Garden Season Begins

No kidding. The 2014 gardening season has already begun. Seed catalogs appear in mailboxes and inboxes, and despite the howling cold wind outside, some people will be starting plants this month.

If you have a small greenhouse or an indoor space with plenty of light, some of the vegetable seeds that should be started later this month include globe artichoke, celery, leeks, and onions. Cool weather ornamentals, such as snapdragon and stock, should also be seeded now. All of these are slow-growing as seedlings, and all need to be ready to transplant by March. Just remember you will need enough room to accommodate the plants as they grow. I have made the mistake of starting too many seeds more than once, and then run out of room to grow them to transplant size. If you find yourself in this situation, one remedy is to move everything outdoors during the day, as long as the temperature is high enough, and then bring everything back in before dark.

I look forward to receiving the catalog from Southern Exposure Seed Exchange every year. While I rely on Knoxville's own Mayo Seed Company for many old stand-by vegetable varieties, I choose most of the seeds for heirloom varieties from Southern Exposure. The company also has a seed rack at Three Rivers Market, for those who prefer to browse in person.

Several varieties have captured my interest this year. Here is a brief rundown.

Greasy Beans--Although several varieties are not available this year, the ones that are should be worth a try. 'Cherokee Greasy' is best as a dried bean, while 'Red-Striped Greasy' can be used green or dry. Both are pole beans. "Greasy" beans lack hairs on the pod, giving them a shiny, slippery look. They keep much longer after harvest than most other beans, allowing you to accumulate a "mess" of beans over several days, if you only have room for one or two vines. The flavor is excellent. Greasy beans may also be available from Mayo.

Cabbage 'Savoy Perfection'--This is an excellent cold-weather cabbage. I am experimenting this year with overwintering a couple of plants. The idea is for them to form heads for an early March crop. It grows well as a fall cabbage, also, and the heads are almost too pretty to harvest.

Open-Pollinated Corn--If you want to taste what "real" sweet corn used to taste like, you'll have to grow these varieties that have not had their genes tinkered with by plant breeders. Two that caught my eye are 'Country Gentleman,' in which the kernels are arranged randomly, rather than in rows, and 'Golden Bantam,' an old Burpee introduction that bears well on small plants that can be closely spaced. With either of these, however, the window for harvesting at the milk stage is very narrow. These are the types of corn that inspired the old saying, "Have the water boiling on the stove before you go out to the garden to harvest corn on the cob."

Greens--Seems like Southern Exposure constantly expands their offerings of greens. Cress, kale, mustards, Swiss chard, and more for the greens lover. Many greens are great cool to cold weather crops for the Tennessee Valley. I plan to harvest 'Lacinato' kale from an outdoor bed this afternoon, as soon as the leaves thaw. Of particular note, "Winter Bloomsdale' spinach, which has been unavailable for a while, is back.

Okra--Another veggie where the selection of heirlooms seems ever-expanding. For those with limited space, try 'Lee,' a 1978 release from the University of Arkansas that bears well on 5-foot plants. You might also want to consider one of several red-podded varieties. The contrasting color makes them harder to miss when picking. Leaving pods on the plant to mature reduces production.

'Polecat' Pea from Southern Exposure

Southern Peas--Depending upon where you live, these may be called cowpeas, crowder peas, field peas, or black-eyed peas. They are actually not native to the Americas, like regular garden beans, but made there way here from Asia via Africans who were brought here against their will. Well-adapted to warm southern summers, the numerous varieties of southern peas result from four hundred years of selection. In some cases, as with 'Piggott Pea,' the family who developed the strain kept it to themselves for most of its history. The ability of southern peas to thrive in poor soil (red clay!) is remarkable.

Squash--If your zucchini is plagued by squash borers, try growing butternut winter squash instead. The borers leave it alone. Three varieties to investigate are 'Burpee's Butternut' (bush), 'Tahitian Melon,' and 'Waltham Butternut,' the latter two both vining types that need plenty of room to run or a sturdy trellis.

Tomatoes--For tomato enthusiasts, Southern Exposure offers nine pages of listings. Have fun, but bear in mind that heirloom tomatoes may not be as productive or as easy to grow as hybrid varieties with multiple disease resistance. Every time I grow heirlooms, I have some successes and some failures.

Those are the high points, but I have barely scratched the surface of this one catalog. Many more will soon arrive, each with some irresistible new seed to tempt me. Perusing them is a great way to spend time while the outdoors is in the deep freeze.

Ah, the Summer Harvest

I hope everyone had a fun and safe (if wet) Fourth of July. We marked it by staying home and just taking it easy. The Independence Day holiday typically sees the first harvest of cucumbers, and this year was no exception. I picked two pounds and placed them in brine on Thursday afternoon. On Friday, I added a couple more. If more have matured by today, I will also add them to the crock. They will remain there for 14 days. This produces a "long-brined" cucumber that can be turned into various kinds of pickles. My favorite remains the sweet pickles my grandmother made, and I still make a batch using her recipe every summer.

Cucumbers can be turned into all sorts of pickles, of course. Check out the easy raw-pack dill pickle recipe on the In the Kitchen Page. You can find many other pickle recipes online. Fresh cucumbers can also be pickled in the refrigerator, if you have a couple of hours before dinner to prep them. Simply trim and slice the cucumbers into thin rounds, toss with a little salt, and set them in the refrigerator for an hour. Rinse, drain them well, and add a few dashes of vinegar, some freshly ground pepper, and, if you wish, some chopped onion or chives. Use these refrigerator pickles for a salad topping, or as a side dish with something rich, like a curry.

Our triumph this season has been artichokes. We harvested a total of four large ones and eight small ones from our single plant of 'Imperial Star.' The small ones are delicious when prepped as described below. If you did not grow them this year, you can find baby artichokes in the market in summertime.

Roasted Baby Artichokes

On the counter, have ready a large bowl of cold water to which you have added the juice of half a lemon. On the stove, bring a large pot of water, to which you have added the juice from the other half of the lemon, to a boil. Starting at the bottom, bend back and break off the leaves of each artichoke, working around the natural layers, until no hint of purple coloration is visible and all the exposed leaves are yellow-green. With a paring knife, carefully trim off the stem and any leaf bits remaining at the base of the bud. With a chef's knife, cut across and trim off the top half inch of the artichoke, then divide it in half lengthwise. Drop these halves in the prepared bowl of water. When all the buds have been prepared and the water is boiling, drain the artichokes and drop them into the pot. Set a timer for three minutes and refill the bowl with cold water and some ice. (No need for more lemon juice.) When the timer chimes, turn off the heat and use a slotted spoon to transfer the cooked artichokes to the bowl of ice water. Let them sit for two or three minutes, then drain well. Using a melon baller, remove the small bit of hairy "choke" at the base of the innermost leaves and discard it. Drain the artichokes thoroughly on paper towels and refrigerate. They can be prepared up to two days ahead. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Place the artichokes in an oiled baking dish large enough to just hold them in one layer, and drizzle with a little extra-virgin olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake the artichokes until they are beginning to brown, about 25 minutes. Serve hot with a cheese sauce, or at room temperature with a vinaigrette dressing.

Green Beans Arriving

The first green beans arrived in the markets a couple of weeks ago, and ours are just now hitting their stride. We grew three types this year, spacing the plantings a couple of weeks apart so we don't get inundated with fresh beans. Roma II, a flat Italian type, started our harvest. These beans taste best with long cooking, and--in true East Tennessee fashion--the addition of a little bacon fat to the cooking water. This produces green beans prepared "as God intended," according to my friend, Glenda Ross of www.eatyouryard.biz. Our next harvest should be ready in a few days, as we have already picked a few early arrivals. This one is 'Goldrush,' a yellow wax bean perfect for quick cooking. Wax beans also star in bean salads, a favorite for picnics and potlucks. Just emerging from the warm, damp soil are seedlings of 'Provider.' This one is a round, brown-seeded bean good for canning and freezing as well as fresh eating. To freeze beans, simply toss the washed, trimmed beans into rapidly boiling salted water for three minutes, drain, and immediately place in an ice water bath to stop the cooking and set the color. Drain them thoroughly, dry on kitchen towels and pack into freezer bags. Don't forget to label the bags with the date. I prefer to use home frozen beans within three months. Canning green beans requires a pressure canner. It is dangerous to use other methods. Instructions are widely available if you choose to invest in a canner. We eat most of our beans soon after they are picked and seldom can them, but green beans are a great first subject for a home canning project.

Surrounded by Nature

Ah, summer! Our weather has been nearly perfect for gardens this month, with periods of rain and sunshine. We did lose a tree limb to high winds earlier in the week, and the power was out during the night, but we survived, and the tree will, too. The long evenings provide a great opportunity to sit in the shade near the pond, surrounded by Nature.

We added more dragonfly observations to the pond list this week. A female green darner (Anax junius) visited long enough to lay eggs among the roots of the water hyacinths. Another species, also laying eggs, kept moving so quickly that I could not at first identify her. When she finally alighted, I could see her brown body with distinct marking of the abdominal segments, and wings with big black dots on them. She was the female common whitetail (Plathemis lydia). The green darner perched on the leaves of the water hyacinths and probed with her ovipositor below, depositing eggs among the plant's violet-black roots. The whole process took perhaps 15 seconds and she was on her way. The common whitetail skimmed the surface, dipping her ovipositor into the water at widely spaced intervals. She made three passes across the pond, dipping four or five times on each pass. Later the same day, we observed a blue dasher (Pachydiplax longipennis) laying eggs among the water hyacinths, in a manner similar to the behavior of the green darner.


While out running errands recently, I could not help but notice the display of blue chicory and white Queen Anne's lace that decorates the interstate exit near the house. Both these "wildflowers" are escapees from our vegetable gardens, being, respectively, endive and carrots.

I also want to mention one of our most maligned trees, the mimosa, Albizia julibrissin. Wild ones blooming along the interstate are beautiful, and the range of colors is remarkable. Some are creamy white, while others are bright fuschia. Not enough has been done to tame this Asian tree, which was introduced to America in 1785. They are short lived, and seedlings can be weedy, but a well-grown specimen is a joy to behold and to smell. Tincture of mimosa flowers has been used for centuries as an anti-depressant. Mimosa tolerates poor soils, drought and bitter winters, and blooms for about a month. Breeders should work on a cultivar that does not make viable seeds.

Victory in the Vegetable Garden
We harvested our first artichokes this week, and they are delicious. Artichoke is not an easy vegetable to produce in the Tennessee Valley. I have been trying for several years, and this is my first success. I attribute the difference this year to two factors. One, we grew the plants in "raised bed mix" from Hines Fine Soils. This combination of topsoil and mushroom compost seems perfect for our veggies, as they are all performing better than last season. Secondly, we have had abundant rainfall, something that artichokes love. I purchased a plant of the cultivar 'Imperial Star' from Ellenburg Nursery in April, and transplanted it immediately. I added cottonseed meal to the soil before planting, and irrigated a few times during dry spells. Besides the main bud, we harvested a large secondary bud and we have a couple more large secondary buds, and several smaller ones, yet to pick. If you like artichokes, growing your own can be a fun project, but they do take a lot of space, about one square yard per plant. Imperial Star was developed for areas where other artichokes might not overwinter, and produces a crop in the first season from seed. Other varieties take at least two years to bear, and in Tennessee may winter kill their first year. Milder winters may increase our chances for success in bringing this tasty thistle through the winter.

We picked our first cucumbers this week, and the vines are blooming profusely. It will soon be time to start a batch of sweet pickles. Beans are coming along, and the first tomatoes are large enough to start showing a little color soon. A few of the corn plants are tasseling up.

Summer is definitely surrounding us with abundance.