This is just a quick not to remind me in the future: I slacked off from my blog notes about this time. I spent mid-January 2015 catching up my blog, but I dated the entries correctly so that they would stay in order.
Today I finally harvested my first beet. As I've said before, I personally hate beets, but my wife loves them, so I grew them. I planted nine beets in the square foot designated, but one beet has been outperforming all the rest in both leaf size and root size. I figured that it was probably hoarding all the nutrients available like a bully beet on the little beet playground, so I went ahead and pulled it up. The beet pictured above is on a board that is 24" long, so that gives you the idea of the size of it. None of the others are this large yet, so I'll wait and see how they fare into the late summer. I presented this beet to my wife, who peeled, sliced and boiled them to make herself some Russian beet salad. She claims that it was delicious. I'll take her word for it. And now for something completely different...I was poking around the tomato plants I had just pulled all the fruit from, and I found this thing pictured below. I had never seen one, but I thought "Oh great, now the Hornworms are building condos!" I pulled that entire leaf off and buried it in the compost, but I saw another one. Curious, I carefully pried it off the leaf. You can see below the heads of the tenpenny nails in the deck, so that gives you an idea of how small these things were. I was looking closely, and thought I saw movement from inside the hole. I took out my knife to cut one of the spheres in half. It was full of caterpillars! So THIS is where they have all been coming from! But wait... If you look closely in the left side of the sphere, you can see a small, yellow egg. Something in my mind began formulating a theory based on something I had learned years ago about mud daubers, and this sphere looked strangely like a tiny pot. What I found shocked me. I introduce... the Potter Wasp! The female Potter Wasp, just like the mud dauber, will construct these little clay pots and place one of their eggs inside. Then, the wasp will fly around searching for caterpillars. Her sting is just enough to paralyze them, and she stuffs each one into the hole, usually to the count of a dozen or so. When the pot is full, she caps it like the pot on the left (in the pic on my deck above), and the caterpillars are trapped in there. When the egg hatches, the baby wasp emerges and begins to eat the paralyzed (but still alive, and so preserved) caterpillars ALIVE!!! John Carpenter or Ridley Scott need to look no further than real nature, because real nature is as horrifying as anything seen in The Thing or Alien. When the wasp is large enough, it breaks out of the clay pot and the cycle begins anew. For this reason, Potter Wasps are considered beneficial to a garden, not for the pots they make, but for the dozens upon dozens of caterpillars they collect- caterpillars who would otherwise be eating my tomatoes. Also of note, the tomatoes are continuing to bud, so it looks like I may expect a second crop this summer. Excellent! I actually made TWO dishes from scratch today: the sauce from the previous entry, and una torta rustica (Italian for "rustic pie"). I want to include it in this blog as something I made using herbs from my garden, but I don't feel like writing as much as I did outlining the sauce. This was made from scratch using the recipe found here. Here is the torta before going into the oven. I had never made pie crust from scratch. It was an interesting experience, but not too difficult. I showed this to my wife. Her exact words were, "You just made this?! I hate you! Haha!" I had never used a springform pan. These things are pretty handy! Here it is right out of the oven. It had pulled away from the sides quite cleanly, so it all stayed together. It was a beautiful bronze color, and it smelled delicious! Seriously, I can't even describe how good it smelled. I let it cool, then sliced it into eighths. It held together perfectly, tasted better than I could have dreamed, and was filling enough that half of this 9-inch torta was enough for an entire meal! THAT'S value and quality. My kids devoured it like it was gifted from on high, and my wife demanded that I make this more often. As in, every week. Forever. I think it was a success.
Well, today was the big day. I planted so many Roma tomato plants because I wanted a shot at making pasta sauce completely from scratch. I have been harvesting them as they ripened and keeping them in the refrigerator to prevent them from further ripening. The latest big crop of tomatoes was finally ripe, and as I pulled them off the vines, I can't even describe how aromatic they smelled. I ended up with about 55 Roma tomatoes of various sizes. I'm reusing a picture, but this same bowl was completely filled. I want to show how well the tomato plants are all doing. The Romas are thick and full, though they are coming to the end of their cycles. One plant in the front row has already begun to die for the year. The Brandywine plant (back row, closes to the camera) has continued to grow and produce. As of today, the Brandywine plant stands about 64" tall. Yes, that's over FIVE FEET tall. I totally did not expect that, but let's get back to the sauce. Onions I needed onions for the sauce. My green onions have already lost their tops for the year and filled out their bulbs to roughly the size of golf balls, so I went ahead and harvested most of them. I placed them out in the sun to dry out for about 30 minutes. They were then chopped finely and placed in the fridge until needed. Tomatoes Like I said, I had over 55 tomatoes. I ran a knife around the top to pull out the stem core, cut an X shape in the bottom to aid with skin removal, and arranged them in a single layer in a large disposable roasting pan. I have a five-burner propane grill with a thermostat, so I can roast very accurately and evenly. I turned all burners on and waited until the interior of the grill read about 400°F, then I put the tomatoes into the closed grill to roast. Roasting not only gives vegetables a nice, smoky flavor, but it slowly dehydrates the water from the food, thus concentrating the taste. Here are the tomatoes after roasting for about 30 minutes. 30 minutes was the recommendation to roast them in the oven, but I think it was a bit too long on the grill. You can see the carmelization of the sugars in the tomatoes as it boiled and bubbled. I removed the skins from all the tomatoes. As you can see, it ended up being about the same amount of tomatoes as you would get in a large can from the store. Yes, that's over 55 tomatoes. You sure need a lot of tomatoes to make sauce! Other Flavors Basil, Oregano, and Parsley, all fresh from the garden. It tasted fantastic, and made the house smell amazing while I was preparing it. The large plate is all Basil, with only a tiny handful of oregano chopped in. It may seem like a lot, but this is where the taste is AT! As far as spices, minced garlic and a tiny bit of crushed red pepper were also used. Carrot and roasted Red Peppers. The carrot was fresh from the garden, but I didn't grow any peppers, so I bought a can of pre-roasted peppers that I put on the grill for about five minutes to dry up. Some recipes call for nearly a cup or more of granulated sugar, but adding the carrot and peppers adds just the right amount of sweetness without dumping processed sugar into the pot. Wine. All real pasta sauces call for a red wine to be added, and they say that whatever you're drinking will be fine. I normally don't do much red wine, so I tried to grab something I'd actually finish off. The chianti was too expensive for one pot of sauce, so I grabbed this. I had never heard of it, so I opened the bottle and had a bit while I made the sauce. Holy crap, this stuff is dry! It has a lot of taste, but I couldn't even take it without a really fatty salami or cheese. Making the Sauce I began with a good olive oil. I use Olive Garden's extra virgin olive oil. It's a bit more expensive, but it is high-quality with no weird taste. I heated the olive oil until it became semi-clear and very fluid. I added the onions, garlic, and all the herbs to sauté. Once the onion began to turn clear, I added the rest. Into the pot go the tomatoes, carrots, peppers, wine, etc. When I got it all in, it just didn't seem like enough. I'm not so proud that I'll let a project fail just to keep it from adapting, so I went ahead and added a large can of crushed tomatoes to the pot. So, half the tomatoes are mine. It still counts. I turned the heat to low with the lid off and let it simmer for about an hour. Simmering the sauce lets excess water evaporate away, leaving a thicker, richer sauce. It tasted SO good! I had planned on freezing it, so I spooned the cooled sauce into freezer bags. I filled three quart-size freezer bags. So, in the end, this may seem like it was a lot of work "for something I could just go get at the store," but it was MINE. I grew it, I made it, and I delivered happiness to my family through food that I had prepared. When you experience food like that, it becomes way more valuable than a can of Prego.
I am only human. I am a big enough man to admit when I was wrong, and I may have made a mistake. When I saw large chunks of my tomatoes gone early in the season, I rounded up the usual suspects- the mockingbirds. I'm not saying that the mockingbirds weren't to blame at all (I've got my eye on you, avians), but they may have had accomplices. I've been having trouble with Cabbage Loopers (caterpillars) really tearing into my leafy plants. They have done a lot of damage to the broccoli leaves and the kale leaves. I went ahead and removed the four broccoli plants entirely. Their time was done. I had tried a few different things for getting rid of the caterpillars, including allowing these large lady beetles to breed in the plants, but no luck. I have been staying away from chemical pesticides entirely up to this point, but I went ahead and bought one bottle of insect killer designed to target cabbage loopers and similar pests for a one-time application. I knew I might be sacrificing my lady beetles too, but I was willing to take the chance. I sprayed all the kale plants with the pesticide, and I ended up finishing the small bottle on the tomato plants. I figured that it couldn't hurt, since I was already here. WELL! I was quite surprised! A few minutes later, I noticed something squirming in the dirt under the tomato plants. I present to you: the Tomato Hornworm. The Hornworm is really a caterpillar, and it does incredible amounts of damage to tomato crops. Their body is disguised in a leaf-like pattern, and a large "horn" sticks out of it's rear end. Since it looks like a thorn, most animals will avoid it, preferring not to get stuck. This leaves it to do all the eating it wants. With huge mandibles, it'll open up a large tomato and climb right in. These caterpillars can get as large as your hand (though this one was only an inch long), and they'll eat a half a tomato before moving on to the next! It's a great specimen, but I'm personally glad to see this thing go. I'll be on the lookout for any others as well.
The carrot tops have been getting quite large (10-12" tall), and I've been pulling tiny carrots all along the way to make room for the larger ones. Today, I decided to go ahead and harvest one of the more mature carrots, and I was quite happy. What I pulled up out of my soil was a 6" long, nicely shaped carrot that was also very tasty! Of course, I wasn't really growing for us to eat. They're mainly for the bunnies, saving us money at the grocery store. Petal is still too young to eat much green food, so I gave the entire carrot to Huckleberry. He approved. Actually, he attacked the carrot with all the fervor of an insane man, but at least he liked it.
My wife has been itching for a second bunny. Not only is she crazy about little fuzzy creatures, but bunnies that have bunny friends are smarter, not as bored, live longer, and heal faster than bunnies who live "alone." We wanted a different breed than Holland Lop for the second bunny, so I began looking around at local breeders. We decided against smaller breeds for a number of reasons. Smaller bunnies have longer lifespans, but they aren't usually as cuddly as larger breeds. They don't like to be picked up, and don't do as well in stressful situations, tending to freak out and become bitey. I happened upon a photo of an English Lop, and it was all over. My wife HAD to have one. I found a breeder less than an hour away, so we drove over and picked out an 8-week old female that we named Petal, because her ears are like giant flower petals. She was freaking out a bit in this picture, but she soon warmed up to everyone and acts like a puppy. From a garden perspective, her manure return is MUCH greater than the Holland Lop's. Her poops are 2-3 times the size of Huckleberry's, and she is dropping much more poop than he does. It'll all go into the compost pile, and I'm looking forward to seeing what happens there.
I learned two things in the last couple days. First, Roma tomatoes are a high-yield plant. Second, Tomatoes can turn on you in the blink of an eye. My Brandywine tomatoes have been slowly growing and ripening. I had them covered in paper towel, but had recently uncovered them to let them finish up. Today I went out to my garden to find this: I was so disappointed! I had been waiting so long for those two tomatoes to ripen, and they somehow tore out of their own skins! I immediately grabbed my phone to search for more info. Apparently, tomatoes splitting open isn't that uncommon. At that statement, I looked over to my Roma plants. Yep, some of those were split too. At least I know that it wasn't due to some problem with the Brandywines as a whole. Upon further research, I found that when tomatoes go through a very hot period (the last week here was insanely hot), they protect their seeds by toughening the skin on their fruits. When that hot period is followed by a lot of moisture (in this case, three solid days of rain), their insides grow faster than their outsides will allow, causing the split. So, basically, tomatoes are the Little Red Hulk. The good news is that the split didn't actually go very deep, and didn't change the taste at all. My wife sliced it up for a few tomato sandwiches, and she raved about their full flavor. As for those high-yield Romas, check this out. That's a good first harvest! My Bountiful bean bushes are doing well, too. They are growing, and there are quite a few beans already ready to pull. I'm not really sure how to prepare these things. I'll have to look up a recipe. My chives have also bloomed. Aside from the regular food stalks, they send up thick, stiffer stalks that open into lovely purple flowers. They are a beautiful addition to the garden.
Last night I finally got to harvest quite a bit of stuff from the garden. Much of it was comprised of just thinning out a few plants to make room for more growth, but hey- if I can eat it, it counts as a harvest. I cut the basil WAY back (and this isn't even close to half of what's still out there), broccoli, kale, parsley, tomatoes, and a tiny carrot for the bunny. I spent about an hour last night trimming all the broccoli heads off, bunching the basil and hanging it to dry in the window, and putting all the veg in good containers to ensure their freshness. When I got home today, I noticed even more tomatoes ripe enough to pick, so when I'm done typing this post, I'm heading out there for more. I definitely see more bruschetta in my near future. The first few strawberries from my second harvest are just about ripe, and I must say that they look phenomenally better than those from the first harvest. No signs of nibbles or rot at all, so maybe I just needed to let the strawberry plants work out all their bugs the first time around. I was kinda confused by those early mutant strawberries, but I guess that's what happens when you get them wet, expose them to sunlight, and feed them after midnight. Live and learn, right? Also of note, we had a series of huge thunderstorms sweep through our area today. We'd be enjoying the sunlight, and ten minutes later the sky would open up and weep its misery upon us. We even lost power a few times. When I got home from work, I noticed that my tomatoes all looked like little Jim Henson creatures wearing ragged clothes. After the rain has moved on, I'll need to harvest what I can and cover the rest. Albeit effective, that fact alone makes this paper towel method quite a bit more labor intensive than I'd prefer. My interest in those red Christmas ornaments is growing.
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Who is this guy?
Dan is a self-professed geek living in Chattanooga, TN. A graphic designer by trade, he is an R2 Builder, prop maker, artist, and all-around awesome guy. It's on the Internet, so believe it. Archives
March 2015
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