Confessions

I’ve had quite the hiatus from the blog  and in fairness I must share the reasons for my absence.  Well…I got pregnant again!  Hence the reason my garden turned into jungle land meets survival of the fittest.  Everytime I bent over in the 90 degree heat to plant potatoes I wanted to barf.  So heck with it.  I ended up with horrible yields, diseased tomatoes, and a growing belly.  The “no more groceries project” also moved to the back burner as I ended up at the store several times a week for Saltines, American cheese, and condensed chicken noodle soup (gross I know). But as with all adventures there are lessons to be learned and I learned some big girl lessons in 2011.

1) Settle.  Never settle for less than the best…bull.  In my case the best for my life now is right here, not as a renegade farmer with an expanded mortgage payment and the stresses of farm generated income.

2) Guilt less.  Am I disappointed about my farming flop?  Heck yes.  It crushes the soul to jump into a new project with both feet only to sputter out a few months later.  But I’m not done, you see, I’m just readjusting!  And I need not look backwards.

3) Kids are a lot of work.  I thought I could manage a toddler and a huge garden at a farm down the street.  I had grand visions of my little helper but seemed to forget that she was still a baby herself.

4) The back porch holds wisdom.   A satellite garden just doesn’t work for me; it was too easy to forget about.  But sitting on the back porch staring at my garden down the hill…well that makes me feel guilty enough to get up and tend to it.

So there are some big changes in store for me.  I will only be gardening at my house on the 1 acre lot this year.  My goals are no longer to generate income with gardening but instead to feed the family this summer and to produce enough surplus for storage.

Please excuse any posting lapses as very soon I will be happily managing a newborn and chasing a toddler.  Happy seed catalog reading!

Presto Pesto

As if gardening hasn’t been hard enough now it’s time to can, freeze, and put up all that stuff!  Unfortunately it looks like I planted just enough for us to eat so after all this heartache I’m still gonna have to bum some veggies for canning.

The farm does have plenty of beautiful deep green basil…PESTO!  Pesto freezes wonderfully.  I usually keep it in the freezer for about a year then replace my stock the following summer.  Pesto is of course delicious on pasta but also atop a pork chop (or so my husband says), with veggies, or as a dip for breadsticks.

The process is very simple.  Any basic pesto recipe will work.  I actually omitted the pine nuts because I’m cheap.  Also, if freezing leave out the cheese until after it thaws and you are ready to use.  I freeze mine in ice cube trays for easy single servings.  Once frozen in the tray place into plastic freezer bag for long-term storage.

pesto cubes ready for freezer

It’s gone viral: the loser in the tomato wars

We finally had a little bit of rain and finally there were bits of red in the sea of green.  I picked about 10 tomatoes all from the tomato plants that were stunted with yellowed leaves.  Since it had just rained the garden was still wet and the sky was still overcast making for a comfortable experience in the garden (which has become nonexistent these days).  I excitedly picked about 10 tomatoes, then examined the rest of the crops.  It wasn’t until later that I noticed the very obvious yellow and green blotches on the majority of the tomatoes.  Oh crud…I’ve got it…tomato mosaic virus (ToMV).

Tomato mosaic virus aka tobacco mosaic virus is an infectious disease and is spread very easily.  Mosaic refers to the yellow or green blotches on the fruit.  Plants infected with ToMV are usually stunted and generally just appear unhealthy.

So how’d I get it?  There are several possibilities but more than likely my plants were infected when I got them.  One route is through tobacco products.  If greenhouse/nursery workers have used tobacco products and not properly sanitized their hands before handling the plants, the workers themselves can spread the disease.  Another possibility, again a human cause, is touching infected plants with garden tools, watering nozzles, etc. then contacting plants with those items.  This stuff can also be seedborne, which totally sucks because you’re screwed before you even get started!  Insects can carry the disease from plant to plant and weeds can also be carriers.

Now what?  Do I sit and cry or can I save these plants?  Well the answer to all of that lies in how the disease is spread.  Since we know it’s spread very easily, can survive on a variety of surfaces, and is a very stable disease I might as well sit down and cry over spilled milk.  Once your plants have the disease there is nothing you can do.  In fact you have to do some thorough cleaning to ensure that your plants don’t get it next year!  All the diseased plants and debris must be removed from the garden (you don’t want to compost this stuff either).  Anything that came in contact with the plants must be either cleaned with bleach solution or dipped in boiling water this includes hoes, spades, watering nozzles, gloves, trellises.

And, well, since I was out working in the garden when it was wet and  unknowingly handled diseased plants and then examining the healthy plants (the would-be winners in the tomato wars), it’s quite probable that I too spread the disease.  Unfortunately it appears that I am the loser in the tomato wars!

Beautiful heirloom tomatoes with the very ugly tomato mosaic virus

Tomato Wars

A strange thing is happening with my tomatoes.  I have a main walk thru path and beds on either side of the path.  I have the same heirloom tomatoes from the same source in 2 different beds, one on the left side of the path and one on the right side of the path.

The tomato plants on the left side of the path are lush, green, and thriving.  The tomatoes on the right side of the path are producing, but the leaves are greenish-yellow and always look a bit wilty.  They aren’t as tall and just overall look punier.

I’m at a loss.  I know there could be a million and one reasons for this…soil pH, nutrient availability, sun exposure, etc but the differences are quite striking!

Wimpy right side

The lefties...clearly the winners in this war!

It’s a jungle out there

My garden is literally a jungle right now.  I have definitely employed Darwin’s principles and the weeds have grown right alongside the crops.  So far vegetables have been doing fine even with the extra competition.  Sure I would probably have higher yields but honestly I don’t need anymore squash.  There is something quite beautiful about an unmanicured garden, almost like a secret garden of sorts.  In the middle of the field there’s corn, cucumbers, tomatoes.  Next year I will probably be more diligent about putting down straw if nothing else just to make it easier to walk among the beds.

Jungle/garden

From this garden I have harvested squash and zucchini.  I also have lots of green tomatoes.  The pole beans are climbing along the corn stalks nicely.  The tomatoes are kindof supported by the cattle panels.  Probably would have been wise to use some twine and train them up the panels.  That just seems like such a process.  So instead the tomatoes are half leaning against the panel and half sprawling in the air and on the ground.  Everything is good at this point.  We’ve been getting steady rain showers and no pest problems yet (keep fingers crossed).

Zephyr squash (hybrid seed from Johnny's) yellow neck with green bottom

From the small raised beds I have finished harvesting the spring crops: onions, red potatoes, and carrots.  And that’s the news from out here!

Oh bugger

Sitting on our back deck I can see the two raised beds at the bottom of our yard.   There’s quite a steep hill to get down there and usually I’m content to check things out from the top of the deck.  And what can I see from up there?  Green stuff and birds.  Last week I did go down to actually take a look, check on the potatoes and onions.  Well apparently the bugs have arrived.  I have potatoes in both beds.  In one of the beds the potato plants have literally been reduced to sticks.  By sticks I do not mean the crispy fried variety, but rather a row of dead plants with sticks as remnants.  The culprit looks to be the Colorado potato beetle.

Colorado potato beetles are leaf chewers.  In the spring Colorado potato beetles lay eggs on the leaves of potato plants.  Sometimes they are also found on eggplant.  The eggs and larvae are orangish in color.  After a few weeks of leaf chewing the larvae fall from the plant and pupate in the soil.  Two weeks later the adult beetles arise from the soil and continue chewing on the leaves.  After a few weeks of feeding they retreat to their overwintering location.

potato beetle in larval stage; the adult is cream colored with black stripes

So if I had been diligent I could have spotted the eggs, removed, and stomped.  But, alas, I’m not able to see eggs or insects from the back porch.  Because of my laziness I have sacrificed an entire bed to the beetle.  My potatoes in the other bed have just minor damage with only a few beetles.  These plants are also more established so I think they can survive a few chewed leaves.  This fall I will have to commence a thorough cleaning of all debris in both beds and probably will not plant potatoes in those beds next year.  That should put the potato beetle to rest and I will just have to be thankful that potatoes are cheap at the store.

I planted what?

Both gardens are thriving.  Just dealing with weeds and one bug issue but I’ll go into that in another post.  I have been harvesting spring crops for about a month including lettuce, beets, radishes, onions, spinach, and pac choi.  Pac choi…what the heck is that?  As the thing sprouted up and then matured to harvest I scratched my head trying to remember why exactly I purchased this seed.  And why I planted not one patch but two patches of the stuff.

Pac choi is the same as bok choy.  This variety of chinese cabbage is in the chinensis family.  It does not form heads but instead has thick dark leaves and produces a yellow mustard like flower.  The other variety of chinese cabbage is napa cabbage consisting of green leaves that form a tight head.  Who knew there were two very different varieties of chinese cabbage?  It probably would have behooved me to complete some basic research before buying the seed and then planting two rounds of it.  But it is a very pretty addition to the garden.

Johnny’s says it’s the ultimate green vegetable for stir fry.  Ahh…a clue as to my “winter brain thoughts.”  Did I use it in a stir fry as suggested?  Oh heck no.  I made Asian slaw with it.  I’m willing to bet the recipe called for napa cabbage NOT pac choi, but I’m known for my poor choice in recipe substitutions.  It was terrible and after that disaster I haven’t been able to bring myself to try using it in another dish.  It was very tough and stringy, reminded me of celery.

So maybe I will attempt again next year and after “winter brain” I will use this plant as suggested.  In the mean time, I’m enjoying the flowers.

Pac choi