Peas, pumpkins and a neurotic dog.

A week or so ago we had 50 mph wind gusts which caused a lot of damage to the cold frames. I decided to take the plastic off the peas since the temps are near 70 today anyway and the forecast is calling for more of the same nice weather. I'm afraid they will fry under the plastic.... The chives are growing like crazy and separating them will be my next task..........I also started sowing my lettuce seed today. From Seed Savers, I planted Forellenschuss and Rossa di Trento. From last year's seed inventory, I planted some Yugoslavian Red lettuce and baby romaine. Tomorrow I hope to finish putting in the greens and perhaps some more beets.
The Atlantic Giant pumpkins are looking pretty....hopefully they won't take over the greenhouse before they can go in the ground. Bent suggested we go ahead and put them in the ground with a cold frame over them...I'm not quite ready to chance that yet, but maybe in the next couple of weeks. They are my babies afterall...

On a side note...Buddy (one of our Viszla pups) has developed a neurosis of sorts...I have no idea why...but he has developed a fear of being near the garden....He will act all scared, go in the greenhouse and not come out....(wait that's me that does that)....I thought perhaps he got a jolt from the electric fence but the fence is set to come on at 6pm and we are always at the garden much earlier than that....He is even freaking out on bugs...like flies especially... and then I thought maybe he got stung by a bee...(he used to eat bees last year). It's a doggy mystery for sure....perhaps I should call a dog shrink...lol...All I know is that Buddy's sister just wants him to go out and play.

And you thought I was kidding...

I have no idea how we managed last year with just two and a half shelves in the greenhouse. Even with the addition of 2 upper shelves and 2 lower shelves it appears I am running out of room....oh what to do? I was half way kidding a while back when I mentioned using the space below the bottom shelves for more plants....but guess what? I have no choice but to move the mature herbs and broccoli down below to make room for our larger transplants....namely, the four Atlantic Giant pumpkins that are taking up lots of space...it's unbelievable how fast they are growing and they have already set some fruit....It's like someone snuck in and pumped them full of steroids or something... lol! In addition, the peppers were repotted into larger pots so space is really getting limited. Last year we were able to plant most everything into the ground by late May and early June. Hopefully the current weather trend holds and we can plant most of the garden a couple of weeks ahead of schedule. If not, Dan's (at Urban Veggie Blog) idea of utilizing the greenhouse walkway may still come to pass. : )

An important message to pet owners

A good friend of ours sent me an email this morning regarding the possible dangers of cocoa mulch. Apparently, the mulch which is sold in many retail stores contains a potentially fatal chemical that could kill your pets. Click here for the story

Almost there!

It appears that the greenhouse is nearly full of plants now...unless I were to utilize the floor beneath the shelves...which I am seriously considering.... I moved over 100 baby broccoli plants into their new home yesterday and now I am repotting my celery and cabbage. Last year I didn't need to repot many plants before putting them in the garden but I started them several weeks later than this season. Many gardeners in our area are skittish on starting plants too soon for fear of frost....not me! I say go forth and garden boldly! I am lucky to have the greenhouse because it does buy more time...I also gain growing time and save on propane by utilizing the closet space with grow lights before moving things out to the greenhouse...(sorry family).

Below is a picture of some Totem Patio tomatoes...they were started under LED lights. I wish now I would have planted more as they appear to be doing quite well. Below the Totem's are some Cherokee Purple tomatoes (Thank you Thomas!!!) and they are coming along nicely as well. The next pic was my experimental broccoli...I wanted to see how it would do in the greenhouse.... I wish I grew more of those also...The very last pic is our Dill's Atlantic Giant pumpkins for which I may need more room real soon!

Cukes gone crazy!

Just a quick greenhouse update: We started nearly 100 more cukes just a few weeks ago and they are growing like crazy...so much that we had to already repot them from their original peet starter pots. The main variety we grow are the Straight 8's because they make great slicers. In addition, we are growing Organic Lemon cukes, Eurekas, A & C Pickling, Cucinos and Iznik. The Cucinos are more of a greenhouse cuke (they did great in my windowsill during the winter months) but I'm going to try growing them on a trellis in the garden. We also started an additional 80 broccoli, 80 cabbage and over 100 celery plants...all of which need repotting and thus the short blog post today! Happy spring planting! Oh and for you local folks following on Facebook be sure to check out the discussion tab on The Beer Garden fan page...I am posting several great recipes and updates on what will be available at market time!

Mr. Miyagi style

Ever since my brothers and I were little, my parents always found unique ways to teach us valuable life lessons....Mr. Miyaga style. Much like in the movie, The Karate Kid, many of these lessons came with a task such as washing the car, mowing the lawn, cleaning the pasture, or weeding the garden....I can hear Mr. Miyaga now..."wax on, wax off".

It was a family rite of passage when you became old enough to mow the lawn...(and we're not talking riding lawn mower here) ....and this was of course only after your several year term of car washing and cow poop duty. Lawn duty was a big deal because you got $20 a week....(this was a 2-3 hour job). Regardless of the task at hand, dad always taught us to do a good job and if we didn't....he would firmly but gently make us do it over....In fact, his phrase, "if you're going to do something, do it right the first time" is forever etched in my mind. In addition to teaching us kids to work hard he always taught us to be kind, play fair and to do your part. I don't think I realized it at the time, (like Daniel in the movie) but those menial chores actually taught me things like patience, kindness, honesty and team work. This past weekend was no exception. Our family got together over the Easter weekend and my dad, having recently purchased a new rototiller, decided we should have a lesson on how to operate it. As you can see from the picture, there is some definite team work going on here....by the time dad was done "teaching" the boys how to operate the rototiller, the garden tilling was nearly done. Way to go dad!

Check out the pic below for a close up version of the new rototiller!

Parsley and the pitmaster

Here is a pic of the very first herbs that we started from seed back in early February. As you can see, they include parsley and basil. Today my focus is on parsley and I will explain why.....My husband, better known as Bent for blogging purposes, recently delved into the world of pitmaster barbecuing. You see, we always eat barbecue....like seriously at least 300 days a year. I'm not sure what the inside of my oven even looks like anymore....Well, Bent's love of barbecue prompted him to sign up for a few friendly barbecue competitions which in turn prompted several of his friends and family members to jump on the bandwagon. As a result, their group is signed up for several summer competitions. (I will post about them later)

I know you must be wondering...how does parsley fit into all of this? Well, parsley happens to be one of the only garnishes allowed for presentation purposes in many barbecue competitions. So guess who has to grow enough parsley to make it through the grilling season? If you have grown parsley, you know it takes a long time to mature so I started early in hopes that I will not run out before the season is over.




























The pic above is what our yard typically looks like on any given day...it's smokey but hey it always smells great... And yes...as you can see...Bent wasn't satisfied with just one grill....he needs many and he hopes to win yet another one at an upcoming competition. With so many charcoal grills going at once we of course had to have a stoker in order to control several grill temps at one time...(basically the stoker is a computer controlled device that will turn on blowers to increase the charcoal temps)


I give Bent a bad time about his barbecue obsession but it's all in fun.....I mean what more could I ask for?? I get dinner cooked for me nearly every night : )
But for heaven's sake where do I draw the line? Eggs on the grill??? Even the pups look on in disbelief : )

Cauliflower: before and after

The baby cauliflowers or "cabbage flower" are beginning to poke their heads out of the soil. They were started in the greenhouse about 3 weeks ago and appear to have grown accustomed to the varying temperatures....The greenhouse heater is set to come on if temps get to 50F and the fans come on if the temps approach 70F. Surprisingly, when its been in the 40s outside the greenhouse averages about 70F so thankfully we haven't had to use a lot of heat so far. In fact, we often have to open the door as well. Normally I start most of the seeds in my hot water tank storage area where it is nice and warm but I'm running out of space....go figure....anyway... I just wanted to share an after picture of what the cauliflower will soon look like....the pic below is what we harvested last year...only problem was we didn't grow enough of it....not a problem this year though...I have roughly 250 plants started!


This variety is called Amazing and it was purchased from Park Seed...and well... it had a truly amazing taste so I went with it again this year.

Where's the vegetable trivia/history you say? Okay...if I must...cauliflower originates from Asia Minor and the Mediterranean area. It is a member of the Cruciferae family which includes broccoli, cabbage, horseradish, collards, radish and turnips.....oh and Mark Twain once said that cauliflower is "nothing but a cabbage with a college education." : )

Peas out

I visited the coldframes yesterday to check the progress of the peas. As you can see in the picture, they are starting to take off now. This variety is the snap pea....I love these in salads and stir fry.

Peas have apparently been around for a long time....during archeaological digs they have been discovered in Egyptian tombs. No one knows for certain where the pea originated, but according to Chinese mythology, peas were discovered by emperor Shu Nung in 3000 BC. Shu Nung would scour the countryside in search of new plants in which to use for food or medicine. Shu Nung was considered the father of agriculture. Upon discovering a new plant, he would feed it to a dog first and then a servant. If they both lived then the emperor would eat it as well. (Sounds like russian roulette garden style.)

Did you know the garden pea has been used in genetic testing? I seem to remember studying about a certain fellow named Gregory Mendel in science class. Mendel is often referred to as the "Father of Genetics" for discovering the outcome of cross breeding different types of pea plants.

As for human genetics...you guessed it...the hippy chick photo is my darling granddaughter (Abby) She loves to peas out in the garden with her grandma :)

Thank you Mr. Jefferson!

The eggplant has been known throughout history to have some very strange effects on people: some thought that eating it could cause insanity, epilepsy and fever. Yet others claimed it to be an aphrodisiac. (That's quite a range of symptoms I'd say) The notion that it would cause insanity is due to the fact that eggplant is from the nightshade family which contains many poisonous plants such as angel's trumpet and belladonna. I know I wouldn't want to be the guinea pig...I can hear it now.....oh come on give it a try...what's the worst that can happen but a few epileptic seizures and a deadly fever....umm no thanks....but if you think about it someone had to be the first....
I'm guessing the first guinea pigs were from India since that is where eggplant originated. Shortly after, it made its appearance in Asia, China and the Middle East around 500B.C. eventually making its way to Italy around the 14th century. Europeans considered the plant mala insana~ the mad apple or bad egg until about the 1600's when Louis XIV introduced it to the country and still it was not well received. It wasn't until the 1800's that our third president, Mr. Thomas Jefferson introduced the eggplant to the United States. Apparently, Jefferson was an avid gardener and was always trying to bring new vegetables and flowers to his huge gardens. Even with Jefferson's approval, the eggplant was slow to gain popularity in the states for years to come.

All I have to say is thank you Mr. Jefferson from all your fellow gardeners for giving eggplant a try. If it weren't for him we Americans may have never given it a try for fear of going insane or epileptic.... (Although I wonder who he convinced to eat it first) ..... Today there are many eggplant varieties available....below is the Rosa Bianca which I currently have growing under lights. (not my picture) The other variety we are growing is Black Beauty (my picture above). I am keeping them inside as long as possible as they are fussy plants and need lots of warm weather. Being a gardener and all I'm a little embarrassed to say this... but it wasn't too long ago that I first tried eggplant myself....not for fear of insanity but just because I never thought it would taste good...I was sure wrong.....it is most excellent on the grill. I would like to expand my horizons and learn what others have to say about about their eggplant experiences by posing the following question:

What is your favorite eggplant variety to grow and to eat and how do you like to cook it?