Best Weekend Ever!

What an awesome long weekend we had!  Sun from Friday to Monday- perfect weather for getting out and kick starting the garden!  I can't remember that last time we had such a great weekend- certainly not the Victoria Day Weekend!

Got a lot of tasks completed- potatoes and beans planted, beds cleaned up, more seedlings and seeds planted, and general organizing in the garden space. Plus, my husband got the back of our house completely painted- a task 3 years in the making (as in we've had the paint for 3 years).  And this morning a nice rain to help things along - those beds are really dry there.  I was hoping to get the tomatoes in, but ran out of time.  I will definitely be working on that this week.

Following is a 'pictorial' of how things look in my kitchen garden:

What's Happening...

So, what's happening at the end of April in my kitchen garden?  Not a whole lot.  I'm pretty sure this time last year I had a lot of the lettuce and onion seedlings in.  As of today, they are still on my balcony, having been successfully hardened off.  I was planning on planting them this weekend, but the forecast was calling for sub-zero temperatures at night, so I held off.  I let them stay on the balcony, which is a sheltered location, and covered them with a row cloth. 

Meanwhile, in the garden itself....

Nothing to harvest as yet, but I do have lots of garlic growing:

I think I have almost 40 cloves in the ground.  Most are in the big raised bed, but as an experiment, I have also planted some in two different containers; the clay pot pictured above, and the old fruit crate, below:

Under a row cover, I have direct seeded some arugula, beet, spinach, lettuce and cilantro.   So far, a lot have sprouted, but only the 'Sucrine' romaine lettuce has shown any significant growth. 

Peas are coming along nicely.

In addition to the lettuce seedlings I planted indoors,  I also set out a few ziploc bags of seeds a couple of weeks ago, using the 'winter-sown' method I tried out last year.  Pictured below, is the 'Crisp Mint' romaine.  If I remember correctly, last year I interplanted the wintersown lettuce with tomatoes and other warm weather crops, which became a 'second' wave of lettuce to harvest.

And lastly, I will be interested to see how much my 'over-wintered' kale grows.  So far, not nearly enough for a harvest.  At least it didn't die over the winter months:



Spring Fever

The last few days have been so spring-like, it really feels like we've finally turned the corner and put winter behind us.  With all these warm spring feelings I'm having, I thought I should at least add a new post to change the mood. My last post featured a picture of the last blast of winter. Today, I'm starting to harden off some of the spring greens: lettuce, spinach, onions, beet greens, arugula, and swiss chard.

I couldn't help but take a pic of my pooch guarding over the seedlings.  He has come a long way since my first year of vegetable gardening (2009) when we had a little 'incident' and he nearly destroyed most of them.

Happy Easter

Easter morning, and I've gotta say I was a little shocked to wake up to this unexpected craziness:

I'm sure I wasn't the only Haligonian to crack open an eye and mutter- What the-?  

A couple weeks ago, we had a faux summer.  Today winter.  I know, I know, a late winter storm is not unheard of in 'these here parts', but still, a girl can dream for a real spring, can't she?

On a growing note, my seed starting for 2012 is well under way, albeit a little later than usual (just seeded tomatoes a week ago- about two weeks  later than previous years).  Here is a peak under one of my grow lights:

Outside, under the protection of a low tunnel, I have seeded a few hardy greens (arugula, spinach, radish).  And somewhere out there, I planted a few peas a couple of days ago- guess I should have checked the weather first.  Hopefully this chilly day won't be too damaging.

On the bright side, I just had a peak at the upcoming forcast and things seem to be warming as the week goes on!

My New-(ish) Seed Starting Light System

Last year, in the middle of winter, I gave my husband a task to make me a new seed starting light system on the cheap.  I was inspired by instructions I found in an old copy of Urban Farm Magazine  using  PVC.  Well, he was working on it over in his dad's garage (we don't have a suitable indoor 'work space'), and somehow his dad got involved and I ended up with this pimped up version:

It is made out of copper 'scraps', soldered together for strength.  I have one shop light set up on it right now, but will be adding a new one for double the space in the coming weeks.  You can raise the lights up and down as needed, and also dismantle it when not in use for easy storage. 

Last year, with only one side in operation, it worked like a charm and allowed me to maximize my seed starting production.  

Over the weekend I got all my seed starting supplies out and they are dusted and ready to go.  Bring on spring!!

The Best of 2011

I meant to do a review of the 2011 gardening season a few weeks ago, but didn't get around to it.  I'm already starting to place my seed orders for this year, so decided before I look too far ahead, it would still be a good idea to look back at the successes of last year. Better late then never! Besides, as I sit here and look out the window on this crisp, sunny winter day (-10 at last check), it's nice to see how the garden looked at it's peak summer green.  While everything looks so dead outside, it's hard to believe it ever looked so good!

The gardening season for 2011 was certainly a challenging one.  Lots of rain and little time seemed to be the theme for me this year.  The rain, we all remember.  Thankfully, we finished with a great fall!  I didn't have as much time to devote to the garden this year due to a change of work hours that left me with little time to spare.  The good news, is that despite the rain and my lack of attention, the garden grew, proving it is possible to have fresh food from your backyard despite a full time job and busy schedule!

I thought I'd list a few of my favourite crops and discoveries of the year (in no particular order):

Garlic

What can I say- the easiest thing I grew!  Once the bulbs were planted in the fall of 2010, there was very little work to do.  A little compost here, a little compost there.  A clip of the scapes in July, and given time, I had a little stash of garlic to harvest.  I was pleased with the results as this was my first time growing garlic, so it was really a 'test' crop for me. 

As a result of this success, I have gone a little garlic crazy this fall. Since I used up all the harvest by October- mostly in my homemade tomato sauce-  I figure next year I'll need more-  much more!   I have planted over 40 cloves throughout the garden.  Yes, this will use up a lot of space I could use for other crops, but really the payout will be worth it (if successful).  At the farmer's market the other day, organic garlic was upwards of 10.99/lb.   A better rate of return than say, zucchini, which doesn't seem to grow well for me, but I can buy at the farmer's market relatively cheaply.


Tomatoes

I had  a really good crop of tomatoes.  The Black Plum tomatoes were very prolific and made a really good sauce.  The San Marzano's were smaller this year, but still not bad.  I grew two new larger size tomatoes:  Ernie's Plump, which was great for sauces as it was really meaty, less juicy, not as good for fresh eating.  The "Cosmonaut Volkov" tomato has a lot of promise as a fresh eating tomato- and was prolific as well.  The first one I ate was so delicious!  After that, the remaining ones were a little watery-tasting- a result of too much rain, I'm sure.

I mostly made tomato sauce with the harvest, and had a freezer full by season's end.  "Had", being the key word here as at last check I only had a couple of containers left!

Swiss Chard

I ate swiss chard all summer long, so much so I got a little tired of it.  A successful crop once again.

True Red Cranberry Pole Bean

The red cranberry bean was a 'test' crop for me, so I didn't have a huge harvest. I love the round deep red colour of them.  They tasted as good as they looked- I added them to a pasta e fagioli soup the other day, and they were so creamy tasting, not at all dry like the beans you buy at the store.  I must expand production next year!!!!  Growing beans to the dry bean stage also seems like an economical use of my back yard space.  Organic dry beans are not something you find readily at the farmers market (at least I haven't seen any)...and if they are there, I'm sure they would be pretty expensive.  I also like being able to grow a crop for 'winter' use.

Squash

I only managed to produce 2 sweet dumpling squash from one plant- not a huge harvest. However, they were so delicious,  I must find out how get them to be more productive!!  I roasted them and stuffed them with a quinoia/ground turkey/goat cheese mix and can't wait for next year to make it again.

Soup Celery

I make soup and stock all the time, and this 'herb' (?) has been invaluable over the season.  Whenever I had a pot of stock on the stove, I just had to pop into the garden, clip a few stems and pop it in. It has the same flavour as regular celery and works as a great substitute.  It was also really productive, and I have lots of it frozen in the freezer.  I grew some in my 'winter' garden and at last check (pre- deep freeze), it was still growing strong.  Soup celery will definitely be a keeper in my garden. 

Rossa di Milano Onion (in pots)

I was pleased to discover that onions grow well in pots!  I spaced them a little too close together ( a lesson learned for next year), but still managed to grow a small harvest of sizable onions.  In fact, the pot onions did much better than the ones I grew in the raised  beds.  A definite space saver!

"Green Manure"

I grew both oats and buckwheat as 'green' crops to add to the soil to improve fertility.  Both were really easy to grow.  The buckwheat, I pulled and dug into the soil where it grew, and the oats I added to the compost and to the raised beds after fall clean up.

Purple Orach

A crop I grew on a whim last summer.  A very tasty addition to my summer salads and also provided a nice deep purple colour to the garden.

Now, on to 2012!  Happy growing!

Speedy Roasted Tomato Sauce!

I think I've managed to create my own 'signature' tomato sauce- a recipe that I'll come back to every year. I came up with this recipe/method by accident, after trying to find a speedy way to make a thick, roasted tomato sauce after a long day of work, while juggling kids, dog, and getting dinner on the table.   I have to record this method somewhere so I won't forget next year. Thought I'd share it on the blog so I`ll remember where I put it!

This sauce is a compilation of different recipes and techniques I have read about on the web and from cookbooks- inspired and adapted by trial and error.  I can`t really say this is an original recipe, certainly there are probably lots of similar ones out there.  I had one eureka moment though, when I was following a sauce recipe that had lots of ingredients in addition to the regular tomato, garlic and onion combo (had carrots, celery, red wine, balsamic, etc,etc).  After a short roasting time in the oven, the sauce was to be on low for the day in a crockpot to thicken.  I thought that a crockpot was perfect to use while I was at work.  The resulting sauce was good, but the next time I made it, I eliminated most of the extra ingredients out of sheer laziness.  When I tasted the more simplified batch and discovered that after minimal roasting time, it was already thick enough, I knew that this was it!

Not counting prep time to wash and cut up the tomatoes, it takes only 40 minutes in the oven from start to finish, and I end up with a perfectly thick and tasty sauce.  That beats the previous processing method I was using that required long slow roasting time, either in the oven or simmering on the stove.

I have no set measurements of ingredients.  My tools were a baking sheet lined with parchment and my trusty tomato sauce maker/strainer/crusher (? not sure what it`s called). 

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Wash and prep tomatoes (I used what ever was ripe from the garden- san marzano romas, black plum,  Cosmonaut Volkov, Ernies Plump, cherries) Note: the picture below was a small batch (probably the last of the tomatoes for the year).

Cut up larger tomatoes into more manageable pieces. 

Peel and quarter 1 large red or yellow onion

Peel and throw in 1-3 cloves of garlic (after experimentation, my preference was for 2 large cloves)

Drizzle olive oil over the mix.

Drizzle a splash or two of Balsamic Vinegar.

Top with fresh ground pepper.

Mix it around and stick it in the oven.

Roast 20 min. Stir, roast another 20.  (Sometimes I had to stir more often, depending on the size of the tomatoes to make sure they didn't burn).

After cooling, dump the whole resulting mush into the strainer, start cranking away, and voila: yummy sauce.  At this point I would add in additional herbs; basil, was my favourite.  I find the splash of balsamic gives the sauce some 'depth' (Clearly, I've been watching far too much food tv!)

I usually freeze the sauce in ice cube trays, then pop the cubes into a ziploc for storage- easy to take out small or large batches depending on my cooking needs.  The strainer does a nice job of removing all the skins.  These skins were not put to waste!  I froze them all and have been using them to make vegetable stock.