Busy Summer

Hot, humid, and dry. Soaker hoses save the harvest. With heat indexes above 100 for weeks the weather took it's toll on this gardener and the plants. It is almost over but not before a few tropical storms blow through. Hurricane Dorrian missed us but our proximity to the coast ensures we get winds which blew over both field pea supports. (I will have to anchor them better.) The okra which had peaked was just hammered. This is now our climate has changed our gardening: I expect extreme heat and dry periods. I expect hurricanes and tropical storm winds to begin in September. Anyone in the coastal plain of North Carolina who does not, is delusional.  

Summer photos: 

Contender beans

Volunteer from the bird feeder. 

Keiffer pears. 

Celia's field peas from saved seed. 

Cayenne peppers from saved seed. 

Sungold zinnia. Mine from saved seed. 

May 2019

Allowed to sprout from bird feeder! 

Transitioning from fall/winter to summer I am always busy in the garden but this year I traveled which really skewed the timeline. Back on track, only the kale, cabbage and Swiss Chard are evidence of cooler times and soon they will be outta here! Temperatures are soaring into the high 90's today and will persist for at least the next week.

Tomato fruit, growing in pots, are about to change color. I am trying to think of the advantages of growing in pots, but really, it is a lot of work here where it is so hot. I need even bigger pots and bigger pots mean bigger ugly. Perhaps oak barrels are the answer.

Shifting away from a Southern gardener's biggest challenge (tomatoes), everything else is chugging right along. Potatoes are harvested I planted okra on Monday and they were up by Wednesday, green beans are producing generously, zucchini is good. Peppers are forming on the bell variety. Ground cherries are starting to fruit. Jalapeños lookin' good, same with cayenne. Field peas will be planted tomorrow and off we go enjoy summer's bounty!

Every exposed area of soil has been mulched as we have flipped from too wet to too dry. I use wheat straw which is pretty, decomposes well and does a good job of retaining moisture.

I am harvesting oregano for drying and will do the same with chives mid-morning today.  Then I will hide from the heat!

Pearly white against pale green. Perfection! 

Red Norland what Southerners call "new potatoes" because the skin can be rubbed off (but who does that any more?).  

A handful every few days and we have enough for dinner. 

Tips

Parsley flower. Look closely. The brown spots are flea beetles. 

Most experienced gardeners recommend weeding early and often. Truth. It will make gardens more productive. Mulch is the first option here in the hot, hot south.

My tip, which ties weeding for first place? Look closely at all your plants every day. One thing leads to another. An example: Looking at my newly planted ground cherries I saw leaves were  peppered with holes. Hmmm. Slowly shifting gears I looked up and just above a flowering parsley plant left for native bees. Aha! Flea beetles nestled the underside of parsley flowers. One hand under each flower, the other giving a gentle shake and down fall the flea beetles. It takes a few seconds for them to right themselves. No chemicals used.

Fall to Spring

Fall planted lettuce and spinach. Pretty! 

     It's spring here in Southeastern N.C.! Flowers and plants are pushing out and up everywhere! Yay! This winter attended a few classes in order learn new and better ways to garden.
     Here is a tip from Mark Weathington, Director of JC Raulston Arboretum in Raleigh, N.C. the speaker at our Master Gardener Annual Symposium.  He recommends planting 4 O'clocks to keep Japanese Beetles out of edible garden beds. They prefer 4 O'clocks to just about anything else, eat them, and then die. They literally love them to death. It is an easy solution to a hard problem.
     Speaking of die offs, some were epic this year. Rosemary and sage both died within days of Hurricane Florence - too much water, too quick, with nowhere to go. The oregano almost croaked but has rebounded no doubt because it was in a raised container. I am amazed the cabbage did not get root rot. It survived our winter rains and is now forming heads. Looking good, right?!
I have adopted the no dig method in all but the back bed in our yard (the husband cannot stop digging there.) All the herbs and veggies shown are growing in no dig beds and all are doing well. Hip, hip, hooray for not digging.
     In no time we'll have potatoes and beans, and before we know it summer will be here!
     Some photos of my fall to spring garden survivors...

Planted in November. 

More November plantings!

Planted late February. Red Norland early potatoes with a random horseradish.  Oops. Who knew it was a garden thug. 

Parsley and thyme with shallots and kale.

Planted in November it is now heading up. 

Newbies just emerging. Lettuce, carrots and beets. 

Broad beans are now over 3 feet tall. 

                                                                          

Swiss chard beside garlic started in October. 

Rain almost killed the oregano. That is saying something. 

The future. Tomatoes, peppers and herbs. 

Late Winter or Early Spring?

Ours has been a relatively warm winter and here mid-February we find ourselves with temperatures in the 60's and 70's wondering should I plant? Then it comes up cool and rainy. So yes, I impulsively planted and covered. Radishes came up within days, I keep watching for carrots, lettuce and beets planted last week to push up and, as a plus, we'll have rain every day this week which will be perfect for young seedlings and transplants.

Currently put out to chit in a warm, sunny bedroom are seed potatoes. Some are already starting to sprout and will be put out next week when I sort out how much rain there will be. We've had way too much rain since Hurricane Florence (and that was an epic amount of water) so I will sit tight and wait on those until March. I bought from an organic seed company out of Maine, Wood Prairie Farms, last year, like the results and varieties offered and have bought from them again this year. A plus, they sell organically grown potatoes for eating as well. Yay!

Scott brought home broccoli and cabbage from the seeds store last week those are in and will hopefully do well.

Exciting news! The broad beans aka fava beans are beginning to flower. I am quite pleased with how well they are doing. Spinach planted last fall survived and are growing in this warmth. I am ever hopeful that we'll have enough for salads and for cooking. Swiss chard has survived the coldest nights  under cover and we've enjoyed off and on this winter. I have a recipe using Swiss chard with scallops that is quite warming on cold nights.

Herbs that survived the hurricane are thriving and enhancing meals almost daily. Did I tell you about Green Soup. I know. I did. But we love it and use all combinations of greens to make it, nothing is exempt from inclusion in this brassica based elixir- rutabaga, Swiss chard, collard, broccoli, mustard, kale have all been thrown into the pot. A reminder, do not forget the squeeze of lemon. It's no different than adding a splash of vinegar to braised greens, that time honored tradition of Southern cuisine, which adds that something that puts them over the top! Salud!

The seed packet says they like cool, wet weather. I am chuffed. 

!

Kale

Last year the kale I grew was dwarf. I do not usually grow many of any plant because there are only two people to grow for so ten kale plants is typically plenty. But, dwarf makes lots less. This year I got it right and am growing standard plants which are quite generous placing Green Soup squarely on the menu. I have written about this wonderful soup in the past but here it is again. Any green combination works-collards, rutabagas, broccoli, Swiss chard, spinach and of course kale. Do. Not. Skip. The Lemon! It is critically important! Salud!
https://www.splendidtable.org/recipes/basic-green-soup

New to the soup rotation is Tuscan Bean Soup. As with Green Soup, any leafy green is good. The parmesan rind really is a game changer, though it is still good without. It is a hearty vegetarian soup.
https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2012/01/30-minute-tuscan-white-bean-soup-recipe.html

I pulled some Sparkler radishes to serve with Christmas dinner and served our own broccoli as well. Both were lovely contributions! Only slightly spicy they were pretty on the deviled egg plate! Oh, right, a leaf of parsley atop deviled eggs is festive after sprinkling on paprika. Merry Christmas, it was!

Grown under cover they are a sweet, slightly spicy vegetable in fall. Many more to come!

Experiments

This year I am trying a few new, to me, winter vegetables. I bought Napa cabbage seedlings, planted in one of my 4x4 raised beds, it survived Hurricane Florence and prospered. It is magnificent and very tasty. I bought shallot bulbs and they are up and doing well.
Now for the one that excites me most: fava beans. I have meant to grow them for years but, not sure exactly how to grow and tend them, did not buy seeds. This year I watched some videos did some reading and bought seeds. It took a lot of self discipline to wait and plant them late Fall but I did it. Doubting they would come up I pretty much forgot to check them but when I did there they were! Fifteen of the sixteen seeds germinated and are producing leaves. They will bear in early Spring if all goes well.
In other news, we have just a few more broccoli heads to harvest, mustard is still producing, the kale is beautiful, radishes are thriving under cover as are lettuce, arugula, Swiss chard and (gasp) spinach. We have abundant parsley this year. I gave away parsley seed heads at a regional Master Gardener event and was advised to rub the seeds off the seed head without covering with soil. I tried it and now have a now have a nice bed of parsley! I will never tease off the seeds again...

The broad bean experiment begins. 

Broccoli

Broccoli. The ubiquitous brassica we take for granted is truly a thing of beauty. In truth, I think all brassicas are pretty. I did not grow up eating from this category of food at all. Rarely were they served, not even the most Southern of them all, king collard. Food for the poor, I had no idea how to cook them when I finally grew them. A friend explained the process and I read recipes to come up with a method.

Back to broccoli: I microwave for less than three minutes in a covered dish with a splash of water. Squeeze on lemon juice and that is it! Food for the gods. 

Now the greens: Collards and turnips are strong stuff so I add in other greens-kale, mustard, rutabaga-to tame them a bit. A tip; a grating of nutmeg rounds out the flavor.
For those who buy their greens: Use kale for Caesar Salad following the America's Test Kitchen recipe. No kale rubbing required. There is a trick. Soak the torn greens in 110 degree water to tame the sharp notes of the green.
Saluda!

Which is the fairest of them all? It is a hard call. (Curly kale)

An aside: My personal favorite is mustard. Every year I let a few plants go to seed and save them for the next year. As they bloom the bees, all types, harvest the pollen. Bees love brassica blossoms! Also, the flowers are quite tasty in salads, especially mustard which adds a spicy, bright yellow kick.    

Spinach!

I planted spinach multiple times this season. There were plants before Hurricane Florence, and her cousin Michael, but they literally evaporated sometime while we were busy preparing, recovering, and putting things right. I tried again. Nothing. It was too hot, too wet, too humid, too dry for weeks after the storms. One last go, I thought. What have I got to lose, I thought. Nothing, I thought. So, two week ago when the days were warmish and the nights outright cold I planted again. Then I covered my raised beds (Agribon 19) of lettuce and Swiss chard and assumed the worst. Yesterday I uncovered to check the lettuce and...behold! the spinach has germinated and seed leaves have emerged. I could only laugh. I think I've found the right formula. Warm-ish soil, days in the 60's, and cold nights under cover. Forget the planting guides. They were right before climate weirding but our epic storms have shown me anything goes.

Look closely. Radish to the left of me, lettuce to the right, here I am...

Also, Charles Dowding (No Dig guru) informs in his video on spinach that Spring plantings are forced to send up flowers when the days get longer and warm. explaining my Spring planting failures. In his climate, which is much cooler than ours, he over-winters seedlings which then produce when the days lengthen and the air warms. Now I understand my failures. These babies will probably not produce until months from now. I can wait.  We've got kale! :)

Peppers

We picked a peck and more of bell peppers this year. They came off steadily. Keeping well in the fridge we ate them every few days, many ways but they have come to the end of it's run with these cool nights. I had Scott take a photo of me with the largest, most productive pepper yesterday. It is almost as tall as me. Fun.

All the Fall and Winter plants are perking right along with rains coming every few days. They need little tending-no weeds, no watering, no bugs, no covering. Broccoli is starting to head. Kale is pretty. Brussels sprouts are growing. Parsley is flat out amazing. I followed a tip from an ag extension agent who recommended I just rub the seeds from a seed head and scratch them into the soil. Ka-ching! I think they all germinated and they all look good. I do really like parsley. A season without parsley is really sad to me-something I learned the hard way.

Fall is here!

We skippity hopped right past Indian summer and into mid-Fall! In a matter of days I put away all my summer clothes and pulled out winter garb.
The sun came out today encouraging me to get out and dig, clean, compost and mulch. I checked on some lettuce, arugula, radishes and spinach planted a over week ago growing under cover and found all have germinated but the spinach. I also planted more garlic. All are planted in 4x4 raised beds. The lettuce varieties are  Oak Leaf and, new to me, Spotted Alepo bought at the Monticello gift shop. The radishes are Sparkler. In an adjacent 4x4 bed are magnificent Chinese cabbages just heading up and more lettuce: Marveille de Quatres Saison (an heirloom French variety that grows right through winter) and Black Seeded Simpson. Swiss chard is doing OK.
Today's harvest? Okra pods full of seeds for next year's summer harvest.

Recovery

Our little town and my little garden endeavor endured unbelievable amounts of water from Hurricane Florence. It bends the mind to have nature turn in such a way, more so because we, at least me,could not imagine worse than Hurricane Matthew. Florence shattered records and many more lives than Matthew. In the plus category we were as prepared as we could be for an epic storm we thought would never come.
Into the bardo we slid, oddly resigned, preparing best we could knowing the garden would drown which, it did. This time the woody herbs died within days. Gone were the sage, tarragon and rosemary, poof. The root vegetables evaporated too tender to put up a fight. Oddly, the basil and okra survived though they are known to withstand heat and dry. Our brassicas- broccoli, Brussels spouts, mustard, kale and cabbage-not happy for want of sun and too much rain looked sad but have miraculously rebounded, I think. In the past week I have planted leafy fall vegetables like lettuce and spinach slowly rebounding from the same reaction I had to Matthew's floods which was, inexplicably, to recoil from gardening altogether.
Putting one foot in front of the other in order to order oneself I participated in the Robeson County Agricultural Fair as planned, won a handful of blue ribbons, and volunteered as a Master Gardener going through the motions akin to living while grieving grave loss. I have cried many tears and many times on account of  this regional catastrophe. After Matthew I felt we had done the worst. Now, I wonder if it will get worse, when, and where. In the meantime, I carry on differently.

Chinese cabbage in raised beds post Hurricane Florence 2018. 

Lists

Hurricane Matthew destroyed our garden beds with at least 24 inches of water here on Chestnut Street. It was an awesome lot of water. Our internet service was also down the better part of a month. Fun times. I escaped to my daughter's house where I mostly talked about hurricanes and...my garden. Then I went to Fifth Season garden center and bought seeds, in particular broad beans which I have never grown.
I have been asked to make a list of my favorite websites. Here goes.
https://www.splendidtable.org/recipes/fragrant-tuscan-herb-salt
https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/
https://www.motherearthnews.com
https://www.ces.ncsu.edu
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvUUpBvbCaY (Charles Dowding videos)
https://www.weather.gov
This is a start.

Red okra flower. Isn't she pretty?

Second Summer

It has been a long, hot summer. Looking back at my journal high heat and humidity eased up on us the last week of June and has been here with, maybe, three days off-just the facts, y'all. We are now moving into our third month of summer misery. All gardening takes place between dawn and 10:00 a.m. I liken August to February in that we are mostly trapped indoors in conditioned air.

Now is that time when I am planting a second crop of early summer veg. Fungus attacked my first plantings of green beans. Combined heat and humidity is bad, really bad for all but field peas and okra which are chugging along just fine.

They were so cute!
(Cherokee yellow wax bean)

Success!

I declare our Summer 2018 backyard garden a success! We added a new space where our river birch died using the No Dig method. Peppers, tomatoes, Swiss chard, herbs and dwarf corn grow there. The corn seeds were a gift from son Jonathan.  About four feet tall, if they managed pollination during this rainy spell, we will have enough for a few meals-another experiment. So many things can go wrong from seed to seed. These are an heirloom, sweet, blue corn bought from Hudson Valley Seed Co. Check them out. They have the best rutabagas I think.

The No Dig method is a subjective success. I do not weigh produce to compare from year to year but Charles Dowding, an English market farmer, does. He has revived and revised Ruth Stout's no dig method. His data shows that No Dig is as productive or more than when we till and turn garden soil. I have used it throughout our beds because it's time to stop beating myself up growning vegetables. Watch his videos on Youtube. His germination method mimics Craig LeHoullier's tomato germination method which is along the line of more is more. If you grow your plants from seed you gotta check out their videos/blog. There is much to know.

Volunteerism: I advocate such and allowed our summer garden to do so. From our in garden compost, from the bird feeder and self-seeding survivors,  sunflowers, pumpkins, holy basil, and butternut squash all volunteered, delighted, and produced. I may be able to enter pumpkins in the Robeson Regional Agricultural Fair this year. I have harvested seven nice sized butternuts squash this past week. Sunflowers will be left for the birds, holy basil will be dried and harvested for tea.

June 2018

Ground cherry in husk. 

The fruit. 

The garden is all things beautiful. Green, flowering, lush, producing fruit, and making seeds. We are eating and enjoying watching grow tomatoes, ground cherries, pumpkins, squash, Lima beans, peppers, basil, sunflowers, Monarda aka Bee Balm, okra.

Today I finished harvesting borage seeds. Soon the mustard seeds will mature and dry, parsley too.
This year I will try save tomato seeds from those that are heirloom. The tomato/straw bale/pot experiment is generally a success. There have been loses but there are also tomatoes! Yay!

The No Dig okra experiment is also a success. Following Charles Dowding's method (look up his videos on Youtube) I spread compost, stuck seeds in holes and have mulched heavily. No digging at all. Scott resisted. I persisted. It has taken the plants longer to set up in the new bed. The ground there is quit hard and filled with roots from the dead tree, so there's that, but after a few weeks (I'm theorizing here) the roots push through and the plants take off. 
                                                    
Stink bugs. Daughter Katie sent a link for me to read about stink
bugs. Yikes. Talk about an eye opener. Bottom line. Do not squash them! The scent draws in their mates. Instead I have ready, at all times, a bowl of water with dish soap. Stink bugs drop when threatened so I hold the bowl under them, flick them and they drop down to their death. Soapy water is a great pesticide. I am also bringing in tomatoes as soon as they change color.

Kale. It was planted last fall and is still growing strong. The flavor is still good and we eat from it
about once a week. Who knew?

Ground Cherries (above), another experiment, are like candy in a wrapper. I love them!

All gone! 

Experiment

Following three hot, dry weeks we have had a whole week of gentle soaking rain with cooler temps. What a relief.

This year's garden experiment is huge! I am growing tomatoes in straw bales. So far, so good. All are healthy and some are setting fruit.  I'm following Craig LeHoullier's method. They are all grown from seed by me and gardening friends. All who attended the class overdid it. To our credit we  shared. Some are dwarf, some are heirloom, some hybrid. I am hoping for a more successful experience this year.
Tomato varieties include:
Bella Rosa (heirloom)
Yellow Pear (heirloom)
Cherokee Purple (heirloom)
Lemon Ice (dwarf)
Pink Passion (dwarf)
Mountain Fresh F1 (hybrid)
Mountain Magic F1 (hybrid)
Juliet F1 (hybrid)
Celebrity (hybrid)
Green Vernissage (heirloom)
Other garden successes include kale, lettuce, carrots, garlic, potatoes, cabbage. Green beans are forming tags.
Soon we'll be eating green beans and potatoes.
Spinach was an epic failure. I think I'm done.

Salads for supper! And kale powder!

Power to The Kale! Long live The Kale! A nod to the Brits here on the eve of a royal wedding.
No kidding. I dried a backseat (laid it out on a sheet and let the heat in the car do it's magic) of lacinto kale, blitzed it in the food processor, and have one scant cup of magic potion. It was a lot of kale, people. It is interesting dried. Not potent, a mild crunchy treat actually. It is, apparently, the latest health food craze. Whoda thunk?

And I thought it shrank down when cooked. Regret not taking a before photo. 

Salads are a big deal right now. We eat them seasonally, never buying grocery store we are, like, chuffed. The current belle of the ball is a lone spinach plant that overwintered. Scott harvests a bag of it weekly. (The lettuce harvest is more frequent.) The close runner up are the radishes. Maybe we planted too many. We eat them daily, the radishes. Truth be told, they are a lot of crunchy fun!  A great substitute for chips. Not chocolate chips y'all, potato chips.

Established herbs deserve a shout out here. All is well! The best is the parsley which is about to flower and make seeds for another year. New ones are ready to go in!

For all other harvests we wait. And plant. And plant some more. And water, because it has not rained in almost two weeks. That friends is a sad sentence carrying more meaning than non-gardeners can imagine. Sad. Very sad. On the bright side it is not humid. 😎

Winter to Spring, Maybe

Our native honeysuckle, planted against a brick wall, has bloomed all winter. It was ready and waiting for the hummers. 

Winter is hanging on here with white knuckles. We just cannot shake it! Last night I covered tomatoes because temps fell into the 30's. Have mercy! 80 degrees one day, 50 the next.

We've started our new bed. The Serviceberry we planted last Fall survived. Yay! It is in the No Dig, Foodscape experiment bed. Watch Charles Dowding on Youtube  for details on No Dig. He's also written several books. Brie Arthur from NC introduced me to the foodscape concept. We'll see how it goes...plants already there are doing well for now.

What's planted and growing?
Spinach
Lettuce (Black Seeded Simpson, Romaine, Oakleaf, Red Sails)
Swiss Chard
Carrots (Scarlett Nantes, Red Core Chantenay)
Leeks, onions, garlic
Kale (Lacinto, Curly Dwarf)
Broccoli (DiCicco)
Potatoes (White, Yukon Gold, Red Norland, Russian Banana)
Radishes (Cherry Belle)
Beans (Contender)
Herbs (Rosemary, Parsley, Fennel, Sage, Chives, Borage, Dill, Basil
)
Tomatoes (That's another post)

The humming birds have been here since the last week of March. They feed at our native honeysuckle daily! Yay, again!

Greens

Green Soup a la  mustard and rutabaga greens.

Two greens have figured heavily in our meals this year. Here are the recipes I used.
https://www.splendidtable.org/recipes/basic-green-soup
http://www.cookinglight.com/recipes/kale-mushroom-frittata
In the case Green Soup, use any green you have but do not leave out the lemon or the olive oil.
The frittata can be adjusted to more people easily. That's their charm. Goat cheese dolloped around as for if a pizza is special.