IGOT SHUT OUT LAST YEAR after I read about the beet called Three Root Grex in the Fedco Seed catalog and added the item to my list too late—sold out! This year I made sure to order fast, but in the meantime I’ve dreamed of the beet—or shall I say beets, since it’s a group of three colors from the same parents—craving it more because of the delay in satisfaction. Turns out the wait paid off, because along the way I got a lesson in botany; a re-introduction to the wild wonderfulness that is Dr. Alan M. Kapuler, who bred it; an unexpected source for more tempting seed-catalog listings than I have ever seen compiled in one place; and finally—yes!—I got my seed. Meet the new beet (above), and other Beta vulgaris I have loved. [read more…]
vegetables
A vegetarian for more than 30 years, I grow (and eat!) a lot of vegetables. Tips and techniques for an organic vegetable garden, varieties I recommend (both heirloom and some hybrids), timing of spring and succession plantings and much more.
beet of my heart: 3 root grex from alan kapuler
January 21, 2012 at 10:43 am
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roger doiron video: ‘grow a subversive plot’
November 21, 2011 at 8:34 am
HOW REVOLUTIONARY ARE WE FEELING at the moment? If not sufficiently so to occupy Wall Street or another downtown, then what about to occupy our front yards (and side yards and backyards and decks and balconies) with food gardens? In this talk at the TED-Dirigo conference (dirigo is the state motto of Maine, where the conference was held, and means, appropriately, “I lead”), Kitchen Gardeners International founder Roger Doiron proposes we help solve the earth’s biggest problem–food supply–one subversive plot at a time. Are you in?
recap: stashing the harvest, a bounty of tips
September 26, 2011 at 2:40 pm
ARE YOU RUNNING MADLY AROUND like a squirrel, caching your foodstuffs before you-know-what arrives? Me, too. Red squirrels, in particular, know you have to store the stuff right, so they pile up green conifer cones while fresh, but first cure treasures like fungi and apples—putting them up in the crotch of a tree to dry a bit before adding them to the larder. From potatoes to tomatoes, peppers and herbs and more, a fast review of how we humans can store it for later. [read more…]
the canning queen of the concrete desert
September 12, 2011 at 6:33 am
PRESCRIPTION FOR HAPPINESS: Watch this video. Meet Classie Parker, who has taught more than 4,000 New Yorkers to can. “I teach people how to put the love in their food—by canning,” Classie says, getting right to the heart of the matter. (Thanks to Etsy for the full story and for creating the video. Thanks to another canning queen, Food in Jars, for the tipoff that caught me up on my clicking around and streaming.)
what color is your tomato? how to ripen them
August 10, 2011 at 7:37 am
IS YOUR TOMATO FRUIT simply a stubborn Green (self-explanatory) or is it Breakers (a break in the color from green is starting to be evident), or are you already at Turning (10 to 30 percent red showing) or Pink (30-60) or Light Red (60-90) or Red (more than 90 percent)? Are they hanging on tight, safe and sound, all the way to vine-ripened, or are hungry (devious?) animals playing havoc, or crazy weather threatening the crop? It’s a good time for a reminder on how to ripen a tomato–because there’s more than one way (none of which includes letting my local chipmunks pick them first). It’s all in the refresher course.
first ‘ripe’ tomatoes: uh-oh, green shoulders!
July 28, 2011 at 8:22 pm
AND THE WINNER IS…GREEN SHOULDERS. I feel as if every year the first tomatoes to ripen here put me to a little test. As if I hadn’t waited long enough, they almost make it to the finish line, but then don’t, exactly. Last year my first fruits had blossom end rot, which like the green shoulders of this year’s issue (above), is not a disease but a physiological problem usually attributed to stress from weather, particularly in susceptible varieties. [read more…]
canning-book giveaway, and top canning sources
July 26, 2011 at 12:54 pm
LET THE ONSLAUGHT BEGIN—of garden-fresh vegetables, I mean. The trick when it does: keeping up with every last one, getting it onto the table or into the freezer, canning jars or dehydrator in time. I’m offering three chances to win my favorite references on canning, preserving, freezing—all the ways to put up the harvest for delicious future reference: “Stocking Up III,” “Putting Foods By,” and the USDA guide to home canning. Meantime, though, a reference guide to my favorite online sources for food-preservation information anytime. [read more…]
cucumber-growing q&a, and the best pickles ever
July 20, 2011 at 10:28 am
IT TOOK THE LONGEST TIME, watching generations of flowers that seemed to come and then go nowhere, but last week it finally happened: I got my first cucumber. Too bad the beautiful-looking thing turned out to be so bitter. I’m hoping to pack some big jars of my famous refrigerator pickles before long (yes, I’ll share the recipe), so I’d better get this straightened out fast. What’s up with my recalcitrant cukes? Ever had no fruit, misshapen fruit, bitter fruit in your garden—or worst of all, Cucumis sativus vines that suddenly wilted? The reasons why, and lots of culinary cucumber ideas, too. [read more…]
my fall vegetable-garden plans, plus podcast
July 13, 2011 at 8:45 am
IORDERED SEEDS LAST WEEKEND. Yes, I am fully aware it’s not mid-winter or early spring; even with my nonstop mowing duties, I haven’t gone all dizzy yet. The vegetable garden is freeing up some prime real estate this month, and I plan to capitalize. From arugula to turnips, I worked my way alphabetically through the late-season possibilities for my Northern location, and found I was short a few key seeds. In print or podcast—your choice—are you ready for some fall vegetable-garden tuneup possibilities? [read more…]
