It's Easy Being Green

When it comes to gardening, I’m like a mint plant:  rogue and rambling throughout the landscape, putting down roots wherever I see fit.  I guess that’s just how I roll and I kind of like it.  I’ve learned you can’t really be prim and proper with a vegetable garden anyway because inevitably, the darn things grow in ways you never expected and couldn’t contain even if you tried.  That’s why I go rogue.

I got my first vegetable bed planted earlier this week and two nights of soaking rain have helped to water it in good.  I planted 10 tomato plants all together: 4 roma, 4 cherry, 1 heirloom orange oxheart and 1 unknown plant that already has a tomato.  I also planted two zuchinnis and an eggplant in that tiny plot.

Last night I took advantage of the cool weather and finished my work with the pitchfork, overturning another plot of the backyard to plant in.  It’s supposed to dry out this week which will make it much easier to work the heavy Ohio Valley clay soil that I’m learning to wrestle with.  I’ve never seen soil so thick and claylike in my life, now imagine trying to figure out how to grow stuff in it!  After living in Arizona though, another poor soil condition, I’m just learning to deal with it and hopefully ramp up compost production so I can begin enriching and lightening the clay in our garden beds.

I also ended up coming upon quite the stack of free seeds from a fellow gardener who just had surgery and won’t be planting this year.   Last night I started rampling about the yard, poking seeds in just about every spot imagineable.  My thought is why not use every available inch of space or bare ground to grow some food for us.  So I followed the fence line, scratching a trench in the clay and planting Alaska peas, Henderson lima beans, Cherokee Yellow wax beans and Golden Bantam sweet corn.

The method would probably throughly confuse any “classical” vegetable gardener who likes to have everything in nice little neat rows.  That’s not me though!  I hilled up the sweet corn and planted about 6 plants to a hill and am hoping the line of bush beans and peas will just grow up against the fence at the edge of the lawn.  We’ll see how my rogue method works.  I can’t wait!

Meanwhile, I still have dozens of seed packets waiting for some bare earth and have work to get to.  My seed collection is verging on old, so I think I just need to plant everything that’s old and get it out of rotation.  I know a lot of it is already past prime and won’t germinate.  I’ve had some of these packets for at least 10 years if not more (I know, don’t judge) and most seed has a shelf life of only about 5 years.  It’s time to purge!

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It’s been a whirlwind past few weeks as we get into the final days of my wife’s pregnancy.  I can’t believe how quickly times has flown by and how much I’ve had to get done.  Admidst all that, I’m ramping up for the Summer garden season and am getting ready to get our vegetable patch going.

I probably should have started my seedlings a lot sooner but since this is my first season here in the Midwest, I’m a little behind the curve.  We’ve been saving our used cardboard egg cartons and just turned those into a seedling factory a couple of weeks ago.  They work great and don’t drain water all over the place and they save space too.  Eventually, you’re supposed to be able to just clip the individual egg cups apart and plant the whole thing just like a peat pot.

Another egg carton seedling tray with lemon cucumbers and yellow squash reaching for the sky.

I had a few loose seed packets left over from previous years so I started some lemon cucumbers, zuchinni, yellow squash, Trip-L Crop Climbing Tomato, Benchmark Tomato, Jumbo Tomato and some bush beans.  So far, the sprout factory is off to the races with with many of the squash plants winning.  Some are even ready to be potted up because they’re getting a bit leggy now.

My next task is to get the future garden plot prepared for planting.  We’ve been inundated with rain for the past three weeks or so and it seem like we’re finaly going to get a short dry spell.  That will hopefully allow me the chance to actually get out and get some soil turned over and ready to go.  The composter is set up and already on a roll.  We just cleaned out the rabbit hutches and that provided a lot of great compost material, along with our usual kitchen scraps and trimmings from the bushes and flowers around the house.

So, how does your garden grow this time of year?  Are you a Midwestern gardener with some time tested tips?  Let me know what you’re growing and what you can always rely on for a bumper crop harvest!

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If you’re like me, your ears perk up anytime you hear that a company is offering you to try their product for free.  That’s why I’ve been impressed with Kashi, every few months rolling out a new product that people can try for free.  I think it’s a great marketing ploy, especially in our current economic troubles.  Just a few weeks ago, Kashi was advertising a coupon to try one of their new frozen dinners for free so I decided to give it a shot.

I haven’t been impressed with the other two Kashi products I’ve tried with their free coupon system.  First it was one of their breakfast/energy bars which I thought was terrible and have never bought another one since.  Second it was their line of granola-like breakfast cereals.  Once again, I thougth I was eating a bowl of nuts, twigs and leaves from the forest floor and couldn’t stand the taste or texture.  So, I was a little hesitant as I popped my Kashi frozen dinner and in the microwave and watched it cook.

I really wanted to try the Lemongrass Chicken dinner but my local grocery store didn’t carry it.  So I ended up going with the all-natural Southwest Style Chicken.  Pulling the dinner out of the microwave left a pleasant southwestern smell which got my mouth watering and excited to try the meal.

The grilled chicken breast was seasoned with lime, cumin and a hint of chipotle and diced into small pieces.  The flavorings were definitely present but not even throughout the chicken.  The chicken was on a bed of fire roasted onions, corn, red and green peppers and Kashi’s 7 whole grains and sesame pilaf.  The mixed in vegetables were very tasty and the whole grain pilaf was actually very good.  I didn sprinkle some salt and pepper over the top of the dish and that made it even better and allowed the flavors to really pop.

The frozen dinner is a bit small and didn’t fill up my “growing boy’s stomach” but was so tasty I scraped the dish it was in to get every last little bit.  Kashi says they use only high quality, natural ingredients with no preservatives or artificial anythings, ever.  The Southwest Style Chicken contained 16 grams of protein and 6 grams of fiber.  When I have the money, I will probably give Kashi’s other frozen dinners a try.  I’m always looking for something to spice up the humdrum of my leftovers I usually take to work but get tired of running to the corner fast food joint to eat something totally horrible for me.

If you’ve tried the other dinners in Kashi’s new frozen line, let us know what your thought were!

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If you’re not an avid 60 Minutes watcher or missed Sunday night’s episode, you missed a great interview and profile of Alice Waters, the so-called mother of the slow food movement.  Shamefully, I have a couple of books with forwards by Alice Waters but didn’t know who she was until last night.

Alice is a staunch advocate of local farmer’s markets and stands strong in support of sustainable agriculture.  Her L.A. based restaurants, including the world reknowned Chez Panisse, utilize price fixed menus that change daily as farm fresh produce becomes available and goes out of season.  She’s also spearheaded the planting of a vegetable garden outside San Francisco’s city hall, a new classroom program that gets kids outside into a garden teaching them how to grow their own fresh and sustainable food and how to cook it and recently a call to plant a victory garden outside the White House.  You too can sign the petition to the Obamas by clicking that link.

If you didn’t get to see the story, I recommend you click this link and watch it now:

Alice Waters’ Crusade for Better Food

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If you’re like me, by this time of the year you start itching to get out of winter.  As much as I love it I also can’t wait to warm up into Spring and get back outside into the yard and the garden.  It’s a time of the year that signals plenty of produce and fresh food in the months to come.  By the time January rolls around, I anxiously await all 50 of the gardening and seed catalogs that pile into our doorside mailbox.  I’ll spend hours planning, plotting and circling seeds I want to order out of every catalog.

Before you buy enough seed to start a small farming operation though, you should carefully consider your garden plans and how much you really need to order.  First pick out the size and space that your garden will take up.  Some vegetables, like Globe Artichoke, can grow up to 4 feet tall and spread just about as wide.  Carrots however don’t take up much room because they grow down.  Make sure to pay attention to the growing requirements listed in the catalog because they’ll help you plot out the growing space.

Also, pay attention to the days it takes the vegetable to get to maturity.  When we lived in Flagstaff, Arizona, our growing season was extremely short.  It lasted just about 90 days which for most vegetables isn’t enough time to come to harvest.  We always had to pick vegetables that required short growing times.  In Indiana though, we’re now looking at a growing season that’s double that at 180 days.  That opens the door to more and more varieties of things to grow.

Lastly, don’t buy seeds for vegetables you know your family doesn’t like or doesn’t typically eat.  If only one person enjoy radishes you probably shouldn’t plant an entire section of your vegetable garden just dedicated to them.

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Winter can be a tough time to keep up your vitamin intake but it’s essential to stave off sickness and any sort of infection that might come your way.  One of the best ways to make sure you’re getting enough vitamins is through some good whole, natural foods.  This recipe for a vitamin-rich soup is a great way to change your dinner routine, warm yourself up on a cold night and help your body and immune system by getting a nice dose of vitamins.  It’s great made in the crock pot and can simmer all day if you like.

A rutabaga, packed with loads of nutrients.

This recipe includes rutabagas, a root that is usually clumped in with turnips.  Rutabagas have a larger root than turnips and are a weedy relative of the cabbage.  They’re popular in Canada, France, Russia, the British Isles and Scandinavia.  In the U.S., rutabagas are grown even less often than its cousin the turnip, although they store better and have a sweeter, yellow flesh.  Turnips are one of the first vegetables cultivated by man and were once as popular as potatoes are today.  The vegetable has fallen out of favor with gardeners despite new, tasty varieties that mature quicker.

Rutabagas and turnips

While you can substitute turnips for the rutabagas, you’ll be losing out on some amazing nutritional benefits.  They’re both moderately good sources of fiber, calcium and vitamins A and C.  Rutabagas have almost twice the amount of nutrients than turnips do.

Ingredients:

1 cup dried beans (any variety will do)

1/3 cup dried peas

2 cups diced carrots

2 cups potatoes, peeled and diced

1 cup rutabaga, diced

1 medium-sized onion, chopped

2 tsp. dried summer savory

1/2 tsp. dried thyme

1/2 cup fresh or frozen parsley, chopped

2 cups cooked chicken (optional)

1 cup zuchinni or pumpkin, grated (optional)

Soak the dried beans and peas in water overnight or for 8 hours to soften them up.  Fill your crock pot 1/3 full with water.  Add carrots, rutabaga, potatoes, onion, beans and peas.  If you decided to include the chicken or the squash add them as well.  Let simmer for 3 hours or until the vegetables are almost tender.  Add the summer savory, thyme and parsley.  Let simmer for another 1 to 2 minutes or until vegetables are completely tender.  Serve hot.