If we ever get summer this year ...

Wow, it has been a cold and wet Spring so far. One week of lovely weather, where my seedlings could finally go outside, and now here they are again indoors as it gets down to 0 overnight. It would be nice if Summer would finally arrive. That looks to be this week (fingers crossed)!

But the seedlings are doing well and that week in the warmer weather outdoors helped. The tomatoes are large and the stems are strong even if they are bending over a little. That is quite common, sometimes people put a stick in the pot to tie them straight but I don’t bother. When you plant tomatoes out into the garden, you want to plant them quite deeply anyways, much deeper than they are in the pot. It encourages them to grow stronger root systems as they can grow roots all along the buried stem. I plant them deep enough that only one or two sets of leaves are still showing above ground, so if they bend over a bit in the pot, it doesn’t matter in the end because that part of the stem will be underground eventually anyways.The seedlings are back outside, as of today, to prepare for planting.

One more of the pepper varieties has grown properly, so I will have one chili pepper and one sweet pepper this summer. I’m glad I have another, but am still disappointed. The peppers whose seeds didn’t germinate well were commercially bought, and I will be looking for a different seed source next year. To have such poor germination, and across several varieties, doesn’t speak well.

The onions are still small but growing. Only about half of them went outside that week, but they actually perked up a lot, and the stems got stronger. Once the weather warms again, they will all go outside and hopefully I can rescue the onion seedlings even if they will be getting a late start!

Squash and Cabbage seedlings are already planted out into the garden, as were the pea seeds and they seem to be surviving the dip in temperatures. Potatoes were planted as well. Peas are already coming up! Half the tomatoes are planted as well - they sulked in the unexpected cold but are starting to perk up a bit. I really need to get to the square of the garden where the carrots and onions go, weed it, and get them in the ground ... those are behind. Then the cucumbers,  which are huge and clearly need to get out of their pot and into the ground, and the rest of the tomatoes and peppers.

Then I’ll have to move back to weeding the flower gardens. It always amazes me that weeds can flower and go to seed before you can barely even get out into the garden in the Spring. It makes it very difficult to keep up with. I always start with the vegetable gardens because they need to be planted early, but then the flower gardens need to be tended and I’ll be playing catch-up. With the hard, freezing cold winter we had, there is a lot of die-back and a lot of plants that didn’t make it, so there will be quite a bit of clean-up and moving things around this year ... unfortunately.

Seedlings

The seedlings for the year are coming up nicely. I am most impressed with the cabbage and squashes so far, they look really healthy and strong. The tomatoes look good, although they could really benefit from some sunlight (real sunlight) and a light wind blowing them around (to make the stems stronger). Today was the first day that it was warm enough to set them outside in some light shade for a couple hours - it was above seasonal temperatures here, people were wearing tshirts and some were even wearing shorts. It will cool off over the rest of the week but I think I'll try to get them outside for a couple hours each day to start acclimating them. They are getting too tall for the grow lights anyways!

Disappointing so far have been the onions, and the peppers. One pepper came up well, all seedlings sprouted, and is strong and healthy. The others are weak and poor germination, and I'm not sure why. They got the same soil and same treatment as the other pepper, and all the tomatoes, which are all doing fine. Perhaps it was bad seed, some old seed? Some seeds I got in a trade, others I purchased fresh this year, so I'm not sure. I'm going to plant some more and see how they do. Its getting late in the year to be planting peppers from seed but I have so few that I really need to try something.

The onions are disappointing from a different perspective. I like growing onions from seed, you can choose the variety, and sets are very vague (white onion, spanish onion, is about the extent of the varietal information). Onions from seed aren't supposed to be too hard either, just need to be started quite early. But mine never quite work out the way I plan. They sprout, but they are so skinny (even under strong grow lights) that they end up lying down instead of growing sturdier stalks, and then eventually wilt and die away. I have no idea what I'm doing wrong but I'm going to be looking at some "internet research", as my sister kids me, to figure it out. They are alive, but not very strong or healthy looking. Certainly nowhere near ready to be planted, and they should be getting close to garden planting now. This is the second year in a row and I need to figure this out!

But so far so good on everything else. Potatoes are cut and waiting to sprout a little, and then they will get planted into the garden too. Snow cover over the garden is gone (finally, after such a long and tough winter) so it is almost time for potatoes, onions (if they make it), cabbage, peas, carrots perhaps (direct sown).

Next up, starting some flower seeds. Once some of the herbs and early veggies are moved outside, I'll have space under the grow lights for some flowers. Sunflowers, marigolds (for the tomato patch), I'm going to try a couple asters, hollyhocks and columbines this year as well to add to the flower gardens. I'd really like to try and get a good hollyhock patch growing. They are bi-annuals so they only bloom every second year. Most varieties are, at least, some of the newer ones can bloom annually. But with the bi-annuals, you have to have some in their first year (growing year) and some in their second year (blooming year) to have flowers each year. They will re-seed themselves, although I always scatter seeds to help them along because they struggle in the mulch of the garden. I have a couple hollyhocks, but I'd like to try to develop that into a couple nice patches that can pretty much take care of themselves. They are so beautiful and tall, and bloom for such a long time in the summer.

Seed Starting

It seems to early in the year to be thinking of starting seeds, and the winter is still raging outside with snow banks taller than I am and no sign of stopping just yet. I can barely see the garden gate (it is buried that deep in snow) let alone the garden, but it is the very beginning of seed starting time up here in my Zone 5 garden.

This is the weekend when we start the earliest seeds, to give them enough time to germinate and grow strong enough to go outside at the last frost date. Mostly, this is the weekend to start onions. I also usually start Parsley at the same time as well.

Unfortunately my onion seeds haven't arrived yet, but will be here shortly, so I am preparing to plant them as soon as they get here. You have to grow "new" onion seeds every year because, unlike some other vegetables, onion seeds don't last very long. You can either grow  from the ones you collected the year before or you can buy new every year. I haven't had the patience yet to let some onions stay in the garden a second year until they go to seed, therefore I buy new seeds each year. This year I ordered "Ailsa Craig" from Heritage Harvest Seed and "Australian Brown" from Baker Creek Seeds. "Ailsa Craig" is supposed to be quite large and mild, a yellow skinned Spanish type onion, better suited to eating fresh rather than storing. "Australian Brown", on the other hand, is a great storage onion with a stronger flavour and gets good reviews for consistent performance in heavy clay soil. I'm excited about both!

I have also narrowed down my list and planned the vegetable garden. I'll be trying corn for the first time, which is exciting. I hope the racoons don't discover it!

Parsley "Giant of Italy"
Cilantro "Slo Bolt"
Basil "Corsican"
Dill "Dukat"
Summer Savory
Mint: Orange Mint, Spearmint, Apple Mint,  Chocolate Mint
Oregano
Rosemary
Chives
Thyme
Lemon Thyme
Celery "Tendercrisp"
Summer Squash "Ronde de Nice"
Summer Squash "Costata Romanesco"
Winter Squash "Boston Marrow"
Cabbage "Red Express"
Cabbage "Early Jersey Wakefield"
Cucumber "Japanese Long"
Carrot "Amarillo"
Carrot "Nantes Coreless"
Onion "Australian Brown"
Onion "Ailsa Craig"
Garlic
Bean (bush) "Piros Feher" (shelly)
Bean (bush) "Ireland Creek Annie" (dry)
Bean (pole) "Amish Gnuttle" (dry)
Bean (pole) "Good Mother Stallard" (dry)
Corn (sweet) "Simonet"
Pepper (chili) "Alma"
Pepper (chili) "Black Hungarian"
Pepper (chili) "Pasilla Bajio"
Pepper (sweet) "Marconi red"
Pepper (sweet) "Jimmy Nardello"
Pepper (sweet) "Sweet Chocolate Bell"

Tomatoes - this year's colours of choice, to narrow down options, are white and black:
Amazon Chocolate
Black Ethiopian
Black Krim
Black from Tula
Paul Robeson
Brad's Black Heart
Bedouin
Nyagous
Noire de Cosseboef
Japanese Black Trifele
Carbon
Sara Black
White Wonder
White Queen
Great White
(also one of White Beauty, Snowball, or Cherokee Chocolate)
and the paste variety Cuore di Bue

So, the onion seeds will get planted when they arrive and next up will be the Peppers (both Sweet and Chili) somewhere around the second week of March. Hopefully it will look and feel more like Spring then!

Pork Chops with Balsamic Cherry Preserves

I was looking around the kitchen, trying to decide what I wanted to make for dinner tonight, and my eye rested on the pork chops that I had bought ... beautiful, thick-cut pork chops. I had wanted to grill them and then make a sauce to pour on top. Usually I'd make a mustard-blue cheese sauce or another creamy sauce during the winter, but I wasn't really in the mood for that so I went down to the pantry shelf where I keep all my jars of preserves that I make during the summer and fall harvest.

I had made a small batch, about 4 half-pints, of a Balsamic Cherry Preserves (and I had never really known exactly where I would use it) but today I thought ... well, pork and apples go well together, pork and other fruits go well together, why not pork and balsamic cherry preserves? I just heated the canned Balsamic Cherry preserves in a small saucepan on the stovetop until it was heated through. It gets more liquid as it heats, but if you wanted, you could add a splash of white wine to thin it out to a thinner sauce-like consistency.When the pork chops were done, I just poured the sauce over top.

IT WAS DELICIOUS!! Definitely how I will be using the other jars. And I wanted to share the recipe for the Balsamic Cherry Preserves. I made this recipe last summer when our Cherry tree was abundant, we were overflowing with cherries, and I didn't want to use ALL of them to make jam. This sauce is something I would absolutely make again. The mix of dark, sweet cherries and a tart, tangy balsamic vinegar is almost decadent. This is nice as a sauce for Pork or other savoury dishes (Roast Beef comes to mind), but would also be really nice spread on buttered toast (or maybe even over ice cream or yogurt).

Balsamic Cherry Preserves

Ingredients:

8 Cups             Sweet Cherries, stemmed and pitted and quartered/halved

1/4 Cup           Water

1 Cup              Sugar

1/4 Cup           Balsamic Vinegar

2 pinches         Salt

 

Directions:

In a medium nonreactive saucepan, combine the cherries and a splash of water. Bring to a boil, stirring and crushing the cherries with the back of your spoon. This breaks the fruit up and releases juices.

Once boiling, add the sugar, vinegar and salt. Decrease the heat slightly and cook at what I'd consider a medium boil - not going crazy, but more than a simmer. Frequently stir and crush the cherries. Cook for 20 minutes.

Turn off the heat and let your pot sit for five minutes. Skim off any foam, and stir one final time.

Ladle into hot, sterilized jars, leaving 1/4" headspace.

Process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes, or refrigerate.

Notes:

These preserves are a bit looser than a classic jam. Cherries are low pectin fruits so unless you were to add pectin, it’s a more syrupy kind of final product.

Variations:
Try it with a vanilla bean cooked with the cherries. Also try using a stick of cinnamon or some finely grated orange zest.

Well, I sheepishly realize that I haven't posted in a while ... it was not my greatest summer. Between the weather, which made gardening difficult and tomatoes nigh on impossible, and the weeding (the only thing that grew without problems in the garden this year were the multitudes of weeds), I was kept very busy. With a non-spray garden, weeding is taking up more and more time every year, especially thistles and the dandelions which blow in from everywhere. I weed a patch, move on to another, and by the time I finish the second (a day or so later), the first is full of weeds again. A never-ending process, or at least it was this past summer.

The flower garden looked a little ragged by the end of the year, as I concentrated more of my efforts on the vegetables patches, but aside from the tomatoes which were poor due to the crazy summer weather we had, I ended up with a pretty good harvest.

The beans, especially were quite productive, so we were kept in shelling beans for the second half of the summer, and lots of dried beans to save for the winter months. The squash was INCREDIBLY productive this year, even more so than usual. I completely ran out of interesting recipes for squash and had to google some. I'll post a couple at some point, as I'm sure they will be quite helpful for other people who end up with too many squash all within the space of several weeks. I will be planning for fewer squash plants next year.

I just ordered my seed potatoes for next summer. I was disappointed this past year, as we got record amounts of rainfall within a couple weeks in early summer, and one entire batch of potatoes drowned. Not only died, but actually drowned. The garden couldn't drain fast enough because there was just so much water. Flooding everywhere, cities and streets, and in my potato patch as well. I'm hoping optimistically more less rain this year, a more normal amount at least, and am trying two new varieties. Last year I grew Irish Cobbler (which tastes great, keeps really well, and is fairly productive - good for mashed potatoes) and Seglinde (beautiful potato, lovely taste, thin skin - great for roasting whole, or quartering for soups, casseroles, because you don't need to peel it). I liked them both but wanted to try something new, so I'll be expecting German Butterball and Sangre. The variety that drowned last summer was the specialty one Nicola, which is supposed to have a very low glycemic index (good for people watching their carb intake like diabetics). I'll see if I can find that one again, I bought it locally last year.

As far as canning and preserving, I did "put up" several recipes, most tried and true one but a couple new attempts:
 Sour Cherry Lime Rickey Jam (new)
Raspberry Lime Jam
Dill Pickles
Pickled Roasted Red Peppers (new and delicious!)
-and-
Frozen:
Garlic Scape Pesto
GMO-free corn, "creamed"
Salsa
-also-
all the dried herbs (Parsley, Basil, Rosemary, Oregano, Thyme), dried Chili Powder, dried Beans.

We ate a lot fresh from the garden, and I didn't get enough tomatoes to can, only to eat fresh and use. Hopefully next year will be better. I'm just starting to think about planning for next summer, which varieties I want to grow, which colour tomatoes we're going to try, how to reorganize certain areas, what worked well and what I want to change or add... it is still early but come mid-March, it will be time to start Onion and Pepper seeds!