Grow What You Eat: Peppers

I bought a green pepper plant & a jalapeno pepper plant from Raisin Rack on May 18, 2011 for approximately $4 each. Both came in 4-inch pots.

I planted both in the same wooden planter as two tomato plants.

June 9, 2011

The green pepper plant was totally overshadowed by the tomato plants and never got enough sunlight or space to grow. The jalapeno pepper plant fared better. By the beginning of July, I could see baby peppers.

July 9, 2011

Since it didn't require as much space and got a bit more sunlight, it ended up producing a handful of spicy peppers that I used to make salsa.

July 23, 2011

They were all about the size of a pinky finger.

July 29, 2011

The green pepper plant actually started producing miniature peppers after the tomato plant had died off and left it some room to grow, but it was too late in the season for the peppers to fully develop. In any case, the baby green peppers were super cute, and at least I'll know what to look for next year.

October 22, 2011

The jalapeno pepper plant also lasted until the end of October, even putting out a few wicked-looking attempts in the last inning.

Things I'll Do Differently Next Year:

I will probably end up planting both pepper plants in a separate wooden box or pot in order to give them enough space and sunlight to grow and produce. 

Grow What You Eat: Rosemary

I love rosemary. The problem is that I don't know what to do with it.

My staple recipe for rosemary is to add it to a skillet of sauteed onions, green peppers and feta cheese, then serve it with pita bread. Besides that, I've been at a loss this year for what to do with this beautiful herb.

I bought a rosemary plant in a 4-inch pot from the Franklin Park Conservatory on May 14, 2011 for approximately $3. I potted it in a medium-sized clay pot and ignored everything I read about using sandy soil because of laziness.

June 9, 2011

It didn't seem to mind.

August 27, 2011

I don't think I harvested anything from it until mid-September.

September 5, 2011

Since it seemed to be doing well and I checked to make sure it wasn't on the ASPCA's list of plants that are toxic to cats, I brought it inside for the winter.

October 24, 2011

Things I'll do differently next year: Find more recipes that call for rosemary.

Grow What You Eat: Basil

I bought two basil plants at Westerville Farmer's Market for approximately $2.50 for a 4-inch potted plant.

Note: All of the books I read suggested buying 4-inch plants because they will be less scrawny and will bush out better over time.

May 25, 2011

I potted each plant in a separate plastic hanging plant container that I'd saved from previous summers.

The plants started out fairly small and compact, but they grew quickly.

June 9, 2011

I started harvesting basil within a month, though I could have probably done so sooner.

A large batch of basil, harvested on June 23, 2011

I ended up making several huge batches of pesto over the course of the summer, using lemon juice, garlic cloves, olive oil, Parmesan cheese and slivered almonds, all of which I mixed together in a mini food processor.

Basil in mini food processor

Frozen in an ice cube tray then placed in freezer bags, ready to use

After a while, I found that I got lazy and stopped harvesting the basil on a regular basis. It started to lose some of its vibrant green color and when I researched the problem, I found that it was due to my lack of constant pruning.

July 9, 2011

So I tried to harvest on bi-weekly basis, and though the leaves at the bottom of the plants never bounced back, the plants started to slowly regain their color.

July 29, 2011

By the end of August the plants were looking a bit worse for the ware...

August 27, 2011

And by the beginning of September, they were all but done for the season.

September 5, 2011

Things I'll do differently next year:

Really, I think the only thing I would change for next year is to harvest more often to prevent the plant from losing its color, a la Bunnicula style.

Everything else, including the soil, pot, location and frequency of watering seemed to work well.

Grow What You Eat: The Dirt

It seems that container gardening, especially, requires good dirt. So just like a new mom, I read all of the plant parenting books to make sure that I made the best possible home for my plant babies.

Ingredients for good container gardening soil include:

• Vermiculite or perlite
• A bit of coco peat or "coir" (to help retain moisture)
• Oyster shells
• Dolonitic or cacitic limestone
• Equal parts N-P-K (nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium)
• pH between 6.0 and 7.0
  
• A top layer of compost and peat moss or humus

And, as with most new parents, creating this perfect home became way too much work and I chucked it all for the following:

MiracleGro's Organic Choice Potting Mix...



And a top layer of compost from my composter.



Things I'll do differently next year:

• I might try looking in a specialty garden store for soil ingredients, as all of the convenient haunts, i.e. Lowes', Home Depot and Meijer, had not one of these items. The choices were potting soil or top soil. At least I knew enough not to get top soil...
• I will probably put the compost in a middle layer rather than the top layer. I had a lot of seeds in the composter that decided to sprout and I couldn't figure out which seedlings I had purposefully planted and which ones were impostors. On a happy note, I did get a volunteer tomato plant out of the deal.
  

Grow What You Eat: Cucumbers

I heart cucumbers. They are one of the easiest, most refreshing vegetables of the summer.


(Note: This picture was taken by my sis, of Photo Kitchen fame. You will easily be able to tell the difference between her pics and mine throughout this blog, as mine are very matter-of-fact and hers are magical.)

I picked up a cucumber plant at Raisin Rack on May 18 for approximately $4. It came with only a hand-written tag that said "AC Picking Cucumber", which, after a half-hearted Google search, I assume means this?



By June 9, I could see tiny cucumbers beginning to grow. Though there were 3 or 4 babies on the plant at a time, usually only one of them grew into a full-fledged cucumber. According to this article, the shriveled baby cucumbers are due to lack of pollination. Oops.



I harvested the first cucumber on June 23. It was beautiful.



Some of the cucumbers were a bit misshapen, but still just as tasty.

I realized a bit too late that the plant was yellowing because there was a cucumber hanging out of sight over the edge of the deck. I think if I would have noticed it and picked it sooner, the plant would have started to send its nutrients to the rest of its limbs.



But the real death of the plant came with a raccoon attack. The roots were dug up and exposed. Though I tried to replant it, it soon shriveled and died.



In the end, I was able to harvest 5 cucumbers throughout the summer.

Though this variety is meant for pickling, I was too lazy to learn how, so I just ate them in my staple summer salad consisting of cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, red wine vinegar, olive oil and feta cheese.

Things I'll Do Differently Next Year:

• Try to keep the raccoons from digging up the plant (though I'm not quite sure how yet.)
• Buy more than one plant.
  
• Actually attempt to pollinate the plant by following these instructions.
  
• Try pickling?
  

Grow What You Eat: Cilantro Fail

I bought my cilantro plant on May 14 from Franklin Park Conservatory when I was there making my rain barrel.



I planted it in a bit of potting soil topped off with some compost. It was thriving.



I planned to use it in salsa all summer, but there was not much chance of that. I was able to harvest one bunch in mid-June before this happened:



And then this happened:



R.I.P. May 14, 2011 - July 20, 2011

Thing I'll do differently next year:

• Maybe try a clay pot, as this is not a rain lover.
  
• Maybe try sandy soil. I read that it would be a good idea, but I promptly ignored the advice due to laziness.
  

Next up...cucumber!

Grow What You Eat: Peas & Green Beans

Beans and peas. Every kid's dread? Every green girl's dream?

To start, I bought Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds' Oregon Sugar Pod II snow peas from Raisin Rack and Burpee's Bush Blue Lake 274 from Home Depot (I think).



I planted the seeds as directed on the package in the wooden boxes mentioned here in mid-May. Many of them never sprouted, but I ended up with 6 viable plants (4 peas, 2 beans).



I set up one trellis with two tomato stakes and soft garden twine. But it wasn't enough for two rows of plants, so I bought a second trellis that with three polls and connector pieces that snap together.



The plants flowered.





Then (eek) snow peas appeared.





And then (eek) green beans appeared.



Probably got a couple of handfuls of each by the time everything was said and done.

Update: To my surprise, the green bean plants were still producing a handful of beans every week by the end of August.

Things I'll do differently next year:

• I'll plant the seeds earlier. The middle of May didn't seem to give them quite enough time.
  
• I'm going to get a second set of wooden boxes and split the beans and peas up into two boxes so that I can grow more. Or, since the beans were bush plants, I could using two or three round pots for these, as long as they're tall enough, and just let the plants grow over the side.
  

Next up...cilantro!

CSA Prep Time: Everything You Need for the Produce Season

These are a few of the things I've found to be quite handy in regard to managing a CSA share:

• A salad spinner, like this one from Bed, Bath & Beyond.
  
• One or two sharp all-purposes knives. I bought mine from Amazon.com and sharpened it for the first time at Sur la Table, but was also tempted to try Sharpening on Site.
• Rectangular plastic storage containers, like these from Ziploc. These are great to store veggies before you get the chance to chop them up.
  
• Wax pencils or scraps of paper & tape to label food storage containers. (Naming & dating is essential to prevent rotting!)
  
• Lots of small storage containers. I often use old yogurt & cottage cheese containers. These fit just about everything once it's chopped, from kale to cucumber.
  
• Non-perishable staples such as olive oil, grains, pastas, dressings, etc. These are nice to have around when you need to whip something up quick (especially if you're worried that it's moments away from going bad.)
  
• How to Cook Everything Vegetarian cookbook by Mark Bittman. Everything you need to know about storing and preparing veggies. Even tells you which parts of the veggie are edible, which is good when working with produce for the first time. Seriously, who looked at the first kohlrabi and thought, "Yup, I'd eat that." I heart this book.
  

Welcome to the 2011 CSA season!

Note: I have switched CSA's this year. I was happy with Sippel Family Farm, but they stopped offering pickup on Saturdays, which was most convenient for my schedule, so I'm trying Wayward Seed Farm. I'll let you know how it goes!

Grow What You Eat: Wooden Planters

Plants need homes. A certain someone who is handy with such things was kind enough to build me two large wooden boxes to give my plants a place to live.

He used scrap wood to build the planters, then I ordered Tung Oil and Citrus Solvent from The Real Milk Paint Company to protect them from weather damage.

I used an old milk carton to mix the two liquids together, then used a very very old Girl Scout t-shirt to spread the oil onto the wooden boxes. Two coats did the trick, though I'm sure three coats wouldn't have hurt.



Once the finish dried, I lined the boxes with part of a plastic drop cloth (found at Home Depot for a couple of bucks) with holes punched in it for drainage. Then I filled them with a couple of bags of potting soil, a layer of compost and voila!

One planter currently houses two tomato plants, a jalapeno pepper plant and a green pepper plant. Next year, I'll split these up into two planters, as the pepper plants are currently being overshadowed by the gargantuan tomato plants.

The other planter houses a row of green bean plants and a row of pea plants. Next year, I'll split these up into two planters as well, as the peas are struggling for some space.

The other containers I've used in the garden are all ones I have collected over the years, including plastic hanging pots, plastic pots of all shapes, sizes and colors as well as a clay strawberry pot.

Happy homes make happy plants!

Grow What You Eat: Strawberries

In case I haven't mentioned it (because I certainly haven't stopped strangers on the street to tell them, certainly not), I've started a container garden. I want to grow more of what I eat. I already try to eat local and organic or both. When that fails, I try to go for less packaging or waste. But truly, there are very few foods that meet all of these criteria at one time.

Growing food in my own backyard really is as green as it can get.

So...strawberries. Everything I read about strawberries said that the plants don't produce strawberries in the first year, but that you can grow them in containers. This is confusing. How do I "winter" the plant so that it doesn't die in the cold weather in order to reap the rewards the second year? No gardening book could answer this question for me. So I decided not to grow strawberries.

And then...I went to Home Depot to pick up some trellis fixings for my bean and pea plants. The strawberry plants were right there. So inviting. So friendly. My pure and unadulterated excitement that spring was finally here won the better of me and I grabbed two strawberry plants on a whim and ran. (I mean, I paid for them and everything, but still.) I think I spent $4 per pot.



The plants I bought were Bonnie Plants' Quinault variety. Part of what sold me was their pots. Instead of the usual plastic pots that immediately go to the landfill, their pots are biodegradable! I actually tore them into little pieces and added them to the composter just as I would with cardboard or paper.

And in case you missed it (here's a larger view of my little strawberry baby), I have one bright, plump red strawberry growing on the vine, with more to come! What was this about strawberry plants not bearing fruit the first year?

What I'll do differently next year: I'll be sure to buy enough plants to fill all of the holes in the strawberry pot, instead of just two. I'll also buy a PVC pipe, drill holes in the sides of the pipe and insert it into the middle of the pot before adding soil in order to aid in watering.

Note: Bought strawberry plants: May 4. First red strawberry ready for picking: June 23.

Update: Poor baby strawberries met their maker. Not sure what creature got to them, but I hope the rest of them don't have this fate in store!



Update #2: As of the end of August, the strawberry plants produced small strawberries two more times, though they were never harvested because they were either too measly or too mangled. Maybe they will do much better the second year, after all!