cream and served it drizzled with honey.  A few of my guests were skeptical, but after that first bite all were converted and each of us had a second helping.  No one could quite put their finger on why this dessert was so good, it just was simply delicious.

As with any simple meal, good ingredients are the key.  We recently scored a jar of Organic Blue Borage Honey from New Zealand that fits this dish perfectly.  It's light and floral and is a perfect complement to the creamy vanilla.  Of course, you could dress this dish up with fresh fruit or herbs or fleur de sel, but really, why mess with such a good thing?  I encourage you to fill a bowl with some tasty vanilla ice cream, drizzle it with honey, and welcome whatever season you're in.

Full disclosure: We had this for dessert last night... and the night before.  And we rarely eat dessert.

Pink Pepper Picking

A few weeks ago I described my pink peppercorn find.  After confirmation from some expert foragers and recruiting an excellent foraging partner (my Mom!), I was ready to commence with the Pink Pepper Picking!

There was a serious abundance of fruits on the trees, so finding sufficient quantity was not a problem.  The main inconvenience of the mission was the sheer height of the trees- our harvest would have been larger had I brought a step ladder along.  I did bring gardening gloves, a pair of clippers and a tote bag.  But it turns out, all I needed was the tote bag.  We checked out the bunches of peppers within reach and chose to harvest the ones with the best color.  Our assumption was: bright pink = fresh.

After a mere ten minutes of effort, this is the resultant harvest:

Not bad, huh? 

We each decided to try a pepper and see how they tasted.  The answer?  The shell was sweet and the kernel inside was really peppery.  That might seem pretty obvious, but I just was not prepared for this level of pepper.  Half an hour later my Mom turned to me and said, "You know, I still taste that pepper."  I'm not sure she was a fan...

Now I will lay them out on a baking sheet to dry for a few days, then will bottle them up and store them in the pantry.  I am looking forward to making all of these dishes featuring them:

Pink pepper goat cheese spread
Pink pepper marinated olives
Chocolate and pink peppercorn cupcakes

Yum!  If you know a great way to showcase pink peppers, please pass it along in the comments.  And also, thanks, Mom!

Standard Foraging Disclaimer: Be careful, only eat things you're sure of, don't kill yourself, yada yada yada.

Strawed Berries

Sometimes, Easter is a day for jelly beans and Easter egg hunts.  This year, Easter was a day for brunch with friends and gardening with my Mom.

When I expanded the MKG this year, I wanted space to plant perennials: artichoke, rhubarb and asparagus.  My 5' x 12' bed is designated for two artichoke plants and one rhubarb plant.  Around here, artichokes can grow to monstrous proportions so it will be necessary to have such a big bed one day.  But for the next couple years, there will be a big gap around the edges of the bed while those plants fill in.

I considered planting root veggies like carrots, beets, and radishes around the edges.  But then I remembered strawberries, the ultimate taste of summer.  I planted them three years ago and discovered that Snoutface is partial to strawberries, too.  I didn't get a harvest (she did- they were right at snout height) and I sort of forgot about them.  But the space around the edge of the perennial bed is perfect for a strawberry patch!

The bed perimeter is 34 linear feet - just right for 30 strawberries at one-foot spacing.  I selected three different varieties from the nursery: Albion (12), Sequoia (12) and Seascape (6).  The Albion and Seascape are day-neutral; the Sequoia is June-bearing. 

To give the plants a good head start, we trimmed all the baby berries and flowers off once the strawberries were in the ground.  This allows them to devote energy to establishing roots in their new home.  Some sources suggest pinching off all the flowers that first year, but that's just crazy talk.  I am willing to wait for my asparagus, but there is no way I'm going to eliminate an entire strawberry crop. Some things I am just impatient about. 

We also made sure to dig good compost into the bed where the strawberries are planted, and set up a drip irrigation system for them.  The story of the drip irrigation is a post for another day...  The last step in completing the bed was to mulch it with straw and drape bird netting over it.

And the result?  The bed below: 1 rhubarb, 1 artichoke and 30 strawed berries!

The Urban Homesteading Kerfuffle Gets Press

A couple months ago, I filled you in on a little skirmish taking place in the urban homesteading community.  Well, it looks like the homies are starting to get some press!  On my way to the office yesterday, while listening to the California Report on NPR, I heard none other than Ruby Blume- founder of the Institute of Urban Homesteading.  Listen to the interview here.

It appears that people are more concerned with the behavior of Facebook than they are about trademarking common usage words.  The Facebook issue (taking down pages for trademark infringement without notice or recourse) is very distressing, especially for groups who rely on it for communication, contact, marketing etc. 

I tend to be slightly more concerned with the idea of people owning words.  I mean, they're words.  "Urban homesteading."  It's not like it's a proper name or slogan or something.   But if Facebook antics are what get people to care and help stop this nutty trademark kerfuffle, I'm all for it.  Go get 'em, Ruby!

p.s. I am *still* an urban homesteader.