Indoor Seed Starting Update

For the most part, I'm pretty happy about how things have grown indoors this spring. Unlike last year, my lettuces sprouted well this time around. On the other hand, only a third of my Poblano peppers ended up germinating, only five of my Sarian strawberries sprouted and a few of my melons are proving rather difficult at the moment.


The rest of my peppers, however, are growing really well. I'm amazed by how much healthier they are now compared to last year. Then again, I didn't have to battle aphids this time around.


I think I timed my tomatoes just right this year. Last year, I started the seeds too early and as a result, they ended up outgrowing their pots and looked rather stressed when it came time to set them out. I'll start hardening them off this weekend and hopefully will be able to get them into the ground a week or so after that.


I've also started my melons, squash and cucumbers. All of my cucumbers sprouted very quickly. So did the Blacktail Mountain watermelon and Athena cantaloupe. My Yellow Sunshine watermelon and Petit Gris French melon on the other hand are not doing much of anything. It can be so aggravating not knowing whether it's you or the seed that's the problem. I guess you can't have everything turn out the way you would want it.

This upcoming weekend, I think I'll start my corn indoors as well. I know you're not supposed to as corn doesn't transplant well but it seemed to work fine for me last year. I find it easiest to pre-sprout the seeds before sowing them. Also, starting them in soil blocks should make the transplanting process much less stressful.

This Week's Garden Update - Salad in a Box

The fava beans are a bit late this year.


It's time to pick a few spinach leaves.


The lettuce is teasing me at the moment. We should be able pick some outer leaves any day now.


My salad box is working out well this year. The lettuces seem to be growing normally. Last summer, I couldn't get anything to grow in it. I figured it was due to a lack of fertility. This year, I used a mix of 50% organic potting soil, 50% compost and a bit of organic fertilizer for good measure. It seems to be working. On the left, I planted some mesclun mix and will sow some more in the middle. I have an extra box in the basement that I will need to break out. Hopefully, it will continue to do well in the shade this summer.

Rhubarb Update

I've never grown rhubarb before but I'm assuming this is the beginnings of a flower stalk. It caught me a bit off guard as I wasn't expecting one to form so early in the season. I decided to cut it off so that the plant can put all of its energy into producing stems and leaves. I have my doubts as to whether we'll be able to harvest any rhubarb this year. Time will tell I guess.

I'm heading to southern Florida tomorrow for work - just in time as we're expecting rain for the rest of the week. It'll be nice to soak up some serious heat. Hopefully things will clear up by the time I get back this weekend. I've written a few updates and have set them up automatically post while I'm away. See you all in a few days!

Last Harvest of April

We're finally starting to get a good amount of greens from the garden now that the weather is heating up. I harvested the first of the Shanghai bok choy this week along with the first asparagus spears. All of my Asian greens are sizing up nicely and should provide for many meals in the coming weeks. The slugs have kept away for the most part (Sluggo has worked awesome so far) and I will start applying Dipel dust once a week now that the white butterflies are out.

I've also been surprised by how quickly the Asparagus spears are growing. They put on at least 4-6 inches of growth per day. If I forget to check on them, chances are there will be one or two that have grown too long and tough to eat. I'm looking forward to the crowns being even more productive next year and being able to harvest for a longer period of time.


So I read a really interesting post about "mock broccoli" the other day and decided to clip a few flowering buds from my Red Russian kale to sample. (I have to thank one of my local MA readers for pointing this one out to me!) In it's raw state, the buds tasted pleasantly sweet and surprisingly a lot like broccoli. I decided to harvest all of them, which I then sauteed very quickly with a bit of butter for dinner. The results??? All I can say is "WOW!" It was like eating broccoli raab without any of the bitterness. The buds, stems and young leaves were sweet and very tender (unlike the stems and leaves on most mature kale).

The best part about harvesting the main flowering bud was that a couple days later, I went out into the garden and there were tons of side shoots. Who knew that overwintered Red Russian kale would offer this added bonus? Not me. Now I feel really silly about not harvesting my flowering kale before.


Sadly, I did have to dig up all of my kale plants today in order to make room for my potatoes. However, I did manage to pick a good amount of leaves to freeze and also gave a ton to my next-door neighbor.


Finally - the claytonia is still hanging in there. Even at this flowering stage, the leaves are delicious.

As a side note -I kind of regret deciding not to weigh my harvests this year as I'm sure the heavier numbers will slowly begin to roll in as the season progresses. Oh well. I might just weigh a select few crops this year like cukes, corn, tomatoes, zucchini, melons, peppers and potatoes. That way, I can at least have some figures to archive without feeling obligated to whip out the scale every time I pick something from the garden.

Around the April Garden

I thought I'd give a quick update on what's happening in and around the garden right now. In no particular order:


Now that the weather has warmed up a bit, the spring greens are growing rather quickly.


I will begin harvesting the Shanghai bok choy (right) in a couple days. Personally, I like my Asian greens on the smaller/younger side. The tatsoi (middle) will require another week or two.


I can now harvest some spinach leaves as well (right). The variety I'm growing this spring is "Regiment" and I have to say, I like it much better than "Space". I'm growing several varieties of lettuce this spring. Winter Density (middle) is growing particularly fast.


The French Breakfast radishes are up. Unlike carrots and beans, radishes always seem to germinate well in our garden.


My red and yellow wonder strawberries are leafing up fast. The first flowers don't seem too far behind. I have a second bed with three times as many plants, which will need to be located to another part of the garden. I'm hoping to use them as a mini hedge around my garden fence to keep the weeds down.


My snow and shell peas are up. I was really happy that germination was close to 100%. These will have to be thinned. The shoots are really tasty in salads or stir-fried.


Another photo of my speckled romaine lettuce.


It didn't take very long time for last year's thyme and sage to bounce back.


After a very long wait, the fava beans are up. I'm growing three varieties this year. I decided to hedge my bets and start additional seeds indoors. Germination ended up being around 90% so I transplanted my excess seedlings in another bed. We have about 80 fava bean plants - 10 times as many as last year, which is fine by me since they are one of our favorite veggies.


I also planted some red onion sets this weekend. Is it awful that I don't feel bad about not starting them from seed this year?


Finally, I harvested my first Jersey Supreme asparagus spears today! They sort of sneaked up on me as the shoots were tiny this past weekend. Luckily, I made a point to check on them again today. I would hate to have missed out on this first crop. Oh, and boy were they delicious simply steamed with a bit of butter. I'd never eaten asparagus that was cooked within minutes of being picked. I don't think you can find anything as sweet or tender at the supermarket.

The Rain Soaked Garden

I really need to get a rain gauge for the garden. Keeping track of how much water our veggies get is not something I'm very good at. Our summer last year was incredibly dry and I'm sure our crops would have done much better if I had watered more often and consistently. On the other hand, I'm hoping that mother nature doesn't overdo it this year with the rain like she did in 2009.

That being said, I love to walk around the garden right after a storm and seeing everything covered in raindrops. Sometimes a fog rolls through and casts a faint glow over everything. It also makes some interesting photography.


I'm growing this speckled romaine lettuce for the first time. Hopefully it tastes as wonderful as it looks.


The hyacinths are in bloom right now. They smell incredible and are among my favorite spring flowers.


The claytonia is lasting longer than I'd expected. They seem to be thriving under the cooler than normal conditions.


Finally, my lone rhubarb plant is doing well. I'd planted the rather pathetic-looking crown last spring and am hoping to harvest a few stems this year. The first ones to emerge seem fat enough but aren't long at all. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this will change as the plant grows. Otherwise, we'll have to wait another year.

April Harvest Update and the Emergence of Asparagus

This weekend, I harvested a good amount of greens for an Easter dinner party we attended on Sunday. I picked a bunch of claytonia and added some mizuna, spinach and baby lettuce to the mix. Thankfully, it was a hit!


The Red Russian kale has started to flower. I've been trying to harvest as much as I could, but to be honest, after a long winter I'm looking forward to pulling them up and planting something different. Does anyone know whether kale buds are edible?


I've been harvesting some of our overwintered scallions as well. The remainder of these will have to be pulled, chopped up and frozen as they are showing signs of bolting already.


Finally, our Jersey Supreme asparagus are starting to emerge from the ground. It's nice to see a sight like this, especially on this Easter - a holiday traditionally observed by pagans to celebrate this time of rebirth and fertility.


I planted these asparagus crowns last spring and they eventually grew into healthy plants last year. There is some debate on whether you should begin harvesting the tender shoots in the 2nd or 3rd year, but according to Ohio State University:

The year after planting, asparagus can be harvested several times throughout a three-week period, depending on air temperatures. Research shows there is no need to wait two years after planting before harvesting. In fact, harvesting the year after planting will stimulate more bud production on the crown and provide greater yields in future years, as compared with waiting two years before harvesting.

Sounds good to me! In fact, the spears that are emerging now are of good size so I am looking forward to seeing them on our dinner plate soon.

This Week's Gardening Chores

I wasn't able to get as much gardening done this past weekend as I would have liked. We've had a good amount of rain and overcast skies so far this month - not surprising considering it's April in New England. The garden remains pretty wet still but the plants don't seem to mind it all too much. When I dig down 6 inches in my planting beds, I see lots of water ( pools of it in fact). Our yard has significant drainage issues this time of year but the ground tends of dry out by the time June rolls around. Let's hope that's the case this year.


I did get around to transplanting some broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, purple sprouting broccoli (from Dan) and savoy cabbage. For me, it always becomes a lot easier to evaluate your overall available gardening space once your early spring greens and brassicas are in (I always tend to underestimate the amount of growing space I have). I want to make sure I leave enough room to grow all of my summer crops but it also would be nice to have enough space left over to fit in a second sowing of brassicas if I can. We love broccoli around here and any remaining space available will be planted with it.

Question to those of you who've grown purple sprouting broccoli - can I expect anything this year? Or will the plant only produce edible buds the following year?


On Sunday, I was also able to install my carrot box, which was built using 2x6's and made to fit one side of an existing bed. Our soil is so heavy here that it is often different to get carrots that are straight. Hopefully, adding another 6 inches of fine potting medium to the top will help us achieve better results (and deter the mice). I placed fabric row cover on top to help shield the germinating seeds from this week's heavy rains.

In the Kitchen - Classic Pineapple Upside Down Cake

I've been meaning to write this post for some time now. Better late than never I guess. A while back, I made Joanne Chang's recipe for pineapple upside down cake for the first time and boy, it is every bit as delicious as I had remembered. When she first opened her store Flour in Boston over a decade ago, a slice of this cake was one of the first things I had tried. It has been years since I have seen it on the menu so when her first cookbook was released last year, I was happy to find that she had included the recipe for this cake.


Marc and I are not huge cake eaters but this pineapple upside cake is our kryptonite. We can finish off an entire round in one sitting if we are not careful. The cake itself is perfectly eggy and not too dense or sweet. It also has the most delicious (almost cookie-like) crust at the bottom and around the edge and enough caramel fruit topping to satisfy serious pineapple lovers such as myself. I won't post the recipe here (I never like to do so without permission) but you can find it online if you do a simple search. Better yet, you can pick up a copy of her book, which has quickly become one of my favorite pastry books.

(And if any of you are wondering - No, I'm not being paid to write this! I just love me some pineapple upside down cake!)

Harvesting Claytonia

I noticed the other day that the claytonia (miner's lettuce) was starting to flower now that our spring has warmed up. This was a sure sign that we either had to harvest it or let the plants go to seed.


The pretty white flowers seem to emerge from the center of each cupped leaf. If I didn't know any better, I would have never guessed that this interesting looking plant was edible.


We harvested enough for several salads and there's much more to be had. The leaves are fairly delicate, succulent and only slightly crisp. To me, claytonia tastes sort of like spinach only lighter, sweeter and milder. We like it simply dressed with a lemon vinaigrette.