Radio Silence

Our radio show, "Garden Talk," was abruptly cancelled last week when the station underwent a change in format from news/talk to alternative rock. Such is life these days in the radio business, or at least that is my understanding.

My co-hosts, Dr. Sue Hamilton and Andy Pulte, who have been doing the show much longer than I have, are determined to bring it back to the airwaves before next spring. We are researching possible venues and mustering our arguments.

I will update listeners as new information becomes available. In the meantime, folks can continue to send questions to knoxgardentalk@gmail.com or to post questions and photos on our Facebook page.

Readers of this blog are invited to send questions via the email link on the home page.

We welcome comments, suggestions for improvements, and anything else you would like to share regarding the "Garden Talk" program. Our plan is to create an even better, more informative, and more entertaining show as we seek a new, larger audience.

Although the 2015 garden has yielded up just about all of its delights, the current warm spell is prolonging the harvest for some crops. We are on track to have a great harvest of fall peas, especially given the good soaking rains we have received the past few days. We continue to harvest parsley and scallions, kale will be ready any day now, turnip greens are coming along, and the cilantro is lush and delicious. All indications point to some harvest well into November.

We have started some indoor crops that are thriving under artificial lights. If you like the flavor of fresh basil, but are appalled at its cost in the grocery store, your best bet is to grow a pot of 'Bush Spicy Globe' in a south-facing window or under lights. This variety has excellent flavor and will reach the size of a volleyball in a six-inch flowerpot. Grow it in any commercial potting mix, adding a half-teaspoon of timed-release fertilizer at planting time. You could also mix in an organic plant food, following the instructions on the package. Basil needs little attention, other than regular watering. Don't let the soil get dry enough for the plants to wilt. Clip sprigs for the kitchen judiciously until the plant is at least as large as a softball. Thereafter, you can snip with greater abandon. Keep plants producing by removing flower buds as they appear.

Want to start a vegetable garden next year, but not sure where to begin? Email for information about our Home Food First program. It's designed to help first time gardeners succeed, like having your own personal gardening coach.

Indoor Growing and a Word About Potatoes

If you cannot wait for spring, why not try growing a few veggies and herbs indoors this winter? A sunny windowsill or some artificial light will allow you not only to satisfy your gardening urge, but also to provide some welcome, out-of-season freshness in the kitchen.

If you have a south-facing window, you should be able to grow shade-tolerant greens and herbs. Some good ones to try are chervil, cilantro, and chives, all of which will grow without full sun. (In winter in Tennessee, a south-facing window is not nearly as bright as full summer sun.) With the addition of light, you can branch out into more demanding crops, like arugula, lettuce and corn salad.

I currently have an LED unit capable of illuminating about four square feet of growing space. We have lettuce, arugula, chives, chervil, cilantro, parsley and bak choy all growing well. LED lighting produces a lot of illumination for very little electricity. This unit, which is a prototype obtained from the manufacturer, consumes only 15 watts.

In two months, it will be time to plant potatoes. I mention this now, because you should now be ordering your seed potatoes online, if you want something other than the standard offerings we see around here. In my experience, Kennebec is the most common seed potato in the garden centers, with Red Pontiac being a close second. While I have seen heirlooms, most notably Irish Cobbler, available in recent years, they are not common. Another one you can often find is Yukon Gold, which is not only a great all-purpose potato but a good keeper, something important for home gardeners.

Contrary to popular belief, you can plant potatoes from the grocery store and they will grow. However, using them is not a good idea, as you may bring potato viruses, of which there are several, into your garden, making it difficult thereafter to produce potatoes. Play it safe and purchase certified virus free seed potatoes from a garden center or catalog.

Time for Early Plantings

Although the frigid temperatures outside may not be encouraging, now is the time to plant some slow growing crops for spring transplants. Leeks, celery, celery root and seed onions should all be started indoors by mid-January, in order to have plants ready for moving into the garden by the first week of March.

Gardeners with a coldframe should also think about starting lettuce and spinach indoors for moving to the coldframe in about a month. Other good early crop choices for coldframe production are corn salad, mizuna, bak choy, scallions, and mustards.

Free-standing coldframe

I have been experimenting with artificial light gardening for a number of years, and this season I am using an LED lighting system originally designed for aquarium illumination. While it is not ideal for plant production, it is certainly a far cry from the fluorescent shop lights I once used. The LED unit is compact, runs cool, uses only 15 watts of electricity and is producing a fine crop of microgreens and herbs for the kitchen.

If you are thinking about growing windowsill herbs this winter, start with chives, chervil and cilantro. They all grow easily from seed, do not mind crowding in the pot, and develop flavor at a young age. They all also tolerate light shade, and so will grow in a sunny window or under artificial lights more readily than more sun-loving crops. Cilantro microgreens only a couple of inches tall will brighten up your Latino or Asian dishes during the gloomy months. Chervil is almost too pretty to eat, but it adds a note of tarragon and parsley combined. Use it on vegetable or fish dishes, in particular. Chives can be used to bring a hint of onion flavor wherever you need it. If you start a few pots now and have some plants left over, you can transplant them to outdoor beds around the first of March, and they should grow and produce more herbs before the weather heats up. Chives is perennial, and clumps started from seed this spring may bloom next fall. They will certainly bloom when they are in their second season outside, especially if placed in full sun. Chervil will go to seed in May or June, as soon as the weather warms. Gather the needle-like seeds for a fall planting, and compost the rest of the plant. Chervil does not germinate well, so be sure to save a lot of seeds.

The First Hard Freeze

We received our first hard freeze earlier this week, when the thermometer dipped into the 20s. We harvested everything usable the day before the freeze was predicted, and now have the refrigerator stocked with lettuces, sorrel, and a nice mess of turnip greens.

With the arrival of the cold, the garden is pretty much done for the season, although the Lacinato kale is unfazed. This extremely hardy variety will continue to provide leaves for cooking off and on for most of the winter, although it will only grow if the weather warms up sufficiently. This variety is sometimes called "dinosaur kale" in the produce market, because the leaves look like they might be modeled after a reptile's skin. They are thick, dark green and highly nutritious. Kale can be used in any recipe calling for collards, turnip greens or other cooked greens.

This is the time of year to think about comfort foods loaded with rich sauces, protein and pasta or other carbs. Two of the most difficult things to provide from a home-scale garden are protein and grains. Both need to be produced in significant quantities, even for a small household, and sufficient space is seldom available. Legumes provide one of the most economical sources of protein, especially when purchased in dry form in the bulk section of the market. I always stock up on several kinds of beans, field peas, and peanuts in the fall, when the new crops will have arrived in the market.

Grains are also cheap when purchased in bulk. Rice, flour and cornmeal are the primary ones around our house. Gluten-free eaters will want multiple kinds of rice, and alternative grains such as quinoa, amaranth, and millet.

With regard to flour and cornmeal, as a native Southerner I insist upon White Lily flour for biscuits and pastry crust. I use all-purpose flour for everything else. I also prefer White Lily self-rising cornmeal mix for making cornbread that approximates my mother's version. It also makes a crispy breading for okra or fritters. I like coarse organic yellow cornmeal for polenta, but the grains are too large for breading, as they absorb too much grease and become gluey.

Mom's cornbread is easy and delicious, thanks to the White Lily, but it is not truly an old-fashioned recipe. To duplicate my grandmother's cornbread requires more effort. First, it is necessary to locate cornmeal made from regionally grown Tennessee Red Cob corn. This yellow corn was the only one my grandfather grew for making meal. It is still around, but difficult to find and expensive. Next, you will require a package of Benton's bacon. This is easy to come by, and is produced from the same type of heritage breed hogs my grandfather raised. You also need farm-fresh, free range eggs and real churned buttermilk. Both are now readily available. (Find all these products at Three Rivers Market.)

Old-Fashioned Tennessee Cornbread

In a 9-inch cast iron skillet over medium heat, cook three strips of bacon until crisp, remove them from the skillet and drain on paper towels. Save the bacon for another use, or crumble it and add it to the cornbread before adding the hot bacon drippings as described below. Reserve the drippings in the skillet. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Set the skillet in the oven to heat while you prepare the cornbread batter.

In a bowl combine 1 cup of cornmeal, 1/2 cup of White Lily flour (NOT self-rising), 1 teaspoon of baking soda and 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Mix these ingredients together with a wire whisk. In a separate small bowl, combine one whole egg and 1/2 cup of buttermilk, whisking to combine well. Make a well in the cornmeal mixture and add the liquid, whisking with a few quick strokes. Add more buttermilk if necessary to make a smooth batter. Using protective gloves, carefully remove the hot skillet from the oven and pour the bacon drippings into the batter. Quickly set the skillet on the stovetop and whisk the batter to combine. Pour the batter immediately into the hot skillet. It should sizzle. Return the skillet to the oven and bake until lightly browned on top, about 35 minutes. The cornbread should move when the skillet it shaken gently. Remove from the oven and tip out the cornbread on to a heatproof plate. Serve immediately.

Winter Arrives Early

Welcome to winter! It's only a couple of months early. Records were broken for snowfall all over our region, although none at all fell here at the house. East Tennessee received snow before Colorado's Front Range area, something that has not previously happened in living memory. Some areas of South Carolina received snow on November 1 for the first time since records have been kept. If this is any indication of the winter we have in store, we should all be making some preparations.

With the falling temperatures, the garden has rapidly entered dormancy. Our first killing frost occurred overnight, as evidenced by brown leaves and collapsed, mushy foliage. Turnip greens, collards and kale are all unfazed, however, and will continue to provide nutritious meals for another month, at least. The snap peas should hang on for a while, too. We will probably harvest the last of the pods today, but the shoots, the outermost 8 inches of each branch, will remain usable until we have a really hard freeze. I like to add pea shoots whole to stir fried dishes. Add them at the end, as you would spinach or another delicate vegetable. They are also good in other dishes where you might use blanched spinach as an ingredient.

Our last planting of lettuces has also fared well. They are located in a spot that is somewhat protected by tall grasses, and have escaped frost damage. Combined with a few of the cherry tomatoes that continue to ripen in the basket on the kitchen counter, they will make a few more salads before the weather finally does them in. Sorrel is another green crop that does not mind the cold too much. It adds a lemony note to salads, and can be added to soups, too. The leaves get particularly large and succulent during cool weather. Sorrel is a perennial, although in the Tennessee Valley it may heat-kill during a particularly oppressive summer season.The plants form a mound about two feet in diameter, and are easy to grow if you have a suitable spot. Sorrel likes water, and protection from harsh afternoon sun.

With the prospect of a bad winter, now is the time to make preparations in case you are without electricity, or the roads are impassable. Here in East Tennessee, it can sometimes take a long time for road crews to reach all the secondary roads, owing to the fact that most winters are mild. If you live away from the city as we do, it is possible to be stranded for a day or two. Therefore, we always try to anticipate problems and prepare for them.

If you have preserved some of your garden harvest, you should have a well-stocked pantry. Make sure you keep staples on hand. Flour, sugar, coffee, tea, rice, dried beans, oil and cornmeal constitute my short list. Don't forget paper products and soap. If you have pets, make sure to keep their foods on hand, too. We have gas heat, which is unlikely to be interrupted. Nevertheless, we keep a tank of propane and a propane indoor space heater in the garage, just in case. We also have a butane stove, and a couple of extra cans of fuel, so we can cook even if power for the electric range is out. This is also a good time to check your medicine cabinet for first aid items. If anyone in your family takes prescription medicine, be sure they have enough on hand to last a couple of days.

If you have children, also be prepared with games or whatever other activities you deem appropriate, in case they are home from school for a while.

Generally speaking, our worst winter disruptions only last a day or two. Taking a few simple precautions can make the difference between a miserable time and a relatively pleasant one.

Welcome Winter!

Today is the Winter Solstice. Yesterday, we had a minute more sun than today's allotment, which is 10 hours, the least of any day of the year. Tomorrow, we get a minute more. It is no wonder the ancients celebrated this "return" of the sun, because it meant for them the promise of a new growing season ahead, which in turn translated into food on the table. It is also no accident that the most important Christian holiday falls close to the solstice each year.

Gardening at this time of year is largely confined to locations where the temperature can be kept a little higher than outside, such as a coldframe. Only the hardiest vegetables can withstand long periods of cold and short, gloomy days. Kale, green onions and spinach are still harvestable in our garden, but not much else is. Even the cold-tolerant greens in the coldframe look a bit bedraggled, probably owing to lack of sun.

Now is a great time to start planning next year's garden. I have already received by Southern Exposure Seed Exchange catlaog. You can browse it or request a paper copy at www.southernexposure.com .

Next season, we plan to focus more on warm weather crops, as part of the ongoing research for my upcoming book about Southern food and food gardening. While we won't ignore spring greens and such, we will be devoting more space to corn, okra, black-eyed peas, sweet potatoes and other veggies traditionally associated with Southern cooking. And tomatoes, of course.

My research on Southern food has turned up some fabulous traditional recipes that I plan to include in the book. Here's an example of a classic with my personal touches:

Hoppin’ John

2 cups cooked black-eyed peas (from 1 cup dried)

1 tablespoon lard

2 tablespoons country ham, chopped

¼ medium onion, chopped

¼ teaspoon dried oregano

¼ teaspoon garlic powder

1 cup water, or more if needed

2 cups cooked rice

Wash, sort and soak 1 cup black-eyed peas overnight in water to cover. This should yield 2 cups of peas. In a large, heavy pot over medium heat, cook the ham in the lard until most of the fat is rendered, then add the onion and cook until it is transparent. Add seasonings, water and soaked black-eyed peas. The water should barely cover the peas. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a bare simmer. Cover and cook about 30 minutes, or until peas are tender. Add a little hot water if the mixture begins to get too dry. Stir the hot cooked rice into the peas gently and serve steaming in bowls.

Leftovers keep well, or try this take on cabbage rolls. Stuff blanched collard leaves (stems removed) with hoppin' John. Roll up into packets and place in a greased baking dish. Cover with Creole sauce or Italian tomato sauce and bake until the sauce bubbles. You can substitute cabbage, if you prefer. Savoy cabbage is in season in winter, and makes excellent rolls. 

Windowsill Herbs

A listener to the radio show asked about growing herbs at the windowsill during the winter months. Not many of the popular herbs grow well during the short days and cold weather of December and January, but three that do reasonably well are parsley, chives, and chervil.

Chervil is the most shade tolerant of the three. The seeds can be started any time of year and need a week or more to germinate. Plant several in a small pot and keep well watered. When the first true leaves appear, use a pair of scissors to clip off all but one plant at the soil line. Feed lightly every couple of weeks and transplant to a larger container as needed. When the plant is 6 inches or more in diameter, you can harvest a few leaves, and continue to do so for the remainder of the season. In March, you can transplant the chervil outdoors, where it will continue to provide fresh leaves, and, eventually, a huge supply of seeds for next year and to share with friends. Chervil is milder than parsley and has a hint of tarragon flavor, so it goes well with many foods, especially fish, chicken and many vegetables.

Parsley grown indoors never gets as large as plants in the garden, but nevertheless it does adapt to the warm, dry air and low light indoors. If you have a sunny window, you can either dig up a plant from the garden, pot it up and bring it in, or start new plants from seed. Follow the directions given above for chervil plants. To speed germination, soak parsley seeds in water for four days, changing the water every day. You will see the seeds change from almost black to light brown, as the water removes germination inhibitors. Plant the seeds on the fourth day, and they should sprout in a week or less. Parsley needs nitrogen to keep it green and flavorful, so don't be stingy with the fertilizer.Well-established garden parsley usually overwinters in east Tennessee, and can be picked any time it is not frozen. It will bolt quickly, however, with the arrival of spring.

Chives are among the easiest of onions to grow. Just sprinkle seeds in a pot about 8 inches in diameter and wait for them to get as large as you like before harvesting. Clip the leaves with scissors and allow them to re-grow. You can transplant chives into the garden in spring, where they will remain for years without much attention other than weeding. Chive blooms are beautiful in bouquets and tasty, too.

Other herbs to try indoors in winter are mints and rosemary. The latter is available now as a topiary shaped like a little Christmas tree. It is a delicious seasoning for poultry and pork. Mints may be started from seed, but it is easier to root cuttings from the grocery store. Select healthy looking cuttings, remove the bottom two pairs of leaves (use them in cooking) and re-cut the stems with a sharp knife. Set the cuttings in a glass of water and change the water every few days. Soon, the cuttings will root and you can pot them up. Do not fertilize mint, but do keep it moist.

Having a few fresh herbs around is a wonderful way to perk up winter meals.

Microgreens and Holiday Citrus

I hope everyone had an enjoyable and safe Thanksgiving holiday with family and friends. Our menu included sweet potatoes and cucumber pickles from last year's garden along with fresh herbs and greens from the greenhouse.

Even if you only have a sunny window available for winter gardening, you can continue growing food. I discussed sprouts in the last blog post. Microgreens are sprouts taken a little further along. They are grown in a potting medium, but you harvest when they are only a couple of inches tall. Some of the most popular microgreens are cilantro, beets and sunflowers. All of the brassicas make good microgreens, as well.

Cilantro microgreens are popular with gourmet chefs because they develop flavor at a young age and have lacy foliage. Beets make the cut owing to their bright red coloration. Sunflowers are allowed to grow to about three or four inches tall, at which time they can be made into a satisfying salad, all by themselves.

To grow microgreens, fill a shallow container with sterile potting soil, water well and sow seeds thickly, but otherwise as you would sow them in the garden. Make sure the container drains well, or the seeds will simply rot. I like to reuse plastic containers from the produce department of the grocery store. The pint cartons that mushrooms come in work well. Just poke a few holes in the bottom with a sharp instrument.

Water your indoor garden regularly and keep in a sunny window or under lights. Seeds should germinate in the time indicated on the package. Depending on the variety, this can be a few days to a week or more. When the seedlings are the size you want, harvest by clipping them off a ground level with a pair of scissors. Microgreens are a great addition to any salad, and help perk up the flavor of winter produce like greenhouse tomatoes.

We will soon be harvesting Meyer lemons. If you are only going to try one citrus tree in a container, this is the one to go for. I have made plenty of mistakes, but we still have 11 lemons in various stages of maturity.

Growing Sprouts

During the cold, damp and dreary days of late fall and winter, not much is going on in the garden. While cold-hardy greens can be produced under protection, growth slows with reduced light and cooler temperatures.

The accompanying photo, courtesy of Patrick Rakes, shows his abundant cold frame garden. Kale, spinach, lettuce and other greens are growing abundantly. The photo will give you an idea of how to construct a PVC support for plastic film, converting a raised bed into a cold frame.

One way to satisfy the gardening itch in winter is to grow sprouts. All you need is some simple equipment and a sunny windowsill or kitchen counter.  Seeds for sprouting are available in specialty food stores like Earthfare and Three Rivers Market. You can sprout leftover garden seeds, too, but just make sure they have not been treated with pesticide before you begin. Among the best choices for a beginning sprout garden is alfalfa.

While you can purchase a ready-made seed sprouter, all you really need is a wide mouth jar, a piece of cheesecloth, and a rubber band. To grow about two cups of alfalfa sprouts, place one tablespoon of seeds in the empty jar. Cover the mouth with the cheesecloth, securing it with the rubber band. Add enough lukewarm water to cover the seeds by an inch. Leave on the kitchen counter overnight. The next morning, drain, rinse well, and place in a warm, dark place, such as a cupboard. Rinse the seeds with cold tap water two or three times every day, and move the jar into the light when roots have developed and are over 1/4 inch long. Within about five days, you will have a jar of green, delicious sprouts. They will keep another week if placed in the refrigerator in an airtight container. Put a paper towel on the bottom of the storage container to absorb excess moisture, which will shorten storage life.

Many other seeds besides alfalfa can be used to grow sprouts. Radish, broccoli and mung beans are some of the most commonly sprouted seeds, but just about any vegetable seed can be tried. Commercial bean sprouts are grown from mung beans under special conditions. You will not be able to duplicate these conditions in the kitchen, but you nevertheless can produce acceptable bean sprouts.

Radish and other mustard family sprouts have a spicy flavor that perks up a salad. Try using a mixture of sprouts on a sandwich instead of lettuce. I particularly like sprouts with chicken salad and egg salad. Sprouts can also be used to garnish a variety of dishes, adding color, flavor and nutrition.

Sprouts have sometimes been cited as the source of bacterial infections in children, the elderly and people with compromised immune systems. Look for sprouting seeds that have been tested for contamination. This information will appear on the label. Observe proper sanitation in the kitchen when preparing sprouts, and you should not have any problems. It is worth noting that most reported issues have been with commercially mass-produced sprouts. Many producers now test each batch, so look for label assurances when you buy.

Discard the cheesecloth after each batch of sprouts, replacing it with a new one, or purchase perforated plastic lids that will fit a standard Mason jar. You can also purchase a complete sprouting system made from plastic. Either way, growing sprouts is a great way to garden when the weather outside is less than beckoning.

Cold Weather Gardening Tips

Now that we have had a couple of hard freezes, not much is growing in the garden. However, the cold hardy crops are holding well in the ground, and we are still harvesting. Last night I made a delicious vegetable stir fry with bak choy, kale, peppers (stored in the refrigerator since harvest), garlic, ginger and mushrooms, and only the mushrooms came from the market. With a little effort, I could have grown shiitakes, also. This veggie mélange made a great side for roast chicken.

With a simple cold frame, you can continue harvesting all the way to Christmas. I just finished pulling radishes from one of our walk-in cold frames, and we have plenty of arugula, corn salad, lettuce, green onions, and chervil. I expect to continue harvesting these until after Thanksgiving, and nothing beats a fresh salad for brightening up a comfort food meal on a chilly evening.

The first coldframe we ever used, and one of the easiest to construct, was made out of half-inch PVC pipe. We build raised beds about 3 feet by 8 feet. Five ten-foot long pieces of PVC pipe and a roll of transparent polyethylene sheeting will convert such a bed into a coldframe for about $20. Simply stick the pipe in the soil on one side of the bed, bend it over and similarly push it into the soil on the other side, forming a half-hoop to support the plastic. Place one pipe hoop at each end, and space the others each about three feet in from the ends. You can also use exterior screws to attach the pipe to the bed frame. Use the fifth piece of pipe to reinforce the others by running along the top of the hoops to form a "roof peak." Cut this piece of pipe to the required length, and secure it with duct tape or zip ties. The entire structure will be sturdier as a result. When the PVC frame is in place, cover with the plastic, anchored down with rocks or other weights along the edges. Instant coldframe! This arrangement is easy to disassemble and store when warm weather returns, also. As a rule, 4 mil polyethylene sheeting will last only one winter. If you want a more durable covering, use 6 mil polyethylene, which is a bit more costly.

You often read about the need to open a cold frame on warm days. We have found that unless the foliage of the plants is touching the transparent parts of the cold frame, there is little reason to do this. Plus, warming the soil helps keep the plants warmer that night. You may need to experiment to determine if your cold frame needs ventilating.

Time to get our your notebooks and start planning next year's garden. The seed catalogs will be arriving soon. If you plan to start your own transplants, remember that some, like celery, celery root, artichokes and leeks, need to be started in January because they grow so slowly.

Growing Undercover

With the arrival of the first frosts comes the time for season extenders that permit gardeners in the Valley to continue harvesting right on up until Christmas and beyond. By judicious selection of crop varieties, coupled with the use of a coldframe or unheated greenhouse, backyard farmers can continue production at least until the days grow short around the winter solstice.

Some crops have varieties bred to be planted out now for overwintering. Cabbage, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, leeks and onions are often grown this way. Transplants moved into the garden now will grow slowly and establish roots during the winter, before providing an extra-early harvest next spring. We have had great luck, for example, with the leek cultivar 'King Sieg,' when grown this way, and with the cabbage 'Savoy Perfection.'

The best way to extend the season is with a coldframe. This can be a very simple arrangement of straw bales with a couple of recycled window sashes on top, or a factory built structure. While we like the convenience of a walk-in space, a traditional raised-bed coldframe with a slanted, transparent top facing the sun will grow plenty of veggies. Don't imagine that you will produce tomatoes or cucumbers with such crude equipment! You will, however, be able to enjoy delicious lettuce, green onions, and various other salad greens in abundance. The key to coldframe salad production is to choose varieties that grow quickly and lend themselves to cut-and-come-again harvest. Arugula not only reaches harvestable size in about six weeks, it can be cut at least three times. Compact-growing bibb and buttercrunch lettuces are great choices for coldframe cultivation. Leaf lettuce varieties, like Black Seeded Simpson, are good for cutting more than once.

Take measures to protect coldframe crops from slugs. The warmth of the frame attracts the mollusks, which should be deterred with copper tape or wire and lured elsewhere with poisoned baits in the vicinity  of the coldframe. Do not place bait inside the frame or you will invite slugs in! Aphids sometimes invade coldframes. Spray plants with insecticidal soap to help deter them, and be prepared to thoroughly wash your harvest. A drop of dish detergent in a sink full of cold water will eliminate the aphids from your harvest on the first rinse. Rinse the leaves at least two more times to remove soap and any stray insects.

Our best outdoor crop following the frost is 'Lacinato' kale. This dark-leaved heirloom shrugs off the coldest weather we are likely to receive here in the Tennessee Valley, and can be picked at will throughout the winter months. I have learned the importance of letting plants develop a good root system in the garden before the first frost. They should be started, therefore, in August and transplanted in September. After a month, you can begin harvesting a leaf or two from each plant as you wish to use them.

Time remains to plant perennial onions, shallots and garlic for the rest of the month. Cover the bed with a layer of mulch to help protect emerging shoots. If you already have these crops growing from an earlier planting, mulching them now will result in improved production next spring, by helping to moderate swings in the soil temperature.

Frost Ends Summer Season

After taking a few days off to visit Washington, DC, last week, we are back with the blog. One of the highlights of our visit was the National Botanic Garden, where we strolled through the conservatory filled with tropical plants. See the photo below.

Last night saw the first killing frost we have received here in the Tennessee Valley, thus marking the end of the summer gardening season. Basil leaves hang blackened and mushy from the stalks. The okra stalks are similarly festooned with dead foliage. Nevertheless, the garden is not done yet.

Begonia colors at the National Botanic Garden

The Sugar Snap peas remain harvestable. Frost sometimes damages the pods slightly, but there is an easy remedy for this. Instead of eating them raw or cooking them gently, simmer them in stock with a little onion and celery, a few leaves of lettuce, and a sprig of parsley until they are really tender, then puree and strain for a delicious green pea soup. All the ingredients, except the celery, will do very well here even after a light frost. Celery grows well as a fall crop if started in early summer, but is ruined by frost damage. I prefer to purchase organic celery at the market.

As an experiment this year, we planted peppers in one of our 6 by 8 plastic walk-in coldframes. (The frames shelter two plots of garden soil that we use for various off-season crops.) Peppers love growing in close proximity to each other, and thrive with the light shade afforded by the frame cover during the hot summer months. Earlier this week, we closed the windows and door to protect the peppers from frost. It will be interesting to see how long this extends our harvest. We have certainly had a bumper crop already.

We are thinking about next year already, and considering a similar experiment with determinate tomato varieties in one of the coldframes.

From the unprotected garden beds we will be able to harvest bak choy, cilantro, kale, lettuce, onions, parsley and spinach for a few more weeks. We have salad crops growing in the coldframe, also. With the protection of the frame, we expect to harvest arugula, corn salad, and radishes until Christmas. Arugula and corn salad are two winter crops worth growing indoors, either under lights or in a south-facing window. The "window box" style planters we use will accommodate enough arugula for six servings, and can be cut three times before the plants wear out. I cut two servings every other day this past week, and the plants will regrow in ten to fourteen days. Similarly, corn salad will yield several nice bunches that can be harvested over a period of weeks. Either of these tasty greens provides a lift and added nutrition when combined with salad from the market.

You still have time to plant bulbs of perennial onions, winter onions, shallots and garlic. All of these should be watered well and mulched to protect them from the harsher weather soon to arrive.

Please check out The New American Homestead Store for books and plants. There is still time for fall planting in the Tennessee Valley!

Rain Bodes Good Leaf Display

At my house, we have received almost a half inch of rain since darkness fell last evening. We sure can use it. Despite our record summer rainfall, we have had a dry month so far. The soaker we are receiving should go a long way toward making up the "water debt." Not to mention allowing us to turn off the hose and keep the water bill down. Abundant moisture at this time of year typically helps produce a beautiful fall color display.

September is the month for lawn care, the perfect time to aerate, feed, over-seed and otherwise spruce up your cool season lawn. This is also a great time to go after winter annual weeds by applying a pre-emergence herbicide. Both chemical and organic versions exist, and they really save a lot of work by preventing weed seeds from germinating. Weeds that do appear should be removed promptly, to prevent them from producing a supply of seeds for next year.

Planting fall vegetables can continue through the month if you choose varieties wisely. For example, all the Asian mustards, such as bak choy, mizuna and tatsoi, grow well here in the autumn, and they mature a crop quickly, typically in less than two months. Seeds sown now will be ready to harvest around Halloween. Spinach is another great fall crop. It takes around 70 days to mature, but owing to its cold tolerance will keep right on growing even after frost arrives. Lettuce, which takes around 60 days to mature, can also be planted now, but the window is narrowing, unless you have a coldframe.

American Beautyberry

Speaking of coldframes, now is a good time to put out snail and slug bait around them. The pesky mollusks start looking for warm places to spend the winter months, and will move into your coldframe, feeding on your tender crops. Place bait around the perimeter of the frame, not inside. You don't want to invite the slugs in, but rather to stop them at the border. As I have mentioned before, a copper barrier is also effective.

If you plant by the moon, now is the correct time for root crops, like radishes, carrots and green onions, all of which thrive in cool weather. Radishes mature in a month, and carrots and green onions can be left in the ground all winter for harvesting as needed. Choose fast-maturing carrots to plant now, however, as their growth slows dramatically after the weather gets really cold.

With the autumnal equinox arriving on Sunday, we have about 60 days before the weather gets really bitter, so better get those seeds out this weekend. The weather is supposed to be beautiful tomorrow, and after the rain, the soil will be perfect for sowing seeds.

Our Plant of the Week on Garden Talk this morning is a little know edible ornamental, American beautyberry. Botanically Callicarpa americana, this easy-to-grow native shrub produces abundant, glossy purple berries in fall. The fruits contrast beautifully with the golden yellow fall foliage, and they can be harvested to produce jam or wine. Bear in mind, however, that you need a lot of berries, as the amount of pulp on each one is quite small. They don't taste inspiring, but when juiced and mixed with sugar, the berries provide a tart, pleasant flavor. The juice also has mosquito-repelling properties.

Grasses and the Food Garden

Backyard food gardeners seldom give much thought to grasses, unless they are struggling to keep Bermuda grass from invading a bed, or pulling up crabgrass seedlings. Nevertheless, it is fair to say that human civilization was built on a foundation of grass. In Mesopotamia, the ancestors of wheat were first domesticated. Rice was cultivated in Southeast Asia, and in Central America, the important grass was corn (or its ancestor). In Africa, the grass that provided needed nutrition was sugar cane. Domestication of all these crops, interestingly, occurred almost simultaneously, around 10,000 years ago. Humans have been utilizing grains for much longer, with evidence of flour production going back about 30,000 years.

Although it is theoretically possible to produce other grain crops on a small plot, the grain of most interest to backyard growers is undoubtedly corn. And we generally do not have room to produce anything but sweet corn for corn on the cob in the summer. Growing enough field corn to produce a worthwhile amount of cornmeal would be a challenge without additional space. Growing sugar cane or sorghum presents a similar problem. Except for a sweet corn patch, we won't be growing any grain crops.

While relying on commercial sources for our grain products, we nevertheless cultivate a substantial amount of grass in the form of hedges. When we first bought the house, there were two clumps of Japanese maiden grass (Miscanthus sinensis) standing sentinel at the front entrance. They were removed, divided and replanted elsewhere, mostly along the property lines, and over the intervening decade have increased in number to nearly 100 clumps. These are complemented by several clumps of pampas grass (Cortaderia selloana) here and there on the property. We love their towering plumes in autumn, and in spring before we harvest the plumes, they are much appreciated by nest-building birds as a source of lining material. Neither of these grasses sets viable seed in our climate. Over the course of ten years, we have discovered perhaps 20 Miscanthus seedlings and no Cortaderia. Given the large number of plants and the potential for seed production each plant offers, the number of Miscanthus seedlings is trivial. The plant is unlikely to become a pest, unless of course the climate gets a bit warmer.

In late January or February each year, it is necessary to cut the clumps of maiden grass to a height of about 18 inches. Trimming mimics the effects of dry season wildfires, removing old growth the make way for the new shoots pushing up in spring. In the case of the pampas grass, such pruning sets the plants back and prevents blooming the following season, so we now remove only the plumes. Our signal when the time has arrived to do this is that the plant begins to drop the plumes of its own accord. It is also worth mentioning that the blades of pampas grass have sharp, serrated edges, making it an excellent, nearly impenetrable hedge, but requiring caution and protective clothing when working with the plants.

Pampas grass plumes make excellent tinder for starting a fire. Most of the maiden grass we harvest we save as hay. Hay has multiple uses in a food garden. It provides a clean, weed-free source of mulch, and can easily be chopped into small pieces with a lawn mower to incorporate into the soil or compost. We constructed a holding bin out of pressure-treated deck railing to contain a supply of hay for adding to the composter. (Generally, when you add an inch of kitchen scraps, you should add a couple of inches of loose, dry material to your compost.)

We would encourage anyone with sufficient space to add a row of two maiden grass to the garden. The same plant can provide a privacy screen, a windbreak, a fall display and a supply of hay, depending upon the season. While it thrives on moisture and rich soil, maiden grass is adaptable and, once established, drought tolerant. Numerous cultivars are available, too. We like 'Zebrinus' which grows to about eight feet in height and has lime green stems with yellow markings. Importantly, maiden grass does not produce runners, forming only clumps that increase in diameter with each season's passing. It can therefore be grown in close proximity to crops without concerns about invasiveness.

Join Me for "Garden Talk" December 22

Please join me for "Garden Talk" on WNOX-FM 100.3 tomorrow (December 22nd) beginning at 8:00 AM. I will be co-hosting with Dr. Sue Hamilton, Director of UT Gardens. Listeners can call in with their gardening questions.

I will be posting information and questions/answers from the program on this blog tomorrow afternoon.

Garden Talk is sponsored by Stanley's Greenhouses. If you haven't seen what 50,000+ poinsettias in one place looks like, you should pay them a visit. I was there earlier in the week and the scene is stunningly beautiful. No pictures. You gotta go see for yourself.

Holiday Gardening Gifts

In case you missed it this morning, I co-hosted "Garden Talk" on WNOX-FM 100.3 with Dr. Susan Hamilton of UT Gardens. I'll be filling in for Andy Pulte, the "Garden Guy," from now until January 12. Please join us and call in with your gardening questions!

Today's topic was "Plants To Give As Gifts." We focused on plants that look great this time of year, and that will be available in the local garden centers for gift giving. Because winter is the best time to transplant trees and shrubs, our discussion focused mostly on woody plants. But there's something for every garden in the list we made: big, little, slow-growing, fast-growing, shade and sun. The perfect plant for that special gardener in your life is out there waiting for a new home.


Here are some of our top choices:

• Winterberry holly, especially the cultivar 'Red Sprite' (pictured above)
• American holly, the traditional, slow-growing tree
• Yaupon holly, especially the dwarf, weeping cultivar introduced by Don Shadow
• Pyracantha
• False-cypress, many varieties to choose from
• Dwarf Alberta spruce
• Arborvitae, many varieties to choose from
• Virginia sweetspire, especially the cultivar 'Henry's Garnet'

We also suggested looking at the many planted containers offered by local garden centers such as Stanley's Greenhouses and Ellenburg Nursery. These usually feature dwarf evergreens, along with flowering annuals such as violas and pansies, that will last through the winter and in many cases can be planted out next spring.

We received a great question from a local caller: Which evergreens should I choose for fragrance? We seldom think about this aspect of the contribution that many conifers make to the garden, so it took both Sue and I a moment to come up with balsam fir, Abies balsamea. This tree is native to northeastern North America, from Newfoundland south to West Virginia. Further south, it is replaced in the mountains by Abies frasieri, Frasier's fir, a plant now threatened with extinction due to infestation by the balsam wooly adelgid. Balsam fir likes colder conditions that we typically experience in the Tennessee Valley, but may adapt if it receives some afternoon shade in the summer. A good substitute would be Korean fir, A. koreana. Much easier to grow, Colorado blue spruce, Picea pungens, received its botanical name due to its strong scent. The dwarf cultivar 'Baby Blue Eyes' remains small enough for most backyards.

If you do purchase trees and shrubs for holiday gifts, remember that these plants are accustomed to being outside in the cold at this time of year, and should not be brought indoors for more than 24 hours. Enjoy them during Christmas, then transplant them to the garden as soon as possible. Last year, we kept two evergreen trees on the front porch. We slipped the nursery containers inside two large decorative pots, and then trimmed the trees with lights. After New Year's we moved them to the garden, where they are thriving and look great against a backdrop of dark foliage from our Leyland cypress trees.

Please join us next week for another edition of "Garden Talk," Saturday, 8:00 AM, WNOX-FM 100.3