Lettuce
Easter Egg Radishes
Easter Egg Raddishes
I’m about to break the number one cardinal sin of blogging: I’m going to tell you what I’m having for lunch, and I’m assuming you actually care.
This spring I planted a neat little row of Easter Egg radishes in my veg patch and >KABOOM< they are performing beautifully and practically jumping out of the ground right now.
Easter Egg radishes are a nice multi-coloured mix you can get from companies like West Coast Seeds, so you can grow purple, red, pink and white radishes all in the same row. When fully grown, they take on a slightly oblong shape, so you can see where they get they name.
Fresh home grown radishes are unlike any store bought variety I’ve ever tried. While still a bit spicy tasting, they are tender and sweet and you can pop them in your mouth and eat them straight out of the ground. With a little brush off, that is. If you’re one of those “radishes in a potato salad” types, they make a very attractive topping if you slice them and mix up the colours on top. Oooh, aaah.
Overall, radishes are one of the easiest and fastest crops to grow in the home garden. They are great for beginners and a must for the impatient gardener- they are our yearly reminder that yes, our gardens will grow if we just give them some time.
To grow, simply sprinkle your seeds in a row and cover loosely with soil. Weed, water, wait. They will germinate in about a week’s time, and they should be ready to eat in about 4-6 weeks, depending on your soil. If you’re tight on space, you can plant them in the same row with a slower growing root crop like carrots or parsnips. They will be ready to harvest before the other seeds start to take up any space, just be sure you plant them thinly enough that the other seeds still get some light through the leafy radish tops.
Super Gourmet Salad Blend
I’ve also got some other goodies growing nicely in my little veg boxes this year alongside the radishes: carrots, peas, parsnips, beans and mixed lettuces. I planted the Super Gourmet Salad Blend from West Coast seeds this year, along with Merlot a super dark and vibrant red variety of lettuce. I had a little sample tonight- they are all sweet, tender and brilliantly coloured at the moment.
And there just enough to use for lunch tomorrow, so I wandered around the garden at sunset tonight and pulled up just enough radishes, and snapped off just enough lettuce for a couple of salads for me and boyf for lunch tomorrow, and then shared some extras with my next door neighbour. Of course.
I would have to say though, this has been the best year for me with raddishes because I had the pleasure of starting with fresh new dirt that’s comprised of about 25% river sand in my veg patch. The soil is loose and rich- perfect for root crops.
Here’s to the spring crop harvest. Bon appetite!
New seeds for 2009
Much like picking out the new paint colours for a bathroom re-do, I love leafing through seed catalogs and drooling over the new flowers and plants introduced each year. For the most part, these new varieties are hybrids of existing ones, but some outfits introduce “new” heirloom varieties. And by “new” I mean new to us, and these make me the most excited of all!
A few new lovely things that tickled my fancy this week:
Vessey’s Golden Japanese Forest Grass. This looks like it was dreamed up for the next Miyazaki animation about a little girl questing in a spirit forest in Japan. I hope forest spirits come included in each shipment (and they should at that price, ouch!). Still lovely and dreamy and probably worth if you have your own yard to landscape. Why not pair it with a lovely laceleaf maple?
Vessey’s Mouse Plant. This reminds me of so many childhood favourites: Mousetrap, Three Blind Mice, Beatrice Potter books… I love this so much, I just might buy one. I have the perfect spot in a slightly shady corner. I’m sure my cats will love it (oh, don’t play cat and mouse with me, you!).
Vessey’s Pam’s Choice Foxglove. Gorgeous! Like Blackberry compote and whipped cream, or merlot splattered white linens (for more likely in my home) these little two-tone bells are unqiue and would make a gorgeous addition to a collection of other foxgloves in the garden. Actually, these would go nicely with my creamy white ones come to think of it…
West Coast Seeds’ Blue Danube Sweetpeas. This is a very late variety with a gorgeous blue colour (June to September). This will be a perfect way to keep those lovely sweetpeas growing all year long. Snniiiiiifffff. I can smell them already.
West Cost Seeds’ Multicolour Blend Cauliflower. Grape Koolaid, Kraft Dinner and Shamrock milk shakes, together at last. I’m a total sucker for oddly coloured veg, and this cauliflower blend is no exception. Why grow something that you can just buy from the local farmer’s market? If you’re going to grow something at home, make it something unique that you can totally brag about when you show it off to others. Squeal!
West Coast Seeds’ Sweet Heart Grape Tomatoes. As anyone who knows me will attest, I’m a total cherry tomato cheerleader. They are so easy to grow, great for containers, produce lots of continuous fruit and taste oh-so-sweet. I love the shape of the clusters on this variety.
Salt Spring Seeds’ Novelty Tomato LIne-up. Their catalogue doesn’t contain any pretty pictures, but it doesn’t have to either. These guys serve up an amazing selection of locally grown and organic seeds, and their tomato collection is second to none. I drool over this one every year!
Sigh… is it Spring yet?
Ready for Winter?
This could be a smart-ass remark about the weather in Vancouver, but it’s actually a real question.
Unlike the rest of Canada, stuff actually grows here in the winter and right now is the perfect time to start your winter garden.
For some reason, most gardening stores don’t sell much in the way of seedlings right now, so I guess that means only hardcore psycho-freaks plant winter gardens. That’s cool. I’m down with that. So to make it happen, you just gotta start your own seeds.
Now when I say “stuff grows here in the winter,” unfortunately, I’m not talking about rock n roll tomatoes so don’t get your hopes up too high. But you can have some nice veggies like lettuce, carrots, radishes, broccoli and onions in the patch no prob
Tip of the week: if you have just 20 minutes this week, start some lettuce.
Lettuce is one of the easiest and nicest looking winter crops. I recommend getting a pack of Super Gourmet Lettuce Blend from West Coast seeds (one package easily lasts me 2-3 years) and sprinkle liberally into a tray of seeding soil. You can even put them directly in the ground if you have space right now.
These little guys grow really well in a flower box or an outdoor pot so it’s an ideal solution if you’re in an apartment.
Update: I just saw this article in the Tuesday, August 26 edition of the Province newspaper. It`s all about about planning your fall garden. This article mentions growing spinach in the winter with a reminder to start your garlic bulbs now.
Martha’s Tomato Tart
Bitter, gritty and horrible when fresh, green tomatoes are very sweet when slowly cooked in the oven. This recipe is like a pizza, but without the surly delivery guy or greasy box to hide your shame.
Admittedly, this is a fussy Martha frou-frou recipe and I love-to-hate that bitch. But it’s worth making once a year if you have some time and want to get fancy.
This was featured in the July 2005 edition of Martha Stewart Living- great way to use green tomatoes without frying them.
Cracked Pot Pix
