Planning for Spring - Use a Garden Journal

The Humble Garden Journal

It is hard to think about planning for Spring planting when the garden looks like this.  But eventually, Spring will happen.  And when it does, I need to be prepared.

Several years ago I began to keep a garden journal.  This has become vitally important to my garden planning and planting.  I primarily use this journal to keep track of the edibles in our various gardens, both annual (like tomatoes, greens, and carrots) and perennial (like strawberries, grapes and blueberries).  But sometimes I make note of the landscaping plants if something strikes me as important or something I should remember.

My journal is nothing more than a pretty spiral notebook filled with lined paper that I found on clearance. No tabs, categories, or calendars.  Just paper and pen.

In my journal I keep track of everything going on in my garden.  I start with putting the date on top of the page. Then I start to write anything and everything that crosses my mind that day in the garden.  I do not journal every day, but try to get something written down four or five times a month.  Some entries are only a sentence or two and some entries go on for page after page.

Each year I draw maps of where I planted what with detailed lists of the type and variety of seed including who produced the seed. Then throughout the growing season I write down how everything is doing.  This includes information on the dates seeds (or plants) were put in, dates of germination, dates of first true leaves, dates of first flowers/fruits, harvest amounts, and very importantly how the things taste and whether my daughter and husband would eat it.  I also track pest damage and control measures, and soil amendments.  All this information helps me rotate crops, figure out what grows best in each type of garden environment, and determine if I want to grow that variety again or not.

In addition, in my journal I track the dates the first migratory birds arrive, even the ones just passing through to more northern climates. I track the dates the butterflies arrive.  I track when the critters show up: everything from chipmunks, fox, opossum, turkey, deer, and the ever challenging ground hog (we get a different one each year).

I have enjoyed going back through my garden journal when planning the next Spring's plantings.  It is like winter therapy.  And, it is interesting how many details I forget once winter sets in and we are housebound for six months.  During the growing season I always assume I will remember this or that.  Nope.  I never do. Writing in my journal the details of how the garden performed that year has become an invaluable tool to successful growing.

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Harvesting Potatoes

So it came time to harvest our potatoes.  The vines had started to die back a bit before we left for vacation but when we got back a week later the vines had all died out.  The picture below shows a mess of dead potato vines against a background of lemon balm. 

Dead potato vines

You may remember those same vines looking so healthy and happy here and here.  It is almost sad to see plants in the garden end their life cycle.  Almost.  But in this case, the dead vines mean yummy potatoes!  I cannot say how long for sure, but the vines had completely died back at least a full week before we began to dig up the tubers.  Which is a good thing.  It gives the potatoes time to develop a thicker skin which will help them store longer.

In order to dig up potatoes without damaging them it is helpful to have a big six tonged garden fork. The one pictured below is for hay but works great to get down below the potatoes and pop them out without stabbing them.

Our potato, compost, hay, et. al. fork

We planted 5 pounds of Yukon Gold and 5 pounds of Norland Red.  Our 10 pound planting resulted in a 100 pound return, pretty much 50 pounds of each (ok there were 3.2 pounds more of the Norland Red).

Yukon Gold

Norland Red

After harvesting we washed them off.  Now don't take that as gardening advice, because most experts recommend not washing them, but I just can't stand not to.  Washing gave me a chance to take a real good look at the potatoes to sort through those damaged during harvest to be used first, those with varmint marks and other issues to be thrown away, and those to go into storage until needed.  I am not sure what kind of varmint we had in the potatoes but a handful of them had gnawed areas showing a pair of long sharp teeth.  They were probably voles but could have been mice.

The potatoes for storage were placed in shallow cardboard boxes.  I made a double layer of potatoes in the bottom of each box, with the top layer being rather sparse for good air circulation.  The fille cardboard boxes were stored in the guest bedroom closet, which is a space completely underground, making it cool year round and it is so rarely used that it gets very little light.  Potatoes need to be stored in the dark.

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Storing Onions

So you may remember my post on Harvesting Onions with all those beautiful onions hanging on a ladder in my garage to cure.

Well those onions have now dried and look like this. 

 

The next step is to cut them down and put them into storage waiting to be used up.  With proper storage these onions will last many, many months.

The first thing I did was cut the bunches down by cutting the twine off the ladder.  Next I cut each onion off of the bunch with scissors cutting the next about an inch or two above the onion bulb.  A few of the larger onions still had wet necks, meaning the stem growing out of the top of the onion was still wet of juicy when I cut it.  These onions need to dry more or they will not store properly.  I moved these into my kitchen to be used first, just in case.

Ready to move from the garage into long term storage

I have a pantry downstairs which is underground.  It stays cool and dry all year long.  That is the perfect place for my onions.  There are a number of ways to store onions.  Some people use bins with lots of small holes to allow for air circulation.  Some people encase the onions in panty hose, knotting between the onions then cutting off onions as needed.

I use this hanging mesh toy storage thingee I purchased from IKEA years ago. 

I put the onions in a single layer in each level of the mess hanging thingee (what is this thing called anyway).  The mesh allows for sufficient air circulation around the onions. 

I check the onions periodically to look for any that are getting soft, smell bad, or have sprouted. Remove any of those types of onions immediately to keep the rest of the onions from going bad.

Keep in mind that home grown onions will not store as long as grocery store onions because grocery store onions are sprayed with a sprout inhibitor right before they are cured.  Homegrown onions often try to sprout before the next year's onion crop is ready.  You can eat sprouted onions.  Just don't leave sprouted onions to set with the rest of the storage onions too long.

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Nourishing Meatloaf

When you think of meatloaf, you probably are not thinking so much about nourishment.  You are probably thinking of a basic meat and potatoes man-pleasing dinner.  And it certainly is that.  But with a little thought, meatloaf can be a surprising nourishing meal.

When it comes to food choices, I do not worry about sugar, calories, or fat grams. Instead I concern myself with nourishment.  Is what my family puts into our mouths nourishing us?  Is this giving us what we need to live in a strong and healthy way?  Is this actually food? 

I am paying attention to things I do not want to put into my body like chemically altered ingredients (shortening, margarine, any hydrogenated fat, sugar substitutes, etc.), preservatives, non-food food dyes, poison, and similar items. 

Nourishment involves eating actual food containing all the things your body needs and preferably none of the things your body doesn't need.  So back to the meatloaf.  My meatloaf recipe is not only nourishing, it also helps use up some of the summer garden abundance. 

I start with a selection of vegetables fresh from my garden in summer (and fresh from the grocery store or freezer in winter) and grains.

Barley and Kamut along with garden veggies add a large nutritional punch to the meatloaf

First the veggies are chopped and sautéed in a little olive oil.  I love my cast iron pan.


While the veggies cook, I boil the grains.  Grains cook like rice (not minute rice).  Generally 1 part grain to 2-2 1/2 parts water.  If you don't cook the grains before adding them to the meatloaf, someone might need a trip to the dentist.  One note, rolled oats (like the stuff in instant oatmeal) does not need to be precooked. Steel cut oats do need to be pre-cooked.  Rolled oats are already precooked (betcha didn't know that did you).

Any grains you have on hand will do including rice, oats, wheat, barley, and quinoa.  I chose to use Kamut wheat and hulled barley. 

Cooking the grains

While the veggies and grains cook, combine one pound of ground meat with two eggs.  I used ground beef but any ground meat will do.

Once the grains and veggies are cooked, add them to the meat and eggs.




There are times where I will puree the cooked vegetables before adding them in.  It tends to hid the presence of veggies.  My daughter is pretty good about eating her veggies but she goes through phases.  Personally I like to see the chunks of bright color in the mix.  You will also want to add some bread crumbs to help hold the meatloaf together.

At this point I add in any seasonings.  Usually I use a little salt and pepper, some catsup, Worchestershire sauce, and various herbs.  Sometimes I also add parmesan cheese for extra flavor.  But feel free to spice up (or down) the mixture to your own liking.

Mix everything up together real well.  You could use a stand mixer for this purpose but I just use my hands.  If you use your hands, be careful, the vegetables and grains could be hot.

Once everything is mixed together real well, shape the meatloaf.  I like to make individual loaves which cook faster than a bread pan full of meatloaf.  But the choice is yours.


Cook at 350 for about 40 minutes.

Ready for the plate

Here is the recipe in a more concise manner:

1 lb. ground meat
2 eggs
2 cups chopped vegetables (try onions, carrots, peas, bell peppers, green beans or any combination)
2 Tbls olive oil
1/2 cup uncooked grains (wheat, oats, rice, barley, quinoa, or any combination)
1 cup bread crumbs
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/4 cup catsup
2 Tbls Worchestershire sauce
Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Bring 1 to 1 1/2 cups of water to a boil in a small sauce pan.  Add grains, stir, then cover.  Turn heat down to simmer and let cook for approximately 10 minutes.  After 10 minutes, turn off heat, check to see if the grains need a small amount of extra water, recover sauce pan and let set for another 10 minutes.   

Into a heated skillet add the olive oil and chopped vegetables.  Sautee vegetables until soft.  Once soft you can puree the vegetables or not at your choice.

Put the ground meat, eggs, bread crumbs, parmesan cheese, catsup, Worchestershire sauce, and salt and pepper into a large mixing bowl.  Add cooked grains and vegetables.  Mix well.  You can use your hands or a stand mixer.

Form into individual loaves and put on a rimmed pan for cooking. Cook for 35 to 40 minutes until internal temperature is 160 degrees.

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Peas, Wonderful Peas

You may recall I have mentioned my pea vines here and there is another good photo of them here. The vines were tiny and just starting to climb.  But things have changed! 

Here are the peas next to a five year old.

We are growing an heirloom variety of shelling pea called Telephone Pole. They are supposed to grow about six feet.  The supports they are on are just a little less than five feet.  The vines have over grown the tops of the netting and are folding down on themselves on the other side of this wall of vines.  I think the vines have well exceeded the six foot mark and are working on about seven feet right now.  The Rain Barrels are behind and right next to the peas but you can't even seen the barrels over the vines any more. 

Look at 'em all.

And they are producing like crazy.  I haven't had an opportunity to really look over the garden this week with the Garage Sale going on.  But when I went out this morning the vines where covered with peas ready to go.  The picture above is our first harvest of peas.  Enough for several meals for our small family. My daughter helped me shell these peas.  She insisted on helping.  We may make a farmer out of her yet.  Don't tell her.  She wants to be a cowgirl. 

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Scape and Basil Pesto

Now that our Garage Sale is over, I can get back to blogging.  In the middle of the garage sale madness, our garlic put on their scapes.  A scape is a garlic flower bud.  If left on the plant the scape will blossom into a white allium type flower just like the Chive Blossoms. 

Garlic Scape

The scape is the curlicue part of the garlic plant pictured above.  Garlic cloves are a type of bulb, just like a tulip, well technically just like an onion but people are more familiar with tulips.  Scapes grow on hard necked varieties of garlic.  Hard neck garlic is generally grown in the north while most soft necked garlics are grown in warmer climates.

Garlic growers usually remove the garlic flower bud, the scape, before it opens.  This forces plant growth back into bulb production rather than into flower production.  And since we grow garlic for the blub, not the flower, I snap the scapes off my garlic too by just snapping the scape off the plant, usually just below the curlicue. 

Harvested Garlic Scapes

Usually we grow enough garlic to last until the next year's garlic crop.  However, a significant amount of our garlic did not survive our insane spring weather this year.  The weather kept vacillating between fifty degrees and twenty-five degrees.  Just as soon as the garlic, and most of the other bulbs in the garden including the tulips and hyacinths, started to grow there would be a hard freeze followed by growing weather and another hard freeze.   The picture above is the entire harvest of scapes.  Usually we have at least twenty times that amount.  If you don't grow garlic (which you should do because it is so easy) you can buy scapes at the farmer's market. 

But whether we have a little or a lot of scapes, we need to do something with them.  My favorite thing to do is to turn them into pesto.  If I had more scapes this year I would also have pickled some and used them fresh in cooking.

A traditional pesto recipe is:

2 cups basil leaves
2 garlic cloves
1/3 cup pine nuts
1 cup olive oil
1/2 cup parmesan cheese

For a garlic scape pesto there are a variety of recipes.  Some using basil and some not.  The most basic garlic scape pesto recipe uses scapes in place of garlic cloves, from 1/2 cup to 1 cup of chopped scapes in place of the garlic cloves.  Scapes taste like garlic; surprise, surprise I know. 

But since I rarely follow a traditional recipes (and I never ever have pine nuts in my pantry), my scape and basil pesto recipe is:

1 - 2 cups chopped garlic scapes (20 - 30 scapes)
2 cups basil leaves (about two large fistfuls of fresh leaves)
1/2 - 1 cup olive oil
1/2 cup finely grated parmesan cheese
1/2 cup finely grated Pecorino Romano cheese
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon sea salt or kosher salt

This recipe has a lot of bite to it.  I think the vinegar balances nicely with the spiciness.

To start, put whole (washed and dried) scapes into a food processer to chop coarsely. 

Chopped Scapes

Then add the basil on top and pulse several times.

Adding the basil to the chopped scapes

You may need to add the basil in small amounts.  This is especially true with my rather small food processer.  After a few additions of the basil, the green mixture no longer pulses well.  This is when I start adding the olive oil.  Drizzle some of the olive oil in along with each addition of basil and pulse a few times.  Once all the olive oil and basil is added, run the food processer until the mixture has the consistency of a thin paste.  You don't want to be able to see chunks of scape or basil.

Next I add in all the grated cheese, balsamic vinegar, and salt. 

Note, depending upon your taste you may want to add the vinegar in a little at a time to suit your own taste or skip it all together for a more traditional pesto.  I often add more than the 1/4 cup.

Another note, I grate my own cheese with a micro planer for pesto.  It is so much better tasting than the pre-grated stuff in the green can if you know what I mean.  And since pesto is not cooked, the flavor of each ingredient is very important.

Pulse the pesto until thoroughly mix.  Then taste test.  If the pesto is too spicy or sour for your liking, add more cheese.  Remember the Pecorino Romano is very salty.



Ready to Use

Most often I put pesto on cooked pasta.  But it also is great as a spread for sandwiches (try pesto with salami, gorgonzola, lettuce, and capers in a whole wheat wrap... trust me, try it).  It also is great on chicken!

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Rain Barrels

Look at what my hubby installed over the weekend!

Rain Barrels behind corn sprouts and next to the peas

These two rain barrels have been sitting unsold at our local HD for almost two years, taking up valuable space.  My hubby knows the store manager and asked him if we could buy them on the cheap.  We paid less than two for the price of one.  Our city sells rain barrels for a short time each spring.  We even paid less than the subsidized city price and these look much better than then ones the city sells.

Together they can collect 170 gallons of water.  Given the cost of water in our fair city, the rain barrels should pay for themselves in just one summer. 

Now we just need some rain!