I Love Seed Catalogs!

February is just around the bend and I need to get serious with these seed catalogs.
I have been collecting them since Christmas and they are a favorite guilty pleasure.  I shop them the way we did when we were little and the FAO Schwartz catalog arrived.  I wanted, and still do, it all!
But at some time, I need to get realistic and place an order.
All Winter long I have been highlighting phrases like "slow to bolt", "excellent keeper", "sweet, smooth flesh".  It sounds kind of provocative, really.
But seriously, I need to start some broccoli and brussels sprouts.  They are the first starts to head outdoors in cool, Spring weather and I need to get them going in the basement.
Honestly though, I need to settle on a couple of seed catalogs and go from there.
I remember a brussels sprout that caught my attention and flipped through every seed catalog in my pile, looking for it.  When I couldn't find it, I started to panic, until I found the other pile of catalogs I'd collected pre-Christmas.  There it was, in one of my favorite catalogs, Pinetree Garden Seeds .
When looking for seed companies, I have a few favorites.
First on my list is Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds http://rareseeds.com/.  They are a family owned company committed to seeding saving, organic and non-GMO (genetically modified), open pollinated seed.  Their catalogs are BEAUTIFUL.  And they stock some interesting, hard to find, heirloom seeds.  My father has been looking for a squash he remembers from his younger days, "something crook-necked and white that he could only find when we visited my grandparents" was his best description.  Sure enough, it showed up this year in Baker Creek's catalog.  He was ecstatic.  I'll be ordering him a packet of 'Illinois', along with a packet for myself.
I'll definitely place an order with Pinetree Garden Seeds https://www.superseeds.com/, the stocker of my potential favorite variety of sprouts. It's another family owned seed company with lots of heirlooms and a catalog chock full of advice and information.
No one took my advice and got me a subscription to Seed Savers Exchange http://www.seedsavers.org/.  That subscription would have gotten me the mother of all seed catalogs with over 20,000 varieties of rare and heirloom seeds.  Again, their catalog is beautiful, informative, and totally delightful.  A catalog of that girth can really buoy the heart of a gardener all winter long.
It's time to get started thinking about the garden.  So, first, pick some seed companies and surf their sites.  Request a catalog.
Second make a list of what you'd like to grow this season.
Third, choose some varieties.
Fourth, place an order.  Be prudent.  Check shipping costs.  You'd be shocked to see how the tab adds up when you consider shipping costs from several different companies.
Then get ready to start some seeds.  The time to start broccoli, cabbages, and brussels sprouts is quickly approaching!

Even in Winter

I saw a bumper sticker the other day.  "Compost Happens", it read.  And indeed, it does.  Even in Winter. Except, at my home, something had been stealing my compost.
A fresh coat of snow betrayed the culprit.  Our dieting dog had been supplementing her daily food allotment with a sneaky trip to the compost pile.
Usually, the invisible fence keeps her out of the compost pile because we know how she loves broccoli stems.  I think that I cut the line when clearing out a bed and I'll have to wait for Spring to repair it.  In the meantime, I had to devise a way to keep Miss Fatty out of my compost.
In the Winter, any uncovered compost pile can become a feeding station for a variety of critters.  I put a plastic garbage bin with a locking cover in my garden.  I tried it last year and it kept the dog and the raccoons at bay.  Come Spring, I mixed the Winter's worth of coffee grounds and eggshells from the garbage can into the compost pile.

Two Months Later....

Ah, the slippery slope.
I got the flu at Thanksgiving time and all of a sudden, it was Christmas, the New Year's, then my daughter's birthday, then... quiet.
January can be a really pleasant time.  In Zone 4, there's not much to do besides clean the house.
I've been trucking through my canned and frozen garden pickings, taking note of what I may do differently with the next year' plantings.  And it is time to start thinking about the garden, in a contemplative way.
The seed catalogs are rolling in, filling my mail box with hope.  I think I enjoy seed catalogs as much as my daughter enjoys toy catalogs.
So, I pull out my list.  What to plant this year?  What varieties to repeat?  What will I skip this year and what will I try?
I love January! 

Digging Potatoes

We are on the final stretch of warmish days and the beautiful weather lures me outdoors.  I should be getting out the winter clothes and ordering my daughter a snowsuit, but I'd rather enjoy these last few moments outdoors.
The forecast calls for some pretty frigid temperatures in the coming week so I decided that I'd bring in the last of the potatoes.  It's not just about harvesting, it's more of an assessment of my potato plan.  What worked and didn't?  More importantly, was it worth it? 
This past Spring, I planted my seed potatoes in containers.  My garden is a tiered one, to accommodate the slope in our yard.  Turning up potatoes would definitely undermine the stability of the retaining walls.
So I tried planting in containers.  Considering the fact that I planted them rather late in the Spring and that the area doesn't get a ton of sun, I'd say my plan was a moderate success.
I tried a couple of varieties in larger garbage cans.  The first can that I emptied didn't contain one potato, despite the fact that the vines grew just as vigorously as the others.  I wasn't sure if it was the variety ("Yukon Golds") or the can.  The soil in that container was markedly wetter than the others.  The other can that I planted contained a variety that did very well in the smaller container, but its performance in the garbage can was pretty disappointing.  I may try with the larger containers again next year, but I'll be sure to add more drainage holes.  I think the soil in the larger cans just got too wet and the majority of the potatoes planted in them rotted.
Harvesting the potatoes in the containers was a snap.  I dumped the wash bin into the wheelbarrow and fished out the potatoes.  They were ready to go to the basement to be cured!  The soil went into a pile by the compost bin to fill next year's containers.

It's a modest harvest, but encouraging.

All considered, late planting, odd weather conditions, and dodgy seed (pictured above are the sport of that wacky bag of potatoes I found in the back of the pantry.  I NEVER expected much from that bin) I'd call the experiment a success.  I raised a sufficient amount of potatoes in a shady corner of the garden that can't handle much soil disruption.  The ones that we have eaten have been delicious and there are more stored away in the basement now.

Click here to read my earlier post on planting potatoes in containers.
Click here to learn about saving potatoes for planting next season.
Click here to learn about curing potatoes for storage.

From Decoration to Dessert: Transforming Pumpkin into Puree

It's getting pretty cold here at night, time to bring the pumpkins in off the porch and store them in the basement.
Someone will have to step up to the plate and be pie though.  And the honors go to...

Mr. Queensland Blue, with a blemish on his butt

the Queensland Blue that is showing a slight sign of rot on the bottom.

Once dispatched with a knife, emptied of it's pumpkiny innards, and quartered, I roast it at 350 degrees for about an hour.

Roasted to perfection!

Once roasted, I puree the flesh in a food processor.

I keep my pureed pumpkin in plastic refrigerator storage containers until needed.  Extra can be vacuum sealed and frozen for later use.
Fresh pumpkin (even FROZEN fresh pumpkin) is higher in nutrients than canned pumpkin from the store and it tastes so much better.  Extra pumpkin can be used in any recipe as added nutrition-- mashed potatoes, spaghetti sauce, gravy....  Sneak it in wherever you can to use it up.
Those extra cucurbits can hang out in the basement until they are needed.  Be sure to check them regularly for signs of rot.  I have kept Lumina pumpkins and Chersonskya squash through the winter and well into summer.  But now is the best time for them.  Roast them up and enjoy them!

Raking Leaves, Anyone’s Leaves

This time of year, I start looking for leaves.

I canvas the neighborhood and calculate.  Who needs their leaves raked the most?  Whose yard has the leaves I need the most?  How the heck am I going to get all my work done AND someone else’s leaves raked?

Leaves are a big part of my garden.  I use mowed leaves to build up my soil in the Fall.  I use oak leaves to increase the acidity in my soil for my azaleas, blueberries, and tamarack.  Now I plan to mulch my vegetables in the Summer with some leaves, so I have been bagging and saving mowed leaves for weed control next season.

The only problem is the fact that I have exactly one mature deciduous tree in my yard and it drops most of its leaves in the street.

So I mow the street.  I happily mow the leaves in my neighbor’s yard.  He’s the one that taught me to mulch with leaves and he isn’t as spry as he used to be.

My son mows lawns and one of his clients has five mature oaks in her yard.  She was MORE than happy to let me take some leaves off her hands to boost the acidity in my soil.

But I have found myself cruising slowly past leafy lawns, eyeing up my prospects.  There are a couple of lawns that could use some mutually beneficial raking.

And, hooray, I drove past a dozen plastic bags of leaves, waiting to go out for the weekly yard waste pick up.  My brother could use some of those for his soil building.

I have been known to cruise the neighborhood, looking for leaves.  I have taken the leaves of others.  I know I look like a crazy woman, but I can put those leaves to good use.  I am just really careful when I am emptying them.  I found a squirrel skull in one bag.

Lucky for me, there are no dogs living in the yard with all the bags.  I think I’ll be swinging by there once my son brings home the truck!

Tucking the Garden in for Winter, One Bed at a Time

It’s time to wrap things up in my garden.  As I harvest all the food from each bed, I begin to tuck it in for Winter.

I maintain my soil through crop rotation and amendments.  All summer long I mulch with grass clippings.  In the fall, I lay down even more mulch once the bed has been cleaned.  I try to disturb the soil as little as possible, cutting plants instead of pulling them out by their roots.  Some I leave in the beds to amend the soil, with the exception of the nightshades.  Nightshades, tomatoes, potatoes, and peppers, are prone to blight so I put those out for the compost collection.  I struggle with blight and I don’t want it to fester over Winter.  But bean plants are cleaned of their seed pods and stay where they grew to feed the soil.  I take the tops off carrots and leave them to compost where they were planted.  If it has a seed pod, I remove it and leave the rest on the bed.

Then I add another layer, usually mowed leaves (mowed leaves decompose more easily and don’t create a water proof mat in the Spring).  Next I add a layer of compost and aged manure if I can get it (no luck this year).  Everything is topdressed with a layer of oat straw and the bed is ready for Winter.

My lower bed got some extra attention this year.  Every year I concentrate the most effort into the beds that had the most taxing plants, this year the tomatoes and the peppers.  I layered sumac branches, chopped leaves, brussell sprout leaves, compost, and oat straw for an extra feeding.

The compost is getting down to the very bottom of the pile, so I economize where I can.  I only layer leaves and compost within the tomato cages in the tomato beds.  Those were heavily mulched with grass clippings all summer, so I don’t feel like I am skimping them too much.

Every year I worry that the compost will run out before I am finished.  This Fall, I decided to save a few plastic bags of mowed leaves for mulching next year so that I can put some of those grass clippings into the compost.  I bought heavy duty bags and stored the bagged leaves in a protected spot so they will be dry and ready for mulching next spring.  That way, I can make a little more compost with those grass clippings.

Now, I can really appreciate all those weeds that went into the compost pile all summer.  They’ll spend the Winter, feeding my soil, so that next year, I can feed my family.

Bottom bed, layered with brown and green (purple) material, compost, and oat straw.