Category Archives: fall/winter crops

New Plants To Lust After

Posted on January 15, 2018 by Ann Lovejoy
Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Last summer I got to try out a new sauce tomato called ‘Saucy Lady’, a cuore di bue type that “melts” into robust sauces when cooked, skins and all. The flavor is just about perfect for a sauce tomato; full bodied and rich with just enough tartness to keep it tasting lively even when cooked and canned. A rather amazing tomato called ‘Get Stuffed!’ has no guts; the stippled red-and-tawny-gold skin covers a sturdy, cup-shaped container for your favorite stuffing mixtures. Slice the top off, fill ‘em up with what have you and bake them until bubbly, or stuff them with salad (pasta or chickpea) for a very pretty brunch dish. As an ardent gardener with very little space these days, I’m especially intrigued by a new category of tomato, the 3-4 foot dwarf indeterminates. Any of this new Super Dwarf series will thrive even in large containers and as we saw last year, they really do continue fruiting well into autumn. Continue reading →

Posted in Annual Color, Early Crops, Easy Care Perennials, fall/winter crops, Growing Berry Crops, Pollinators, Sustainable Gardening, Sustainable Living, Tomatoes | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Working With Family Relationships

Posted on January 8, 2018 by Ann Lovejoy
Print Friendly, PDF & Email

It’s also useful to know that some family cycles are particularly beneficial. For instance, both legumes and nightshades do particularly well when planted where sweet corn recently grew. Conversely, it’s less productive for squash family members to follow tomatoes and vice versa, probably because both need lots of calcium. (Our Northwestern soils tend to be calcium poor anyway, so both these crops will benefit when you spray the foliage with diluted skim milk. A 10% solution of 1 part skim milk powder mixed with water works well and won’t clog most sprayers.) Continue reading →

Posted in Early Crops, fall/winter crops, Garden Prep, Health & Wellbeing, Nutrition, Sustainable Gardening, Sustainable Living | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

A Barrel Full Of Beans

Posted on November 27, 2017 by Ann Lovejoy
Print Friendly, PDF & Email

For the very best beans, brine them overnight in cold, salted water, rinse them well, then cook them in plain water. I learned this sweet trick from master foodie Harold McGee, author of On Food And Cooking; the science and lore of the kitchen. It’s one of my favorite go-to resources when I can’t figure out why something kitchen related isn’t working the way I think it should. McGee has written extensively about all kinds of foods, including beans, and he says that many factors can cause beans to turn out tough, hard, or mushy. Continue reading →

Posted in fall/winter crops, Health & Wellbeing, Nutrition, preserving food, Recipes, Sustainable Gardening, Sustainable Living, Vegan Recipes | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

A Seasonal Offering

Posted on October 23, 2017 by Ann Lovejoy
Print Friendly, PDF & Email

This week we added a delightful garland of leaves that Ariceli gathered when she walked her dog in the morning. She took a bright bagful home and sewed them together with a sharp needle and coarse thread (very fine twine would work too), taking one wide stitch through each leaf so they lie flat against the string. The cool, rainy weather has kept the colors vivid so far, but I’m also experimenting with an old technique I recalled from childhood. I’m pressing colorful leaves dry between newspapers, then ironing them between two sheets of waxed paper. I’m pretty sure I wrecked an iron or two with something similar involving melted crayons way back when, so this time I’m using a sheet of packing paper on top to keep from getting wax all over the bottom of the iron. Right? Continue reading →

Posted in fall/winter crops, Gardening With Children, Health & Wellbeing, Sustainable Gardening, Sustainable Living | Tagged , | 2 Comments