Winter Gardening

I spent this weekend working in the basement again.  I did some cleaning but most of the weekend I spent putting together a new plant stand.  I brought the stand in December when Jung had their Dollars Days.  I waited until the basement floor was done to assemble it and it was fairly easy to put together.  The wooden plant stand in the second bedroom just could not hold all the plants I start from seeds. 

Sunday, I planted two flats of petunias and put them on the heat mat.  I found time to start my 2013 Seed database.  This allowed me to determine which seeds I still need to order.  I will be ordering German Pink Tomatoes, Black Krim Tomatoes, Chocolate Beauty Pepper, Forkhood Acorn Squash, Table Queen Acorn Squash, Cheddar Cauliflower and Graffiti Cauliflower.  I will be trying these new varieties Black Plum Tomato and Lemon Mint Herb this year.

Cheddar-Tomato Pie

Here another recipe my Mother gave me.  It is unusual way to use tomatoes but the pie is very good.  The original recipe just use fresh sliced tomatoes but I decided to roast the tomatoes which I believed intensified the flavor.  I served this dish with any green vegetable (pea pods, broccoli, beans, or beet greens), a mixed leaf salad and cottage cheese.

Cheddar-Tomato Pie

2    12"pie shells
2    lbs plum tomatoes (about 11 medium) roasted and peeled.
1/4 cup snipped fresh basil or 1 tablespoon dried basil.
1    cup shredded low-fat cheddar cheese (4 oz)
1/2 cup mayonnaise or low-fat salad dressing
2    tablespoons lemon juice (fresh is best)
1/2 cup shredded low-fat cheddar cheese (2 oz)

Slice the plum tomatoes in half and place cut side down in a lipped pan.  Turn on boiler and place pan with tomatoes under the burner.  Turn pan every few minutes until the skin begins to blacken.  Remove pan from boiler and pull skin off the tomato pulp.  Transfer pulp into a colander and allow the excess liquid to drain off.  The pie will have too much liquid if the pulp is not allow to drain.  I would save the liquid and add it to a stew or chili.

Roll out a 12" pie shell and transfer to pie pan.  Prepare a second pie shell for the top and set aside.  Spoon the tomato pulp into the pie pan and sprinkle with basil.  Top with 1-cup cheese.  In a small bowl stir mayonnaise and lemon juice.  Spoon over the tomatoes.  Top with the remaining cheese.

Place second pie shell on top and seal the edges by making a scallop edge.  Cut slits in pie top.  To prevent  over browning, cover edges of pie with foil.  Bake in a 375F oven 25 minutes.  Remove foil and bake for other 15 to 20 minutes or until golden.

Enjoy!

September 23rd: Growing Season Ends but not the Gardening

All the tender crops were harvested on Saturday.  Notice the weeds in front,
this is how all the gravel paths looked when I returned from Alaska.

Yesterday I spent the whole day picking tomatoes, peppers, eggplant and tomatillo and basil and composting the plants.  I did manage to pick all the winter squash but left the vines to cleanup later.  I did notice I had some frost damage over Friday night but the frost was much heavier Sunday morning.  The harvest was OK considering that I was not home for 7 weeks during the worst drought in southern Wisconsin since the great depression. 

Someone asked a question on how my garden survived while I was in Alaska.  The answer is one of the neighbors down the street would stop and hook up one of my many soaker hose I setup before I went north.  My water bill for July was $107.00 and August was $160.00.  The city I live in did not put any watering restriction on during the drought.  I ask the clerk at the water department about it and her reply was if it had lasted much long they would have done it.  The local news stations did report that some nearby private wells did go dry this summer.
 

Another section that needs weeding.

The guy who did the watering kept apologizing for losing some plants and the overall shape of the garden.  I told him that I was grateful just to have a garden due to the drought.  The biggest crop to survive my absent was the weeds.  The weeds thrive extremely well in drought conditions.  I spent most of my time before leaving weeding my gravel paths, patio and driveway.  I wanted to spray herbicide on the driveway before I left but the wind never stopped blowing this May and June.  I try not to use sprays around my vegetables but sometimes it is the only way to control aggressive bugs or weeds.  I spent this last month cutting back the herb and perennial flower gardens.  I also weeded the gravel paths around all the gardens.  The gardens are well mulched and that did keep the weeds downs.  The exception is the perennial bed; I do not mulch that garden because I have bearded iris. The mulch allows the eggs from iris bores to winter over so the weeds took over the bed.  I still have half the patio, area in front of the shed and the driveway to weed.  So far I composted over 20 five-gallon buckets in the community compost since I been back.

 

The grape arbor by brother and I put up last spring. 
I put down mulch but it is not keeping the grass from invading it.

The vegetable harvest was good considering the summer.  I did get two pickings of green beans, enough tomatoes for eating and to make chili and stuffed peppers, some broccoli, eggplants, a small picking of tomatillos and two heads of purple cauliflower.  There are two crop that did extremely well this year the sweet and hot peppers and winter squash produced the largest crops I ever had.  The winter squashes include 3 Waltham butternuts, an abundance of Delicata and approximately a dozen Table Queen and Forkhook acorn squash.  The Brussels sprouts and red cabbages have been left in the garden because they become sweeten after a few frosting mornings.

Winter Squashes: The three Waltham butternut are in front behind them is Delicata. 
On the right side is the acorn squash; the green colored ones are Table Queen and
the cream ones are Forkhook.

I hope I answered some of your question about the garden.  I still hope to post more on the trip to Alaska when the duties around the house allow it.

Spring Blooms

A daffodil blooming on 3/18/2012

Southwest Wisconsin spring has arrived 5 to 4 weeks early.  It is unheard of to have 80F weather in mid-March.  So many plants have come into bloom way to early.  The fruit tree are now blooming and for the next several nights a hard freeze is forecast.  Wisconsin Orchards may lose their fruit crops this year.  Here are some photos of plants in my yard.

  

Violets blooming in the lawn on 3/21/2012

 

Hyacinth started opening on 3/18/2012

 

Tulip bloomed on 3/21/2012

 

Tulip bloomed on 3/25/2012

   


Crabapple Buds 4/3/2012



4/3/2012 Coral Bell Bud



Ground cover blooming 4/3/2012

Lilac buds 4/3/2012

      

2nd Weekend in March: Mother’s Day was only 9 weeks away.

Mother’s Day is my starting date for planting the tomatoes, peppers and eggplant outdoors.  So I pulled out my seed tray starter kit and started planting them.  I have 6 trays sitting on my heating mat set for 75^oF.  I hope to see tomato seedling in the next 7 to 14 days.  The eggplant and pepper will sprout a little latter.

Here is my initial seed starter list for 2012.

Tomatoes
Brandywine: These heirloom pink tomatoes are large and taste great.
Black Krim: It is a little hard to tell when they are ripe.  The area around the stem may still be green and the lower section is a dark red (almost black).  This is my favorite for a bacon and lettuce sandwich.
Pink German: Pink Germans can weight up to 1 pound.  It does not take many of them to fill a quart canning jar.
Celebrity: A large perfect round red tomato.  This tomato is not an heirloom but it does produce well but not as flavor full as the three above. This tomato has been bred with resistance to many of the viruses that attack tomatoes.
Delicious: Another hybrid tomato which is a medium round size and colored red.
Green Zebra: When this tomato is ripe, its skin is yellow and green striped with green pulp inside.  I heard some say it taste like an apple but I do not think so.  To me still has the tomato taste but less acidic and not as rich as a red tomato.  It is nice to have different colored tomatoes to add visual appeal to a cold salad dish.
Gold Metal: A large yellow tomato with red streak in the pulp.  It is less acidic than the red and has good flavor.

Paste Tomatoes
Amish: After I told the guys at work that I started my tomatoes seed, one of them requested that I saved some Amish Paste for him.  He commented that they make a nice smooth thick tomato sauce.  All my paste tomatoes do not look like anything you can buy in the store.  Amish paste get about 4 inches long and about 2 inches wide.
Opalka: This is a new type for me and the description state 4-6 inch long with few seeds.
Federle: Another nice paste tomato about 4-6 inches long and 1-1½ inches wide

Cherry Tomatoes
Chocolate Cherry: This cherry tomato is large about ½ to ¾ in diameter.  The color when ripe is a dark reddish brown and has a nice mix of acidic and sweet flavoring.
Sungold: Pop this golden cherry tomato in your mouth and you will get a wonderful sweet rich flavor.  It is the taste of summer.

Tomatillo
Green Husk: Last year this plant grew to 7 feet high and it had the biggest tomatillo I ever seen.  The biggest were at least 2 inch across and produced tons of fruit.
Dr. Wyche's Yellow: When this tomatillo is ripe it is a little yellow color and tastes very sweet.  It only grows to about 5 feet in height.
Purple: Another 7 feet tall plant, the fruit has some purple coloring on the skin.  It grows to about an inch in size.

Sweet Bell Peppers: Orange Bell, Chocolate Bell, Purple Beauty, Early Sunsation Hybrid (Yellow), King Arthur (Fat’n Sassy, Red), King of the North (red).  All the peppers except Purple Beauty and Early Sunsation are green until they ripen into their color.  They can be eaten green or wait until they turn color.  The peppers are sweeter when fully mature.  The red is the sweetest with chocolate next.

Hot Peppers: Early Jalapeno and Ancho Girantea both are great.  I add roasted Ancho to green salsa made with tomatillo from my garden, and boy that was good!

Eggplants
Udumalapet: This egg shape fruit is a bright yellow and purple striped when ready for picking.  The fruit ranges from 2 to 4 inches in length.
Rosa Bianca: A nice round fruit and I picked it as big as 8 inches.  The prefer size for grilling is 4 inches.  I cut it into slices and brush on a little olive oil with some salt and pepper.  Melted provolone cheese on it and add fresh tomato, lettuce, onions and some vinaigrette on it and serve it on a toasted bun.  Mmm!


This coming weekend I will be sowing my cabbage, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts and broccoli.