THE RELUCTANT GOURMET COOKING COMMUNITY

[ninjabut]

Well, our last frost date is Tax Day, April 15th!
My Greenhouse got ploughed by 90 MPH winds this winter, so I have to go with starts this year. We're hoping to add a hothouse to our deck this year as well as a staircase and deck out to our new expanded vege garden!
I'm still enjoying my lettuce, chard, green onions and see some beets and garlic sprouting!
I'm looking forward to tomatoes, cukes, basil, green beans, corn, zuccini, summer squash.
Love love love the fresh veges! Nancy

[Dilbert]

Hi Nancy -

gardening and cooking are a great pair!

sorry to hear about your greenhouse - I lost mine to a relocation and my thumbs are still mad at me. we're zone 5 so the greenhouse was a real boon to veggie gardening.

I horded my fresh stewed tomato & green peppers and we're down to our last quart - so it's definitely time to till !

[jfield]

Hi, Nancy--
Can't wait to hear about all your plantings and the great things you'll be cooking with all your produce!

[ninjabut]

Well, I'm not a huge winter gardener, but I still have chard, some onions, beets and lettuce.
I pick the lettuce and onions for salads and add chard to soups to add some extra nutrients. Sometimes I make a concoction with ground turkey and wrap it all in chard leaves.
We had frost this week, but I'm chomping at the bit and have started planting
Broccoli, carrots,peppers, more lettuce to be planted under green beans (tons!) tomatoes went in today! WooHoo! 2 cherry tomato plants will go into the new GH to , hopefully, last into the winter. Basil will find it's way between the tomatoes.
It's a little late in the season, but I'm looking for asparagus starts to enjoy in a couple of years.
I'm looking for wine barrels to really boost my herb gardens. I love surprising people with the great taste of fresh herbs and veges!
They are soo much better just walking out your back door and grabbing some than even buying from the organic (expensive) dept from your chi chi grocery store.
Even the "farmers market" has gone out of control!
I tasted some "spicey lettuce mix" and they wanted $12 per pound! I went out and bought a 6-pak of mesclun mix lettuces for under $3. I'll have to wait a few weeks, but I'm NOT paying those prices !
Nancy

[jfield]

The garden sounds like a delight, Nancy! Wish I were eating at your house. I have an idea for left-over winter beets for you. Steam-roast them (I just made that term up): wash, then put in a roasting pan with a little olive oil, hot water, some herbs and some salt. Just enough hot water to coat the pan--you don't want to braise them. Then, roast them until they are easily stabbed with a knife. Let them cool a bit, rub off their skins, slice them on a mandoline or with a good sharp knife and pickle them. Use a sweet pickling liquid base (internet search or your own). They'll keep for a long time and will be great in all your herby and delicious salads this spring and summer!

[kell]

Nancy, I wish I were your neighbor. We are Zone 3, a challenge in its own right ... with enough evil weeds to make outdoor gardening so much work that it's not even fun. :( Queen of those evil weeds is creeping jenny, aka bindweed. Had a greenhouse once upon a time and would dearly love another. DH and I frequently reminisce / think about another. Am plotting and planning a kitchen herb garden for the near future. Also, container gardening, maybe. I don't think tomatoes and peppers would be too great in my kitchen window. :D

[ninjabut]

Well, Kell, don't count anything out!
There is a container garden site at the garden web forum http://forums.gardenweb/forums/ there are very creative ways to grow your own veges!
Actually, peppers like containers because they like their soil to be warm! Even if you live in an apt., you can grow smallish tomatoes in an upside down 5 gal bucket hanging from the ceiling of a deck if you have a good amount of sun.
Most herbs can be grown in pots, or you can have a pretty good herb garden in a wine barrel! HTH Nancy

[kell]

Nancy, I am sooooo excited. I won a thousand bucks in a contest last week :shock: (honest!!) and we have decided to use it toward a greenhouse 8) !! I started "shopping" a little bit last week and now have my printer so I can print descriptions, pix, out for my DH who does not like looking at pc screens. What size is yours, and did you purchase it prefab or build your own from scratch? Thanks!!

[ninjabut]

Well, I have a Harbor Freight GH, 6x8 that was too small about 2 weeks after I got it!
Actually, I would NOT recommend it if you have any serious weather (I do believe you said you were in zone 3?). Mine held up pretty well until a couple of pretty serious storms (for No CA) hit with 90 MPH winds. I doubt a HFGH would withstand piles of snow.
If you go to that garden site that I listed a few posts back there is a GH site. These people are from all over and have done the research and building, heating and cooling. They know their stuff! My little GH is just to start seeds and keep frost off of sensitive plants in the winter (also to sit in, read and absorb warmth in the winter) I don't heat or cool it.
Sorry I'm not more help, but good luck and keep me posted!
To keep on topic, I plan to keep some peppers and sungold tomatoes growing in my GH throughout the winter this year. MMMMMMM fresh tomatoes and peppers in mid winter! Nancy

[ninjabut]

Well, growing in the greenhouse didn't work for me this year cause a major windstorm finally did it in! I do still have chard, lettuce, beets, leeks, and spinach alternative (don't know the name, but it lasted through heat of summer and cold of winter. Sweeter than spinach and very good!) I just pulled up the broccoli and brussel sprouts (the neighbor's goats LOVED them!)
I'm chompin at the bit to start planting, but my USDA last frost date isn't til Apr 15th! I have planted radishes, gr onions, carrots and more lettuce.
I'm adding 2 more raised beds this year and am studying fruit trees. I'm thinking of getting some grafted fruit trees that grow several kinds of fruit so we aren't overwhelmed with a certain type of fruit all at once! I freeze, but don't can things like jams and such. I don't use them.
The news is all a-buzz about "victory gardens", but I have a jump on them! LOL Nancy