greens

When People Ask Where The Good Food Is


...I usually tell them its right outside.


Four heirloom tomato plants have produced more than most any I had ever planted at the beach farm.



I've been looking forward to the German Stripe, the latest to size up and ripen.


Japanese eggplant, 'Kyoto,' have been exceptionally prolific.


I put my green bean seeds in a little late, but still, they are producing now. 


Although my broccoli starts were a failure. Too late, as always.


But I was saved by this guy (sorry to say that I lost his name with a piece of paper) and Anderson Acres. You see the sign, to the left, that says start your fall garden. Yes! Getting starts together at the right time in summer is challenging given busy summer schedules and difficult weather. Hardly any garden business has starts available at this time of year, probably because there isn't much market for it. I'm so glad to have found them at the Minneapolis Farmers' Market in stall 311.


I bought a handful of these lettuce starts, broccoli, cilantro, parsley, and basil.


The fall lettuce.


Betsy's dill, the pickler that she is.



Our local hardware gave away (really, for free) many vegetable starts in July, most well past their prime. I focused on those sturdy sorts that do well in cooler weather -chard and kale. Small and weak when planted, they are now doing fantastic. We eat them every day.



A four pack of heirloom peppers from Shady Acres (whose stall Anderson Acres occupied at the farmers' market) has become quite a bounty of peppers. I've never had such luck. One plant has eight large peppers!



And they're beginning to turn red.



Of course, there are still tomatoes ripening.



These "cherry," or is it "grape," have been fantastic. The name I believe is 'Juliet' -a little sweet, little tart, and meaty -that is the key for me. I do not like watery small tomatoes that pop when you bite into them or crack after heavy rains. These I pick and eat right there in the garden.



With more to come.



The woods has not produced its usual bounty this year, except for the morels early on. Maybe we've missed them, having been so busy with work on the house and field. Of course, we'll keep looking.






Fits and Starts



I started my greens this weekend. Two kinds of romaine and a buttercrunch, bulbing fennel, and Italian parsley. This watery scene is the starting tray, under cellophane wrap in the window.



At the beach farm more losses, particularly in the newest plot and particularly Turban and Creole. Disappointing yes, and now the maggots have found the rotten flesh. But I also direct-seeded a ton of mustard, arugula, and mizuna, snap peas and pea greens. Now that I am eating so many salads, I'm looking ever more forward to this bounty.



I think I prefer this scene over the prior.



Farm Spinach

And a few bites of red kale. Pretty good stuff given the poor soil and lack of attention I've given it. All our other greens at the farm have been done in by flea beetles and lack of attention. So be it, it's a garlic farm after all!


Peas, Potatoes and Other Growings On


While I was at the farm for reasons garlic, and due to an exceptionally low number of weeds, I spent half my time there filling empty rows with other needs, wants, and experiments.


Pea greens. These multi-colored pea seeds belong to a variety which is known for producing quality vegetation over quality peas. I planted 80 feet of these, or about 2/5ths pound. If they do well, I will bunch and sell if you're interested.


I ordered three varieties of potatoes, choosing ones that I tasted last fall (all farmer market purchases). German Butter, Purple Viking, and Red Maria -all from Moose Tubers, a Fedco Seeds company, and all certified seed potatoes.  I cut them, probably later than is best practice, allowing them to begin suberization (form corky skins) for 36 hours. In retrospect, I should have planted the potatoes whole since I discovered that I had enough for one and two thirds rows and they weren't suberized at planting. I've never planted potatoes before, so this planting falls under experiments.


One row of potatoes. The light stuff all around is alfalfa meal.


I also planted patches of spring greens in all of my short garlic rows. Look at how tiny the Wild Arugula (also Roquette or Selvatica) seeds are. In addition to this, I planted spinach, regular arugula, pac choi (for salad), purple mizuna, and 'Ruby Streaks' Mustard. We were not able to plant at the beach farm this spring, so I decided to have a go with this personal crop at the garlic farm.

As for our tomatoes, peppers, lettuce, and what else, I am waiting to hear about the beach farm's opening. I would prefer to plant those nearer to Brooklyn because they will come into fruit after the garlic harvest and when you want a fresh tomato, a half hour away is way better than two and a half hours.


When In Romaine



This is my first time growing lettuce, at least since that long ago slug-infested lettuce patch that never made it in Oregon, 1995. We grew two varieties -a bib type and a romaine; seeds from Territorial. At first I was not impressed with the flavor of the romaine. Now I know why -I was harvesting too soon. Worried about bolting and hot June temps, we began harvesting head after head. But these big beauties, one tear of the leaf told me that they need a little heat, they need to mature in the field. 


Rain Salad


I'm afraid I am a little behind in my posting. These images are from last Thursday. I will be heading back to the beach farm today to consider pulling out the earliest garlic, some of which you see below, after the best we seem to get in a run of dry days.


Now the peas are growing. When it's good for peas, it's not so much for tomatoes, but the tomatoes are in and should be just fine when the sun comes out.

Good for peas is also good for lettuce.


And also good for fennel.

Which is fattening up nicely now, alongside all the warm-weather weeds.

I fixed this tear in the irrigation system, should it ever be needed.

I've harvested the Allium vineale, or field garlic, as it was starting to mold on the stems and probably would not size up any more.

I also test pulled one of my Turban cultivars, Tuscan -ready.

But I am not ready for an unexpected onslaught of locusts, err, grasshoppers. The young were everywhere, all over, ready and waiting.


It's All Happening



The snap peas are a little slow this year.

And the chard? It keeps on giving -this is last year's chard!

When the chives are flowering, there should be some lettuce ready.

Not quite on this row of bib and romaine.

But this bed, yes, much to harvest.

And not a moment too soon.

Because the stinkhorns are up and when the stinkhorns are up -it's time to plant tomaduz.

And they are more than ready, they're past due (giving many away).

Look at that -cereal, bananas, and tomato roots. I will use boxes again -they work.

Twelve tomatoes into the cima di rapa bed...

and into the bib lettuce bed.


Including this most attractive plant -the velvet tomato.

All in all, quite a harvest -15 heads of lettuce, bunches of cilantro, a bag of mustard greens, a bag of chard and rabe, and the early scapes of Turban and Asiatic garlic.

This is our second snail. Why? Wood. A neighbor has framed out his beds, and I left a pile of wood over winter. Snails and slugs need cool, dark hiding places, and wood provides.

Bulbing fennel is up and making bulbs.

And Marie's strawberries -delicious.

A few notes on cima di rapa, broccoli rabe: Our rabe was flowering almost as soon as we put it in. I don't think it should, and I think I planted it out too late. Stems were tender at first, but, much like pea shoots and tendrils, if they are hard to snap between the fingers, they won't get any better cooked. A tough stem stays a tough stem. An early harvest is best, and repeats may not produce the tender stems.

On tomato beds: This year I placed fish bone meal on all the beds. I also limed the garden this winter after I had the soil tested. The pH was low. I'm hoping these two efforts keep in check the blossom end rot that my plum tomatoes suffered last year.



Garlic To Leeks With Greens In Between



These are the scapes of Allium vineale. They were tender enough to snack on raw, which I did, but most were chopped to flavor roast turkey.

I was impressed with the bulb size at about an inch. I've left the remaining vineale to size up. At this size there is a woody stalk at the center of the bulb.

The butter lettuce on the left and romaine on the right. Best grow fast lettuce, tomatoes are on your heels.

The cima di rapa, or rabe, is also growing fast. Eating rabe will put sand in your gullet. The leaves seem to have the magic ability to capture grains of sand deep into the leaf axil -soaking doesn't always get it. The answer is cultural -I think a mulch to keep down splash up is necessary.

Ahh, the elephant garlic. Just four 'cloves' pulled from a Fairway purchase were planted last fall. Elephant garlic is not really garlic, but a leek (Allium ampeloprasum), which explains its mildness as a garlic.


Game On



The weather was just right, and the cima di rapa was ready. Not quite the level of miracle, but after a warm, dry week and no watering, last week's planted rabe survived -hardy plant. I also had fennel herb and fennel bulb to plant, and lettuce of Boston and Romaine varieties.

In went the lettuce, planted wide in the tomato beds. Grow fast young lettuce!

And the cima di rapa, or broccoli rabe, planted in two tomato beds. We'll have a lot of this -all at once. I want to get smarter about succession planting, so that the best plant precedes the next crop, but also for extended harvesting. In this case, there is only time for one planting, as the tomatoes are growing rapidly.

The greens, a Johnny's mystery mix received from a friend with too much. We've been getting about 4 meals per week out of this tomato bed.

Nothing raises more questions at the garden than this modest strip of Allium vineale. Yes, I am cultivating the weed, the formerly cultivated, the cast out creation of our predecessors, and taste favorite of at least one blogging gardener-cook. I begin to wonder if garlic was selected for asexual reproduction, flowerless-ness, because of its inherent weediness when allowed to set seed? Did it take over their fields? The knowledgeable scoff, the uninitiated huh, and I get to feel like Dr. Frankenstein. I hope they don't chase me with flames and forks.






Beach Farm Bugs, Plantings



We've had a excess of grubs, and then a flurry of these wasps buzzing around, low to the ground, never quite landing. On my return the next day, it was cool and cloudy, and the wasps were gone. Until I started digging. Then I would find them on the surface of the soil, seemingly stunned, often wanting to dig themselves back in. My instinct is that these wasps are here for the grubs. I thought maybe that they were the adult of the grub, but nixed that idea in favor of feeding or laying eggs on the grubs. And since they appeared to have little interest in us, I was pleased they were around should they take out some grubs.

The camera picked up the hairiness, that I was not able to make see.

Of course, click on the image for much larger hairy wasp.

The grubs that I believe are responsible for some lost plants.



These images are from last Sunday, what seems to have been the last of the cool days of spring if weather forecasts are accurate for the coming days. I hearing 90; I'm sure you've heard it too. Ninety has me concerned for the irrigation is yet to be installed, the peas are in their prime, the tomatoes have just been planted, and the broccoli under the heat-increasing tent. Ninety is too much, too fast, and it well seems that the weather has turned on the heat with a switch. Remember last June, it was well in the 90s and little rain for nearly a month. At least we've had rain.

The arugula and asian greens performed poorly this year. I got them in early, yet they didn't move, then it was coolish and rainy and yet they bolted. The red mesclun has not bolted, but hasn't taken off either. All have tasted good, if now a little bitter or spicy. They will be pulled if the weather heats up as they're saying.

The tomato support system has attracted some beach farm attention, no one being quite sure what I was doing, although one farmer did admire that I was using a tape measure. His garden is also quite orderly. I had one broccoli doing quite well from last year's winter crop. Even though I had to plant the tomatoes, I just pushed one snug up against the broccoli.


A view of the garlic from our neighbor's plot. I will not be able to get this shot this summer as he has planted corn. We're sure he didn't give much thought to planting tall-growing corn on the northern edge of his plot, which will shade part of ours. We decided to place a path on our southern border to mitigate any shade gardening. Otherwise, it shouldn't matter all that much -broccoli will be planted where the garlic is now.

I started some seeds on Wednesday! Foolish as it is, I've planted peppers and eggplant. These plants like warm soil temps for germination, and we'll have that. The question is whether or not they will grow rapidly enough to be planted at the beach farm successfully. I've planted some new seeds -poblano peppers and various basils, but I've also planted some very old seeds, maybe 14 years old. I had some New Mexico Chile, Italian Sweet Peppers (Corno di Toro) and two varieties of heirloom eggplant -all old Shepherd's Seeds. Will they sprout, survive, take off? I love a good experiment. If they don't, I'll find some starts which I intend to plant where the tented broccoli is, sometime before we depart for Minnesota this June.

We have a visitor in town, keeping me from the work. But on the other hand, we attended Carnegie Hall last night to see friend Marouan Benabdallah give his debut recital. But today, I must farm, must roll out the irrigation pipe. I believe in irrigation. And sunscreen.



Farmboy Racer




This Sunday I raced down to the beach farm in the hours before the studio where I needed to polish up my entry into the pinewood derby. The weather was brilliant, the weeds were abundant, and the lady who kept taking the pavers back last year was there yackin it up, and leaving, again, this time permanently. I was rushing about, weeding half-handedly, stepping on tiny leeks.

The lettuce were large enough for me to pull a few out and clip some others for our first greens of the season. I had lengthy thoughts about the human selection (as opposed to natural selection) of weeds, unintended as it may always be, to closely resemble desirable plants when young, and grow well at the base of desirable plants. It comes down to that, doesn't it? One hundred thousand years of weeding created the successful weeds we have today simply because the successful ones are the ones we missed year after year.

The greens were plucked, snipped, de-rooted, washed triply, spun, and placed in a bowl at dinner. We ate them with our fingers, ungarnished. They were the best damn greens I've had in years. Those clear clamshell greens have nothing to do with taste, nothing. In fact, a recent package I bought was filled with aphids. Others always have rotting reds, or rotting in general, which I hate to find, because, as far as I am concerned, rot ruins my appetite for salad.

It is exceptionally difficult to get a good shot under a fabric cover pinned to the ground. 

But look at that growth in two weeks. The weeds too, so difficult to pull that I needed to make swiping motions with my hand, scraping at the dirt. I wanted to lift the tents so that the broccoli could be exposed to the cooler air, but then I remembered the moths, and left the protection in place.

Yet this is all that remains of the broccoli I planted without a row cover. Two small standing plants, and all the others shriveled and out of the ground. But why -human, animal, insect, earthly elements? I don't think I'll ever know.

I'm expecting scapes in the coming two weeks. Can't wait.

And there's movement in the snap peas!

I could not resist snapping a leaf and tendril to taste as I worked. I snipped a few more for the bowl of greens -the sweet pea flavor to set off the slight bitterness of the greens. First bites of the growing season must be raw, without adulteration.

 I completely forgot about this -the bike tour. 

You should have seen the backup of cars behind this backup of bikes. Yikes. Thankfully, it was on the other side and I was able to make it to Greenpoint the fastest way just in time for racer check-in.

It's all a little silly, but my first derby proves to be a winner. That's my car on the far left.


Mr. Clean Greens



I spent at least a half hour snipping roots from the greens. I washed them at least 5 times -three before the root snipping, two after. Then, into the spinner for drying, and then the fridge. The last two nights I've eaten greens for dinner. This was weird -tonight I ate orzo with pecorino romano, breaded and fried chicken breast, tossed over the salted and peppered greens. 

Incidently, the garden hasn't frozen yet. The 'New Dawn' rose has two buds about to bloom. Also, the vase of flowers is holding up, and the chrysanthemums, pincushions, borage, and eupatorium are doing well. But the big news is the iris apical bud is about to bloom. Awesome.




Beach Farm: Week 18



The snap peas are flowering well now. A decision must be made. 

 I pulled most of the radishes.

The broccoli has been doing well, but there simply isn't enough energy in this low sun to have grown them for harvesting before a serious freeze. I also haven't brought more plastic to fully tent these. Ah, I suppose I'm giving up. Good luck broccoli.

I harvested most of the asian greens and arugula. This is what I left. I started snipping, but then just went with all out pulling.

 The bundle of greens.

 Recent heavy rains made lots of splash up and the wet soil stuck well to the growing roots.

 A bit of buttock.

 On my way to the compost, I spotted this in the field.

 The seed says nothing short of geranium.

This three bin system, instituted by our fearless NPS Ranger Thaddeus, will hardly work. All bins filled. Cannot turn the heap, cannot transfer into the next bin. A compost corral would be way better for the quantity of organic matter we're creating here.

On my way out, decision made. I chopped the snap peas for the greens. I will saute them in butter and garlic with pancetta and serve with pasta -better than waiting for 10 pea pods and then finding everything frozen on my next visit.


Beach Farm: Week 16.5 -Beyond The Garlic



Snap peas.

Some flowers.

Broccoli growing in its tent.

The sound of birds at Ft. Tilden needs to be heard to be believed. This is the season for birders, and the south shore of Long Island, the tidal marshes, are major stopping points for migratory birds.

Rosemary in bloom, unusual here, reminding me of its cool weather bloom in New Mexico.

Still harvesting greens and radishes.


Beach Farm: Week 15 or 113 Days



We rose early this morning so that we could get to the beach farm before work. Yes, every day is a work day, and on a day like today, hitting the farm is a luxury. We are there less and less, which is really all that is needed. The water had been turned off on November first, and on that same day I removed my irrigation timer. Since then, the weather has been rather good to us, rain some, but also warmer temperatures, and not too much wind.

It is now November fourteen, and knowledgeable gardeners that you are, you are fully aware of what's not present in our kitchen garden. It's true, only so much can be grown to eat now, but eating we are. Tonight's dinner had yellow bells, mixed greens, and radishes -all from the beach. If we are lucky, this will continue long into December, until the day we head out of town for Minnesota Christmas.  They just received 12 inches of snow.

It took some time to get over the loss of the heat-loving vegetables. After all, those are what we think of when we think of 'farm.' Now that the momentary post-garden depression has passed, and the green things are filling out, the farm feels right again, a little bit like spring.

The water is now off for the season, and with that comes watering concerns. It's been two weeks since my last visit, but there appears to be little to worry over. It's cool. It rains at least once a week. And, there's the ocean, humidity, and the dewpoint, all conspiring to condense moisture onto surfaces like lettuce, broccoli, and snap peas. Thank you for watering.

What remains of the morning dew on the snap peas.

And on the broccoli, which has put on some heft over the last two weeks. 

Which warranted the makeshift plastic tent build-out. It's a start. Our enemy here is the cold wind, and the low-energy sun. Old windows would be way cooler, err warmer, longer-lived too.

The mizuna mixed greens are perfectly sweet and spicy.

I hastily seeded this entire area (formerly of broccoli) with arugula in two rows, and mesclun mix in two rows. While the arugula is taking off, all that seems to be growing adjacent are weeds -bad seeds?

Radish.

Just for the simple compensation of picking something, everyone should grow radishes into the fall. They're sweet and spicy, not just spicy -like summer radishes, and the greens go right into the salad.

I haven't been harvesting the collards -not a big fan, but today we took some. There are white flies pestering them now that the summer broccoli has been harvested. White flies are not terribly offensive as pests go, but they do sap the plants. Hopefully we will have a good hard freeze for a couple of weeks in, say, maybe January.

While Betsy hoed the weeds, I noticed lots of earthworms squiggling about. This one above exited its tunnel and moved near the parsley seedlings. When we broke ground, in July, I did not see even one. 

As with the mesclun mix, the spinach seeds simply did not produce. This is the sole plant from a whole packet of seeds. So wish we had more, love home grown, cool weather spinach.

Today's harvest. We plucked all the peppers, as they had finally looked like our basil -pale green and yellow leaves. There was a cold, wet day last week that did them in. Got some collards, and salad greens, a few radishes too. I also picked some celery. If the weather stays reasonable, some snap peas and broccoli may be in our future. Is it too late to plant garlic or onions? I don't think so.


Beach Farm: Week 11.5



I went to see if my Felco was still there, 5 days after I dropped it in the dark. Not being in any obvious spot, I was sure it was gone, but then, some red in the green -ah, the trip was not in vain.

The snap peas are about 3 inches high.

That lone broccoli in its mesh cage has grown.

Lovely are its autumn leaves.

I think this is arugula.

Mixed greens.

Some patches have gotten their true set of leaves.

Radishes, thinned.

New broccoli. Why have I hesitated to put up the plastic cover?

The Smartweed's rosy pink was all over the garden and it got me taking photos. An hour later, still out in the cold wind of the beach, I started to feel a bit under the weather's influence. Today, sore throat. Blech.


Planting Against The Tide



The temperature was 48 when we got out of bed on Sunday, but by the time we reached the farm, it must've been near 60. I weeded. Sweater removed. Vegetable gardens are a little sad at this time of the year. Pulling the old is necessary, but planting new things is important. Take stock. Take note. Keep the growing going.

I noticed these 'stink horn' type mushrooms growing near the chard. I pulled the chard.

The Caribbean Hots are just coming into their own, with many green fruits and flowers.

The generic sweet bell peppers have been granted a stay of expulsion from the garden. One more week, probation, to show us that they can turn sweet, or the very least, warm-toned yellow, orange, or ... We've got about 4 of these, all carrying about 5 fruits.

This is the generic eggplant flower -there are lots of these. The plants are healthy, but unlikely to produce anything with these cool temperatures and the low-hanging sun. They've been spared till first frost -for looks.

This is where the ichiban eggplants were. They are now in the compost heap. Planted here now, with all sorts of positivity, are the 'Piracicaba' broccoli (thanks Marie) seedlings  I sprouted a few weeks ago. Yes, farming ends in two weeks, but I didn't know that, right? Good weather, and a plastic cover should yield me something from these guys. Positivity.

Nearby is the celery, more tender stalked now than during the heat of summer. More practice with this one.

Our collards next to the freshly-cleared patch of all kinds of small tomatoes of my neighbor, Jimmy, who's brother is in the band Black 47 -this much we know.

Now that the shade of those tomatoes is no more, I used this spot to plant some spinach in nice little rows.

And the snap peas, they're on their way now. Grow grow grow before the snow snow snow. 

 These little guys, umm, they're some kind of salad greens -mesclun or arugula.

Very popular around the greater Ft. Tilden Community Garden.  

And this? I'll explain that to you later.