Seeds for 2013

Usually I'm much more on top of my game as far as ordering seeds. Within weeks of the big catalog dump in my mailbox at the beginning of the year, I have my lists figured out and my seeds arrive by the end of January or February at the latest.

Well, here it is...March. I compiled my list and received my seeds yesterday from Fedco. I really their selection, but I forgot that the seeds take awhile to arrive. I became impatient and double checked my confirmation which reminded me that they'd ship within two weeks.

Finally they arrived yesterday. What is it that they say? If you snooze, you lose! Well, that's exactly what happened. I missed out on mache and the painted serpent cucumber. I'm actually surprised about the mache. Isn't that like saying you ran out of lettuce?

I am pretty disappointed about the cucumber. Now I have to either look for starts or find another seed source. I'd rather pay the shipping for just one item.

What struck me was I didn't get a substitution as instructed in my order. Instead they sent a $2.10 refund in a seed envelope stamped with "REFUND ENCLOSED." Two $1 coins and a dime were enclosed.

I thought sending cash through the mail was illegal...

I enjoy the thoughtful letter from CR Lawn; giving his report from Maine. A little bit about the weather, which he says is more normal this year compared to more recent winters. CR continues on about sales trends (a 3% gain from last year), how people are ordering (online vs paper), and how particular varieties are favored over others.

He mentions the paper catalog is sent to the printers in November so the online catalog is more current with availability, crop failures, etc. So why does he keep producing the paper catalog? Customers can't take their computer into the bathtub nor read it lying down in bed. Hey...I agree!

It seems to me there is a political message in his letter too. This time CR Lawn mentions the Right-to-Know legislation campaign which would make Maine the first state to pass a GMO food labeling law. It will be interesting to see how this unfolds.

In the meantime, I'm going to hash out my planting plan for this spring. My next post will include details about what varieties I chose.

Signs of Spring

We've been lucky with a mild winter in Seattle. Even so, I could tell a few weeks ago that spring was just around the corner. I can't describe it, but it's something about the way the air smells in the morning...and I'm up pretty darn early. And it had nothing to do with my daphne blooming.

About a week after that, I noticed my rhubarb was breaking dormancy. The crown turns bright red which means leaves are soon to follow.

I'm looking forward to when I can harvest the stems to make a rhubarb sauce. I don't really follow a recipe but add cinnamon and brown sugar to taste. Sometimes I add freshly grated ginger--use a Microplane to avoid stringy-ness in the sauce. It's great on pancakes, waffles, or French toast. Maybe I'll try a quick bread this season. I'll let you know how it turns out!
 

Morning Frost

I love seeing a frosty blanket in my garden on a winter morning.

 If I remember correctly, this is Red Chidori kale

 Frosty Apollo broccoli florets

Nodding viola flowers

That concludes my gardening for today. On to perusing seed catalogs...

Kohlrabi Aliens

I waited all season for my kohlrabi to bolt and go to seed so I can do some collecting.

I knew if they hadn't flowered by the end of fall, I would let them overwinter.

Even though there is still no sign--not even a hint of a flower stalk--they have taken on a life form of their own.

This one developed "pups" at the top of the "bulb" 

This one didn't form any "pups," but just elongated along the soil's surface 

This one split in half, or developed a side pup.

Turns out that these veggies are considered "perennial" which is confusing because the longer you let them grow, their texture becomes woody and no amount of cooking will change it. There is a cultivar 'Gigante' that will grow to 4" in diameter. This cultivar is also known as the 'Superschmelz' which I'm tempted to try since I just love saying that name! The trade off will be color. 'Superschmelz' is green.

I think I'll let the 'Kolibri' (that's the purple one I have) continue to grow and see what it does in the end. Will it ever flower? Will it continue to make pups? Maybe the pups are decent eating? I may also try the younger leaves to see how they compare to kale and other mustard greens. Stay tuned...

Sunchokes

I missed the boat last year on my sunchoke harvest. I wasn't going to let that happen a second year in a row. Since I was making a butternut squash soup for Thanksgiving dinner and used it as the perfect opportunity to serve them as a garnish.

I headed out with my favorite spading tool to hunt for sunchokes. I just cut them back since they were looking ratty. Imagine what a sunflower would look like at this time of year in the Pacific Northwest. Not pretty at all.

Sunchokes, also called Jerusalem artichokes, are in the sunflower family (Asteraceae). They are not from Jerusalem--native to Eastern North America--nor are they artichokes. They grow from corm-like tubers. I've had them in purees and fried like potato chips.

I spotted a small tuber most likely partially dug up by a squirrel next to Cerinthe seedlings. I started digging around cringing at the crunching sounds underneath my spade.

 Whoa! Who knew they got this big?! My next thought was, "Great. Now I have to wash this thing."

Here they are in my sink. Mostly clean. Pretty knarly looking! I hope they taste better than they look. I peeled them into a more round shape, smoothing out the knobs. I used a vegetable peeler as well to make the slices for frying. I sliced them to about 1/8". Thin enough to see through them.

My fry station. I think my culinary expert husband Eldon would be impressed. Yes, the baking soda made it out in time, too! I was waiting for the thermometer to reach 375 F.

Sunchoke frying up in canola oil. Bubbles!

The oil was too hot. This batch was tossed. Note baking soda for grease fire which was not needed.

 Ah...golden brown frying perfection!

I'm hoping my cousin took pictures of the served up soup. I was too busy eating and talking sunchokes to get my camera out! Oh, and taking pictures of their lovely cat Evie (short for Evelyn).



 Yum! Happy Thanksgiving!

Figgy Pudding

I was surprised to have figs on my tree this summer despite the hard pruning I gave it last winter. Unfortunately, the fruits were a month late which led to an entire crop of unripened fruit.

Not a single fig came close to being ripe. I can stomach a few taste tests towards the end of summer, and I usually manage eating three figs before the starlings devour them. They too will test out the fruits to see how ripe they are. I had only one round of starlings visit this fall. We can both agree that this year's figs were disappointing.

So it looks like no figgy pudding. Not that I've ever tried making it. I really prefer to eat figs fresh from the tree. But, maybe one of these winters I'll find an excuse to make the traditional dessert. Any dessert that calls for flambé is worth trying at least once!
 

One lonely eggplant

I felt pretty on top of it this spring with getting my starts going. But there was one day when I realized I had missed the date for sowing my eggplant seeds by a whole month. WHAT?! What happened? Where did the time go? I'm sure it will be fine, I told myself. Summer usually arrives late anyway, so it shouldn't matter.

Well, as my tomatoes were taking off and thriving (even though I do always freak out that I'm behind with them, too), the eggplant were not. Temperatures were in the 50s at night and our days were relatively warm so not to worry right? Wrong. That whole month when they could have taken advantage of indoor heat to increase in size and vigor was missed. Meaning I produced only one eggplant this season. And it formed in September so it won't be tasty.

Here's a picture of the loneliest eggplant in my garden...and maybe in all of Columbia City. A least the afternoon sunlight makes it look pretty.

Lesson learned. Start your eggplant in March...