Planting a Fall Vegetable Garden

We like to keep our vegetable garden areas going through the fall. 

Here is a link to an article on Gardenality, a gardening web site with some great tips and info on planning, planting and maintaining a fall garden.

Gardenality's Guide to Preparing and Planting a Fall Garden

Garlic's Up!

Move beyond "supermarket garlic" - Grow your own!

Our herb garden. There should always be a stand of garlic (back center) in everyone's garden!

Garlic, is the go-to herb for so many dishes in so many different cultures. It is something both omnivores and vegetarians can agree on. Garlic brings its distinctive flavor, earthy aroma and subtle nuances to anything you use it with, giving wonderful character and depth of flavor to meats, seafood, vegetables, sauces, marinades, rubs, dressings, oil infusions, soups, stocks and stews, you name it. It is pungent when raw, mellow when cooked and rich and nutty when roasted and caramelized. It can be sweet and delicate or bold and lusty - it all depends on how it's treated, capice?

And, let's not forget it's health benefits. Whole books have been written about garlic's health and therapeutic value. Garlic has long been known for its antibacterial and antiviral properties. Studies have also shown that garlic has important cardio-protective properties in the form of blood cell and blood vessel protection from inflammatory and oxidative stress.

So, yes, we LOVE garlic here! For cooking and our health. We've been growing garlic as a staple in our garden for quite a few years, playing with different varieties - there are many, many varieties of garlic, each with it's own flavor "personality". This year we are growing Chesnok Red about 50 heads in all. Here's a little video of our garlic - 

These should be ready to pull in about a month or so. But in the meantime we can use the scapes! That's another cool thing about growing your own garlic - you get to enjoy the scapes.  Scapes are the tall curled flower bearing shoots that pop up in the center of the garlic plant and emerge from the center of the leaves. We snip them off before they become a flower so the garlic plant can devote all its energy to producing bigger garlic heads with more cloves. If you want to grow garlic for the seeds, you can let the scapes mature and flower then collect the seeds. We like to eat the scapes though. They are delicious and can be used just like garlic and they are ready a month or two before the garlic is ready to harvest. They look like this -   

Here is a link to a fun article about garlic scapes and how to prepare and enjoy them -

7 Things to do with Garlic Scapes - Recipes

Here is the garlic from back in Georgia a couple years ago

Harvest time!

Garlic hanging in our kitchen

If you love garlic too, or maybe you're a little garlic shy or are just garlic curious, check back on this blog because we will be posting creative ways to use and enjoy garlic as well as tips on growing-your-own. 

Here is a link to our favorite source for garlic planting stock =  The Garlic Store

They have a great variety of hard neck and soft neck garlic varieties with helpful descriptions of their taste and flavor. They are a one-stop garlic shop for growers, gourmets, gardeners, garlic Lovers, and garlic gifts! 

Seed Bombs - Creative Help for the Declining Honey Bee Population

Seed "Bombs"

It is very clear that there has been a major decline in the honeybee population. As an avid vegetable gardener I am very concerned.

Just a little background that many of you already have some familiarity with. Colony collapse disorder (CCD) is the mysterious abrupt disappearance of worker bees from the bee colony. During the past 20 years, beekeepers around the world have observed this mysterious and sudden disappearance of bees, and unusually high rates of decline in honeybee colonies. These kinds of disappearances are not new and have occurred throughout the history of beekeeping. In the past they were known by various names - disappearing disease, spring dwindle, May disease, autumn collapse. More recently the syndrome was renamed colony collapse disorder in light of this drastic rise in the number of disappearances of western honeybee colonies in North America and Europe.  

Colony collapse disorder is significant economically and effects all of us because so many agricultural crops are pollinated by honey bees. The whys and hows of CCD and the reasons for its increasing prevalence remain unclear and controversial. Many possible causes have been proposed: pesticides, primarily neonicotinoids; infections with varroa mites; malnutrition; various pathogens;  genetic factors; loss of habitat; changing beekeeping practices; or a combination of these.

One simple way we can help is to increase pollinator habitat by planting native wildflower seeds all over the place. Check out this video showing what the company that makes Seedles, has done. Seedles are wild flower seeds encased in clay balls made of seed bombs. that can be hand broadcast and This company -

Aerial Seed Bombing

Here are links to a few resources that show a simple way we can help that is much more than just a symbolic gesture with no substance - you are actually doing something constructive.

http://www.psmag.com/navigation/nature-and-technology/save-the-honeybee-sterilize-the-earth-pollination-industrial-complex-95566/

http://growtherainbow.com/

http://www.organicgardening.com/learn-and-grow/diy-seed-bombs

http://www.thinkgeek.com/product/edb1/

How to Build Super Garden Soil

Proper soil preparation is the key to a good vegetable garden success. Here are a few articles that tell you what you need to do to have nutrient rich soil for your veggies.

How to Build Super Garden Soil

How to Correctly Plant and Grow Tomatoes

Cherokee Purple tomatoes from our garden last year - 2014

These are very interesting articles!  After digesting the information, I decided to try at least some of these recommendations this this spring. If you are open to new ideas, don't mind a little extra planting work and love tomatoes why not?

Here are links - 

Grow better tomatoes!

Rodale's Organic Life Guide to Planting Tomatoes

2014 Vintage Norton - Da Vite a Vino

Listen, if you enjoy wine, few things feel as fulfilling and authentic as the experience of making your own wine from fresh grapes you’ve grown yourself. You don’t have to have a big vineyard. If well tended, just four or five wine grape vines in your back yard should give you a gallon or so of wine.  I know that's not much wine but it's fun and rewarding - it's like watching the completion of the circle of life! 

We harvested this years Norton grapes on Saturday August 2. After crushing and primary fermentation it looks like we will get just about a gallon that will give us 5 x 750 ml bottles. This year I made a 'second wine' by reinvigorating the fermentation with the spent grapes and skins from the first wine by adding sugar, water and more yeast. The sugar doesn't make it sweeter, it just gives the yeast more food to turn into alcohol. The color and taste will be lighter because most of those qualities went into the the first wine. We will get 5 bottles of that wine.

I've made wine many times before from wine grape concentrates for particular varieties. The wine I made for my daughters wedding was Valpolicella for the red and Verdicchio for the white - 30 bottles each. For my sons wedding I made Sangiovese for the red and Pinot Grigio for the white also 30 bottles of each.  

The gallon on the right is from the first crush. The gallon on the left is the second wine The color and taste will be lighter because most of those qualities went into the the first wine. The wine will settle out and clear. In a month or so I'll siphon it off the sediment on the bottom.

It's Fig Season!

If you like figs and you have the space I hope you have a fig tree or two... or three. Because figs are so perishable you are never going to be able to eat a fig that tastes as sweet and delicious as the ones you can grow yourself. The fresh ones that you can get this time of year at a grocery store, as good as they are, were picked under-ripe days ago. But if you grow your own, well damn, you can just walk out and pick one off the tree just like that.

Some cool things to make using figs - 
Fig preserves
Agrodolce figs
Roast figs wrapped in bacon or prosciutto
Figs stuffed with goat cheese
Fried figs
Figs stuffed with pistachios and candied orange peel
Chicken breast (or pork chop) stuffed with figs and goat cheese
Pork chops with a balsamic fig sauce
Fettuccine with figs
Fresh fig galette
Grilled fresh figs on rosemary skewers
Cucidati - Italian fig cookies. 
I will be adding recipes for these and more over time, check back often.
   
Fig Preserves - EASY!
Think about how good this will be on a bacon or  sausage biscuit!

About 4 cups of fresh figs

Cut figs into quarters

Make a simple syrup - 1/2 cup of sugar and 2 cups of water. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer

 Add the figs

Add the zest and juice of one lemon.  

Simmer the figs in the simple syrup with the lemon zest and lemon juice until nice a thick - for about 45 minutes.

Spoon into sterilized glass canning jars, add lid and ring. Return to the pot of hot water. Simmer the filled jars for 10 minutes.

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Fig Preserves with Orange

Same as above but use the zest from one navel orange instead of the lemon zest but still include the lemon juice.

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                                      Agrodolce Figs - Sweet and sour figs 
  
3 cups of ripe figs
1 tablespoon honey
1/3 cup of balsamic vinegar 
1 teaspoons fresh rosemary
1 bay leaf
Water as needed

Simmer the figs in honey, balsamic vinegar, rosemary, a bay leaf and a little water for about 45 minutes. As the sauce thickens add a little water to keep it loose.

 Should look like this when done

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Fig and goat cheese stuffed chicken breast

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Fig Infused Balsamic Vinegar

Fig infused vinegar, why not? It's is easy – you can use a distilled vinegar, or a red or white wine vinegar, but for best results, an inexpensive balsamic works best. Just chop your figs (about a pound for every quart of vinegar), add the vinegar and figs to a large saucepan, and simmer it for about 20 minutes or more, until the figs have lost their form and become mush – strain and bottle. This will be thicker than the original vinegar, and is supposed to be – but if it’s too thick for you, add either more vinegar or, if it has a strong vinegar taste already, add water to thin it. Store in the refrigerator – it will keep indefinitely.

You can use this as you would regular balsamic vinegar - sauces, salad dressings, over ice cream, marinades, the figs give it a sweeter more complex flavor. 

Our Summer with Minerva, Our Garden Mantis

June 23 - I discovered a small (young) praying mantis on one of the pepper plants in our garden. I have been fascinated by these intelligent creatures since I was a little boy. I even had one as a pet one summer. Just ask my sister, she'll tell you!  We've decided to name her Minerva after the Roman goddess of wisdom and sponsor of arts, trade, and strategy. It seemed appropriate. Here is a photo of her.  I am going to make regular journal entries of her activities throughout the summer. So this blog section will be updated regularly, as long as she is with us.

Mantises are good to have in a vegetable garden because they prey on insect pests that can destroy your plants. Minerva likes to hang out in the part of our garden where we've planted hot peppers - Calabrese peppers, hot cherry peppers, and lemon peppers. 

I'm referring to our mantis a female but I could be wrong. It's difficult to tell the sex of one when they are young.  As they get older, there are several anatomical features that help telling males from females - males have 8 segments to their abdomens, females have 6, adult females are much larger than the males and they have broader abdomens (bellies & "hips"). Looks like male mantises might be natural chubby chasers. I have't been able to get a good count on Minerva's abdomen segments so I'm sticking with our mantis being a girl.

OK, Myth Killer - There has been some misunderstanding about mantis mating behavior. The popular belief is that the female kills and devours the male after mating, like black widow spiders do. But this is not always the case. Researches have found that this happens only about 30% of the time, so it's kind of a crap shoot for the male. Talk about fear of intimacy issues!

June 24 - Here she is chowing down on some other insect she's snagged.

July 3 - My morning visit with Minerva. She's getting bigger and becoming comfortable with me and isn't afraid to climb on my hand.

July 5 - Just a pic I took today.  

July 10 - Bought three praying mantis egg cases recently. Baby mantises hatched out of one of them this morning. But not without a little drama - a spider was skulking nearby as you can see in the second and third pics and went after the newborns. The baby mantises are too young and small to mount any kind of a spider beat down, so I helped. The spider is now gone.

July 11 - Minerva has remained perfectly still for hours in this upside down position beside a Calabrese pepper. My only thought is that she is lying in wait for an unsuspecting insect by making herself look as much as possible like one of the peppers.  Every now and then I go outside and check.

July 12 - So this morning I'm poking around in the garden and find this - the molted exoskeleton of our garden mantis! Looks like Minerva is going through a growth spurt. In order to grow, mantises must molt their skin, their exoskeleton as they get bigger.  I knew she wasn't feeling well yesterday, hanging upside down, feeling bloated and head achy. Now I know why...   She'll get her appetite back now. This is a photo of the molted exoskeleton of Minerva. Lisa says it looks like she was dancing when she disrobed. A little salsa number...

July 13 - Found this little guy today on the same pepper plant Minerva likes. He's only about 3/4 inch long.

July 15 - This is our cat Cow lounging among our pepper plants and above is Minerva. Thankfully, he didn't even notice her!

July 16 - Pics

July 26 - Minerva eating what looks like a wasp or yellow jacket. Still staying onthe same 2 -3 pepper plants. 

July 28 - 

August 3 - 

Checked the garden this morning and saw that Minerva had gone through her final molting and got her wings - 

August 6 - Guarding the cherry peppers

August 8 - Minerva snagged herself a bumble bee who was snooping around looking for nectar on the basil flowers. You can see she has already devoured the head. The bumble bee never knew what happened.

August 17 - Minerva and Zinny

August 22 - Close up in the basil

August 28 - Close up in the cherry peppers

September 4 - Minerva is pregnant! See the enlarged abdomen. We didn't even know she was seeing anyone! Soon she will be looking for a safe secure place to lay her eggs. She will secrete a protective coating around them that will harden to a consistency similar to styrofoam that will protect and insulate the eggs through the winter. Next spring several hundred mantises will hatch out. Only a few will survive to adulthood, most being eaten by birds, other insects, spiders or each other. 

September 9 - Haven’t seen Minerva since last Thursday. Searched all over the usual plants and areas of the garden where she can always be found. No sign of her. My guess is that she found a place to build an egg case for her future mantises. I think female mantises die after they lay their eggs so there is probably not much chance of seeing her again. But I will look for the egg case. It’s somewhere out there. This has been quite an interesting and fun saga watching her life cycle from baby to adult to “mother”. We’ve had a lot of fun ascribing human qualities to her. I’m glad I had photos all along the way documenting her life.

September 12 - Whoah, look who's back! Lisa spotted Minerva this morning back in her favorite haunt - the peppers, after 9 days away, having slimmed down after her "pregnancy". I didn't know mantises could lay more than one egg case a season, but they can, sometimes 3 - 4, as I found out this morning after checking a number sources. Maybe more "litters" ahead.

September 17 - Looks like Minerva is pregnant again!

September 21 These are the last photos of Minerva. have not seen her since this day