Final Seeds to plant in summer for Fall Kitchen Garden. 8.2.16

More seeds to plant now for fall kitchen garden.  8.2.16

This idea of planting is summer for a fall crop is foreign to me, but the state ag station says we can do it with some crops.  It might be a little too late for some and a little too early for others, but all we can do is try.

Today I stopped by a local nursery to see if there were seeds for Chinese cabbage, and also bought seeds for red carrots - should look nice in zucchini bread, Daikon, and Bok Choy.

With the storage onions and all of the potatoes now dug up, there is a garden patch with room for all of these and then some.  I also planted a few more Chinese radishes, Salad radishes, bunching onions, rudbeckia, and echinacea.  Herbivore control might be an issue - not a sheltered bed - but maybe I can get in a low fence soon. 

My Pear Ripening Experiment. 7.28.16

Mixed Pear Varieties Off the Tree.  7.28.16

This year I had the mental where-with-all to see if I can pick pears at the ripe time.

European pears are easy to grow but I find it difficult to judge when to ripen them.  If picked too soon, they are hard, sour, and flavorless.  If picked too late, they rot from the inside out.

The reason is that European pear ripening is a multi-step process.  Left on the tree, they ripen from the inside out.

I've researched multiple websites.  They are not all in agreement regarding the proper timing of picking, and the follow up process, but there are similarities and some trends.

According to Oregon State University Extension Service, a pear is ready to pick when  they" detach when "tilted" to a horizontal position from their usual vertical hanging position."  Following picking, pears should be refrigerated.  The authors note, "Bartlett pears need to be cooled only for a day or two, and winter pears such as Anjou, Bosc and Comice require 2 to 6 weeks for optimal effect"  So you need to know what variety you have, in order to choose chilling time.  However, it might be OK to ripen Barlets for 2 to 6 weeks if the variety is not known.   After the chill period is completed,  pears should be ripened "at 65 to 75 degrees F for the following times: Bartlett, 4 to 5 days, Bosc and Comice, 5 to 7 days; and Anjou, 7 to 10 days. The longer the time the pears have spent in cold storage, the shorter the time to ripen them".

Ethylene gas is involved in the ripening process.  Bananas and apples produce ethylene gas, so to speed ripening, place the pear into a paper bag with a ripe banana or apple.  I did that with persimmons, to good effect.  Stark Brothers recommends using a banana or apple to ripen a pear.

Colorado gives other ideas about when pears are ready to pick.  "disregard the red blush on varieties that develop it such as D’Anjou.... The ground color of the pear skin will change to more closely resemble the mature pear of that variety. With Bartlett and D’Anjou and other yellow pear varieties, skin becomes a lighter green."

University of Georgia comments that the lenticels of unready pears are white, but when they are ready to pick they become brown.  The link states, "One measure of maturity are the fruit lenticels. These are the small “dots” or indentations on the fruit’s skin. Lenticels of immature pears are white; however, as cork cells develop the lenticels become brown and shallow. The brown in the lenticels is a good indication that the fruit is ready to be picked and will ripen without shriveling. Color between the lenticels also becomes lighter green than at the lenticels."

I will see if I get it right this year.  I am picking pears if they fall off when moved to horizontal position.  A lot of them are doing that now.  Then they go into the fridge for 2 to 4 weeks, then ripen on counter or in a paper bag with apple or banana.  We'll see what happens.

Kitchen Garden Harvest. Something to do with Collard Greens. 8.2Some of the in.16

Kitchen Garden Harvest.  8.2.16

 Kitchen Garden is making me happy.  Collards, Zucchinis, Eggs, Onions, Sungold Tomatoes, Toka Plums (a few), Trinity Sweet Corn, Lattarula Figs.  I cant ask for bettter.  Much of my food, 3 meals a day, comes from the summer kitchen garden.

I also dug up about 40 pounds of Idaho Russet Potatoes.  They should last 2 or 3 months, I imagine.  Most are not the huge size or odd shapes in the photo.

A few of the Idaho Russet Potatoes.  8.2.16

Collard Green Ribbons, Stir Fried with Onion and Topped with Egg.  8.3.16

Sometimes I grow things, then I don't know what I will do with them.  This collard green dish was from mempory of a spinach recipe I ate somewhere.  Very easy.

Cut out the midrib of the big collard green leaf.

Roll up the leaf, then use serrated knife to cut into strips around 1/4 inch wide, sort of like green leafy fettucini.

Combine with 1/4 medium chopped onion and stir fry in olive oil until tender and the onions are slightly brown. 

Mix in some soy sauce.

Fry egg in the hot skillet sunny side up.  I like to add some water and put on lid, to steam the top of the egg.

Then dust with pepper and add Sriracha sauce.

This was very good.  I have lots of collards now, so will need this and other ways to prepare them.

Walking Around. 7.31.16

Bean Raised Bed and Trellis.  7.31.16

First New Bean Pod.  7.31.16

 Random notes.

Beans are looking good.  It looks like there will be a bumper crop of these Chinese pod beans, that were recovered from old seed packets.

Encouraged by presence of several okra flowers, and the okra plants do look vigorous and sturdy. 

Morning Glories blooming.  Seeds from plants that I grew last year from seeds.

The Lattarula that I started from cutting in 2014, planted at Battleground in 2015, now bearing it's first figs.  Nice crop from this tried and true variety.

Maxie pears looking OK.  Similar size to most other Asian pears, including Shinseiki which is a distant cousin.

Turnips, Kohlrabis, Broccoli, Radishes, Chinese Radishes, Carrots, Lettuce, Cilantro seeds have all germinated and growing.  They continued to need water once or twice daily.

Okra Flower.  7.31.16

 Yesterday I finished clearing out the second Fava bean bed, saved the seeds on the remaining plants, and turned the soil.  I soaked the dry soil overnight, hoed and evened the soil, and planted seeds for more turnips,  Chinese cabbage - old seeds, mixed together two packets - Parisian Market carrots, and more radishes.

Volunteer Morning Glories.  7.31.16

Maxie Hybriud Pears.  7.31.16

First Figs from this cutting-grown Lattarula Fig Tree.  7.31.16

Turnip, Kohlrabi, and Radish Seedlings.  7.31.16

Mt. St Helens. 7.20.16

At Mt. St. Helens.  7.20.16

Panarama view at Mt. St. Helens lookout station.  7.20.16

We drove up to Mt. St Helens last week.  The volcano can be seen from many places in area, but terrain or trees obscure the view from my house.  Beautiful place to visit.  According to Wikipedia, Native American names for the mountain include Lawetlat'la to the indigenous Cowlitz people, and Loowit to the Klickitat. The volcano formed within the past 40,000 years, and the pre-1980 summit cone began rising about 2,200 years ago, growing when Romans were building their empire. Interesting, considering I think of mountains as millions of years old. So much, in such a relatively short time.

Sweet Corn, Fruit Harvest, and Prior Okra Experience. 7.27.16

Hollywood and Green Gage Plums, and Figs.  7.27.16

 Mos of todays meals were from the kitchen garden.  Pretty awesome to me.  Lots of fruit.  The first batch of Trinity se+ sweet corn is fully ripe.   Compared to store corn, more tender, sweeter, but smaller ears.  First harvest was almost to the day, the same as last year.  The difference is last year I started in containers, then planted out in the kitchen garden.  This year I seeded directly into the ground.    The seeds were planted about 4.15.16 which gives a bit more than 100 days from seed to harvest.  That compares to 70 days on the seed label, but who's counting?

The difference is that climate here is cooler and nights are cooler, compared to sweet corn country. 

Most of the corn plants have 2 ears this year, which is nice.

Lunch.  Summer Squash for Salad, Sweet Corn, and Lattarula Figs.  7.27.16

 I looked back on growing okra in 2014.  I grew it in containers.  Production was minimal and, looking at the pictures, the plants were rather scrawny.  I don't know how this year will turn out, but I was excited to see the first flower today, on a one-foot-tall okra plant.  Not sure, but I think this Spring was warmer, but this summer is cooler and wetter, compared to 2015.  Starting to make up for it.  Today was 90F on my car thermometer, which is a good okra-growing temperature.

Containerized Okra. 9.20.14. 

Kitchen Garden. Another Way to Eat Zucchini. 7.26.16

Basal in Tree Ring Container.  7.26.16

Okra.  7.27.16

Mid Summer is a nice time in the kitchen garden.  Every day feels like a combination Easter Egg hunt and Christmas. 

Basil in Tree Ring Open Bottom container, ready to pick and make a small batch of pesto. 

I'm very surprised to have actively growing okra.  I had given up.  A true Southern gardener would rightly laugh at these puny okra plants.  The first flower buds are forming, and there are still 2 months of warm weather for potential crop.  I don't know which varieties.  I mixed together several packets and planted all of them.

I used tree branches that I saved to construct fenceposts or other garden infrastructure, along with black plastic trellis with 1-inch openings, to construct a rabbit / deer fence.  One might think okra spines would deter these pests, but they eat blackberry and squash growth tips, despite spines.

We continue to get zucchini, of course, and collard greens.  There are occasional peppers.

Use a mandolin with the thinnest blade, and slice zucchinis into leaf-thin slices.  Add the usual salad fixings and dressing, makes a great salad. 

Today the sweet corn appears ready to harvest.  I'm too tired to prepare it tonight, so leaving in the husks. 

I shifted the largest pumpkin to slide a newspaper under it.  That was to protect it from potential rot underneat, something I read about.  BAD MOVE.  The pumpkin came off the stem.  A ripe one is almost red.  This one is golden yellow.   I will see if I can roast it tomorrow for pumpkin pie fillings and pumpkin puree for pumpkin bread.

This pumpkin was Rouge Vit D'Etamps.  I weighed it - 35 pounds.  What will I do with that much pumpkin?  Annoyed with myself for not letting it ripen on the plant, dammit dammit.  But there are many smaller pumpkins and winter squashes, so there will still be more than we can reasonably use.

Vegetables.  7.27.16

 Some of the radish seeds have germinated at 3 days.   I planted all of the Chinese radish varieties, mentioned earlier.  Meanwhile at one week the first Euro radishes, turnips, kohlrabis, are looking good  one week after sowing seeds.  The carrot seeds have germinated.  I also enclosed this raised bed in netting for deer and rabbits.  I don't know if that will keep out cabbage moths. 

Two days ago, we ate the first Sungold tomato.  Today there were a few more.  I'm impatient for tomato season to start, even though there are so many other things to be happy about.

Okra Cage.  7.26.16

Also noting- We are getting figs every day.  Not enough to overwhelm me, but a really good crop.

Not pictured, I harvested all of the potatoes, other than Burbank Russet, which are almost ready.  Probably 50 pounds total of potatoes.  I harvested about half of the yellow onions.  Maybe 10 pounds.   I pulled out one of the raised bed / cages of favas, and used that bed to plant more Chinese Radishes last weekend.

Sweet Corn.  Trinity is shorter variety.  Bilicious is taller variety.  7.26.16

Trinity Sweet Corn Ready to Harvest.  7.26.16

 Rouge Vif d'Etampes Pumpkin, Harvested Too Early.  7.26.16

Radishes, Turnips, Carrots Seeds Germinating.  7.26.16

The First of the Sungold, by a nose.  7.26.16

Sweet Treat Pluerry, First Fruit. 7.24.16

 This is the one fruit from Sweet Treat Pluerry this year.  It's OK, given this is only the second year of growth. 

I may have harvested a little early.  I did not want birds to steal the only fruit.

The flavor was sweet, with a fruit punch flavor.  Not exactly plum, not exactly cherry.  Nice refreshing flavor.

It's too early to recommend the tree.  The leaves have a leaf-curl-like disease, so it's pretty ugly.  I don't know if that will affect bearing.

Another Zucchini Fritter Recipe. 7.24.16

Zucchini Fritters with Salsa.  7.24.16

Similar to prior recipe but with Mexican feel instead of Italian.

1 1/2 pounds zucchini, shredded.
1/4 onion, chopped.
One egg, stirred.
1/4 cup flour.
1/4 cup shredded cheddar
pepper to taste
salt to drain fluid from zucchini.

I found that hand-shredded zucchini works much better than food processor.  Hand shredding makes thinner shreds, which lose their fluid better.

Shred the zucchini.
Mix in 1 tsp salt.  Let sit 15 to 30 min.  Drain in collander and use spatula to squeeze as dry as reasonably possible.  Mix in the chopped onion.  Mix in the egg, then the cheese, then the flour.
Fry in olive oil.  I dust with black pepper.  Add a spoon of salsa.

The makes a good breakfast.

Kitchen Garden Harvest. 7.21.16

Collard Greens.  7.21.16

Lattarula and Petite negri figs.  7.21.16

Lattarula and Petite negri figs.  7.21.16

From the Kitchen Garden.  7.21.16

Q-1-8 / Salish Peaches.  7.21.16

Illinois Everbearing Mulberries.  7.21.16

Hollywood Plums.  9.21.16