Scaling up my gardening

I've had a veggie garden of some kind since I moved out of my parent's place when I was 19, but it's never been a very big garden. We were always temporary. We moved a LOT. Except when we lived at the housing co-op while Abby was young. My community garden plot there was larger and much more productive. I gave away a LOT of tomatoes. I never supported myself from it.
I've been reading these how-to market gardening books, and dreaming, and thinking, and planning... but never doing. This year my plan is to grow as many veggies as I can and try to grow all of our produce for the months of July and August. Fruit isn't possible yet, so that can be a plan for next year. Herbs are completely possible. I'm going to be able to grow all of my mint tea for the year, and hopefully a good portion of my chamomile.

Parsnip cake with orange frosting

What is more quintessentially winter than parsnips? Don't like parsnips, perhaps? But, do you like cake?

This is an interesting twist on carrot cake.


Ingredients

• 5 eggs
• 3/4 cup butter, softened
• 3/4 cup maple syrup

• 2 1/2 cups baking flour of your choice (gluten free, or whatever)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 Tbsp baking soda
• 1 tsp nutmeg
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 3/4 cup raisins
• 3/4 cup chopped walnuts 
• 2 1/2 cups freshly grated parsnips (they brown quickly, so do it right before you put them in the recipe

Planning a dye garden for myself

If I'm lucky this is what we'll get done this coming summer. I forgot to label the water barrel (bottom right) and the composter (the yellow and brown box at the top), and the small shed (empty white box at the top).

Crispy veggie and herb snacks

I have a bunch of friends who are trying to go keto and/or reduce their carbs. In grain-free land that's pretty much how we roll (not always by choice sometimes). I've collected a few recipes to help deal with that craving for potato chips that will inevitably develop. For most of these some sort of mechanical slicer would be a good idea, such as a mandoline. Some of the recipes also use a dehydrator. You can use an oven as a dehydrator, but it doesn't really work as well, and it uses a lot of energy, so I've included some baked alternatives.

Storing vegetables for the winter

We've just bought a house, and included in this lovely, new home is an under-porch root cellar. I've always wanted one, and I even bought books to teach myself how to use one (when I didn't have one and there wasn't even one in my near future- yes, I'm a bit obsessed). They use no electricity, but they can require a bit of attention and maintenance. Most storage-worthy fruits and veggies will keep for 3-6 months tops, depending on the variety and conditions.

Some veggies need a moist environment, and others need a dry one, and some need cooler and others warmer. It can be difficult to provide all conditions in one room. However, the one most important thing that needs to be provided is ventilation. Without that it won't matter if you have everything else perfect.

Pumpkin and carrot muffins

Makes 12 muffins

Ingredients:

• 3 large eggs at room temperature
• 4 medium carrots, grated and squeezed of juice (final volume: 1½ cups shredded carrots)
• 1½ cups almond flour, spooned and leveled
• 1½ teaspoons five spice powder (or pumpkin pie spice blend)
• 1 teaspoons baking soda
• ½ teaspoon cream of tartar
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ⅛ teaspoon fine sea salt
• ¾ cup pumpkin purée (canned or fresh-cooked from pie pumpkins)
• ½ cup local honey
• 2 tablespoons almond butter
• 1 teaspoon melted coconut oil, and a bit extra for greasing the muffin tin if not using paper liners
• 1 tablespoon sliced almonds
• 1 tablespoon toasted pumpkin seeds

Steps:

-Heat oven to 350°F with the rack in the middle position

-Sprinkle sliced almonds and toasted pumpkin seeds on top before placing the muffins in the oven.

-Bake for about 30 minutes, or until a toothpick, when inserted all the way comes back out without wet bits clinging to it. The tops should be firm.

Oven or dehydrator tomato parmesan crisps

Apple Peel Chips

• Thinly slice beefsteak or other meaty tomato (try for 6 cups, or go by how much room you have in your dehydrator/oven- the rest of the recipe is adjustable to your quantities)
• 2Tbsp olive oil (or other oil as you like)
• 2tsp sea salt
• 1tsp garlic powder, or very finely minced fresh garlik (you want it to spread evenly)
• 2Tbsp parmesan cheese (or more if you really like cheese)

More advanced topics- Soil pH

As I learned from my daughter's grade 8 science class notes pH stands for potential of Hydrogen, and it's determined by measuring the number of hydrogen ions. Water has a neutral pH with a balanced number of hydronium and hydroxide ions. This pH is measured as 7. Anything less is acidic and anything above is basic (or alkaline). Lemon juice is 2.2 pH, so it is highly acidic. The best range for plants is between 5.5 to 7.5 (so acidic is better than alkaline), although some plants have evolved to survive in soils outside of that range (like Arabian coffee and highbush blueberry).

Starting a new garden bed

A garden is nothing without a good foundation, and that foundation is the soil. Soil has its own complicated ecosystem from worms and beetles on down to tiny, nearly-microscopic filaments of fungi and bacteria. As with anywhere on earth, a healthy ecosystem is essential for optimal growth and health.

In my backyard the soil is a heavy clay over a base of sand. It barely grows grass in some places. But, if you build it they will come... The raised bed that I put in last summer is nearly overflowing with worms, and centipedes are fairly common, too, much to my husband's chagrin. It started off life as a lasagna garden, with a base layer of cardboard boxes recycled after the move, a couple bags of dirt from the grocery store garden center, and some trench-compost piles. Now there's enough good dirt to grow short-ish carrots, and my herbs are taking off. The bed isn't very large because it takes a fair input of cash to start that way, with the boards and hardware to attach the corners. I used two un-treated cedar deck planks and cut them down to a rectangle.

Asparagus season is coming...

I know this is a little early, but it's good to be prepared. In a couple weeks it will be time to plant your crowns (the root ball). Whatever you plant this year won't be able to be harvested, but in two years, however, you will be rewarded in early spring with a bonanza of tasty shoots. It's a longer-term investment in the beginning, but the plants are perennial and will live for 15-20 years.

One of the objections I've seen to planting asparagus is that it takes up too much room for a crop that only pops up in the early spring. The remedy to that is to interplant it with strawberries. They both have the same soil needs, and the asparagus won't interfere with the strawberries much, and vice versa. Problem solved.

Asparagus is an interesting plant in that it is either male or female. The technical term for that is dioecious. The male stalks are more productive and live longer, so if you are planting heirloom plants you'll need more than if you get a hybridized all-male variety, or weed out the female plants and put in more males in another year. If you have a smaller space to grow in it might be better in this instance to get a hybrid. One of the very few times I'll say that, actually...

How to plant it

Keep in mind that asparagus prefers full sun, but will tolerate a bit of shade, and they need a lighter, well-drained soil that warms up quickly in the spring. Since any standing water will rot the roots, raised beds are a perfect environment for them. The bed should be dug over with plenty of compost and manure to give the plants a good start.

Leftover roasted root vegetable soup

You can make this recipe dairy free and vegan if you substitute coconut oil for butter and full-fat coconut milk for the cream.

If you don't have leftovers you can roast up some cauliflower, parsnips and carrots

Leftover roasted root vegetable soup with caramelized onions and apples

• Roasted root veggies
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 cloves garlic, minced (uless there's already garlic in your roasted veggie mix)
• Enough vegetable broth to cover your veggies
• 1/2 cup cream (or more, to taste, especially if you're making a big pot of soup)
• 1 large yellow onion
• 1 large apple, diced
• 1 teaspoon oil of your choice (or butter)
• Salt and pepper

Pumpkin soup

Pumpkin Soup

• 2lbs pumpkin (pie variety NOT carving type)
• 1 onion
• 2 cloves garlic
• butter or butter substitute
• salt and pepper
• cinnamon and nutmeg
• milk
• 1 litre of vegetable stock

Kitchen sink stew

Kitchen Sink Stew


Ingredients

• 1-2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 leek or small onion
• 2 Tbsp flour or thickener of your choice (I use tapioca flour)
• Enough stock to cover the contents of your pot
• 1 cup beans, fresh or tinned (kidney, lima, etc.)
• 1 cup chopped, cooked meat (optional)
• 4-5 cups chopped vegetables of your choice- whatever you have in season in your garden- kale, carrots, beans, potatoes, etc.
• Salt and pepper
• Mixed culinary herbs- fresh or dried to taste (dill tastes good with fish, rosemary tastes good with everything else, but I like to put in a bit of parsley, sage and thyme as well).
• Milk or cream (optional)

Thrifty garden goodness- pea pod soup

Pea Pod Soup

Ingredients
a colander's worth of empty pea pods (use fresh pods from your garden)
water
1 large onion
1 large or 2 small potatoes
a handful of fresh mint leaves (from your own garden if possible)
1 clove garlic
1 Tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper
garnish with chopped green onions and/or cream or yoghurt

Cauliflower with cheese and bacon

Cauliflower with Cheese with Bacon

• 1 fresh cauliflower
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch or tapioca starch
• 1.5 cups milk
• 1 onion or leek
• 2-4 oz of bacon (approx. 4-6 strips)
• 2 oz cheese (a good way to approximate is look at your index and middle fingers together- that's about the right size)
• salt and pepper
• horseradish or mustard
• blob of butter

Lord Woolton pie

This was considered to be a sad substitute for Shepherd's Pie during WWII in the UK, but it's a great way to get veggies into reluctant veggie eaters. Serve with a roast of some variety for a very decadent meal. It's also a great way to use leftover vegetables. All these BBC Wartime productions have gotten me thinking.