Harvest Monday: First Arugula

Last week we had two delicious harvests from the garden: asparagus and arugula. We also completed a lot of infrastructure work on the expanded garden.

After cutting a small handful of asparagus from the garden on Monday, I took a short walk to check on two stands of wild asparagus we'd observed in prior years and marked on our Google Maps. One had already started to fern out, but another provided 6 large stalks to round out our dinner. One of the benefits of country living - lots of farm field ditches to forage from.

After a week of much-needed rain (right after we drug a sprinkler into the garden to water, of course), the greens in my patio garden are really starting to pop.

On Saturday I harvested arugula (clipping about every other plant for a row and a half to also serve as thinning out), which we mixed into a quinoa salad. My husband said, "Why don't people eat more arugula? This is delicious!" The arugula was direct seeded on April 10, so it was 42 days to the first harvest.

I have the rest of the month off of work to focus on garden prep (and other relaxing, less physical activities). On Thursday and Friday I finished moving a yard of wood chips from the back of my pickup truck to the garden paths, hilled some potatoes, did some weeding, and planted a few flowers and herbs.

Over the weekend my husband was available in the mornings to help, so we got much more done. We created 11 more 30" in-ground raised beds, bringing the total to 18 so far. We have two more left to do, probably Memorial Day weekend, but a portable greenhouse is currently in the way. Over the next week I'll be hauling more wood chips to mulch the paths, and getting these rows planted, trellis structures put up, etc. I'm hopeful this garden layout can serve us for many years, so spring prep will be a bit less intensive.

This post joins others celebrating Harvest Monday, hosted by Dave at Happy Acres.

Harvest Monday: First Asparagus

Our first outdoor harvest of the year was 8 spears of asparagus from my neglected asparagus bed.

The bed was neglected because I didn't clear off the fronds from last year, it hasn't been weeded in at least 10 months, and its only water has been our occasional rain. Yet, it still produced. I'd love to expand the bed at some point once we finalize some more of the garden structures on the property; right now the area it could expand into is covered with garden supplies (and has some pretty intense weed pressure, so I'd love to solarize it).

The garden is on schedule, while Mother Nature is running a bit ahead. Our last frost is normally May 13, but I think it already occurred on April 24. I still won't be putting any tender plants out until May 15, although my peppers and tomatoes are already mostly hardened off and will be moved into a greenhouse as soon as I can get our tent put up.

Development of the great garden expansion of 2021 continues. We had an exciting addition last week: electricity and water run to the garden. This kicked off my serious research of a drip irrigation system. Parts were ordered on Saturday and should arrive this week so it can be installed well before Memorial Day.

I've slowly been constructing beds in the garden. Upon further reflection I decided to completely change my garden plan to conform to standard rows. This will facilitate easier watering, path creation/mulching, and increase the production of the garden (an unintentional side effect). I haven't finished placing all the plants because of the unexpected new room available, but don't be surprised if I fill it with tomatoes.

(click for larger version)

I started creating beds and planting closest to the house (the south end of the garden) and I've planted all the way up to the potatoes. Now I have the entire month of May to finish the rest (and get the paths mulched). I have May 20 - 31 off from work, so that shouldn't be a problem and I can do it at a leisurely pace.

To see what other gardeners around the world are harvesting today, check out Harvest Monday hosted by Dave at Happy Acres.

Spring Garden Planning: The Great Garden Expansion

It finally feels like Spring is around the corner in southern Wisconsin. Although there's still plenty of snow on the ground, green patches are emerging and our daily highs were in the 40s (Fahrenheit) much of the last week. Yesterday the high at our house was 55, and it's forecasted to hit 60 today before returning to the 40s.

This is the time of year I have to actively stop myself from starting my seeds too early. On February 15 I started my onions (Ailsa Craig, Yellow Sweet Spanish, Redwing, and Warrior), leeks, and rosemary. On Sunday I started my parsley after soaking the seeds for 24 hours. Nothing else should be started until March 15, lest I end up with larger seedlings than I have space to take care of.

Since I can't plant, it's a great time to share my plans for the 2021 garden. Since I will once again be working from home with limited work travel (quite possibly none at all), I'm taking the opportunity to expand our garden. The 2020 garden (and earlier years in this space) was approximately 20' x 25'. I could harvest a lot of vegetable from that space, but I had to be choosey about space-hogging row crops. It was adjacent to a terribly overgrown perennial garden created by the prior owner, and during the summer I took advantage of having a construction crew onsite and had them clear the entire space down to the dirt. Suddenly I had a space roughly 35' x 80'. I had them run a water and electric line to make things a little easier, covered the entire space with a cover crop for the fall, and got to planning.

Garden Plan

Here's what I'm hoping to grow in 2021. The full plan, including a plant list, is available here.

I've always grown my in-ground garden in "zones," rather than strict rows, and I'll be trying that again this year. The light gray areas on the plan represent paths that I'll create with either mulch over cardboard or landscape fabric I have available. I've scheduled significant time off from work in May for garden prep, and hope it's enough time to accomplish this. If the layout proves onerous, I'll switch to a more traditional row layout next year.

The dark gray box is where I plant to test the location of a shaded rest spot. I'll probably just use a 10 x 10 pop-up tent this year, but if the layout works and doesn't shade the adjacent vegetables too much, we'll plan a structure there for next year. I want to be able to relax in my garden, in the shade. During the early spring I'll probably place my walk-in pop-up greenhouse there so I can get my plants out of the basement as soon as possible.

I fully expect that when all is said and done the garden won't look exactly like the plan, but that's part of the fun.

What I'm Growing

This includes a lot of old standards, increased production for storage and preservation, and just a few new crops.

• Beans: In addition to pole beans (Kentucky Wonder and Purple Pole), which are standard at our house, I'm growing four 18' rows of dry beans (Black Turtle, Dragon Tongue, Jacob's Cattle, Great Northern). I accidentally grew some dry beans this year and we loved them.
• Beets: A 10' row of spring beets will be Golden, another 10' row will join carrots after the garlic comes out (Chioggia), and a 14' row of Lutz Winter Keeper will get started in July for a late fall/early winter harvest.
• Bok Choy: I'm not sure I've ever grown this, but I love it at the farmers market. I'm planning just a couple of plants in an early spring sowing.
• Broccoli: I love broccoli, and am planning 10 plants of differing varieties, which should mature at slightly different times and provide some side shoots as well. I want broccoli in my freezer! Varieties: Arcadia, Calabrese, De Cicco, Green Magic
• Brussels Sprouts: I'm planning five plants of Long Island Improved, which I will start from seed. I'm not sure I've ever successfully grown sprouts from seed before; the last time they were in my garden, I purchased starts from the local greenhouse. I've got brand new 2021 seed from Seed Savers Exchange this year, so I'm hopeful for good germination and results.
• Cabbage: I've fallen in love with this vegetable. In addition to enjoying sauerkraut and kimchi, we love a crisp summer coleslaw, and I freeze dozens of stuffed cabbage rolls to eat all winter. There are plenty of ways to eat cabbage I haven't explored yet. In order to have plenty of slaw as well as winter cabbage, I'm planting two early varieties (Red Express and Optikd), along with Late Flat Dutch, which I've grown before and has a long heritage of growing in our area. In all I should be growing about 20 heads of cabbage, which would certainly set a record for cabbage consumed in a year for our household.
• Carrots: I'm planning three rounds of sowings. The first will be in mid-April— a single 10' row each of Mokum and Rainbow. I made seed mats out of single ply toilet paper and flour paste for these to ensure proper spacing and minimize weeding. After the garlic harvest I'll plant three more 10' rows - two of Danvers Half Long and one of St. Valery. And in late July if I can keep up with the garden, I'll put in some fall carrots - two 14' rows of Ox Hearts and one 14' row of Karuda. That's a lot of carrots, but I plan to test a variety of storage methods, and if I still have far too many they can go to the local food bank.
• Cauliflower: I had some old seed (Early Snowball) that passed a germination test, so I figured I'd give it a go.
• Celery: In my opinion, no celery tastes as good as home grown celery. After testing germination for my existing seed packs, I've gone with Conquistador.
• Corn: Since we have so much more room, I figured it's time to give corn a solid try. It's still a small patch (about 9' x 5'), and I'm trying to seed three varieties at varying times to mitigate cross pollination. There's a solid chance this crop will be enjoyed by deer or raccoons, but we'll see. Varieties: Incredible, Blue Jade, Bear Paw.
• Cucumber: It's been years since I needed to replace our pickle stores, but we're finally there. I also want to try some different lacto fermentation pickles, and of course have some for fresh eating. Varieties: National Pickling and Swing.
• Dill: Must have this to go with our pickles! I'm planting a 10 square foot patch simply because it's so beautiful to watch grow.
• Eggplant:  Two plants each of Slim Jim and Black Beauty. Mostly just want to make ratatouille. 
• Fennel: My favorite way to use fennel is in a carrot fennel soup that can be pressure canned. With all the carrots I'm growing, some are bound to be fresh when my 5 fennel plants are ready. Variety: Florence.
• Garlic: This was planted in October 2020, purchased from a local garlic farm. Although I ordered some soft neck garlic, I ended up with all hard neck because my chosen soft neck variety didn't do well. I planted 52 cloves of Chesnok Red, 36 cloves of Romanian Red, and 82 cloves of German Extra Hardy. The snow has almost completely melted from the garlic patch.
• Kale: I love kale, and fully recognize that 12 plants may be far too much for my two-person household, but I'm giving it a go anyway. In addition to eating fresh, storing well in the fridge, and lasting longer into the fall/winter than other vegetables, I love to blanch and freeze kale for later use in breakfast beaks and other dishes. Varieties: Curly Roja, Nero di Toscana, Red Russian.
• Leek: I actually had trouble finding leek seeds from Pine Tree, my primary source, so I purchased a packet of the Tadorna variety from Johnny's when I ordered some other supplies. In addition to using fresh and making potato leek soup, I may experiment with dehydrating some.
• Peas: My Cascadia and Knight seeds are nearly a decade old but have continued to germinate, so we'll give them one more shot this year. I'm starting them indoors and transplanting outside after just a couple of weeks to ensure germination.
• Peppers: I'm planning a dozen sweet pepper plants, as well as a dozen hot pepper plants. I love peppers for salsa, freezing, and stuffing. I also plan to ferment some hot sauce. I have lots of pepper seeds left from prior years, so the varieties will be chosen on a whim when I sow them later this month.
• Potatoes: I've only grown potatoes in the ground once, and that was in a raised bed at a prior house. It was a small plot and mildly successful. I'm going all in this year on 170 square foot potato patch, with six varieties purchased from Pine Tree Seeds. Varieties: Adirondack Blue, Eva, Katahdin, Red Pontiac, Superior Early, Yukon Gold.
• Radishes: Most every time I plant carrots, I'll also plant some quick-growing radishes (Purple Plum, Easter Egg, Cherry Belle) and harvest them young as the carrots are just starting to come up. I'm also planting some dedicated rows of Black Spanish and Watermelon radishes for a fall harvest and winter storage.
• Rhubarb: While I have no need to plant it, the Rhubarb will come up like clockwork.
• Rutabaga: These are back after a successful 2020, although I've got new seed, and a new variety: Helenor. I couldn't get the Joan variety from my primary seed source.
• Squash (Summer): I'm trying to pull back on summer squash and avoid being buried with them. I'm growing one hill each of three varieties: Black Beauty, Golden Zucchini, and Zephyr.
• Squash (Winter): I should have plenty of room for winter squash to sprawl this year, and I may also add some vertical trellises (I had great luck with them in 2018). The plan right now is to grow Waltham Butternut, Marina di Chioggia, Pennsylvania Dutch Crookneck, Spaghetti, and Table Queen Acorn. I may end up switching these up at last minute; too many of my stored acorn squashes ended up in the compost.
• Swiss Chard: I have multiple varieties of old seed, and I'll end up growing whatever germinates the best.
• Tomatoes. I'll always grow tomatoes, and this year I'm growing almost exclusively varieties I've grown before. The only unknown is Juliet - I couldn't get seeds anywhere. I'll try to pick them up at our local greenhouse, where I got starts last year. I'm planning on 15 determinate or semi-determinate tomatoes, in a single long row. I've always grown them in at least double rows, but I got sick of having to dig through foliage to find the fruits. Hopefully this setup will be better. I tossed all my tomato cages last year because they were falling apart, so I'll need a new way to support them this year.  I'm also planning a dozen indeterminate tomatoes on the eastern edge of the garden. I've always grown them up tall lengths of rebar, but this year I may try the cattle panel method. These will be slicers and cherry tomatoes. Planned varieties: Black Vernissage, Blondkopfchen, Dr. Wyche's Yellow, German Pink,  Heinz Classic Processor, Martino's Roma, Moonglow, Oregon Spring, Riesentraube, Roma.
• Tomatillo: I've had seeds for years and never planted them. I'm going to grow just one plant, with plenty of room, to see how it performs and hope to make a bit of salsa verde out of it.
• Tomatoes. I'll always grow tomatoes, and this year I'm growing almost exclusively varieties I've grown before. The only unknown is Juliet - I couldn't get seeds anywhere. I'll try to pick them up at our local greenhouse, where I got starts last year. I'm planning on 15 determinate or semi-determinate tomatoes, in a single long row. I've always grown them in at least double rows, but I got sick of having to dig through foliage to find the fruits. Hopefully this setup will be better. I tossed all my tomato cages last year because they were falling apart, so I'll need a new way to support them this year.  I'm also planning a dozen indeterminate tomatoes on the eastern edge of the garden. I've always grown them up tall lengths of rebar, but this year I may try the cattle panel method. These will be slicers and cherry tomatoes. Planned varieties: Black Vernissage, Blondkopfchen, Dr. Wyche's Yellow, German Pink,  Heinz Classic Processor, Martino's Roma, Moonglow, Oregon Spring, Riesentraube, Roma.

In a new small bed near my kitchen I'm growing a variety of herbs, mustard greens, lettuce, arugula, and chamomile. Perhaps I'll detail that in a new post when I plant it. I'm also trying to include more flowers in the vegetable garden, including calendula, marigold, zinnia, nasturtium, paper daisies, and sunflowers. Must keep the pollinators happy!

All in all, I think I'm growing about 110 varieties of vegetables, herbs, and flowers this year. Whenever I tell people I'm a vegetable gardener, they ask, "What do you grow?" How do you think I should answer them?

Winter Meals from the Garden: Steak and Rutabaga Pasty

Since the 2020 garden was a big of a last-minute endeavor once I realized I would be home for the season, it was planted with whatever seeds I had on hand plus some transplants from a local greenhouse. Some of the oldest seed I planted was rutabaga. Specifically, the Joan variety. I seeded it heavily, expecting sparse germination, but I shouldn't have worried. After finally showing the overcrowded plants some mercy in mid-summer and thinning them to allow for more space to grow, they produced abundantly.

I left them in the ground until Halloween, ensuring they were touched by a few frosts. I harvested a variety of sizes, from a few fingers wide to larger than a softball. This was the largest.

After trimming and weighing them all, I had just over 20 pounds of rutabagas. They've been keeping wonderfully in an auxiliary fridge; I still probably have about half of them left and should pick up the pace. We've had plenty of mashed rutabaga with roasted meet, a bit of fermented rutabaga kraut, and a new favorite, steak and rutabaga pasty.

I'd never made pasties before 2020, but they're a delicious meal that can be made completely out of ingredients in our freezer and pantry. We've enjoyed them about once a month since November and I think they're permanently in our winter meal plan rotation at this point.

The recipe is out of a well-worn cookbook I've had for over a decade, From Asparagus to Zucchini. It's my go-to reference when I'm trying to determine how to prepare or store a specific vegetable. It contains a full three pages of rutabaga recipes (reflecting its Wisconsin roots), but I'll admit I stopped trying recipes once I stumbled upon this one. The recipe make six full-size pasties and there are just two of us, but we find that the leftover disappear rather quickly for subsequent lunches or dinners. We simply place the baked, refrigerated pasties on some parchment and heat them at 350 degrees until they're warm, about 15-20 minutes.

Steak and Rutabaga Pasties

Source: From Asparagus to Zucchini

Makes 6 large pasties

Crust Ingredients

• 3 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup chilled shortening or lard, cut into pieces (I use the lard rendered from our whole hog)
• 1 egg
• Ice water

Whisk flour and salt in a large bowl. Cut in shortening or lard with pastry cutter or two knives until the pieces are no larger than peas (honestly, I just use my hands to work the fat into the flour). Break the egg into a liquid measuring cup and add enough ice water to make 1 cup. Mix egg and water, then add to flour. Toss lightly with a fork (or your hands) until dough forms. Cover and chill the dough at least 1 hour.

Filling Ingredients

• 1 1/2 pounds cubed sirloin (I don't measure this exactly; I just use a sirloin steak from our beef in the freezer)
• 4 cups diced rutabaga
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 3 tablespoons heavy cream (if I didn't have cream I'd probably consider substituting sour cream)
• 4-6 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley (I use 2 tablespoons dried)
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 3 tablespoons cold butter, cut into small pieces

To make filling, combine all the ingredients except the butter.

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper. 

Lightly flour a large work surface (you need plenty of room). Divide the dough into six equal portions (they'll weigh about 135 grams). Shape each portion in a ball, then roll it out with a floured rolling pin to an 8-inch round (I no longer measure this; they need to be fairly large, but not too thin. Make sure you can pick up the round and move it). Divide the filling equally among the rounds, placing filling on half of each round. Scatter the butter pieces over the filling. Fold dough over the filling, using extra flour on your fingers to prevent sticking. Press to seal the edges, then fold small sections of the dough to make a rope-like edge (You may think there's too much dough here, but there isn't. Just keep going and try to make the edge even.) Place pasties on pans (I suggest using a dough scraper or large spatula to move them). Cut a small slit into the top of each.

Bake 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 375 degrees and continue to bake until golden brown and fully cooked, 35-40 minutes. Serve pasties with salsa, catsup, or beef gravy. (I think they're also delicious on their own.)