Saturday, August 16, 2014

Summer Raspberries

“Better than any argument is to rise at dawn and pick dew-wet red berries in a cup.”

--Wendell Berry

It's a nice quote, but actually raspberries should be picked on a sunny day when they are dry.

Raspberries are the perfect crop for Ely, as they thrive in cooler climates

and appreciate neutral to acid soil. Raspberries have been at peak performance

for the last three weeks, but are starting to slow down a bit now.

We hope you have your very own

raspberry patch from which to pick loads of succulent berries. Planted in my

Ely garden are Boyne, Citadel, Killarney, Latham, and Royalty Purple.

Let the seasonal harvest inspire you!!

On the menu tonight is a salad of organic greens, adorned with

freshly-picked raspberries (the ones that actually made it into the house),

grilled chicken, blue cheese and a raspberry vinaigrette.

Raspberry Salad Dressing Recipe:
4 oz olive oil
2 oz apple cider vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon of agave nectar, or to taste
Juice from 1/3 of a fresh lemon
1 cup fresh raspberries
Salt and pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients until emulsified with an
immersion blender (hand held/stick type).
Enjoy!

Recipe copyright Gracie's Plant Works 2014

Friday, August 15, 2014

I heart papaloquelite

papaloquelite!!!!!

Papaloquelite, Pesto Perpetuo Basil, and Epazote in my garden.

Papaloquelite, (or papalo) was a new herb to us this season. We get frequent requests

for cilantro in pots, but it's been difficult, in my experience,

to harvest enough leaves before the plants go to seed.

It also irks me that the cilantro is NEVER ready when the tomatoes and peppers are,

so making salsa means purchased cilantro, which for an herb grower, does NOT fly.

Enter papalo, and I'm in LOVE!!

This plant is a native of the southern United States, Mexico, and Central America.

Most people compare its flavor to a cross between cilantro, limes, and nasturtiums

with a pungency similar to arugula.

I say it puts cilantro to SHAME.

The name comes from the ancient Aztec language. Papalotl means butterfly,

and quelite means greens, as the scent of papaloquelite is thought to attract butterflies.

The plant is robust, and can grow to 6 feet in height. I know mine would be that tall

had I not been harvesting several times a week.

The plant grows in a fashion similar basil, in that you can cut the stem at the point

where new leaves are forming, and the plant gets bushier.

When visiting my sister this weekend, I brought back a bell pepper.

And some sweet corn from Iowa. (These were the ugliest of the bunch, and am currently

reading "The Third Plate" about eating not just the beautiful produce, but

all of it.)

So, letting the seasonal veg inspire me, I made Andrea Bailey's fresh salsa.

Andrea's Salsa

3 large or 5 small ears of sweet corn, boiled and cut from the cob

(alternately, you can use the Earthbound Organic frozen sweet corn,

which is delicious)

1/2 onion, chopped finely

1 red bell pepper, finely chopped

use jalapeno/ancho/poblano pepper as suits your tolerance for capsaicin

1 can black beans, rinsed

handful of papalo or cilantro, finely cut

juice of 1 lime

1 clove (or 2) of garlic, minced

2 oz olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

Sprinkle with chili powder, smoked paprika, or red pepper flakes if you'd like

Serve with chips, tacos, taco salad, burritos, or just eat it straight out of

the bowl like I do. This is the most irresistible salsa I have ever tasted!!

Thanks for turning me on to it, Mrs. Bailey :-)

Papalo is also delicious in any Asian-inspired dish that calls for cilantro, and hear it's outstanding in

combination with papaya. Gracie's will definitely have papalo in the herb house next spring!

Thursday, August 14, 2014

Catfacing Tomatoes and More Garden Shots

Nancy Widmer sent me this photo of her grafted Black Krim tomato.

Huge fruits, but they are 'catfacing'.

So far, mine are not, but then again, mine are in the high tunnel.

Photo courtesy of Rutgers University New Jersey Agriculture Experiment Station

Catfacing, as described by Organic Gardening magazine:

"The most common cause of catfacing in tomatoes is exposure to temperatures below 50 degrees F during flowering and fruit set. Low temperatures inhibit pollination and cause the blossom to stick to the developing fruit. Both of these factors prevent certain parts of the fruit from developing. The undesirable scarring and indentation occurs when unaffected parts of the fruit continue to expand."

That certainly makes sense this summer in our neck of the woods. You may remember, in a previous newsletter, how we recommended setting out your tomato plants only when night time temps are reliably in the 50s. This is one of the reasons why. Of course, we can't control the weather and cool nights are part of living in Northern Minnesota.

But, as Nancy says "The tomatoes are excellent however, as ugly as they may look."

I'd have to agree, we ate one the other evening and reveled in the summer tomato flavor.

We have also received a few more photos of flowers by Gracie's Plant Works....

Hell's Bells petunias on Lisa Pekuri's patio

Callies, lantana, and geraniums on the lakeside deck of Mary Bevis.

Mary Bowers' planter with lime petunias and blue callies

with Centaurea 'Colchester White' in the center of the pot.

Shade garden lovelies by Mary Bowers --

Aralia 'Sun King', Coleus 'Dip't in Wine', Coleus 'Keystone Copper',

and Coleus 'Lime'. The lime colors really lighten up a shade garden!

Fucshia 'Giant Orange King' gracing Mary Bowers' home.

Rhodochiton 'Purple Bell Flowers', also at Mary and Jim Bowers'.

A few photos of one of my new favorite plants:

Cobaea s. 'Cathedral Bells'

We were told this plant was an aggressive climber and that the flowers were worth the wait.

Indeed, this is an amazing climbing vine.

The flowers start out very small, and then grow to

a just about ready to open flower.

This is a two for one kind of vine, as the flowers start out white....

then gradually turn purple as they age. They last a couple of days, then

the flower falls off and you are left with a green 'husk'. The bees love them. Bee-you-tee-ful!!!

Friday, August 1, 2014

Reading your Garden

Gardening is my favorite pastime. Next to reading. So, reading about gardening is a good thing in the long and cold winter months. BUT, there's a different and better way to "read" your garden in the summer, that is, by discerning what your garden is telling you. I spent the afternoon weeding, and got to thinking about what the soil was trying to tell me based on the weeds I was pulling.
So, I did a little research and found lots of information on which weeds grow in which conditions.

I READ MY GARDEN TODAY.

I was pulling out horsetail for hours

photo courtesy of NW Farms and Food

in places I had NEVER had problems with it previously. I know it grows in damp areas.

Proof that this year's precipitation has been excessive for the garden. Another hint was that there is moss growing on the surface of the soil in my garden.
I have cultivated to aerate the soil, but holy cow, it's been damp this year.

photo courtesy of Greenhorn Wisdom

On the bright side, I'm also seeing a lot of lamb's quarters, which is an indicator of soil fertility.

If you are interested in further information on what your weeds are telling you about your soil quality, I've added a link here for a great place to start for you:

Weeds and what they indicate in your soil

AND.

I received a gift from a friend -- The 1910 Garden Primer. (Thanks, Emily!!)

And, how fitting that it was written by a woman named GRACE?

The photographs are vintage and charming, and the book reads like it should; a turn of the century-style prose that is interesting in today's day and age.

The INTRODUCTORY, as they are calling the first page, reads:

Making a garden is not the formidable thing it is often supposed to be, nor caring for it when once it is made half so arduous as many suppose it is. Faithfulness to it, from beginning to end, make it a joy for everyone as well as a profit.

No matter how small a plot of earth is at one's command, whether it be four square feet or four acres, Mother Nature, aided by man's ingenuity, has growing things that will thrive in it. The thing to do is to find out which of the plants you like and need will grow in the space you have available for them, and then learn when to plant them and how to care for them and for the soil that is to nourish them when once they are planted, until the happy day when they will have reached their maturing, and you will have had the satisfaction of giving an assuring answer to the old-time question of
"How does your garden grow?"

OR,

In other words,

READ YOUR GARDEN.

This photo on the right made me laugh -- imagine recommending all this gear

to a new gardener. It would overwhelm anyone to think they had to

drag all of that equipment around on their back.

Lovely ladies who lunched in 1910 also apparently gardened in full length dresses.

The info in the book is timeless, however. The book does a nice job of covering "to do" lists month by month, and it was fun to realize how little has changed in 104 years.