Spring
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!
Mead
I think I may have finally found my calling.
For a very long time I’ve been interested in the beer and wine making process, and I love to seize the means of production by the balls, but let’s face it: homemade wine and beer can be downright awful. There’s no way I could make wine or beer better than the pros. However, there is a third and oft overlooked option: mead.
In it’s simplest form, Mead is a wine made from honey, water and yeast. It is the oldest fermented beverage in the world, and was probably discovered by some hapless nit-wit who left his leather honey pouch open over night in the rain. A couple days later, the honey was a little more magical tasting than usual.
Mead has enjoyed a rich history in Viking culture- fallen warriors were believed to arrive in the halls of Valhalla in the afterlife, where, after a day of hard battling, they feasted on crackled pork at Odin’s table all night long. In the middle of the hall, a giant she-goat stood on her hind legs and nibbled on a pine branch while rich mead poured of our her teats.
Don’t you just love it already?
There are many types of mead that can be made by adding various ingredients to the basic recipe of honey, water and yeast. For instance:
When to plant…
I tend to over do it every year and plant at least 20 things all at once. Then I forget when to plant my summer crops, and things are late and nothing goes right.
One of the handiest tools I’ve ever come across to help keep the garden on track is the West Coast Seed catalogue. Their yearly seed catalogue is free at any store that sells their seeds, or you can go onto their website and order one for free. It has all of the tips you will ever need to grow your own food organically, and their yearly planting calendar is a life saver. It clearly shows what needs to be planted and when, all at a glance.
I’ve taken the liberty of scanning a copy here, but be sure to grab a copy of their catalogue or view the online version. This is all timed for our funny west coast weather.
A word about that. We are experiencing some very cold weather for this time of year in Vancouver- in fact, it snowed a bit today (no April fools joke, my friends). I would say we are about two weeks behind where we normally are and my spring bulbs are just barely starting to peek open right now. So if you’re a bit late according to this schedule, don’t sweat it. I just started my broccoli, cauliflower and leeks… oops.
Raised flower bed showdown: Part 2
After I hauled all of my oh-so-sustainable cedar lumber home from Gabriola to build my raised cedar flower beds, I decided I needed to build a fifth box in the front yard to make the most of the sunniest spot in my yard.
Time for a trip to Hell Depot.
Despite the fact that Angus (my partner) insisted I could use a jigsaw to cut through 4×4 cedar posts, I decided to buy a proper skill saw to do the task, and left him at home because he clearly has NO CLUE.
When I arrived, I encountered some good ol’ sexism on the loose: smirks and jeers as I ferried my new skill saw through the lumber section, and a weak-ass attempt at unloading the WORST pieces of lumber in the entire lot onto me. After the Home Depot guy insisted on helping me pull out the pieces, I picked up a board, held it level to my eye and said, “This board is more crooked than a mountain road! Is that the best one in the pile? Look! It’s full of knots!” Then he backed off and decided that, despite being female, perhaps I had some credibility after all.
I digress…
Triumphant, I got the shipment home, assembled my saw horses and started measuring and cutting the new boards with a little Led Zep on. I got the old man to help with this task of course, because I needed someone to catch the boards (you didn’t actually think I’d let him near the saw, did you?)
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?
Cracked Pot Pix
