June 26, 2008

Well, so much for monthly updates. This is almost 2 months now. I have been planting and watering like crazy. The new part of the garden has all come up now: corn, okra, tomatoes, basil and tepary beans. The corn I plant is a dark blue Indian corn. Very yummy corn on the cob as long as you cook the corn the same day it is harvested. Should be OK for a day or so, but is the old fashioned sort of corn for which one should "have the pot boiling before you pick it, and shuck it on the way to the house." I know, I know, not many of you realy like okra; there was a request for some in the spring and you may have some too if you would like, but I won't push it on you. I do have a couple of ways I fix it so it is not slimey though. Tomatoes are finally growing in the ground. Covered with a row cover so they won't get eliminated by curly top virus. Many of you may know that the only way they get the virus is by the leaf hopper's bite, hence, the row covers, to eliminate the leaf hoper's access to the tomatoes. The basil is the same as that which has been in the bags of produce you have received, only more of it. Pesto is easy and will last though the winter. Yummy in spaghetti, or on baked potatoes. Tepary beans are a type of bean which had been, in ages past, picked wild in the arroyos and canyons of the South West. They are smaller than pintos and will cook more quickly. The flavor is even better than pintos too. Should have enough for you to try a pot or two later in the season.

Lettuce is finished. All of it is too bitter. Must try another variety or two next year to see if I can get one which will last better, especially if I pick it very young.

Carrots are coming along well, and I will add one turnip to your bag next week, let me know if you want more than that. Chard is not quite ready yet, but is coming along well. Still lots of onions, scallions (little green onions), some shallots (the fancy onions that sell for a lot of money in the grocery), stir frying onions mostly is what I still have, but am planting some scallions every week for eating out of hand along with a salad, or the main course. Radishes are holding out well if I plant them regularly. I also have some daikon (long white oriental type radishes for stir fry). Pepper plants are still small, they will get there though, later in the season. I should have a few eggplants also, but not yet.

I will not burden you with koshia, nor with amaranth unless you tell me that you want it again.

Signing off for now, let me know if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions,

August 19, 2008.

Along with the 3/4 inches of rain on Sunday, we also were the recipient of some hail along with the water. Many of the crops were stripped of their leaves. The chard leaves were shredded. The cucurbits (squash, mellons, and cucumbers) took hits on the leaf stalks (petioles) which nearly severed the stalks and they collapsed leaving few leaves attached to the plants. Some of the squash themselves were scared, one of the mellons split. Okra was also stripped of leaves. Corn has some broken leaves, but seems to be doing OK. I have no idea how long the crops will take to recover. I will call the county agent and see if he can find out from the agent in Denver (in the hail belt).

There are many chard leaf stalks, and some with very dammaged leaf blades. I intend to cook up a lot of them, but anyone who wants some of them to experiment with let me know. On quick assessment, the tomatoes appear to be on track, some are getting light green and thinking about getting ripe. After my fiasco(s) with the tomato plants, I finally wound up with mostly early girl and big beef. They are running neck and neck in their development. Should be able to get them in earlier next year as the ground is already in cultivation (this year is the first year for the place where they are growing now). They will rotate back around to the other end of last year's placement of the hot weather crops. The same crop will not need to go into the same ground again for 4 years.

Since the whole garden was covered with manure and tree chips last year, I am working on making a number of compost heaps and will spread that around so each plot gets manure every 2 years or so (green manure - plants grown and turned under, like wheat, buckwheat, or rye; or composted horse manure mixed with a harvested cover crop, like amaranth, sunflowers, or weeds).

Well, guess that is all the important stuff for now. Hope you all are doing well.

September 10, 2008.

The garden has nearly all recovered from the hail. Corn doesn't grow new leaves I discovered. It is limping along OK, but it is ripening differently than it has over the last couple of years. Wonder if it crossed with other corn growing in the neighborhood (it is wind pollinated and the pollen can blow for miles).

Melons are nearly ripe, a few cucumbers are getting about ready to harvest. About 100 tomatoes are getting bigger and will sequentially be ready to harvest over the next few weeks. I will cover the ones with the most fruit getting ready with row covers before it freezes. Peppers never did very well this year. Half of them are stunted; the other half didn't like the hail very much.

Chard is doing well, carrots were unaffected (at least the roots, and for the most part the leaves also). Okra was slow to recover, but is putting on pods now quite nicely, for those of you who like this veggie. I have to remember to plant less squash next year, I am being overrun! It doesn't look as though the squash were hit with hail anymore - it is off to a running finish to the season.

There will be plenty of the chicos (dried corn to put in with the beans when you put them on to soak), and some dried beans - tepary beans. These take less time to cook than pintos and have a richer flavor. Should have some for you all to try if you like, both chicos and tepary beans a little later in the fall, as well as winter squash - I grew butternut. There should be one or two for each of you to try, it stores well at room temperature, and is very high in vitamin A.

Trying to put in some fall crops, and early winter ones. The things I am getting ready to plant now are all cool weather crops and don't do well in the summer here. Some of the items going into the ground now are green onions, lettuce, spinach, mustard, and various mescalune mixes I have (mescalune is the fancy French baby mixed green salad things).

A traditional recipe for squash in this part of the country is calabacitas. It is a stir fry with squash, onion, tomato, with cheese on top. If you ask different people you will get different recipes. One of my friends in Albuquerque says her mother put pintos in it (just a few). One of the other recipes I got put corn in it. The flavor of the veggies blended with the cheese is wonderful (I put corn in mine, with no beans.) After it is cooked you can freeze it and it comes out of the freezer just the same as it went in.

When I cook beans I like to put in about half as much dried corn as beans and soak them both. Cook the mix just like you would cook the beans. The flavor is richer, and the protein is more nutritious than with the beans (or corn) alone.

Talk with you later, Larry