Greenhouse: Extending my growing season!

The leaves are falling to the ground and there is a new chilly crispness to the air.  Even still I'm thinking of my garden. 

A sure sign that cold weather is coming soon

I've been nursing along a couple of volunteer yellow pear tomato plants that sprouted up in my boat garden this year.  About 2 weeks ago I harvested the first of the juicy little salad tomatoes from the plants and they were delicious.  Because of our short season, these plants haven't yet hit their peak of tomato production.  I placed several jugs of water around them.  The idea is that the water will absorb the heat of the day and help insulate these plants in the colder hours of darkness. 

Here's the tomato plants with the reused jugs of water

Hoping to extend my growing season a little longer, I asked Ben to help me by enclosing the boat garden with a greenhouse.  This is a quick, cheap and easy project that we finished in a few hours.

First we took a trip into town for materials.  Whenever possible I try to use recycled materials in my garden, but this project required a few purchases.  I think we spent about $25 on the following materials:

                 *1/2 inch PVC pipe, several 8 foot lengths

                 *1/2 inch rebar stakes

                 *Heavy clear plastic

Checking the flexibility of the pipe

Now Ben is, by trade, a carpenter, so this project was a piece of cake for him.  I helped when I could, but for the most part, I tried to stay out of the way.

The first thing he did was to pound in the rebar stakes on either side of the garden.  Then he placed the pvc pipe onto the rebar on one side and then bent the pipe over and placed it over the rebar stake on the opposite side. 

Forming the support hoops for the greenhouse

Repeating this process, he formed 3 hoops over the garden bed.

Rebar stakes help secure the hoops in the ground

Next he added a support "beam" down the center.  Using a small drill bit, he drilled through the pipes where they over lapped and wired the support to the center of the hoops.

This hoop house is starting to take shape!

Now that this was fully supported, it was time to add the thick plastic sheeting.  We got ours in the paint department of the hardware store. 

Attaching the plastic to the frame with wire

Here's where things got tricky.  I explained to Ben that whatever method he used to hold the plastic down would have to be removable so that I could pull the plastic back in order to tend to the plants inside.  He figured out a way to wire the plastic sheeting on to the supports so that I could still open the sides.

He finished up at the last light of the day and just before the rain began.

The capsule is complete!

Some men bite their tongues when working with their

wives.  Ben's solution, Duct Tape!!!

While all of that was going on, I did some more fall clean up out in the veggie beds.  I cleared out the remaining tomato plants from my raised beds and turned the soil.  I think we have enough plastic left to enclose these for the winter too.  If that works out I'll keep planting salad greens in these 2 beds. 

2 more beds ready for winter

I've had some strawberry pots going for about 2 years now.  I've noticed that they really don't do as well in the pots as they do in the ground, so I took this time to transplant them over my previously planted garlic.  This is just a temporary spot for them to winter over.  In the spring, I will be moving all of my strawberries into their own permanent bed.

A short term solution for my berries

I love my little organic garden!  There's always something to be done out here, but I enjoy the work and it's a great hobby for Ben and I to share.

 Now with my little greenhouse, I should be able to get an extra month to 6 weeks of growing time at both ends of the season!  That could add up to 3 extra months of food production!!!  I'll be sure to keep you all posted to what kind of trials and successes we have with our new enclosed growing area.

Waiting for the frost and more green tomatoes

Beautiful Mount Baker and the sisters view  from the Lummi Island ferry dock 

Looking out at the fresh snow on Mount Baker is a good reminder that the first killing frost is not long off. Of course the trick is knowing when it will hit my garden and of that I'm not certain.

My neighbors a few miles down the road have all had a hard frost.  Not me! My garden seems to have a nice warm micro-climate this year.When I woke up yesterday morning and checked the temperature it was just dipping into the 30's at 39 degrees, still a lot of wiggle room for a hard freeze. But that little nippiness made me nervous.


Last week I posted about ripening some of my green tomatoes indoors.  At that time I harvested 1 box of fully developed green tomatoes and ripened those in my kitchen.  I still have 3 or 4 from that batch that are partially ripe and the rest have found their way into salsas, salads and tomato sandwiches.


This morning I felt was the right time to finish the harvest.  I had so many beautiful green tomatoes on my 5 remaining roma plants that I couldn't justify risking the frost taking a bite out of them.  With pruners in hand, I snatched up all the ones that looked fully developed and left only a few of the small weak ones on the plants.

Can you believe the loads of tomatoes still going in October? 

These Roma won't be as sweet as sun-ripened.

They will be better than store bought!

These tiny yellow pear tomatoes should be ready for topping

my autumn lettuce salad by next week

I've placed them all in shallow boxes with newspaper covers and added a ripened apple to assist the process.  I came away with 3 boxes of them!  What a fantastic harvest!

p.s - My dahlias are still blooming! 

Seed saving - not just for the frugal gardener

I'm a seed saver.  I began this habit back in my early gardening days when money was much tighter.  I realized early on that I could get a lot more bang for the buck in my flower garden by saving seeds from one year to plant the following year. 

I started out with simple annuals that were easily harvested and produced large quanities of seeds.  Some of those early flower seeds that I saved were from marigolds, calendulas, nasturtiums and sweet peas.  It through the trial and error of those early years that I learned how to save seeds properly and easily.

Aside from the benefit of cost, there are a number of other reasons to save seeds from your garden.  When you harvest seeds from your own garden, you are going to, over time, develop healthier plants that are specialized to your unique micro-climate.  In addition, todays garden center plants are often hybrids, which means that they cannot grow true from seeds.  If we come to rely only on hybrids, this could lead to the loss of many of the worlds food crops.  Not a good idea.  Groups like Seed Trust  Seed Savers Exchange and International Seed Saving Institute are working to save open pollinated, heirloom seeds and in turn working to save the diversity of our world food crops.

At home, saving seeds is easy.  Here's how I do it and you can too!

First you'll want to be sure the seed you are planning to save is from an open pollinated plant.  Hybrid plants will often produce seeds, but when planted these seeds will not produce a true clone of the parent plant and result in weak and unusable plants.  ****Note:  When purchasing seeds for your garden, you can check the seed packet information to see if your choice is an open pollinated variety.

Second, choose the best plant in the garden and allow it to go to seed.  I know my first instinct is to harvest the best looking plant, but I have to resist this urge for the benefit of next years garden.  If you harvest seed from the strongest plant, you will get strong seedlings.  Conversely if you choose that weak small plant, you will wind up with weak and small seedlings next year.

This year I decided to save seeds from my absolutely best and heartiest Romaine Lettuce plant.  I allowed this one plant to grow undisturbed and let it go to seed.  Lettuce produces seeds similar to a dandelion (they have furry fuzz floaties on them), so as the seed began to mature I kept a close eye on it.  Just as the majority of the flowers had the white fuzzies showing, I clipped the stem and brought the seed stalk indoors to complete the drying process. After 1 - 2 weeks of drying indoors it was ready for harvest.

Romaine Lettuce seeds ready for harvest

To harvest these seeds I simply pinched the floaty part of the flower and pulled it out from the seed pod, then I seperated the seed from the cottony part of the flower.  That's it!  How easy!

Romaine Lettuce seeds from 1 plant.  There's enough to share!

Next simply place the seeds in an envelope or zippered sandwich bag and store in a cool dry spot until next spring. *****Note:  don't seal up seeds until they are completely dry mildew will form and ruin your efforts.

Be sure to label your seeds well because many types of seeds do look similar. 

I also harvested some seeds from a Spaghetti squash given to me by another island gardener.  These I seperated from the stringy pulp and placed on a paper towel to dry for a week. 

A paper towel helps to absorb excess moisture when drying

 wet seeds and this helps to prevent molding

Be sure to note any important information on your bag such as

origination of the seeds

And growing information

I think once you try saving some of your own garden seeds, you will be hooked like me.  Your wallet, your garden and the earth will all benefit!

There are seedsaver groups around the world.  Check with your local gardening clubs if you want to participate in a seed exchange with other local gardeners.

MMMMMMMMMore pickles

This moning my canner was still out on the stove from yesterday's canning project.  I thought I might as well get another small pickle project done before washing it up and storing it away.  Todays project is pickled carrots.  I like the italian style ones and Ben enjoys the mexican style ones, so I did both. The following recipe is enough brine to make about 6 pints of pickled carrots.

To start with, sterilize your jars.  Then you'll want to make a pickling brine.  This time I used this recipe:    
    5 Cups vinegar
    1 Cup water
    2 Cups sugar
    2 Tablespoons sea salt
    4 Tablespoons mustard seed (whole)

You will also need:
     Carrots (about 1/2 lb per pint jar)
     Garlic (1 clove per pint)
     Onion (1/4 Cup per pint of Mexican style)
     Jalepeno pepper (1/2 pepper per pint of Mexican style)
     Green bell pepper (about 4 cut sticks per pint)

Bring the brine to a boil.  In the mean time, wash-peel and cut your carrots.  For Italian style I made carrot sticks and for Mexican style I cut rounds. 

Peppers, onions and garlic add flavor and color to your pickled carrots

Start with Italian style pickled carrots. **It  is important to start with these because when you cook the Mexican style ones the brine will get too spicy due to the jalepeno peppers.**

Place a pinch of mustard seed in the bottom of the sterilized jars along with a pinch of whole leaf oregeno.  Add a whole garlic clove (I like to slightly crush them with the side of my knife first.)  Then add your raw green pepper sticks.

Place  your cut carrots into the hot brine.  Cook this on medium heat for about 8 minutes or until the carrot sticks are al dente.

You can fit about 1/2 lb of carrot sticks in a pint jar

Next add these hot carrot sticks to your jar using tongs.  Cover these with brine leaving about 1/2  inch of headroom in the jars.  Now put the lids and rings on jars and set aside on a towel on your counter.

For Mexican style pickled carrots:

Cut your cleaned carrots into rounds.  Cut jalepeno peppers in rounds and dice onions in large pieces.  Add these to the remaining brine and cook on medium heat for about 10 minutes or until al dente.

Cooking the mexican pickled carrot mixture

Add 1 slightly crushed garlic clove to bottom of each hot jar.  When the carrots mixture is cooked add that to the jar.  Be sure to include jalepeno pepper slices in each of the jars.  Cover with hot brine leaving about 1/2 inch of  headroom.  Add lids and rings.

Place both  Italian and Mexican style carrots into your water bath canning rack and waterbath for 10 minutes.

Remove from canner onto a towel on your counter and allow to cool.  Once completely cooled  remove the rings and label your jars.  Store in a dark cupboard for at least 1 month to allow for all the flavors to mature.  Ours should be ready to go for Thanksgiving!

Yummy Mexican and Italian pickled carrots!

What am I gonna do with all these little green tomatoes?

Pickling is a great way to preserve your

green end of season tiny tomatoes

We've had torrential rains for the last few days.  October in the Pacific Northwest is the wet cold season and now that the rains have started, there's no telling when they'll end. 

I still have 3 large yellow pear tomato plants in the garden that are producing. All this heavy rain is causing them to split as they ripen.  So today I went down and filled my pockets with tiny green tomatoes for pickling.  Then I grabbed the pruners and harvested a handful of anise flowers and oregeno from my organic herb bed along with about 8 garlic cloves that didn't get planted earlier this week.

Yellow pear tomatoes are about 1/2 the size of cherry tomatoes

When fully ripened they are a bright yellow, but these green ones

will be better pickled

Organic Anise flower from the boat garden

Garden fresh organic oregeno from the herb beds

These garlics didn't make the cut for planting but they will

compliment the small tomatoes for pickles

Back in the kitchen, I washed all of my items and pulled out the canning equiptment again.  First thing was to sterilize 4 quart jars and start the water to boil in the canner. 

In a seperate pot I brought these ingredients to a boil for the brine:

     *1 1/2 Quarts of white venegar

     *1 Cup sugar

     *1/3 Cup sea salt

As the brine was heating  I placed a pinch of mustard seed, corriander, and a few black pepper corns along with a few sprigs from the fresh herbs in the bottom of each jar.

No need to measure, just add a pinch to each jar

 Next I drained the tomatoes and packed them raw into the jars and added 2 cloves of peeled garlic in each jar.

So pretty!  The tomatoes and garlic cloves are the same size

Once the brine was boiled, I removed it from the heat and poured the hot liquid over the  tomatoes and herbs.  I left 1/2" of head room in the top of each jar and then added the lids and rings.  These went into a hot water bath canner at a boil for 10 minutes. Next I pulled the jars out and set on a towel on the counter where they will cool.

Pickling tiny tomatoes is quick and easy

Once they're cool I'll remove the rings, label the jars and place in the cupboard for at least 1 month.  After brining for a month these will be delicious little pickles and would make a nice garnish for bloody mary's or compliment any relish tray.

Easy as pie! Canning apple pie filling

Seems like everywhere we go lately, we see trees covered in beautiful ripe apples. 
On our trip to town this week, we stopped by to visit our good friend Mark.  His apple tree was bursting with big juicy Gravensteins.  Mark had eaten a few apples off the tree but was content to give the rest to the birds and the squirrels. 



We had just purchased some nice red delicious to make a pie and thought the Gravensteins would be a nice compliment in flavor.  So before it all went to the wildlife, we grabbed a bag, filled it with fresh picked apples, then headed home with visions of hot apple pie.


On our way back to the island, we realized this was a lot more apples then we would need for one pie!  Why not whip up a batch of homemade apple pie filling and have organic and delicious apple pies throughout the year! So we pulled our canning equiptment back out and got to work.

To make our homemade canned apple pie filling you will need:

• 6 Sterilized wide mouth quart jars
• Apples - any variety.  We like to mix them to make a more flavorful pie.  Peeled cored and cut.  Enough to fill 6 quart jars
• 5 1/2 Cups Sugar
• 1 Cups Cornstarch
• 1-2 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg.
• 1-2 Tablespoons cinnamon
• 1/2-1 teaspoon ground cloves
• 10 Cups water
• 3 Tablespoons lemon juice

1. Combine dry ingredients in a large pot.  Add water and lemon juice.  Heat to a slow boil, stirring constantly, until mixture thikens.  Remove from heat.
2. Fill bottom inch of sterilized jars with thickened mixture
3. Wash, peel, core and chop apples filling jars with apples as you go
4. Pour thickened mixture over apples to fill jars.  Be sure to leave 1/4-1/2" head room for processing.  Use a knife to remove airbubbles in the jar
5. Wipe jar rims clean
6. Place caps and rings on jars.  Be sure not to over tighten rings
7. Process jars in a hot water bath canner for 25 minutes
8. Remove hot jars onto a towel on counter
9. Allow to cool overnight. Remove rings and label your jars

Recipe variations:

• You can leave out any of the spices that you don't like. 
• You can add 1 teaspoon of salt to the recipe, but I prefer them sodium free.
• You can use pre ground nutmeg.  If you find whole nutmeg too expensive, check at your local mexican market.  I buy my whole nutmegs in a package of 4 for less that $1 at our tienda
• Try adding pears along with the apples for a mixed fruit pie

To make your pie: Use your favorite pie crust recipe or frozen crusts. Fill with your homemade pie filling and bake for about an hour at 375 degrees. Allow pie to cool for 2- 3 hours before serving. You may also use this filling in empenadas, turnovers and other filled pasteries. Or warm and serve over icecream or yogurt.

Ben prepping for our apple project:

  

Ears to you and other corniness

This morning we got up and got right to work to finish our corn freezing project.  Ben started cutting up bags to use in the Foodsaver vacuum packer.

We tried using our handy corn kernel device, but it broke on the first try.  Some kitchen gadgets just aren't worth their cost. So I went back to the "old fashioned" way.  With a sharp knife in hand, I started cutting the kernels off the corn ears.

It was a bit of work, but worth the effort.  Box after box came out of the fridge and I sliced away.

After about another hour and a half of cutting, I'd hit the end of the corn.  Boy, 90 ears of corn is a lot when it's all cut up too!  I filled the large restaurant pan and small canner with kernels.

Ben worked on the packaging end.  After he made all the bags for vac-packing, he filled them with a little over 1cup each.  We figured that was about perfect size for the 2 of us.  Each bag was double sealed on both ends.  That way just in case 1 seal failed we still would keep our corn fresh frozen and delicious!

The vac-packed bags built up quick and then went right into the freezer.

Here's the cobs that we had at the end of the process.  As usual, we found a good way to reuse them.  They're going to our friends farm to feed his cows on the bit of corn that's left in the cobs! 

I admitt that this project of preserving corn for the freezer took a bit more work than what I anticipated.  I still think it will be worth it though!  Now we'll be having sweet summer fresh tasting corn throughout the winter.  I'm even planning on making some for Thanksgiving dinner.

Afterthought:

I heard tonight could be our first frost of the season, so ran out this morning and cut my dahlias that were in bloom.  Now whether the forcast is right or wrong we can have beautiful cut flowers for 2 weeks.