Collecting Mustard Seed

A few years ago someone gave me mustard seed.  I don't remember who was responsible for the gift.  What I do remember was that I wasn't sure I wanted mustard seed.  I had never eaten mustard as a green and didn't know if I would like it.  But I can't resist a seed and so it was planted one spring with low expectations.  

Look what appeared.

Giant Red Mustard

From a tiny reddish looking seedling giant red leaves grew.  This plant is so pretty you might just want to have it as an ornamental.

red mustard  leaves

But does it taste good?  The answer is yes.  It's got a bit of that horseradish kick so we don't eat it in large quantities but when you want to add a little zing to otherwise bland salad greens this is the way to do it.  Ever since that first planting I'm hooked.

Most salad greens are pulled in summer because they bolt and go to seed.  But I'm a lazy gardener so I let the plants grow and grow.  Now I know why it's called Giant Red Mustard.  Not only are the leaves large but these beauties can reach 4 feet tall in mid-summer.  Like other plants in the mustard family they produce clouds of tiny yellow blossoms.

Bright red and green leaves with yellow flowers.  Pretty stylish plant I'd say.  Once it's done blooming the show still isn't over.  Even the seed pods look good.  Green pods ripen to red and then brown as they dry.

Now if you're going to let you plant flower and produce seed you might as well collect some of it.  Dried mustard pods are easily cracked open to reveal small round seeds, around 10 seeds per pod.

So many seeds in a pod makes for easy collection.  I simply grabbed a paper bag and ran my hands up the stem of the plant pulling the pods off and into the bag.  Some pods broke as I did this releasing the seeds.  I wound up with pods and seeds in my bag which I brought indoors and sorted.

Using a screen to separate pods and seeds

Screens are handy tools when cleaning seeds.  Drop the bag of seed on your screen.  Smoosh it around a bit and the seeds will fall through the screen and the pods will lay on top.

If you don't have a screen don't worry.  Just drop the lot on a piece of paper.  The seeds are heavier than the dried pods and will fall to the bottom.  Scoop the pods off the top, scraping out any excess seeds that haven't fallen out.  Even if you miss a few you will easily have mustard seed for yourself and all your friends.

Mustard is very easy to germinate and grow.  I plant it directly into the garden in early spring as soon as the snow has melted.  The plants prefer cool weather and sprout within a week or so for spring salads.  Pair it with young lettuce to spice up your dinner plate.  or if you prefer plant it just because it's darn good looking.

Common Links

I have a list for you.

Spinach

Moose (http://www.freepik.com)

Beans  (FreeDigitalPhotos.net/sritangphoto)

Can you tell me what these things have in common?

No, I haven't lost my mind.  Not yet anyway.  I'll keep you posted.

Any guesses?

Iron.

Spinach has approximately 2.0 - 3.4 milligrams of iron per 1/2 cup serving.

Moose has 3 milligrams of iron per 100 gram serving.

Beans such as black beans, cranberry or pinto contain anywhere from 2.6 - 4.9 milligrams of iron per 3/4 cup serving.

Why does this matter?

Iron is part of the system that produces red blood cells which work to bring oxygen from our lungs to our bodies, it also helps convert blood sugar to energy and helps in the functioning of our immune systems.  When you are lacking in iron you may find you are tired and dizzy, suffer from headaches and weakness.

I have learning a lot about iron lately.  Vitamin B12 too.  Both are necessary in the production of red blood cells.  Part of what I have learned is that I am lacking both of them.  It's not great news but at least I have an explanation for the issues I have been experiencing.  Now I can work toward correcting the problem.

Which brings to me to my garden.  I can't grow moose.  I'm pretty sure about that.  But I can certainly grow spinach, and beans.  But what to do with those things once they've been grown?  I love spinach salad, and spanokopita. That's a good starting point.  But what other ways can I use spinach?  And beans are not something I normally eat.  I don't dislike them but I don't eat them.  I need to start.  So I planted soybeans this year to trial.

I'm looking for suggestions.  What is your favourite spinach recipe?  How do you cook your beans?  Part of the trick I think is to find tasty ways to eat these foods.  Looking up recipes is okay but I would love to see some recipes that people actually use and love.  Let's face it, if it doesn't taste good I won't eat it.  So please, send me your favourite recipe, tell me where to find a moose.  I greatly appreciate any and all suggestions.

Vegetable Garden Review 2013

The weather's good and cold and all the plants have withered.

Must mean it's time to do my yearly review of the veggie plot.

Let's start with the bad things and end on a high note, shall we?

The biggest tragedy by far this year was the perennial plants.

My strawberries had to be dug up

Asparagus, rhubarb and strawberries were all a bust.   A complete and total bust.  I did not collect one single asparagus spear this year.  That's because sheep sorrel took over.  This invasive plant has to be removed out of the veggie garden on an almost daily basis.  There's no escaping it as it's everywhere on our property and it spreads like wildfire.  The majority of the annual vegetable beds get dug out at least once or twice a year which helps combat the problem but I can't do this with perennials.  I simply don't have the time to weed them consistently and the result is all these plants have been choked out.  You can see in the above photo, on the left there's more weeds than strawberries.  I had to completely dig out the entire bed and start over.

I am working on a plan though.  I have begun, in a very small way, to eradicate the grass and weeds in the paths of the veggie garden.

I started laying down layers of newspaper and cardboard in the spring.  (I knew those flyers were good for something!)  I followed that with a 3 inch thick layer of sawdust.  Then straw.  The hope is that I end up killing the weeds underneath so they stop sneaking into the veggie beds.  The small sections I was able to complete did well so I hope to continue with this next year.

The next tragedy feels minor in comparison.  I discovered that spinach seed doesn't last very long.  3 years in fact.  I should have known that, but now I won't forget.  I planted my spinach and waited, and waited, and waited. Thank goodness I was paying attention and got myself to a store to buy fresh seed. Unfortunately the weather was getting a bit warm by that point and I didn't have great germination.  So a less than stellar crop of spinach but now I know better.

Another problem with germination was beans.  I was in a hurry and just couldn't wait for the weather to warm up.  So into the ground they went and it rained and rained.  My poor beans rotted.  

Dragon's Tongue on the left and Purple Peacock on the right

I did manage to get a couple plants to come up but it was a pretty lean year for beans.

Thankfully, the tragedies aren't life or death.  Every year has surprises, and some of them are good.  What we lacked in beans we more than made up for in peas.

I had very good germination rates this year, followed by tons of blooms and bees, which resulted in LOADS of peas.  I think I spent most of my summer picking peas.  Every second day starting in June straight through August I picked peas.  August?  yes, August.  The plants had almost stopped producing in July but then we had a spell of rain.  And the vines grew, and bloomed some more, and then there I was in August still picking peas.  Good thing I like peas.  They're an awful lot of work.

Another great surprise was onions.

You know, the fact that I was actually able to grow some.  For 3 years I have been trying to grow onions with no luck.  They rotted, they withered, they refused to grow larger than a marble.  Through a combination of starting seed early, improving my soil, and not burying the plants too deeply I was finally able to produce some proper onions.  Every time I visited the garden this year I did a happy dance around the onions.  I grew those!!

As noted in my previous post I finally managed to grow pumpkins this year too.

My pumpkin patch

Whatever issues I was having last year are gone.  Good thing we have some space.  There's a manure pile under those vines somewhere.  Our weedy meadow was no match for these plants.

Aren't they the most beautiful pumpkins you've every seen?!  BIG big thanks to Brenda @ Gardeningbren for gifting me with the seed for these Long Island Cheese pumpkins.  The whole neighbourhood is enjoying the proceeds of this crop.

That's a wrap for 2013.  This was our fourth year gardening here on the Corner and it was the best yet. For those of you dying to know what happened to the tomatoes.... you'll have to wait.  I grew approximately 25 plants this year so they get their own post.

just another beautiful day in the garden

till then....

Harvest Time

Jody complained the other day that our kitchen really needs to be renovated.  There's no space in there he says, I can't find a counter to work on, something needs to be done....

Now I don't totally disagree.  A kitchen renovation has been in the works since we bought this place. Newer and more spacious cupboards, an extra sink, dishwasher - yes to all the above.  But the thing is, our current problem has nothing to do with the kitchen as it stands.  My dear husband seems to have overlooked the fact that the real issue is that every single inch of counter space has been overtaken by produce.

A sample of the summer produce this year

From where I'm sitting now I can see on the kitchen island a pumpkin, beans, several sweet and hot peppers, several plastic containers full of wee cherry tomatoes, as well as a container of roasted tomatoes.  On the kitchen counter there is a salad spinner full of parsley, several cucumbers, and two extra large bowls of tomatoes in various stages of ripeness.  The kitchen window sill is serving as stage one of ripening for all the green tomatoes.  On the stove there is a stockpot full of tomato soup.  Even the bathroom has been overtaken - the sink is currently stuffed full of basil resting in cold water.  And let us not forget the food that is actually in the fridge.

What the heck are we going to do with this all this bounty?  It's a question that I struggle with each year.  How to preserve, process and cook the unending supply of food that the garden throws at me on a daily basis.  I'm sure there's a few other gardeners out there struggling with this issue right now so I thought I'd share a few ideas.

Step one - get yourself a massive stockpot.

Step two - make copious amounts of soup.  I like tomato soup as it uses large quantities of tomatoes but another favourite is a Spicy Chicken soup which uses both tomatoes and fresh made salsa (the salsa gets rid of uses up tomatoes, carrots, peppers, garlic, cilantro and onions. bonus).  Carrot soup, and pumpkin soup are staples as well.

A girl can only make so much soup so my second line of defense is a vacuum sealer.  Chop up fresh tomatoes, cook down your pumpkin, blanch your spinach and seal it all in the vacuum bags.  Easy as pie.  Actually easier than pie really.  I haven't even started baking pies yet.

As you might be noticing, kitchen tools feature heavily at this time of year.  We just invested in this fancy Cuisinart blender to help get us through the preserving season. 

Loving this for fresh made salsa and pesto.  We eat the salsa on the spot but the pesto freezes really well for use in the winter.  If pesto feels too complicated just zip through some basil and olive oil.  Once processed spoon it into an ice cube tray and freeze.  These little basil cubes are perfect for throwing into a pasta sauce later on.

Not everything needs to involve expensive tools though.  A quick and easy way to preserve parsley is simply stuffing it in a ziploc bag and freezing it.

Reach in the freezer and break off a piece as you need it.  (Thanks to Brenda for this tip!)

Drying is another simple and effective way to preserve food.  Garlic, onions and herbs all benefit from this.  I grew onions for the first time ever this year.  Proper onions.  Not marble sized rocks that smell like onions.

These babies are big, and tasty.  But they need to dry in order to store for the winter.  So I've hung them from the rafters in the garage to air out for a couple weeks.

After that all hard work the best thing to do is make cake.  Who doesn't like cake?  Chocolate zucchini cake and carrot cake go over pretty well this time of year.

and finally, my last resort.  Give it away.  Inevitably I get overwhelmed and co-workers like this time of year because they get a never ending supply of cucumbers, zucchini, basil, beans, and tomatoes. 

Recently I discovered something new though, the PEI Food Exchange.  This group is finding ways of distributing excess produce from farms and gardeners.  Whether it's a trade or giving it away to people in need they can use your garden excess.  There's never a reason for food to go to waste and this is a perfect way to make sure it gets to those who want it.

GOOPS - Don't Kill Your Seedlings

This is the time of year when my windowsills are covered with little pots of green shoots.  Shoots I have nurtured and coddled from tiny seeds.  They have sprouted leaves and soon will leave the nest for the big outdoors. 

Well if they survive my haphazard gardening regime that is.

A couple years ago I forgot to water the tomatoes and they collapsed.  That's a really bad thing to do.  Rule #1 - water your seedlings.  Not just once either - check them every day.

This year after weeks of fussing over my onion seedlings I began to put them outdoors to harden off.  A couple hours at a time, then a wee bit longer, until they were out all day long.

and then I forgot them....  outside .... all night long.  

Rule #2 - Don't do this either. 

Luckily I've been suffering a bit of insomnia lately (never thought I would say that) and I was laying in bed at 3:30am with nothing to do but think about gardening and I realized - ohmygod the onions!

So while they were a little scorched by frost they didn't perish entirely.

The upside of all this is that the moon was putting on quite a show when I went out to retrieve said onions.  So here's a little Skywatch thrown in for good measure.

GOOPS (aka Gardening Oops) are brought to you on the first of each month courtesy of Joene at Joene's Garden.  

Pets and Plants - GOOPS

A couple months back, during a break in the winter weather, I ventured into the garage.  I don't often visit the garage in winter as there's usually several feet of snow to push through to get there.  However, the garage is open to other members of the family year round.

A cat door was cut in a boarded up old door frame at the back of the garage

Specifically, a cat door has been cut at the back of the garage to allow our feral kitties access to a warm dry place to curl up.  The door is high enough that skunks can't jump in but unfortunately it does not deter raccoons.  Now, there is no food of any kind in the garage so even if the coons get in there should not be a problem.  

But not this time.  In their quest for something edible they ripped open a box of bone meal, threw a bottle of fish fertilizer to the ground and finally (in exasperation I think) shredded a box of kleenex.  I cleaned up the mess and decided to take the fertilizer up to the house.

Smells like fish but doesn't taste near as good

The moral of the story here would be, lock up anything that smells even remotely like food to an animal.  Otherwise you're looking for trouble.

Several weeks ago I started my yearly foray into onion growing.  Every year I try growing onions and I've yet to have much luck.  This year though someone suggested that I give my seedlings a little boost of fertilizer to get them going.  I'm willing to try anything at this point so off I went to retrieve the fertilizer from the window seat where I last left it.

I carried it down the hall, through the dining room, and into the kitchen.  Mixed a bit into a watering container and then .....

What was the moral of this story?  oh yes, that's right, lock up anything that smells even remotely like food to an animal.  (How many times do I need to learn this lesson?)

Somebody .... ahem ....

I'm willing to bet I know who

had bitten through the bottom of the container leaving a rather large tooth hole.  I suddenly realized I was dripping stinky dead fish fertilizer all over the house, all over my clothes and hands.

I think I can firmly say I've learned my lesson now.

This little piece of garden/pet wisdom is brought to you today via Joene for her monthly Gardening Oops.  [aka GOOPS]

Collecting Nigella Seed

I purchased a packet of Nigella, or Love in a Mist, last season thinking it would be a great plant to fill in some empty space in my flower garden.  Nigella is an annual flower that prefers full sun to part shade.  Growing just over a foot high and wide the airy leaves complement larger leaved plants.  My scheme worked well but one packet of seed wasn't enough to cover all the space I wanted.

Nigella will reseed if left to its own devices but I decided to collect some seed to make sure I could scatter it in spring right where I wanted it.

I particularly wanted to collect seed from the plants I have to make sure I got the exact same variety of flower.  These blooms start white with a hint of blue, then begin to darken turning a stark blue and finally almost purple.

These pretty flowers darken to a purple before completely fading away

Buying another packet of seed can sometimes mean the flowers aren't identical to what you already have.  Collecting your own seed from your own plants is the easiest way to ensure you get exactly what you want.

Nigella is a very simple plant to collect seed from.  Once the bloom fades and falls away the seed pod swells up to a very noticable size.

The seed head left behind blows up like a balloon.

Wait until the seed pods are dry and you can hear the seeds rattling inside before collecting the pods.  This year my seed pods were not dry enough to collect from but there was wet weather on the way.  Rather than risk the pods getting wet and moldy I pulled the entire plant from the ground and hung them to dry in the garage for a week or two.

Plants were hung upside down from the garage rafters

It wasn't long before I could hear the pods start to rattle when I touched them.  As the pods dry they begin to open.  Be sure to untie your plants at this stage otherwise all the seed will fall to the floor!

The dried pod starts to crack open revealing black seeds inside

Once the plants were dried I picked the largest well formed pods to collect seed from.  This helps ensure you have well formed and healthy seed.  I found the dried seed heads quite sharp and pulling them apart hurt my hands.  So I decided to put my new screen to use.

This vintage screen was purchased at a local antique shop and I'm smitten with it.  The edges are worn smooth from years of use.  Building a screen like this shouldn't be too hard though.  Some fine wire and a few pieces of wood.  Screens are also available for purchase at various shops like Lee Valley.

Quickly rubbing the pods across the screen tore them apart and the seeds fell through the wire mesh.

I finally found a use for the Walmart flyers!

A sheet of newspaper under the screen keeps things tidy so you can scoop up your seeds afterward.

The stems and pod that didn't fall through the screen were easily tipped into the compost.

Seeds and some chaff were left behind on the paper.

If I had a smaller screen I would have used it to further sift the seeds but in this case I simply sorted the remaining seeds from the chaff by hand.  The black seeds of Nigella are fairly large and easy to sort so it's not a difficult job.  A lot of seed is produced by just a few seedheads so I'll have more than enough to plant up the empty spaces in my garden this coming season.

Framing Pressed Leaves

Now that Christmas is over and presents have been opened I can share these with you.

For my mother-in-law who misses the colours of the maple leaves in fall

In fall we went collecting leaves.  I can't resist the pretty colours as I go walking through the woods.  My pockets inevitably are filled.  What can I do with all these leaves though?  Some years I have created little vignettes around the house.

This year though the bounty was laid to dry and then sprayed with DMP - Dried Material Preservative - to preserve the lovely colours, protect the leaves against UV rays and make them more pliable.

Once sprayed I layered them in paper and popped them into heavy books for 2 - 3 weeks.

Frames were bought at the dollar store.  Picture mats and acid free paper from a craft store.

These frames were purchased for approximately $5 each

In addition I collected some flowers from the garden.  Following the same procedure I sprayed them and laid them flat in books for pressing.

A single peacock orchid bloom from my flower bed

With my materials arranged and instructions at hand (this site was particularly helpful) I then proceeded to play with flowers for several weeks.  Picking through leaves and flowers, trying to find the right combination.  In the end I decided simple was the best route for me.  Two contrasting leaves in one frame, a single bloom in another.

A packet of silica gel, to keep moisture at bay, some aluminum foil and tape to seal it all together and I had several Christmas presents to give away.  A gift from my garden with love.

Spring Planning for the Vegetable Garden

It's during these dark days of winter that I start my planning.  Sitting in a warm house, with a cat for company, I sketch out my veggie garden and start planning the rotation of vegetables.  I am trying to work on a 3 year rotation as it helps prevent insect pests and diseases from building up in specific areas of the garden.  The constant moving of veggies also means that nutrients are more evenly taken from the soil and replenished.

Where to plant the garlic?

A piece of graph paper, pencil and the all important ERASER are all I need.

I check back through the past years designs and determine where to next.

Beets and turnips in a newly renovated bed chock full of manure and compost as I've had trouble growing these in past due to poor soil.  Tomatoes must go in a location not yet used as I don't want to risk blight.  Where to find space for the vines of zucchini and pumpkin.  Choices are based on soil health, where other plants once stood and how much space each plant will need.

Zucchini's need a lot of space

Another important aspect of this ritual is checking my seed stock.  A list of all my seeds was made so I know what I need to make space for.

It was a bit of a shock this year going through the fridge.  How did I manage to accumulate 23 varieties of tomatoes?  Or 13 types of lettuce?  5 types of beans?  and the dill - oh my.  I have inadvertently collected enough dill seed from my garden to supply an entire dill pickle factory.

Attending Seedy Saturday at the ACORN conference in November was no help.  How could I resist all those pretty packets of organic seed of what might just be my new favourite variety?  From Tourne Sol I purchased Red Cored Chantenay carrots.  From High Mowing Organic Seeds there is Green Towers Romaine Lettuce.  Johnny's had bright lights Swiss Chard.  Hope Seeds had New York Early onions and Mammoth Grey Stripe Sunflower.

The good news is that my seed order this year will truly be small.  Unlike last year where I set a budget and then managed to instantaneously spend double the amount.  A second packet of carrots perhaps, some peas and cucumbers.  That really is all.  I do like to add flowers to my veggie patch as well but that too is taken care of.  I gathered bags of seed this year in the garden.  Cosmos, borage, bachelor buttons, nigella and columbine are all ready for their piece of real estate.

Now spring, I'm ready for you!