2010 Season

This season started off later than I'd hoped. It's been a wet and cold spring. This is how the year has shaped up so far and what I have planned:

- Soil! Last year I had great success with green beans and tried planting directly into the garden beds with them this year without much amended soil. They've been slow and stunted. You absolutely must have nutrient rich soil, always. Home Depot has garden soil bags for sale right now for about $5 for a large bag (100 lb bags or so). I have 5 raised beds of about 30 sq. ft that, according to these bags, requires 2 each. I put 2 bags into 2 beds, and one bag into the rest. So far so good.

- If you're into this stuff as much as I am, you'll learn to know how to start seeds indoors. It can be as simple or as complex as you have time and money for. It's also useful if you haven't had time to work your garden bed yet or the weather hasn't cooperated. Tips on starting seeds indoors:

1. Plant seeds in small peat moss pots or other biodegradable pot using a "seed starting" soil mix. Place them in a plastic container or tray that can not only hold water but be covered with plastic. You can water them from the bottom up this way, and the plastic covering helps keep soil warm and moist. Seeds generally need 72 to 82 degree soil temps and light, although some (like the tobacco I'm growing) germinate faster in pure darkness (must be the sinful nature of the plant!!)

2. There are special lights you can get to offer your seedlings, but in general the cheapest and most convenient system you can set up is an adjustable desk lamp using a CFL fluorescent bulb that's at least 2700k, higher if you can.

With proper water, light and heat you'll be germinatin' in no time. Sometimes as quick as 3 days under perfect conditions!

- Just spent all day Sunday working over 4 of the 5 beds. Hand tilled about 6 inches and mixed in the new soil. I planted roughly 25 green beans, 10 soybeans, 15 butterleaf lettuce, 10 onion, 4 broccoli, 6 "Big Beef" tomatoes, 3 grape tomatoes, 3 small sugar pumpkin, one strawberry plant and who knows how many sunflowers.

- Growing Pennsylvania Red tobacco this year. Or trying to anyway. Dug up a brand new bed for these, two rows about 40 sq. feet each. I don't smoke cigarettes but love a good cigar once in awhile and the Penn Red supposed to be good for that. I also have 3 other types that I'll try next year. This is going to be a long and interesting project for me. First off the seeds are the size of a pin head. They grow above-soil and in darkness. Once they germinate though you take care of them as you would a tomato plant.

The Penn Red will grow about 4-5 feet high, with long and broad leaves within 90 days. I started late but should be OK. Each plant makes about 4-5 oz. of tobacco. The process apparently isn't easy. First you need to grow the plant successfully, then harvest and dry the leaves which cannot be dried too fast or too slow.

Once dried they can technically be smoked and get a large hit of nicotine, but unless you're Josey Wales or William Munny you'll probably hack your eyeballs out of your skull from the harshness. They call smoking naturally dried leaves near the plants "field smokes", basically rolling it up a lighting it. Apparently this was how it was done for a long time until they figured out that storing it in the hull of a humid, hot ship for months made it taste better!

Tobacco then needs to be cured over time to make it smoother. Most commercial tobacco is cured from 1 to 5 years, but the home grower can successfully do it in 4-5 weeks. But, the longer the cure, the smoother it gets. Just like my beloved scotch!

It's shaping up to possibly be my best year yet. I've learned a lot and I can't believe I'm already in my 3rd year doing this. Future projects this year include making my own composter and small greenhouse to start seeds next Feb/March.

Thai Lettuce Wraps

The title of this recipe reveals an obvious departure in the use of entirely local ingredients. Fortunately (depending on one's standards), healthy and sustainable food needn't be entirely from within state lines. In fact, the type of food and how, where and when it is produced often have more bearing on health and environment than the distance it travelled to your plate.

You may be wondering, if 'food miles' aren't a major issue, why bother with local food? This is a broader topic that I'll address in subsequent blog entries, but safe to say there are substantial benefits of local food distribution that go beyond mileage.

Returning to the topic at hand - lettuce wraps - here's a crispy, high-protein treat that's perfect on a hot summer evening. Since I more or less threw this together on a whim, let's dispense with formal measurements:

• Lettuce leaves (washed)
• Peanuts
• Peanut sauce (prepared or homemade)
• Extra firm tofu
• Brown rice (cooked)
• Garlic, chopped
• Chili pepper, chopped
• Cilantro
• Olive oil
• Lime/lemon juice

Tofu prep: Tofu, straight of the box, tends to be a bit watery. For a chewier texture, cut a package of tofu into cubes, apply light pressure (not so much that you mash it into soymilk) to drain off water, then place them in the freezer. When ready to use, thaw, apply pressure and drain additional water.

Sautee the garlic and chili in olive oil. Add peanuts, tofu and peanut sauce. Cook until tofu is browned.

Remove spines from lettuce (the crunchy parts don't wrap very well). Wrap tofu mixture, cilantro, brown rice and a dash of lemon. Dip in peanut sauce.

When wraps inevitably fall apart, resort to fork.

Slow Start!

It's been over month now since I started some tomato and jalapeno seed indoors. Almost all the seeds took and have grown well, despite only getting a couple hours of waning light a day. The house kept the soil warm though which is the most important factor early on. Three weeks ago I planted spinach and sunflower from seed directly in the garden, and they've all seeded easily. There's been almost constant rain for two weeks and haven't been able to do anything in the garden as the soil is too soggy, but maybe next weekend.

One thing I'm learning about growing indoors first is that the plants need to be "hardened" before directly transplanting them outside. I put out the tomato plants one day, each being small with two leaves each, and were in the sun too long and some scalded. They've mostly recovered but I've yanked a few out, which I had to do anyway as I seeded two per pot, and left the stronger ones in there. But in the future I need to put them out for an hour at a time at first, away from the sun, then gradually extend their time outside and also ease in their exposure to direct sunlight. I have no idea if they'll be "hardened" enough to transplant when I do, but I'll find out quickly enough if they fry in the sun!

But, these were simply an attempt to get some produce earlier in the season. Even if they all get wiped out I'm still planting tomato and jalapeno from seed. The spinach only takes 45 days to mature so I should have a bunch by early June. They aren't a summer plant so in the fall I can plant the rest along with the pumpkins.

On a somewhat unrelated note, for anyone looking to keep the extra weight off this summer I recommend two things: Special K (or the superior generic Shaws brand which has 1 extra gram of protein, is cheaper and stays crispier longer in milk, hell yeah!) and fresh fruit. I eat a big bowl of this with fruit on top twice a day and eat a somewhat normal, healthy meal for lunch or dinner. Shaws has had $2 blackberries and I eat a container of that for dessert. My blackberry bush is blooming strong right now so I'm hoping I'll have my own this summer if I can keep the birds, bears and squirrels away from it. I sprinkled some organic animal repellant around but I have a feeling I'll need some kind of netting, or possibly a machine gun.

Spring 2009! Let's get it started.

It's about that time again. Year Two of Scott Farm has officially begun. If you followed last years blog you'd remember it was a pretty difficult first year for an inexperienced gardener. Between insects, diseases, freak hailstorms and squirrels I had my hands full but I still managed to get a crapload of veggies and learned a lot of hard lessons.

This year I'm armed with more knowledge and experience, plus a fantastic companion book called "Rodale's Complete Guide to Organic Gardening". When it says "Complete" it means it. It has everything from A to Z, plus troubleshooting for all your plants whether it be with the soil, insects or diseases specific to those plants. Highly recommended!

As you can see from the photo I'm mostly starting from seed this year. I have green beans, spinach, two types of tomatoes, pumpkin, jalapenos and broccoli. I also have two sapling basil plants and plan to get some white onion bulbs to finish out the garden. The pumpkin I'm planting sometime in June so they're ready for Mia's first birthday as we're planning a "fallsy" backyard birthday for her. Yeah I said "fallsy".

You need to start growing something. Even if you don't think you have the room, you do. You don't need land. Just some pots, soil, a plant, good sunlight and water. If you've never grown anything yourself now is the time. It's tastier, healthier, cheaper and just fun to do.

There's a reason most of us don't eat as healthy as we should. Good produce at the store is expensive and doesn't keep long. For about $5 you can grow dozens of tomatoes from spring to fall with just one plant. Last year I had cucumbers and I scratched my head about why mine looked so different from the store versions. The store ships them from west coast to east coast and coats them in wax to preserve. By the time I buy one it looks like a shiny turd that will go rotten in my fridge in a few days. I had cucumbers from my garden in my fridge for almost a month and they were as fresh and tasty as if I'd just picked them.

Not only do you get fresher produce that tastes 100x better than the store stuff, but if you can manage your garden organically then you know there are zero pesticides or fungicides in the food you eat. You don't have to worry about a salmonella outbreak in your spinach because you got yours from your garden, and unless you're out there taking a crap in the soil you won't have a problem.

For first year gardeners who don't have any land to work with, go to your local nursery (or even Home Depot if that's all that is around) in a few weeks and buy sapling plants. They've already grown from seed and are about 3-6 inches high, all you need to do is put them in a pot and take care of 'em. Most produce will start maturing in 2 months, and from that point on you'll be getting a steady supply of it until the fall and even winter if you keep it out of the cold.

Any questions, let me know and if you have your own "Recession Garden" starting I'd like to hear about what you're doing.

You've Been Winterized!

Yesterday I began winterizing the garden. What does this mean you say? Good question because I didn't really know until this past week either! This is the process of preparing the garden for next year's crop. It involves cleaning up all the old plants, weeds, etc., tilling the soil, planning what you'll plant next year and where, etc.

I also went a step further and planted rye grass on the tilled soil. This grows before the snow arrives, then in the spring comes back and a couple weeks before you plant, you till that grass into the soil and let it compost to add nutrients for your veggies.

I've also dug three more plots in the backyard and will probably do one more and essentially double the size of what I can plant.

I'll be focusing my crop much better next year. Instead of nine different veggies, I'll likely cut that in half and focus on more staple foods and just have more of them. The main reasoning behind that is the project I plan on getting up and running, the food stand.

I'll be working with Brent and our friend Jon in developing exactly what this stand will be and look like and its main purpose. Its primary purpose will be to have available for the local neighborhood, cheap healthy food for purchase or trade. It will not be 'manned' but will go on the honor system. They'll be able to get the same, and better veggies than at the local grocery store and people will be urged to pay whatever they feel is fair (with a recommended minimum price).

It will also be a source of information, the main one being to promote local gardening. In another blog of mine, I've been vocal about the economy for the past few years and the coming "hard times". While I don't believe we're heading towards soup lines, I can all but guarantee that the rest of 2008 and 2009 will be very tough on the average person. Providing cheap, local and healthy food, in my humble opinion, will be something welcomed by almost anyone.

Fall Season

So fall is here in New England. For those who have never been witness to this time of year on the east coast, it's one to savor. The four distinct seasons out here is one of the many reasons why I love this area. The landscape transforms into the very colors we associate with Thanksgiving. A sea of reds, oranges and yellows.

It also means the spring and summer crops are on their waning days. Before the day of First Frost approaches and executes the coup de grace though, I'm taking advantage of my large baskets of veggies. I will briefly break down the status of each as of today:

Cantaloupe: Unfortunately, wiped out by a disease or fungus. Powdery Mildew struck the plants hard. I'm not sure if it was the culprit or it weakened it enough to be attacked by something more, but the vines died and the fruit rotted. Too bad as I had about 6 cantaloupe on their way to my stomach.

Basil: Early on I ate a lot of basil, throwing it on Provolone cheese with tomato's. Later it was attacked by a beetle and it was almost a month before I wiped them out, then by the time it grew back they were bolting and just didn't taste as good.

Cucumbers: I probably yielded close to 30 or 40 from 4 plants so far. They are slowing down considerably but I still get about one or two a week. Note to self: skip the cucumber next year. Low nutritional value and just not all that useful in large numbers.

Tomatoes: After much struggle with bugs and fungus, I've managed to get loads of tomatoes from about 9 plants. A fungus that destroys the leaves, however, has gone unchecked as it's too out of control. I'd have to douse the plants with chemicals to have a chance of eliminating it at this point. But, it doesn't directly affect the fruit, the low leaf count just slows down how fast we get new fruit. Next year I'll have to plant somewhere else as the soil is now contaminated and would affect next years plants.

Red Onions: I've been getting small onions from these, but I don't think I planted them correctly. I think these need deep, loose soil to grow bigger. Nevertheless, the small ones have been enough to chop up into a morning omelette!

Fiery Portugal Hot Peppers: Damn, now here is my most successful and interesting crop. It took awhile for the peppers to mature into a bright red, but now that they have it was worth the wait. Taking them green is fine, and you'll get some heat out of them, but when they're fully red you get a sweet pepper with a bulldog kick. What a challenge to eat these suckers! I've managed to chop them up into omelettes or dice them onto a fresh slice of pizza, but now they are coming by the dozens. So, what do you do with two dozen volcanic hot peppers in a region of people not accustomed to *truly* spicy foods?

Yesterday I pulled out some gloves and got to work. I took about 15 peppers, cut off the ends, cored them (and eliminated about 80% of the heat intensity) and sliced them down from top to bottom and filled them with a cheese concoction, breaded them and baked in the oven. Here is a picture of the result! They were a hit and just spicy enough for those with the timid tongues.

Eggplant: This is a veggie that, when used, has been great but I haven't found too many uses for it outside of eggplant parmagian. My father in law just brought over a big batch yesterday that I'll have for lunch, but next year I may skip this one.

Conclusion: My endeavor to create a useful "backyard farm" has met with success and with a lot of lessons learned. For all the veggies that have been grown, in actuality it isn't as much as I was expecting. As long as you find ways to cook or use the abundant stuff it will go pretty quickly. The only veggie I've had trouble getting rid of or using has been the cucumber. Everything else has been used so far, and nothing has rotted while in my kitchen. In fact some of the fun is finding ways to use a veggie that you have too much of so they don't go to waste.

Next year I will be going into the farm with much more knowledge and experience. I plan on ripping out the chain link fence separating my front and back yard, and expanding the farm by nearly double the size to about 1,000 sq. ft. Before I do so I am going to have to invest in some sort of watering system, as hand-watering the 500 sq. ft. plot I have now is very time consuming.

Also next year I plan on doing what I originally imagined my little farm to inspire: local trading, buying and selling of backyard produce. I have to look into the legal aspect of setting up a little spot on my yard where I can leave produce to be traded or bought, so if anyone happens to know anything about that, PLEASE let me know.

There are quite a few people in my neighborhood that have gardens, and I'm sure plenty more that would interested in locally grown food. It's not a money making idea, at the most it'd be nice to off-set some of the costs to grow the food, but rather a way to promote a local area to consume healthier, cheaper and rely less on the global food market.

Anyone want some veggies?

Things are exploding in the Scott Farm. I pulled out about 18 cucumbers this week. I'm giving them away. Cherry and Grape Tomatoes are ripening left and right and I have to say, they are one of the best things you can grow. There is nothing like a vine ripened tomato. It makes me look at store-bought ones with disdain, "What the hell ARE you?"

They certainly aren't the sweet babies I'm pulling out of my garden. I'll post some pics soon of this sexy harvest.

I'm just happy this Zero-Year garden has produced a-plenty despite incessant fungus, disease, bug and weather attacks. I'm so emboldened, I'm already looking towards next year when I'd like to plant double of what I did this year...except maybe fewer cucumbers this time.