Garden Gallery - Purple Reign

 

Echinacea

 Bumblebee on my lavender

I'm a big fan of color in the garden, and not just flowers.  Purple vegetables are 

fun to grow, enjoyable to look at, and delicious to eat.

 Purple Podded Pole Beans

are an heirloom variety that are very tasty, and easy to pick because they're

easier to see than the green ones.  Although they turn green when you

cook them, they are botanical treasures in the garden.

Pole beans are like indeterminate tomatoes.  Bush beans are bred to bear a 

heavy crop over a short period of time, then die back.

Pole beans will produce until hard frost, and are easier on the back to harvest.

Just one packet, planted to grow up a fence or trellis, 

will yield more than enough for several meals

every time you harvest.

 Red or purple cabbage is a nice addition to cole slaws and fresh salads.

The purple color means it contains more antioxidants than green cabbage.

 Carrots come in a kaleidoscope of colors.  "Purple Haze" are reddish purple with orange cores, and "Deep Purple" are very purple all the way to the core.  Carrots are somewhat tolerant of cool weather, and all colored carrots will grow nicely in Northern Minnesota.  Carrots originated in Afghanistan, 

and were not the familiar orange that we all associate with carrots now.  The first

carrots were actually red and yellow.

 Beautiful Lolla Rossa heirloom lettuce

  I grow eggplants for the color in the greenhouse and to roast in the oven.

 Indigo Rose tomato - high in antioxidants!

 "Lilac" bell pepper

Organic heirloom Midnight Chard

 Next year, add some color to your vegetable patch.  There are purple peas, purple kales,

purple Brussels Sprouts, and more.  Experiment and try something new!

Happy gardening,

Kathy and Patty

Grafted Tomatoes: The Jury Has Reached a Verdict

THIS is a thing of beauty....the Black Krim tomato.  

The deep red-purple, almost black, green-shouldered variety of tomatoes known as 

"Black Krim" (Solanum lycopersicum) originated in Krim, Russia, near the Black Sea. 

This open-pollinated tomato is indeterminate, growing on 4- to 7-foot vines and producing numerous 

6- to 12-ounce globe-shaped fruits. Fans of the "Black Krim" rave 

about the rich, salty flavor of its fruits, and have compared it to a fine, single malt scotch, 

according to Amy Goldman, author of The Heirloom Tomato.

Here are my grafted Black Krims in the test greenhouse, almost touching the ceiling. 

Guess I'm sporting the 'Bob Dole' pose to keep my arm out of the tomato jungle.

Anyway.  

The Black Krim is a particular favorite.  Our friends at

Baker Creek Seeds sponsored and paid for a study of the most nutritious 

tomatoes by variety.  Black Krim won for highest Vitamin A content, 

second highest lycopene content, and a Brix of 7.82! 

Chart Courtesy of Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds and Wild Boar Farms

Vitamin A is good for your eyes, boosts your immune system, can help neutralize free radicals in your system.  Lycopene benefits your blood vessels, is a powerful antioxidant, and has proven

to reduce prostate cancer risk.  The study funded by Baker Creek confirmed that 

Black Krim tomatoes have 3 TIMES the Vitamin A and 4 TIMES the lycopene of

a vine ripened hybrid tomato.

But, what is a Brix measurement and what does it tell us?

Big and prolific plants are just one benefit of grafting.

Degrees Brix (symbol °Bx) is the sugar content of an aqueous solution.

In other words, the higher the Brix value, the sweeter the tomato.

If you're interested, you can buy inexpensive Brix refractometers on the internet if you'd

like to measure the Brix level of your own vegetables.

A high Brix reading (each fruit and vegetable has a different Brix range) 

indicates the fruit came from a successful plant and that the gardener has soil, water, 

air and sun working together optimally.

The plant uses glucose as a building block, so if your tomato has a high Brix reading, 

it has more of everything, especially taste. 

A Black Krim has more of everything to start out with when compared to a hybrid.  But, 

you can grow any tomato in less-than-optimum conditions and not get the great taste.

So, get to the grafting part already, right?

You can read a lot about grafted tomatoes, and some sources will sing praises and promise yields over and above what you would normally expect.  Other sources will poo-poo the concept and say

the overall yield wasn't impressive enough to warrant the extra propagation work.

I SAY

I grew a greenhouse full of grafted tomatoes this summer, and

the fruit set was quite a bit higher, but not wow-out-of-this-world-crazy fruit production 

like some of the ads from some catalogs will suggest.

What DID impress me was the disease resistance of the grafted heirloom plants.

Especially this year, when the nights were too cool for things to grow at a normal rate.  

We all also know that cool nights provide the perfect environment for disease.

 Late summer Black and Brown Boar, grafted to disease-resistant rootstock.

 Late summer Black and Brown Boar, ungrafted, succombing to 

gray mold in the greenhouse.

These two photos were taken on the same day.  The plants were planted the same day, in the same greenhouse, using the same seeds for a somewhat controlled experiment.

It's more than obvious that the 

grafted plant looks healthier, and I wonder if you did a Brix reading, which 

fruit would have a higher sugar content?

These two photos are of an heirloom variety called "Jaune Flamme".  The top photo, as you may have already guessed, is the grafted plant.  The second photo is the non-grafted plant.  It, too, is 

displaying evidence of gray mold, where the grafted plant is not.

A couple more shots of grafted Roma tomatoes in the test garden this year.

So, this jury of one has reached a verdict.  

Not only can you get more fruit on a grafted plant, 

you also get the great flavor of an heirloom variety and increased nutritional-value fruit

 on a disease-resistant plant.  This becomes particularly more important if you 

happen to be growing in an area with a short growing season.

By practicing good soil stewardship and caring for your soil, by increasing the organic content of your garden soil and feeding the microbes in your soil, 

you are also elevating Brix levels and getting tastier tomatoes.  

Grafted plants yield more of those tasty 'maters for a win-win situation.

So, if you're not already, start composting and add it to your garden soil!  

(A note:  do NOT compost diseased plant materials.  Dispose of them promptly.)

We are also composing the information and photos for an upcoming post on 'green manure', 

and cover crops, featuring the buckwheat that is 

currently growing in the high tunnel and info from the U of Minnesota seminar we 

attended last month.

After this year's test garden, we will definitively have grafted tomatoes next season, 

with a wider selection of heirlooms, not just the Black Krims.  

Did you buy a grafted tomato this spring?  What was your experience?
Feel free to let us know what your take was on the Black Krims in the comment section.

Happy Gardening,
Kathy and Patty

Neonicitinoid News

Bee illustration copyright Roxana Villa

Thankfully, there is a lot of activity surrounding the topic of neonicitinoids recently. 

The public is riled up and folks are feeling pressure to act.

Region 1 of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), which covers the northwestern U.S., announced they would phase out the use of neonicotinoid pesticides on their national wildlife refuge system lands. They plan to fully phase out use by 2016.

In late July, the USFWS Leadership Team decided to ban both neonicotinoids and genetically engineered crops on all national wildlife refuges throughout the U.S. They’ll begin phasing out the use of genetically engineered crops to feed wildlife, eliminating them by January 2016. The same goes for neonicotinoid pesticides. The decision comes after a number of legal challenges from environmental groups, who argued that genetically engineered crops are often accompanied by increased pesticide use.

The Vermont Law School has designated its first neonicotinoid-free
campus in The BEE Protective Campaign
AND
Home Depot has just announced a requirement that all of its suppliers must
mark and indicate neonicitinoid use on any plant materials.  Industry buzz also suggests
that we'll see something similar from Lowe's very soon.

Bird illustration copyright Harpyja

I recently read this article about the impact of neonicitinoids on the BIRDS.  And why not?  

If they eat the insects that have been exposed to neonicitinoids, 

then they surely ingest the same cocktail of chemicals.  

Read the article by CBC News here:   Birds and Neonicitinoids

Corn illustration copyright Bill Mayer

 

Several weeks ago, Mexico took away Monsanto's permit to grow genetically engineered 

 Roundup Ready soybeans in Mexico. 

Why? 

Evidence presented to the judge argued that these soy crops threatened 

honey production and health in the Yucatan peninsula in a number of ways, 

including risking damage to humans, soil, water, and bee colonies. 

In addition, they argued that honey potentially contaminated by GE crops 

would be difficult to sell in Europe. 

Read more about it in this Guardian article here.

Don't be silent about pesticides that are harmful to our environment.
Our voices are being heard.

It's Chilly - So Make Chili Mix

Wondering what to do with all the tomatoes you are harvesting now?  If you think

YOU have too many tomatoes, my sister and bro-in-law have been harvesting 

50 pounds A DAY for the last few weeks!! 

This was Sue's solution, years ago, to an abundant harvest and we've both used this idea since.

It is important here to note one thing:  Don't spend time canning anything

you and your family won't actually use or eat.  Many of us gardeners get 

caught up in the moment, and it breaks our hearts to see any food going to waste.

Remember that you're wasting time, food, and energy by canning it, only to

throw it out in a year or two.  THAT'S wasteful!

If you aren't up for canning, donate your abundance to the Ely Food Shelf. 

 Or your neighbors.  

We all know a family with small children that would appreciate some fresh groceries.

We all know an elderly neighbor or two that used to garden, but they can't anymore due to 

health reasons.  Just because they can't garden anymore doesn't mean they don't remember what 

good food tastes like and you KNOW 

they would  love a homegrown tomato or two and a handful of green beans.

If you find time this fall, make a batch or two of chili mix to have on hand when 

unannounced guests arrive, you're too busy reading the latest book by the woodstove, 

or you're too tired to cook after that XC ski across the lake.

Go out and grab the best of what the garden has to offer: 

onions, peppers, celery, basil, parsley, and or course, tomatoes.

Give your onions, peppers, garlic, celery, and parsley a whirl in the Cuisinart, 

or chop finely by hand.

 Add a small bit of olive oil to the bottom of your biggest dutch oven, 

then add the chopped vegetables and give them a quick saute.

 

Also zip your tomatoes through a food mill or your Cuisinart.  

I don't bother to remove the skins, but I do core the tomatoes.  

I want the fiber of the skins in my chili.

  

Seasoning the batch:  this is smoked paprika, garlic pepper, chili powder, and granulated garlic.  

You'll need to salt your mix to taste, and 

add some sugar to balance the acidity of the tomatoes.  

I often use agave nectar as a sweetener, and you don't need much, 

just enough to tame the acidity.

At this point, I also add some lemon juice to brighten the flavors and 

some soy sauce for umami.

Don't panic, and seriously, you don't need to worry about 

teaspoons of this and tablespoons of that. 

Use your very own sense of taste and make this chili mix yours.

If you absolutely need some numbers, I'll say this:

approximately 1/3 pepper and veg blend to 2/3 pureed tomatoes.

After you've cooked the mixture down to a consistency that resembles salsa, 

ladle into quart jars and hot water bathe for 15 minutes.  

Remove from the hot water bath and allow to cool before marking and storing.

Be sure to check all seals before storing, and 

either reprocess unsealed jars again with a new lid, 

or store in the fridge and use in a week or so.   Often it's a faulty lid to blame, not you,

so expect that now and again a jar won't seal and it's not because you

don't know what you're doing.

If you're overwhelmed by all there is to do yet this fall, you can toss the tomatoes

in the freezer and process them this winter.  It's just not quite the same as doing it in the fall when 

everything is harvested at the same time, so try to find a couple hours yet before 

we get that hard frost and it's too late.

To make your batch of chili, 

simply brown a pound of ground beef (or ground turkey or no meat at all), 

add in a can of rinsed black or kidney beans, and a jar of the chili mix.  

I also add a pint jar of my home-made tomato soup, but that's another post for another day!

Bon Apetit!

Blueberries and the University of Minnesota Horticulture Days

Our work doesn't stop when we close up the shop for the season.

 Rest assured that Gracie's Plant Works is out there, 

working for you throughout the entire year, learning, gaining and sharing information, all

aimed to enhance and increase your success in the garden.

Patty and I attended the University's Horticulture Days last Wednesday

at the Grand Rapids growing station.  This is the northernmost horticulture growing

and research station in the United States, so the testing performed there is of particular

interest to those of us in Zone 3 here in northern Minnesota.

And, since it's very timely, this info that I'm about to give you, you might

just want to take some time to read it carefully and 

increase your blueberry harvest next summer.

 Test plots of new blueberry cultivars.  

That's Patty in the background, eating blueberries, by the way.

Who wouldn't love to see a plant this full of berries in their yard this late in the season?  Indeed,

this photo was taken on August 27th, 2014, and the plant was still loaded with unripened blueberries.

It may be awhile until this new cultivar is released for the market, but we'll be following 

the progress closely.

The University of Minnesota has been developing blueberry cultivars since the very early 1960s, so it's quite safe to say that they have a bit of experience. In fact, the breeding done by the UofM crossing low-bush and high-bush plants has yielded plants that exhibit the best traits of each type to result in a best of both worlds scenario.

We would like to give credit to Professor Dave Wildung (retired 2007) for presenting the lecture on blueberries.  Dr. Wildung created seven (7) new blueberry varieties in his career, and we were fortunate to be in the presence of a 'true authority' on the subject.
 Some notable nuggets of information we took away from our conference

about blueberries and how to grow them successfully this far north:

First and foremost, blueberries fruit on the growth of the year, or, in other words,

they do not fruit on old wood like raspberries.  Next year's crop begins growing in

August or September of the current year, so you never, never, never, ever prune or

trim blueberry bushes anytime after July 4th.  

Doing so will shut the plant down and it won't have enough time to regrow before winter.

WHEN you prune, you are only to cut out old wood so as to increase airflow through the bush, enhance light penetration, and perhaps to shape the bush.  "Old wood" is defined as gray and bark that is sloughing, or peeling away.  These old wood branches should be pruned or cut down to the ground level.

INCREASING YOUR ODDS FOR A BOUNTIFUL HARVEST

Photo courtesy of www.beautifulwildlifegarden.com

Songbirds will eat your blueberries, as will game birds such as grouse.
Chipmonks and squirrels love blueberries, too.  

The most damage, however, will be done by Old Man Winter and 

Mother Nature's posse of herbivores in the northwoods.  

The good news is that blueberry bushes seldom suffer from

insect infestation.

Have you ever stopped to consider why the high bush and half high blueberry bushes are less prolific in their yields in our neck of the woods, while the true lowbush varieties are generous in their fruit production?  The answer is that, for blueberries, the critical temperature for winter kill is 

-25 to -30 degrees F for several days in a row.  Um-Huh.  We all have experienced THAT.

So, any parts of the bush that are under snow will be protected from the extreme temps and will not winter kill.  Anything above the snowline will.  It becomes clear that the bits above the snow (which hold next season's fruit) will be frozen out, or they'll be nipped off and pruned by rabbits and deer.  This is what you call an "a-ha moment".

That said, planting blueberry bushes requires some aforethought as to location.  You should choose a location that will naturally drift in with snow and cover the entire plant, or you can shovel snow on top of the plant until it is tucked in under a blanket of insulating snow for the winter.

Plant your low-bush or half-high plants 2 feet apart in rows 5 feet apart.

It is also prudent to have two or more varieties planted in the same area.  Blueberries are self-fruitful and don't need a second variety like apple trees do, but two varieties will encourage cross-pollination, which will yield larger and better tasting berries.

 You also want a sunny location with good drainage.  Soil preparation is critical for success when planting blueberries, so have a soil test performed and know your pH.  Blueberry bushes will only require fertilization to keep the acidity of the soil high (i.e. the pH low).  If your soil is

full of clay and a pH of 7 or over, you will need to seriously amend it 

or forget about growing blueberries.

6.5 pH and lower is needed, so get a bag of sphagnum or peat moss,  and mix in the soil to a ration of 50% soil and 50% peat or sphagnum.  The moss will add organic matter to the soil and

will assist in holding water for the newly planted bushes that will allow them to establish themselves.

Photo courtesy of www.onthegreenfarms.com

Immediately after planting, mulch with pine needles or bark to keep the roots cool and moist.  

The majority of a blueberry bush's roots are very near the surface of the soil,  

and drying out is to be prevented.

As part of the research station's mission to record performance by cultivar, the result of the 2014 growing season for a particular type of blueberry (developed, natch, by the U of M) 

is 9 pounds per plant. They also compare the yields to other cultivars they have developed, and this year, North Country, another UofM-developed cultivar, yielded 1.5 pounds per plant.  

You can bet that Gracie's Plant Works will have the high yielding variety next spring.

The blueberry lecture was the first of several, plus our own meanderings about the research station.  Look for new posts on each topic coming soon!

Happy gardening,

Kathy and Patty

World Record Tomato Grown in Ely, Minnesota

Congratulations, 

Dan MacCoy!!!

Dan and his record-shattering tomato
The display is obscured in this photo, but this
whopper weighed in at 8.41 pounds!

Patty and I were fortunate enough to be together at

Ely Northland Market

when Dan was having his world-record tomato

officially weighed
and
making history!

Dan and Sara being blinded by the paparazzi

 This is Don, the official judge, who attended the weighing of the tomato.
What an honor to be involved personally in this big event!  And, somehow,
the Duluth paper got a hold of our names as witnesses to the event, so
I was interviewed, as well.

Read the Duluth Tribune's article HERE

We join everyone in Ely in rooting for him to be confirmed by the
Guiness Book of World Records.