Garden fabric

Couple weeks ago I ordered garden fabric for next year. This weekend we used it to cover or current winter veggies. Winter is so not done with us Southerners just yet.

Here is what I've learned about the gauzy fabric: It works if the wind doesn't blow it loose.

Ya know those caricatures of winter? The blue and white, cloud-face blowing curls of wind? That Winter blew off and tore  my garden fabric. I keep going out in the frigid cold and tucking it back in because that's what gardeners do; perseverate; persevere.

It has crossed my mind that we might get lucky on the back side of this winter and have a cool, rainy summer. Wouldn't that be nice? Yes it would. For example, like last July 4th.

Reminds me of Uncle Tom's home movies of crops in the 1950's  :)

Growing snow

Whoa hoss! Even the Deep South is in a Deep Freeze. Great gravy! (taking a quote from Nana B). Nothing to do but sit and watch the snow on the ground. It's 9:00 on this fine winter day 27F, 6 inches of snow on the ground and another sweep of winter mix headed our way. Scary. A similar scenario 50 years ago in L'ton shut down the power for a week. It was a long, boring, week. That was my take away as a twelve year old.

There are gardening things to do indoors. Today I organize seeds resolved to throw out the old ones.

Figgy bottle tree

Michael Bublé - "Feeling Good" [Official Music Video]

Hi Ho Happy Gardners

Nature vs Nurture and it's tabula rosa! I have long been knowing I am not in charge. That's right, we are at the mercy of fate, the stars, our genes and just plain ole stupid on the part of others. Life has dished up ample evidence in my case. But, let it not be said I just laid down for it. Oooh no. Does this make me a looser? Yes, sort of. Despite my best efforts the Artic Vortex (AV)  flattened my winter garden; mulch, garden fabric and prayers aside. Not being my first rodeo, I spent the days before  AV picking everything pickable. Nature, fate, The Gods, Mother Nature beat me again but...

It's a clean slate, people! I seeded lettuce, cabbage, kale and broccoli this weekend. There they are green tips, peeping out, just up through the soil, in pots on my kitchen counter four days later. We ripped out all evidence of AV's passing and have nice neat little beds ready for seedlings in mid-February.  Sunday, just for one day, it felt Spring was just around the corner. A sunny, warm winter day birds chittering in the background we busied ourselves outdoors.  

Birds flyin' high, you know how I feel. Sun in the sky, you know how I feel. Breeze driftin' on by, you know how I feel. It's a new dawn, it's a new day, it's a new life...and I'm feelin' good.
Leslie Bricusse, 1964

Good, bad and ugly

Pride goeth before a fall. Uh huh. You should see the kale. OMG. We had an abrupt, precipitous drop in temperature accompanied by steady wind and the kale, my beautiful Tuscan kale, was freezer burnt so bad I thought it was dead. Lesson learned. Wind + cold = not good. I cut the ugly burnt leaves off and hope there will be a come back. Yep. One of the basic tenants of gardening is Hope. Bible lesson for the day over.

Ouch

On the other hand, you should see the cabbages and broccoli! I did cover them and they are oh, so, pretty.
Today will be almost 80 degrees so I planted young Summer Crisp lettuce seedlings in the area where the Romaine and Deer Tongue lettuces had been. They will get covered on nights when it is cold enough to frost. What shall I seed next? Oakleaf. And more Romaine.
Toodles, doodles.














                   

Fall 2013

All is well in the garden. The summer vegetables are gone. Bugs got zapped by frost a few weeks ago so the greens are growing undeterred by pesky pests.

Curly Mustard

We have Tuscan kale (and tuscan salts), mucho beautiful, mucho delicious lettuce, broccoli, mustard, turnips and brussels. It is so much easier to garden without bugs. I have been seed saving as the summer plants matured and died for a few years now. I saved field peas and marigolds this year, and will soon be bringing in the okra seeds. 2012 seeds from  Summer Crisp seeds sprouted and will soon be transplanted into the garden. Freeeee foooood! Garlic is our oldest saved plant. We've been growing from one grocery store bought clove for about seven years now. Each year the crop gets bigger a crazy experiment in exponential growth. Pay it forward, garden style.Therapeutic the first year planted, still providing years later, I am especially fond of the stinky root.

Tuscan kale

How much do we harvest? Hmmm. I counted. We have ten kale plants growing in a 4' x 4'  raised bed. I harvest once a week and share each picking with a neighbor. Lettuce grows in two raised beds. We have a salad every night and have for weeks now. We always share it also. Same with the mustard. Rarely do I buy vegetables. It's all we can do to eat what we grow. 

Herb Salt

I have discovered herb salt. Well, not so much discovered as learned how to make. Coastal North Carolina is the New World Mediterranean. Herbs like thyme, rosemary and parsley and sage grow year round here. My friend, Joy, uses rosemary as skewers for her marinated grilled chicken. Too fun, right?! I could write about longitude and latitude but instead I will share what I have learned making herb salts. Easy, yummy, herbs and salt.

1/4 cup kosher and sea salt (or just kosher) This is important.
2 cups chopped herbs
Sheet of aluminum foil
Time-up to two days

Harvest fresh herbs, chop, spread out on aluminum foil, sprinkle salt on top. Occassionally swirl it around with your fingers over the next two days. The herbs change color and the house smells delicious. Use the foil as a funnel and slowly cascade the salted herbs into a glass jar. Breath deeply. Use in cooking as you would regular salt. Sparingly.