Cycles of The Garden and Life

Thanksgiving Day was warm, about 70º. Then, in the evening, a north wind began to blow and is still blowing almost 24 hours later.  Today’s high temperature is 39º and tonight the thermometer is expected to plunge to 18º, by far the coldest night this fall.

Realizing that row covers can’t protect the plants from freezing indefinitely, we decided to cash in our chips by harvesting most of the fall garden.

Most of the plants still look pretty healthy, but the radicchio and escarole are frost-bitten on some of their leaf tips. We cut the escarole, which is more advanced and salvagable, but left the radicchio to decay because the heads still haven’t formed.

We’re leaving the kale for now, with a triple row cover. Kale is the most frost-hardy of all the greens we planted this fall. We cut all the arugula, enough to make four nice salads. More arugula is coming on in the cold frame, along with lettuce and spinach, so we should have continuous home-grown salads for another month or more.

Dennis pulled all the turnips. I'm sorry I forgot to harvest the rest of the volunteer cilantro, seen in the lower right of this photo. We've been enjoying it in salads for weeks. 

The turnip tops were a bit weary so Dennis cut them off as a treat for the chickens. They had been hiding in their house most of the day, but the fresh greens brought them out into the sunshine.

Excepting the kale, that about does it for this year’s fall garden, but, as we all know, there is no ending without a beginning, for that is the nature of cycles. Here, indeed, is the beginning of next summer’s harvest: garlic and shallots have sprouted and will grow a bit whenever the winter weather warms. They will take off running in the spring and be ready to harvest by early July.

I’m thankful for the multitudinous cycles of life, none more so than the succession of generations of people. As one crop ages, another is maturing. As one crop dies a new crop is born.

This phenomenon manifests in many ways, one of which is who hosts Thanksgiving. For many years family and friends came here. But this year Oz and Marianne invited us to join them and their family and friends. All I had to do was make two pies. I reveled in seeing the generational cycle move forward one more notch. In future years I will be gone but babies will be crawling on the floor, bearing my genes.

Here’s to the cooks!

And here’s to the eager young and middle-aged hands reaching for that delicious, traditional food!

Copyright 2012 by Shirley Domer

Early on A Frosty Morning

For the second night in a row the temperature dropped to 24º – at least that’s what the thermometer read at 6:00 this morning. By 10:30 it had warmed to 34º so we headed to the garden to plant garlic and shallots and to harvest some greens.

Dennis had put row covers on the fall greens a couple of days ago. Now he began preparation of the garlic/shallot bed.

A bit later he stopped digging to uncover the greens. Wow! These plants are very cold-tolerant. We have arugula, kale, turnips, escarole and radicchio this fall.

 The radicchio is beginning to form heads.

Even though I had thinned the turnips before, they still are way too thick. I managed to thin most of a short row before my hands got too cold. I brought a large basket of arugula and turnips to the kitchen. The little turnips are not my main interest; I want the greens.

Here’s a sink full waiting to be cleaned.

To cook turnip greens, I shred them into small pieces.

In a skillet or saucepan soften some chopped garlic in olive oil. Add the shredded turnip greens and a bit of water. Stir, cover the pan and let the greens steam. Stir occasionally and add a few drops of water if needed.

The greens are good served with some pepper vinegar and topped with chopped hard-boiled egg.

Oh, yes, Dennis is still out there, digging the garlic bed. Cleaning the greens can wait; I’d better go lend him some moral support.

Copyright 2012 by Shirley Domer

In The Time of Long Shadows

This is the time of long shadows. Hanging low in the southern sky, the sun elongates shadows of utility poles, trees and houses to twice their size. Driving toward the south we are blinded without sunglasses.

This is the time, too, of relentless grey skies. On these days we crave sunlight and sleep too much. The hens don't lay as many eggs. Everyone seems a bit lethargic and cranky.

Thankfully, even on these overcast days, bright spots remain in the garden. Broccoli heads are forming now.

And the turnips!

With or without row cover (the white stuff) they are thriving despite several night-time temperatures in the low twenties and many below freezing. Here's why: turnips grow wild in Siberia.

I pulled some for our supper tonight. I'll cook both the tops and the roots and give the hens the big outer leaves I reject.

Here it is, November 20, and we're still eating fresh greens grown right here in Paradise. Aint life grand?

Fall Garden

Every spring my dad planted a garden to supply fresh vegetables for our family. Lettuce and radishes were the first to be harvested, followed by green beans and onions, potatoes, corn and tomatoes. He also planted peppers, but always harvested them before they fleshed out. When the first frost hit, that was the end of the garden.

For some reason Dad never planted a fall garden. Maybe he was too busy farming or maybe he didn't know it was possible. No one else in our little town planted one either.

When I started gardening I did it just like Dad did, but I kept reading about fall gardens. Finally the idea of fresh vegetables in the fall overcame my doubts about planting a garden in the heat of August. I planted some fall greens. Oh, they were delicious! Now a fall garden has become traditional for us.

This year's garden is a spot of rich green in an otherwise ocher and russet landscape. The plants have shrugged off several nights of temperatures in the twenties and kept right on growing. The white cloths are row covers that we will use to protect the plants when night time temperatures fall even lower. Yesterday, November 2, I took these photos.

Beyond the parsley are the cruciferous vegetables, then arugula and turnips. 

Little Brussels sprouts are forming along the central stalks.

Cauliflower leaves are curling inward, indicating that a head of cauliflower is forming.

Elsewhere, spinach and lettuce crowd the cold frames where they are protected from freezing nights.

We've been harvesting fresh vegetables for nine months now and expect to continue through this month.  Both Dennis and I were fortunate to grow up in homes where gardening was an integral part of life.  Our dads set us on this path, for which we are thankful.