PLANTWISE

Seedheads and Self-Sowing Surprises

should they stay or should they go?

Posted by: Kate Bryant on Aug 20, 2010 at 08:34AM 0 Comments

Some yellow flowers yet on this lettuce plant – but it’s already started to make little black seeds, which I can shake onto the garden now for early spring salads!

I’ve just gone on a garden rampage – my yard debris is picked up every other Friday morning and, at 6 this morning, I remembered today was the day. I tore out, clippers in hand, and started filling my big green bin with old, aphid-riddled cabbage, broccoli, kale and other cruciferous vegetables that I had failed to harvest over the course of this insanely busy spring and summer. Most of them were covered not only with aphids but fat green seed pods. But I didn’t care – I tossed them. I’ve never had any luck in my garden with self-sown kale or broccoli.

But as I went on my tearing-out spree, I did leave a scattered selection of bolted (flowering) vegetables standing rather than pulling them out. Why? Because I’ve learned from experience that some vegetable plants will reliably self-sow in my vegetable garden and come true from seed, producing a new generation of plants that tastes as good as the previous one.

Vegetable plants that self-sow easily include lettuce, mache, arugula, parsley, leafy mustard greens including mizuna and purple Osaka types.

These tasty cool-weather greens germinate in late winter, grow vigorously in early spring, and produce an abundance of delicious leaves from April through June or so. The best part is, they do this with scarcely any intervention from me. No need for me to harvest, clean or store the seeds -all I need to do is leave a few plants (sometimes even just one) to flower and set seed. Sometimes, when I see it’s ripe, I cut off the branches and deliberately shake the seed in the part of the garden where I hope it will grow; sometimes I just cut off all the messy side branches, leaving a tall, narrow plant with at least a few seed pods on top so the plant takes up minimal space while the seeds ripen – and then I leave it to do its own thing.

These pretty yellow flowers will lead to rafts of fantastically peppery, lacy-leafed wild arugula plants in my garden next spring. By far, this “Wild Italian” variety of arugula (originally from Wild Garden Seeds – correction: original seed from Botanical Interests Seed Co.) is the most prolifically self-sowing and, in my opinion, the tastiest.

Some plants are more challenging to grow from home-saved seed. These include melons, squash and cucumbers, chard, carrots and more. It isn’t impossible to get good seed from these plants – you just need to sow the right plant varieties in the first place, hand-pollinate them and sometimes isolate the plants from others like them so they don’t cross and produce weird-tasting progeny. And finally, you need to harvest, clean and store the seed over the winter. It’s interesting and fun but this year, I’m sticking to the easy method.

So the upshot is: pay attention to the possibilities in your garden – sometimes you can sit back and let Nature do what Nature does best: procreate. Think of yourself as your garden’s caretaker and shepherd and let some of the plants do their own thing. Watch for self-seeding opportunities with suitable plants and then keep an eye out for the seedlings come spring. You’ll find that self-sown plants are typically stronger and better adapted to your own garden over time.

If you’re hot to trot for any of these delicious greens, they can be sown in the garden now for autumn and possibly even winter enjoyment. As long as you keep them well watered during any hot weather we may have left, they should begin to produce for you within a month!

For more information about self-sowing food crops, read this from Wild Garden Seed, a Philomath company specializing in organic, locally adapted seed strains. Also, get more details here on saving seed for various vegetable varieties.

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Tags: Vegetables, Seeds

Summer’s Here and the Time is Right – to Plant Veges!

Posted by: Kate Bryant on Jul 05, 2010 at 01:26PM 2 Comments

Flats of broccoli, kale and leek seed I planted last July – different seeds emerge at different rates.

I recently heard someone say it is “too late” to plant vegetables. I’m happy to report that isn’t true. There are plenty of vegetable seed and starts that can be planted this month for summer, fall and winter harvest. Here’s what lies in store for the month of July in the vegetable patch:

For starters, there are greens.

Greens
Most greens grow best in cool spring and fall weather but some will also do fine in our hot summers if you take special care with watering and maybe providing some afternoon shade.

Decent summer greens include arugula, basil, lettuce, some Asian greens like mustards and bok choi. Cilantro and spinach are harder to grow in summer, as they quickly bolt (go to seed and stop producing tasty leaves) but given enough afternoon shade and plenty of moisture, even they can work. Look for varieties described as “good for summer sowing” – breeders are producing more bolt-resistant varieties every year.

Tips: Plant under shade cloth or where plants receive solid morning sun and afternoon shade. Sow greens every two weeks, keep well watered and harvest promptly to prevent plants from getting stressed and bolting.

Warm-weather crops
In early July, you can still plant some warm-weather crops. So much depends on the weather (as this spring demonstrated) but there may be time for one more crop of corn and beans from seed – or plant starts. You could still get a decent crop if you plant starts of tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, squash, melons, cucumbers and pumpkins.

While you’ll harvest fewer fruit than if you’d planted earlier in Cozy Kotes, you could still get plenty if there’s a long, warm autumn. Plus, many folks planted their tomatoes out when it was still cold and their tomatoes just sat in misery for a month. Warm-weather crops planted in the balmy days of July could surpass those stunted from June’s unseasonably cold, wet conditions.

Tips:
First, choose fast-ripening varieties (labels usually say how many days to harvest) and smaller-fruited varieties, which ripen quicker. Keep well-watered, plant in rich soil in a warm or even hot spot, and fertilize well with organic fertilizer. If needed, cull the quantity of fruit on each plant to speed the ripening of existing fruit.

Autumn and winter crops
These vegetables will supply you with food in autumn, winter or early spring.

Good autumn crops to direct-sow in July include beet, bulbing fennel, and carrots. Through mid-July, sow green onions and cole crops (crucifers) like quick/early broccoli and cabbage. Slower growing Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, late cabbages and slow/over-wintering broccoli are best sown through mid-July – or buy starts if it’s getting to the end of July. In mid-July, also seed parsnips and parsley, both of which will overwinter. Later in the month through early August, sow peas, radishes, spinach, and Swiss chard for late fall and winter harvest.

Tips: In summer, it’s easiest to sow seed under shade cloth. You can also sow seed in pots or flats in bright but indirect light – they’re easier to keep watered and you can move them into the garden when they are a bit sturdier. Remember that root crops like beets and carrots should be direct-sown in the ground, as they do not transplant well.

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Tags: Vegetables, Seeds

Visit Luscher Farm

Oregon Tilth Organic demonstration gardens, a clematis vine collection, community gardens, Three Rivers Land Conservancy trails and more

Posted by: Kate Bryant on Jun 30, 2010 at 06:00PM 0 Comments

Photo: Kate Bryant

There is a huge City of Lake Oswego community garden on the property – I’ve never seen so many creative and beautifully-maintained plots!

View Slideshow » Photo: Kate Bryant

There is a huge City of Lake Oswego community garden on the property – I’ve never seen so many creative and beautifully-maintained plots!

View Slideshow » Photo: Kate Bryant

A luscious clump of red Oswego tea (Monarda didyma) grew in one of the community garden plots. You can taste the sweet and spicy-floral nectar by pulling out the individual red tepals – the nectar collects at the base. Just make sure you have the right plant! (Thanks, Josh, for introducing me to this delicious treat.) Monarda is a fantastic hummingbird, butterfly and bee plant – but spreads a bit too fast in damp soil.

View Slideshow » Photo: Kate Bryant

Oregon Tilth’s Organic Education Center is at Luscher Farm. There are many demonstration plots showing food crops being grown using different methods. I gleaned some interesting ideas.

View Slideshow » Photo: Kate Bryant

One new thing I learned about my all time favorite food: potatoes can be grown in partial shade and within a bale of straw. Nice idea! Let me know if you want more info on doing this.

View Slideshow » Illustration: Clematis florida Sieboldii – a fussy customer but that’s never stopped clematis lovers from trying… this was in a greenhouse at the Rogerson Clematis Collection at Luscher Farm. View Slideshow » Illustration:

In flower now at the Rogerson Clematis Collection garden at Luscher Farm – Clematis crispa.

View Slideshow » Photo: Kate Bryant

Twining delicately around a bird bath, this pink clematis (Adagio) only grows a few feet tall – perfect for the small garden.

View Slideshow » Photo: Kate Bryant

The farmhouse is surrounded by blowsy cottage gardens stuffed with clematis vines, interplanted with shrubs and perennials. It’s a great place to see the versatility of clematis in the garden – they can twine up the trunk of a tree or into a shrub, wind up a trellis or tuteur in the traditional style, drape over a bird bath, or just twine through perennials, depending on the size and type.

Looking for inspiration or want to learn more about organic vegetable gardening? Interested in seeing a diversity of clematis vines in a lovely, cottage-garden setting? Or perhaps you’d just like to take a walk on one of the metro area’s Three Rivers Land Conservancy trails.

There’s a lot to do and see at Luscher Farm in West Linn. It’s a great field trip, including with kids – there is a historic bird house with cavorting chickens, pigeons, and small game birds, and plenty of room for kids to run and play.

During my visit with photographer friend Josh McCullough of Phytophoto, I took in the Oregon Tilth Organic Education Center and demonstration garden, the Lake Oswego Community Gardens and the Rogerson Clematis Collection. The Hazelia Field Dog Park is also on the property, as well as an athletic field and several CSA farms.

Click on the slide show (above) to get a little taste of what’s there – and do visit Luscher Farm soon. It’s a remarkable site, with sweeping views in all directions and so much inspiring vitality and diversity in the food gardens. There’s a fantastic story to the place posted on the wall of the historic bird house. Apparently, the property (including house, barn and outbuildings) was donated to the City of Lake Oswego by a retired farmer. It seems to me it’s being put to the best possible use by its current caretakers. You’ll leave feeling inspired.

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Tags: Slideshow, Flowers, Vegetables, Edible Gardening, Vines

Grafted Tomatoes

An old-fashioned technique with a new use for home vegetable gardeners

Posted by: Kate Bryant on Jun 21, 2010 at 09:22AM 3 Comments

There’s a new craze in grafted tomato plants this spring: – read about it here.

Grafting is an old-fashioned horticultural technique: it’s basically splicing plants, just like audio tape used to be spliced. It allows you to grow the desirable plant you want on a more vigorous root stock so you get faster (or slower) growth, disease resistance, and better or more fruit or flowers.

Fruit trees are often grafted to keep the tree height in check or improve vigor or adaptability. Wine grapes are nearly always grafted onto tough Vitus labrusca rootstock. Some roses are grafted, as well as witch hazels and many other ornamental plants.

Grafting tomatoes is a great idea for gardeners with tiny spaces or just room for one or two containers but who want more than one type of fruit (for example, a red cherry tomato and a yellow pear tomato): you can get more than one variety on a single plant. It’s also said to increase productivity so it could be nice for people who want lots of, say, Brandywine tomatoes, not just three per plant per summer (typical for this sometimes touchy but exquisitely desirable heirloom tomato).

The rootstocks used on grafted tomatoes are also disease resistant so should you have disease issues in your soil, the grafted plants might do better for you.

Apparently, vegetable grafting has been going on in commercial settings for years, both in the US and Europe. Eggplants and peppers are probably coming up next – stay tuned. Meantime, grafted tomatoes are available now at retail nurseries where Log House Plants are sold. They cost several times more than regular plants but you’ll be in the vanguard this spring and will definitely have bragging rights! I’m dying to see photos of producing plants so be sure to send me a photo if you try these grafted plants.

And here’s a video showing how tomatoes are grafted, courtesy of Johnny’s Seeds via Log House Plants:

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Tags: Vegetables, Gardening Tips, Container Gardening, Edible Gardening

Top Tomato Tip

Posted by: Kate Bryant on May 23, 2010 at 11:56AM 0 Comments

Kozy Kotes in action!

Doesn’t that title just sound like it belongs in an English gardening magazine? But usually it’s “Ten Top Tomato Tips”.

Today, however, there’s just one major tip on the agenda, and it relates to tomatoes and temperature.

Tomatoes are tropical plants and require warmth.

Yet as of today, the soil temperature in the area of my garden where my tomatoes will go barely exceeds the minimum for tomatoes: 50-55 F a full 2 inches deep. (Soil temps are still in the low 60s in that part of my garden.) Tomatoes survive at those temperatures, but don’t thrive. Why bother planting when the tomato plant will just sit and sulk? (Especially when the tomatoes in my warm windowsill indoors are growing like gangbusters.)

Here are some things you can do to evaluate the temperature and warm the soil for your tender crops:

Buy a soil thermometer, if you don’t already have one. (I saw them yesterday at Cornell Farm for $10.) Test the temperature of the soil in your vegetable garden first thing in the morning, two inches deep. For tomatoes to survive, soil temperatures should be 50-55 F (some varieties are more cold-tolerant than others). For tomatoes to really thrive, soil temperatures should be well into the 60s. Soil temperatures over 70 really spark growth.

To speed up the process of warming the soil, set up plastic “tents” – Kozy Kotes or Wall-’O-Water products – available at most retail nurseries – or use red or black plastic. This will help raise the soil temperature by a few meaningful degrees. The Kozy Kotes and similar products also keep the air around the plants warmer – especially important when temperatures have been dropping in to the low to mid 40s at night lately.

I haven’t planted my tomatoes out yet in my home garden. (Although some of my clients have extra-warm spots against the side of a building or in pots.) And my peppers and eggplant are probably a week or more away from being planted. Why? Because neither the soil nor the air are warm enough. My house heat, set at 55F, has been coming on for the past few days – a sure sign that it’s not warm enough to plant tomatoes without an extra-warm spot or a Kozy Kote. Surviving and thriving are two different things.

FYI: The optimum growing temperature (for air) for tomatoes is between 75ºF and 95ºF. Air temperatures below 57ºF delay growth and encourage tomato disease. If you wait just a bit longer and take steps to warm the soil, your plants will likely surpass those planted too early.

More tomato tips:

Rotate your tomatoes so that you aren’t planting them where they – or their close relatives (pepper, eggplant, and potato) – have been planted in recent years. This helps discourage disease.

Give your tomato plants room. Space typical staked tomatoes an absolute minimum of two feet apart to allow for air circulation and better light and to discourage disease. Three feet is a lot better.

When planting, bury your tomato up to the first set up leaves. The plants will root along the stem, helping to support strong, healthy growth, as well as deepening the root system – useful in our dry summer climate.

Pinching side shoots is a matter of preference. It hasn’t been shown to make a difference in productivity either way, although it can neaten a plant. And side shoots can produce fruit and flowers, contrary to what some people claim. However, you can speed fruit production in indeterminate tomatoes by pinching the terminal growth (top) towards the season’s end.

Water consistently – deeply and every few days. If the plants go dry in mid-summer, don’t go crazy compensating if the plant is loaded with fruit – this is what leads to fruit cracking. Instead, provide steady, regular moisture every few days, as the weather dictates.

Mulch the plants with mulch, straw, or shredded leaves after the soil has warmed up in early July. Mulch will help with splash-back from the soil, which could carry disease, especially if tomatoes have been grown there in the past. It also helps retain soil moisture during the dry summer months.

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Tags: Vegetables, Edible Gardening

Get Out and Plant Your Veggies!

beans, squash, and cukes – oh my!

Posted by: Kate Bryant on May 14, 2010 at 09:00AM 2 Comments

We’re a ways away from eating them but it’s just about time to plant ’em

Yup, it’s time – or darn near time – to start planting your summer vegetable garden.

Right now, you can direct-sow carrots, beets, celery, radishes, and greens like lettuce and spinach.

Starting this weekend, if your soil is consistently 65F or more, you can also direct-sow beans and maybe squash, pumpkins and cucumbers if you have a nice, warm spot. If your garden’s like mine (a little on the cool side), wait a week. There’s nothing worse than waiting for little seeds to sprout and then discovering they’ve rotted.

We’re right on the cusp of being able to plant basil, cucumbers and tomato starts. It’s been chilly lately but if you have an extra-warm spot near a wall or surrounded by concrete (=reflected heat) or use plastic mulch or tents, you should be fine. I just wait ’cause I hate seeing my plants sit and do nothing at first.

Now’s also a good time to set up a Wall-O-Water, Cozy-Kote or plastic mulch for a few days to warm the ground ahead of time for eggplants, peppers, and melons. These plants require soil temperatures to be consistently above 70F to really take off. Get that soil thermometer (about $10-15 at Portland Nursery) and check. (It’s good to keep a soil thermometer handy in the veg garden year-round, anyway.) My garden soil’s still at 64F (oops, typo – it was 54F) – not quite ready. But we’re getting there, folks. If your veg garden receives loads of reflected heat or you have a plastic greenhouse cover or a little hoop-house, your soil temperatures could be nearing 70F and you can soon get started with the more tender stuff.

Sweet corn germinates at soil temperatures over 65F but I would still wait a bit. The super-sweet types need soil to be even warmer. Locals usually plant regular sweet corn around June 1.

So do wait a couple more weeks to plant out starts of peppers, eggplants, and melons, unless you have had your soil-warming plastic tents or mulches up for a while and the soil’s above 70F. These are really hot-weather crops and will just sit and sulk if it isn’t warm enough.

So there you go – your work’s cut out for you. Get planting!

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Tags: Vegetables

Purple-Sprouting Broccoli

Nearly nine months from sowing to eating – it’s almost like having a baby!

Posted by: Kate Bryant on Apr 24, 2010 at 10:14AM 2 Comments

There are a few florets left on this plant – I’ve eaten most of it already!

So did you see the segment on mâche on KPTV the other day? ‘Cause I sure didn’t. Maybe they axed the piece or will air it another day.

In any case, my vegetable garden’s fabulous tv debut is on hold. And I was so excited about showing off my mâche on tv! The mâche is finished now (it’s bolting, along with the mustard, arugula and kale) but there’s plenty more that’s looking great, including one of my all-time favorite winter vegetables: purple-sprouting broccoli.

This vegetable is indeed slow – you sow the seed in July, grow it to a decent size in the garden, and then cold weather sets in and it just sits and endures. Come spring, it kicks into action again and in March and April, it forms large, leafy plants that produce an abundance of gorgeous little purple florets.

Purple-sprouting broccoli is one of the most delicious of all cruciferous vegetables, with an intense, rich, nutty broccoli flavor. Of course it’s incredibly nutritious ‘cause it’s a crucifer. It’s delicious with pasta (turns green when cooked), in baked dishes, and eaten fresh in salads or just snapped off the stalk in the garden. The florets are bite-sized so they are beautiful as they are – you don’t have to mangle their lovely form with a knife.

It’s a time investment – nine months’ worth of valuable real estate in the garden, from August, when you set the seedlings out in the garden to April – but it’s worth it. And it takes care of itself all winter – it’s cold hardy to below 10F.

As a side-note: I used ten year-old seed purple sprouting broccoli seed last year. The germination rate was fine and the plants grew beautifully. The Rudolf broccoli germination rate wasn’t as good, though that could have been a storage issue.

So mark your calendar for mid- to late July – that’s when to start the seed. Or just wait til I remind you. ’Cause I will. (Here is what I wrote about it last July.)

Buy purple-sprouting broccoli – or any overwintering vegetables – from local sources, as they are more likely to be cold-hardy strains. Try Victory Seeds, Territorial Seeds.

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Tags: Vegetables, Edible Gardening

My Vegetable Garden’s TV Debut

featuring mâche – a fantastic early spring green

Posted by: Kate Bryant on Apr 21, 2010 at 11:51PM 4 Comments

Chef, cooking instructor, event organizer, owner of Keuken and amazing bundle of energy Blake Van Roekel

View Slideshow » Illustration:

Chef, cooking instructor, event organizer, owner of Keuken and amazing bundle of energy Blake Van Roekel

View Slideshow » Illustration:

I can’t remember if it was reporter Brooke Carlson (here) or photographer Eric Patterson (fiddling with camera) who started joking about the “mache-pit”…

View Slideshow » Illustration:

Brooke watching Blake snipping the greens

View Slideshow » Illustration:

Jeez, the least I could have done is taken down my laundry line for the shoot…

View Slideshow » Illustration:

All done! (And ready to go eat!)

So a little patch of mâche growing in my vegetable garden will be on KPTV Fox 12’s Better Portland on Thursday April 22 at 1:45 pm!

What’s the story, you ask? Well, last month, I was chatting about my favorite early spring green, mâche, with Blake Van Roekel, chef and owner of Keuken. Blake has a monthly cooking segment on KPTV Fox 12’s Better Portland and she’s quite the hot chef. Blake decided it would be fun to harvest the mâche from my garden and try some of her culinary magic on it – on TV! So to my little vegetable patch came super-cool Lifestyle Reporter Brooke Carlson and ultra-suave photographer Eric Patterson – plus lovely Miss Blake, of course – and the photo fiesta began. (Click on that Slideshow for behind-the-scenes photos.)

After harvesting the mâche, Blake and the team toodled off to her kitchen where she prepared a delicious yet simple meal, with easy instructions on how to make it at home. I won’t spoil the story by telling you what she made – you’ll just have to follow the Better Portland link to see if they put up a video of it on line after it airs. The program runs from 1-2 pm – Blake’s segment (with me and my mâche in it) starts at 1:45 pm.

For more information on growing mâche, read this.

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Tags: Gardening Events, Vegetables, Edible Gardening

It’s Spudtacular!

learn everything you need to know to grow the humble spud

Posted by: Kate Bryant on Mar 19, 2010 at 10:47AM 0 Comments

Oh my goodness – I love this idea!

I recently got a press release from Livingscapes Nursery about an event they’re holding this weekend:

SPUDTACULAR! This Saturday March 20, 10 – 5

WHAT: Spudtacular! is a day of potato-centric activities for adults and kids – just in time for the spring potato-planting season. You’ll learn about the different varieties of potatoes, discover how to grow them, and take some home to plant – maybe even that afternoon, before the predicted rain comes late Sunday or Monday! (Although there are still a few good weeks to plant for an earlier harvest.)

WHEN: Saturday, March 20 from 10 – 5
(Music: noon – 5; potato info: every half hour; kids’ activities: ongoing!)

WHERE: Livingscape Nursery 3926 N. Vancouver Avenue, Portland, OR 97227

FOR MORE INFO, CONTACT: Steve Sullivan, 503.449.7644 – steve@livingscape.com

DETAILS:
SPUDTACULAR! will feature music and food that celebrates the potato and lots of educational activities that provide the information needed to plant a wonderful crop of potatoes this spring. Throughout the day, master gardeners will present information on how to grow potatoes. There will also be exhibits of over 25 potato varieties of all different types and colors, kids activities including plantable potato heads and potato stamps, a live Old Time music jam with some Irish fiddling (12-5), and drinks and potato snacks.

Livingscape Nursery is a sustainably-focused garden and kitchen store whose goal is to empower people to live more engaged lives – engaged with place, food, family, friends and community… all well worth supporting. I’ll be stopping by – hope to see you there!

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Tags: Gardening Events, Places to Go, Vegetables

Grocery Gardening

Posted by: Kate Bryant on Mar 03, 2010 at 11:43PM 2 Comments

I recently received a review copy of Grocery Gardening, a hands-on guide to growing and enjoying fresh garden produce.

Portland author Jean Ann Van Krevelen wrote the book to help readers get started growing and preparing their own food. I liked the book and wanted to meet her so we went out for lunch after the Yard, Garden & Patio Show. I wanted to know what she feels is the “hook” that inspires people – especially young people – to garden – and eat from the garden. For both of us, gardening came to us through parents and grandparents who were avid gardeners. But not everyone has a family member who gardens and can model how simple it can be to grow your own food. That’s where an accessible how-to book like this comes in.

Think of Grocery Gardening like a substitute gardening grandma. An extra hip, fun-loving grandma who shows you how to start an organic food garden but never gets mad at you for not wiping your muddy shoes. And while the book doesn’t actually make delicious, home-cooked meals for you, it does offer inspiring recipes that will make you want to run to the kitchen yourself.

Grocery Gardening starts with “Gardening 101,” detailing the basic information needed to plan your food garden, amend your soil, start your seeds and deal with potential pests. Since part of the goal of growing vegetables and fruit is to eat all this delicious, organic produce, there’s a section on purchasing quality produce at the grocery store or farmers market. After all, you probably won’t be growing everything you eat the first year. I appreciate the list of the most and least contaminated foods – it’s worth growing your own or paying more for organics when buying peaches or bell peppers, for example.

The book then covers how to start and nurture 25 herbs, fruits and vegetables, with guidance on canning, freezing, dehydrating, and storing the produce. Several valuable recipes are provided for each herb, fruit and vegetable.

Now Jean Ann isn’t just a book author: she a veritable bundle of energy, writing blogs on food, on edible gardening, and on technology for entrepreneurs. The back-story to this book is that it was written in collaboration with three co-authors – none of whom had met in person. Instead, they were Facebook and Twitter friends and decided to see if they could put together a book about food and gardening in 60 days using recipes and ideas culled from their voluminous lists of social media contacts. This collaborative venture produced a lively, fresh book full of practical details that will help a total beginner get started – and inspire any food gardener with fun ideas and great recipes. A note to the computer-savvy – the authors are all still tapping away, writing informative gardening and cooking blogs – so the opportunities are there for continued interaction.

I was impressed by something Jean Ann said that afternoon when we plonked ourselves down for lunch (we hit one of my favorite quickie meal spots, Ole Ole on E. Burnside). When I asked her what really gets non-gardeners into gardening, particularly edible gardening, she said, “What it doesn’t take is an overblown idea of perfectionism. Gardening and cooking can be more relaxed, more accessible,” she said. “Gardening is too often presented as if it were an Olympic sport. It’s not that hard. We’re putting things in dirt, people!”

So let’s get past that all-or-nothing thinking. Don’t have the time or the space to dig a vegetable garden in your back yard this spring? Then plant some lettuce in a pot. Planting a seed is a metaphor for starting afresh, creating new life. It’s the easiest thing in the world and humans have been doing it for aeons. You can do it, too.

One pot with organic potting soil and a packet of seeds is all you need to start a vegetable garden. This pot’s big but you can start with almost any kind of container that has a hole in the bottom.

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Tags: Vegetables, Garden Stuff

Well Hello, Sweet Pea!

it’s pea-planting time in Western Oregon

Posted by: Kate Bryant on Feb 20, 2010 at 08:21AM 0 Comments

Black Diamond sweet pea from Fragrant Garden Nursery

Wise old salts say you should plant your sweet peas – and edible peas, while you’re at it – around Presidents’ Day in our region. But there are still many good weeks of planting time. It’s just that, the later in spring you plant, the fewer weeks you’ll have to enjoy the results. Late March is usually still good… but mid- to late February is perfect.

Sweet peas are easy little annual vines. They grow during the cool, wet days of spring and flower in late spring and early summer. By the time the heat of July hits, they usually peter out. But they are so gloriously fragrant and beautiful that it’s all worth it. They are also incredibly easy to grow.

So pick up some packets of sweet peas. I say “packets” because who are we kidding? The pictures are gorgeous and sweet peas really are picture perfect in the garden. Why stop at the Royal Family mixed colors when you can also try the heirloom Painted Lady (hot pink and pale pink bicolor), Cupani’s Original (purple and mauve bicolor) and the indescribably lovely Saltwater Taffy Swirls (white stripes on apricot, purple and pink)?

Chocolate Flake sweet pea from Fragrant Garden Nursery

Fantastic local sweet pea vendors include Fragrant Garden Nursery (Roseburg, OR), Nichols Garden Nursery (Albany, OR), and – a little less local but still fabulous – Renee’s Garden (Felton, CA). You can order them directly on line too but most local nurseries carry a great selection.

You can lightly sand the seed coat and/or soak the seeds for an hour in warm (110 F) water to help soften the seed coat but it isn’t necessary. Also, some people start them indoors. I usually plant them directly in the ground.

To plant sweet peas outdoors, here’s what to do:

• * get your sweet pea seeds. Also, a sack of mushroom compost or composted cow manure (or use your own home-made garden compost) and some non-toxic, pet-safe Sluggo slug bait to protect sprouts from slugs.

• * grab a shovel and a trowel. Maybe a pair of gloves.

• * find a spot that receives at least a full morning of sun and where there’s something for the sweet pea plants to climb. This could be a trellis, chain link fence, or other plants (sweet peas will scramble up a sturdy shrub in a loose, rambly kind of way). If your fence is flat surfaced, drive nails on the top and bottom and tie rough string between the nails so the vines have some thing to climb. Or – after digging (next step) – make a bamboo stake “tee-pee” with rough string encircling it so the tiny tendrils can cling to something.

• * dig up the ground at least a foot deep and wide – more if you’re planting a whole packet of seeds. Sweet peas really show off if you enrich the soil – so pile on the compost and dig away! Do chop up native soil clods so the soil feels nice and crumbly and is dark with the fresh compost you’ve added. Space seeds about two inches apart.

• * Press the seeds in with your fingers, about an inch deep. They are pretty large and easy to handle. If the forecast predicts rain in the next 24 hours, you don’t even need to water them in.

WIthin 10-20 days, your sweet peas will sprout. Scatter some Sluggo around the sprouts when they come up. It’s amazing to watch how quickly they rise out of the ground so keep an eye out!

This is what my dining room table looks like every February. (Sweet peas are front and center!)

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Tags: Vegetables, Outdoor Gardening, Nurseries, Gardening Tips

Allium Alert!

Time to plant garlic for summer 2010 harvest

Posted by: Kate Bryant on Oct 18, 2009 at 10:00AM 6 Comments

Cured garlic braids. Next year, I’m having my expert garlic-braiding friend teach me exactly how to do it so it looks pretty, with dried flowers woven in to it.

Garlic is an essential ingredient in the kitchen and one that is easy to grow in our region. Garlic (the plant) just needs a sunny spot in the garden; rich, well-drained soil; and moderate supplemental water. And from now through early December or so is the ideal time to plant. It is usually harvested around mid-July (depending on the weather).

There are two basic groups of garlic: soft neck and hard neck. Soft neck garlic stores well, is easy to grow and can be braided. Hard neck garlic has larger, hotter-tasting cloves, are easier to peel, and produces buds in June that can be harvested as “garlic tops” and sauteed.

NB: I’m a huge fan of the varieties ‘Silver Rose’ and ‘Nootka Rose’ – both soft neck types that take well to braiding and have a lovely silvery-purple sheen. But everyone has their favorites. Try a few varieties and you’ll soon discover your own.

Garlic cloves can be readily found at local nurseries right now – I saw some at both the Portland Nursery and at Dennis’ Seven Dees in the past few days. They can also usually be ordered from the fabulous Hood River Garlic website. Right now, they’re mostly sold out of seed garlic for the season but they are great folks and have a wonderfully informative and inspiring website.

I always choose organic cloves to start with. In my experience, one fat head of garlic (breaking into about 20 cloves, each of which grow into a new head) is good for about a year’s worth of moderate cooking per person in the household.

Dig up your garden soil about 1.5’ deep with a shovel so you are assured that it is is not compacted. If you haven’t added fresh compost or other organic matter to your soil lately, now’s the time – buy a couple of bags of compost suitable for a vegetable garden (try a bale of Black Forest soil amendment, or Whitney Farms Planting Compost to lighten up the soil if it’s heavy clay). The quality of your soil is so important – don’t skimp on compost. It’s the best money you can spend in your garden – better than plants, better than fancy tools. It’s the foundation for all healthy plants and is especially important when you’re growing vegetables.

If your soil is well dug, drains well, and compost has been added lately, then you’re ready to plant:

Take your head of garlic and separate the cloves (don’t peel them) just prior to planting. Plant each clove about 2" deep with the pointed tip facing up. (You can see little dried white roots on the bottom.) If you’re planting in rows, space the rows 12" apart and plant the cloves (or “seed” garlic) about 6" apart. Gently pat the soil on top to create good soil-clove contact. Then water it in. That’s it!

Looking ahead over the garlic clove’s development, here’s what to do and what to expect:

-Keep the area weed-free so that the weeds aren’t competing with the garlic or shading the little spear-like leaves.
-Scratch some organic fertilizer down the rows or on the area in about March: cotton seed meal, blood meal or any other nitrogenous amendment is good.
-Once summer arrives around June, the garlic will cease producing new foliage and start forming bulbs. At this point, hard neck garlic produces “garlic tops,” which you can – and should – cut off and cook. Stop fertilizing and cut back on watering.
-About a week prior to harvest (early July), stop watering. If possible, let the garlic bed dry out to “cure” the bulbs in the ground.
-By mid-July, look at the leaves: when there are just 5 or 6 green leaves left on the plants, you can gently dig one up and see if the heads are fat and plump. If they look ready, gently harvest the rest of the bulbs with a fork. They can now be cured, braided (if soft neck), and stored for use.

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Tags: Vegetables, Outdoor Gardening, Gardening Tips