A Little Something Different
A month or so ago, the leeks that I had overwintered in my mom’s garden started to bloom. We thought about pulling them out to make way for something else, but left them for a while because they’re quite beautiful and beneficial.
When they opened up I cut some to put on my table. This year I’ve been trying to keep more fresh things from the garden on the dining room table to enjoy them.
I loved the leek blooms so much I might start planting any extra leeks I have in my front flowerbed just for their beautiful blooms. Of course you can’t really harvest them and use them after blooming because they get woody. I’m happy to sacrifice a few leeks and onions for some beautiful blooms.
Do you ever let any of your leeks or onions bloom?
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Learning to Love Kale
The first time I grew kale in the garden was 3 years ago. I planted some ‘Red Russian’ kale in my winter garden after reading Four-Season Harvest by Eliot Coleman. It overwintered beautifully, seeded down, and I’ve had an abundance of kale in my garden ever since. (seed source for Red Russian Kale: Baker Creek)
This year I also added ‘Lacinato’ Kale to my garden (seed source: Southern Exposure). The only problem is – I’m not a big fan of cooked kale. I don’t mind a few handfuls thrown into soup, but in general I have never been a big fan of cooked greens, something about the texture. I love cabbage and other brassicas, but kale has always been at the bottom of the list. I’ll keep trying different ways of cooking it.I am determined, however, to not let my dislike of specific things hold me back from eating things that are healthy and good for me. So I keep growing kale, and I keep trying different cooking methods.
Kale is a member of the brassica family along with: cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, arugula, rutabaga, radish and mustard. Along with other brassicas, kale is a powerhouse vegetable. It provides more nutritional value per calorie than almost any other food around. It contains over 45 different flavanoids, vitamins A, K, C, magnesium, copper, calcium, vitamin B6, potassium, and many more. It also contains antioxidant and anti-inflammatory nutrients, macronutrients, and cancer-preventive nutrients called glucosinolates. Cooked kale is healthier than raw kale, so it’s important to cook it lightly and with some fat to make the vitamins more available and more easily absorbed. Here’s a great article on the health benefits of kale if you’d like to learn more. Kale is also easy to grow in the garden, especially here in NE Ohio where our summers can be fickle and can easily cause broccoli and cauliflower to bolt before them produce heads. Kale seems not to mind the warm weather, although it’s flavor is mellowed by frost and cool weather. Kale overwinters beautifully without any protection at all. I have had Red Russian kale growing in my front flowerbed for the past three years. It survives the winter, flowers in spring, seeds itself down and I have a nice crop for harvesting throughout fall, winter and spring.
Last week we had kale braised in bacon grease with garlic with eggs poached on top. It was pretty good, not my favorite food, but that’s OK – sometimes eating is about nourishing yourself and not about loving what you eat. I hope that someday I will love kale, but I’m not sure that will happen. Another way I’ve discovered that’s pretty good is to make a very garlicky chicken stock and throw lots of kale in about 5 minutes before you’re going to serve it. I’ve also got a batch of kale kimchi brewing at the moment and we’ll see if we like that as much as cabbage kimchi.
How do you feel about cooked greens? Any great recipes to share? Do you grow anything in your garden that you’re not particularly fond of eating?
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Getting Ready for Fall/Winter Crops
Now’s the time to start thinking about your fall/winter garden. I have tiny seedlings of: cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, kale, and leeks in my basement seed starting area. They will be moved out into the garden in August. Hopefully by then the weather will have cooled down a bit.
I’ve also started a flat of zucchini and cucumbers to plant for a late summer/early fall harvest. Often plants like zucchini and cucumbers will languish in the summer heat and quit producing. If you want a long season of these vegetables it’s wise to replant in July. If we don’t have an early cold snap I’ll be eating zucchini into early October.
In a few weeks I’ll also plant peas in my mom’s garden in the location the potatoes will be harvested from. Our spring pea harvest didn’t do very well, the overly wet spring did them in. We only managed to eek a few cups of peas out of our 4 short rows. Hopefully we’ll get a good fall harvest so we can fill our freezers with tender green peas for winter soups and stews. I’ll also be seeding a lot of beets, lettuce, spinach and other quick greens the first week of September for overwintering. Each and every year I try to experiment with more cold season gardening. One of these years I’ll finally get the hang of it and we’ll be able to eat homegrown vegetables all year long.
Are you already planning for the upcoming seasons? Any fall/winter gardening?
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Quote of the Day: Dr. Joyce Brothers
“When you come right down to it,
the secret to having it all
is loving it all.”
Earlier this week, Mr Chiots and I were talking about how blessed we feel. That’s not to say our lives are easy, that we don’t have difficulties and that we have everything figured out. I think it’s more a matter of being content with what you do have and the situation that you’re in. It comes from living within your means and having clearly defined goals to work toward. Sure it would be great to have extra money, be able to work fewer hours, cultivate a larger garden, and many other things – but in reality we have food on our table, a little plot of soil to grow things in, a roof over our heads and we have each other. We could spend our time longing for more – but that would only take the joy from what we do have.
The older we get, the more we strive to simplify our lives by getting rid of the unnecessary. We have learned to love simple food, our small home, our jobs and our community. The more I try to cultivate the simple life, the more fulfillment I find in my life, even in those simple mundane tasks like cooking or cleaning. Perhaps it’s because I’m finally figuring out what things bring me true joy, or maybe it’s about learning to be satisfied with what I do have. Learning to be content no matter what our circumstances are truly makes life more enjoyable.
What things in your life are you blessed to have at the moment?
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Another Reason to Have a Garden Pond
Last year we installed a small garden pond. It used to reside in my parent’s garden until they replaced it with a 350 gallon livestock tank. I’ve talked about how great it is to increase biodiversity in your garden and installing a water feature is a great way to do this. You’ll create a little niche for water loving things like fish, frogs, toads, water beetles and wildlife. It also allows you to incorporate water plants. I was lucky enough to get a water lily from my parents, which I planted in the pond not long after it was installed.
Last year the water lily put up some leaves and this year it’s been doing much better. My mom’s started blooming quite a while ago, so I wasn’t expecting mine to bloom until next year, figuring it would take another year to get established
Then, this past Wednesday I noticed a bud right under the water. I wasn’t sure how long it would take to emerge and open up. Happily, Thursday morning I noticed it was out of the water. Then later Thursday morning it opened up. I’m so happy I was around to see the bloom and it didn’t wait until I went on vacation!
No doubt I will have a few more blooms this summer. Water lily blooms are definitely one of the many reasons to incorporate a small pond in your garden.
Any great water plants in your garden pond?
