Moose Tubers!!!

My sunchokes are here! After ordering them in February from Fedco, I thought it would be forever before I received them.

Sunchokes (Helianthus tuberosus), also known as Jerusalem Artichokes, are a sunflower relative and a part of the Moose Tubers program at Fedco Seeds. They offer three varieties: Waldspinel, Skorospelka, and Clearwater.

I ruled out the Waldspinel despite its rose color since it is prone to knobbiness. The Skorospelka is regarded a favorite among cooks since it's relatively knob-free. I chose the Clearwater because they are knobless and Will Bonsall's favorite. He is one of the directors of Seed Savers Exchange and the sunchoke curator. I decided to trust him and try it out. I'm slightly concerned they are the slowest to break dormancy, but hopefully with our south-facing bed next to the warm house it won't be an issue. At least they are said to be tender into the fall. I can also wait until the following spring to harvest them.

The small box--a perfect 3" cube--arrived with a paper bag of bulbs inside.
A one-pound bag contained at least 10 bulbs. I planted two patches up against the front porch. With their lemon yellow daisy-like flowers, I think they will be a nice back drop to the cistus, catmint, and asphodel. And the color will pop in front of our dark red house.

One thing I was warned about these little tubers is they spread and can be hard to eradicate. I'm hoping they don't travel around too much! I can't wait to harvest my first batch and make them into a creamy, garlic-y puree this coming fall. I'll keep you posted when they sprout.

Fruit Trees

Give Seattle-ites an extra day of sunshine and watch them go crazy. The talk today has been, "What? I thought it was supposed to rain. Look at it! Gorgeous day!"

Quickly followed by, "It's not going to last. It's supposed to start raining again this evening."

I'd like to think the forecast is wrong and convince myself they have it all wrong!

Enough of the weather. Let's talk about fruit trees.

First, my 4-variety Asian pear tree is doing well. I'm hoping to get at least one or two pears this year. Last year, I got one fruit that I quickly removed. It's advised to remove all the fruit the first year the plant is in the ground. Once I saw the small fruit, I removed any other spent flowers. It would have been too tempting if I left any more to go to fruit. Here's a sample of this season's flowers in the afternoon sun.

All three espaliered apples are doing well. I have three tiers on the Nittany and two on the Honeycrisp. And I managed to redirect a side branch that I snapped off from one of the Nittany's (see the Oh Snap! post). Once it warms up a little more, I will tie it down to the wire...carefully this time! I don't want a repeat of last year. I also have more flowers this year. I think I accidentally pruned the flowering shoots. Either that or I sapped the tree's energy by letting them fruit the first year.

My biggest surprise this spring is the comeback of my persimmon tree. It didn't do much of anything last year. I didn't expect a lot, but I thought there would have been a little bit of growth at the end of spring and into summer. With our harsh winter and cool spring this year, I thought it was a gonner. I even called Swanson's about getting a refund. Then I looked more closely and realizes it's not dead. There are viable buds promising leaves soon.

I'll keep you posted on fruit production as the season progresses! Hoping for sunny skies from here on out!

Planter Boxes

At this year's Northwest Flower and Garden Show, I bought three Shuksan strawberry plants. I planted them in my one of my boxes on the fence. This is a new experiment. I'm hoping that they will enjoy the heat up there. I was planning on purchasing an actual strawberry pot for them, but decided to work with what I've got instead. We'll see how they do. So far, they seem to be thriving even with the cold we've had since I planted them in February.


In the other box, I sowed Canary Creeper nasturtium. Nasturtiums are my favorite around the edge of a planter box. In the middle, I sowed broccoli raab. The broccoli won't get very big since I'll harvest it fairly soon after it becomes mature. I waited too long last year to use it and the stems were too woody and were not very tasty. By planting them in the box, I'm hoping it will force me to pay closer attention to them.

Nothing yet except for an empty seed packet! Stay tuned...

Brrrr!

Apologies for not having posted since the 1st of this year. I'll blame it on the weather; this being the coldest spring on record.

Let's catch up on what's happened since I last wrote.

My culinary laurel is evidence of that. I was hopeful that I'd have a flush of leaves from the buds. After looking more closely, the little shrub was toast. It looked so ratty, I removed it immediately.

My Queen Anne cherry is finally blooming as of Saturday--our warmest day this year. I had no blooms on Friday. When I came back Saturday afternoon, about half of the flowers are open. This is the year when we're supposed to have a heavy fruit year (stone fruits have "alternate bearing years"), but I'm not getting my hopes up.


Cardoon and rhubarb are doing well. I have yet to make something with cardoon. I better act fast while the leaves are small and workable. Rhubarb on the other hand doesn't intimidate me. I made a wonderfully tangy sauce for our Easter breakfast waffles. I peeled and sliced 5 small stalks (remove the leaves! they are poisonous), added about 1/2 cup of brown sugar, a splash of water, and 6 strawberries over medium heat in a saucepan. I cooked it until the rhubarb was soft. So easy and so delicious!



I planted a patch of Early Purple Sprouting broccoli and sowed a patch of the "3 Root Grex" beet mix from Fedco Seeds. I can't wait to see how these turn out. The drizzles of rain in the last two days have at least helped relieve me of my watering duties. But really, I'm ready for some sun!

Jack Frost

A week of hard frost like this and I start dreaming of what my garden will look like come spring. Thanks to my new seed catalogues--Fedco and Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds--I'm conjuring a vision for next year's harvest...

Purple!

I am a sucker for purple plants and purple veggies. I'll have to blame Baker Creek for this one. From 'Early Purple Sprouting' broccoli to purple-podded pole beans and 'Chinese 5-Color' and 'Black Night' peppers, I just couldn't resist the glossy pages of purple goodness!

Oh! How cute are the 'Little Fingers' eggplant?! Click on the hyperlink to check them out. Promise to come back and finish reading this entry though. I know, it's easy to get sidetracked with online seed shopping. This is a new addition to the Baker Creek catalogue. I like the description of finger-sized fruits "allowed to grow larger with no sacrifice of their mild, sweet taste and tender texture." Can't wait to try it out. I'm hoping that since the fruits are meant to be small, they'll be a perfect match to our shorter growing season. I could even slice and roast them for a pizza. Yum!

I promised myself this summer that I would grow fava beans this year after buying them at the farmers' market every week at $4 per pound. Baker Creek offers a 'Extra Precoce A Grano Violetto' fava bean that has up to six purple beans inside the pods. While the pods themselves look like they're green, I can dress up my dinner table with purple-tinged fava bean spread topped with 'Black Cherry' tomatoes on bruschetta.

Speaking of 'Black Cherry' tomatoes. I'm planning on growing them again since they were so successful last summer in my garden. Fedco provided these last year and I'll go with them again. Tasty!

Bush beans were also a hit and so easy to grow. Baker Creek offers a 'Royalty Purple Podded' bush bean. The pole and bush beans will be planted on opposite ends of the garden. I hope they make a big enough impact to complement each other this summer.

Stay tuned for more of what's to come! In them meantime, make a cup of tea or cocoa and curl up with your seed catalogs while your garden thaws.

More fall harvests

I regret not planting more leeks this summer. Actually, I did plant a bunch in my planter box, but I wasn't quick enough to use them for grilled ramps.

I let six of them get to full size in one of my beds. Here are the best looking ones after being cleaned and trimmed after harvest.


I have several soup recipes that these will go well in. All are from Thomas Keller's ad hoc. Yes, one can cook recipes from the fancy French food chef! There is an entire chapter devoted to soup and most call for a base of carrots, leeks, and onions that are slowly cooked for at least a half hour. These recipes are a tad involved, but totally do-able compared to his French Laundry cookbook. My favorites are Split Pea with ham hock, fresh peas, and mint; Lentil and Sweet Potato; and Chicken Soup with dumplings. Another favorite, and the entire reason why I decided to grow escarole this fall, is his Heirloom Bean and Escarole soup. Featuring a smoked ham hock (which, by the way, I get from Bob's Quality Meats down the street) that stews for an hour and falls off the bone. It's the perfect comfort food for a nasty winter day.

I was late in planting out my carrots since this summer was cool. I planned on planting then out in early July, but just barely sowed them before the month was over. It's still July, right? No big deal!

I had to use my contrasting blue cutting board against the orange carrots!

Well, as you can see, these Tonda di Parigi carrots are pretty runty. I think planting them a few weeks earlier would have helped. I'll make sure next year I get these in around the 4th of July. I think I may use these as part of my base for my fall soups. The flavor is a bit too pungent for straight snacking.

Even though we've had record warmth these last few days, I'm ready for comforting winter soups.

Eggplant Surprise

As my tomato plants waned and I picked the last of those red beauties, I checked on the eggplants. I have grown eggplants for the last few years now and have had either pathetic-looking fruits that have been nibbled on by critters or loads of flowers too late into the season for any hopes of a crop. I even asked another gardening friend of mine--who gets much more sun and has a much larger space dedicated to veggies than I do--about his eggplants. His response, "I gave up a couple of years ago on growing them."

What can I say? I guess I like a challenge. Either that, or I'm terribly optimistic, thinking, "This year it's going to be different!"

I couldn't believe it when I crouched over the plants and spotted not one, but THREE eggplants. They were decent in size with a lovely dark purple color. I hurried them into the kitchen. I wasn't prepared for this crop and needed to bide some time. I didn't want to put them into the fridge and have them rot away. That would've been a shame. I thinly sliced them up and froze them for a later date.

Look at that fantastic jewel-toned color!

Last week, I made a vegetarian shepherd's pie from the UC Davis Coffeehouse Cookbook from 1996. This recipe showcases eggplant and bell pepper in a ratatouille-inspired base that is topped with sour-cream infused mashed potatoes. It calls for wheat germ, but I subbed in ground up quick oats for my wheat-intolerant friend. The perfect dish to start off our fall-like weather in Seattle.

ps: I'm not sure you can still buy the spiral-bound version of the 1996 edition, but the original 1986 edition has been reprinted and is available through the UC Davis Bookstore.