GrowLively

Horseradish Hot Head...

I looooooove me some horseradish. Yes, I'm a hot head. The hotter the better. I know, I'm well aware I also have a short fuse, but that's not what we're talking about here! I harvested some horseradish from the garden yesterday - it's not the right time of the year to do this, but with the bizarre stink bug outbreak I've had on the horseradish this spring, they're not really putting out lots of new growth. So, I chopped off all the leaves, along with the stink bugs, and relocated them to the compost pile...I'm hoping they will stay there. I've put a couple of praying mantis egg sacs out in the garden in hopes they will hatch and eat all the heads off my stink bugs, buutttt the timing probably isn't right at this point. I'm sure they'll be lots of other things for them to eat when they emerge.

In any case, one usually harvests horseradish when plants are more dormant - early spring and late fall is best. You lift the plants with a sturdy garden fork (plants are strongly rooted in) and chop off the long healthy roots. Then immediately replant the main crown in the same spot. Horseradish plants are pretty tough and can actually be invasive in some climates. If you want to keep them from spreading you can grow them in containers. They prefer a sunny spot but will take some afternoon shade. I provide mine no special treatment and minimal waterings and they are usually pest free.

Off season harvest aside, the flavor on these roots is great. I ended up with about a 16 oz. jar of processed horseradish from a handful of roots. It's so hot I can't even put my face anywhere near the jar. Whoohooo! That's the good stuff.

So you want to process some horseradish? It's easy. Lift a plant and chop off some long healthy roots - replant your crown (cut off the leaves when you replant if it has any). Scrub the roots clean and then peel with a potato peeler. Make a mixture of 1 cup water and 1 cup 5% vinegar. Chop the roots into small pieces and place in a food processor. You can decide how hot you want your horseradish to be by grinding it a little or a lot before you add some of the vinegar mixture. Grind it a little, then add some liquid, and it will be more mild. Grind it longer and it will be hotter. I grind mine pretty fine, till there is a lot of grind built up on the sides of the processor, then add a little of the vinegar mixture. This blends the grind back together and "stops the hot". Keep processing till your horseradish has the texture you want. The finer you process it after you've added the liquid, the easier it will be to mix with other foods. Then pack the processed horseradish into a small glass jar. Keep processing until you have what you need. You don't want too much of the liquid in your storage jar, so if it seems too watery, simply strain some of the liquid out. The jar will keep in the fridge for about 4-6 weeks.

Hmmm, what will I make...horseradish mayo? relish? horseradish risotto? Definitely some Jezebel sauce. MMMMMMMMMM. Yum.

It's almost summer...

We hit 92 today...a bona fide warm day...pretty much our first. Which is bizarre. It's been unseasonable cool and moist this spring. Not the sort of thing one usually complains about in Texas, but it has put a damper on the normal progress of my vegetable garden. The cool temps have thwarted three attempts to get my eggplant and pepper seeds germinated directly in the garden so I've started a backup crop indoors. It's awfully late for that, but better than never. Now that the heat is coming on things are finally starting to pop.

I'm scrambling to harvest and eat as much of the salad greens as I can. This day of 92 degrees heralds the soon to come demise of my salad days...Try as I might, I cannot keep the cilantro, dill and parsley from going to bloom. I always let them flower because they are so pretty and the bees love them. It just means I have to let them go...sniff sniff.

Not to worry though...don't think that I will be so sad for the arrival of summer. Because you know what summer means...TOMATOES AND PEPPERS!!! Yay is all I can say. I will be eating homegrown tomatoes and peppers from now till about February, when the last of the pre-harvest fruit I bring indoors runs out.

The bush bean seedlings are coming along nicely, as well as the potatoes and the corn...

The summer squash has begun to twine and flowers abound. The ants and a few bees are doing my pollination duties for me (ok, I admit I'm still spreading a bit o' pollen around my self, but don't tell the ants and the bees...)

Earthed up the potatoes again after this photo and harvested some leeks...these leeks will pretty much be the last of the season as they are going dormant. I've been quite negligent in harvesting them at all this past season...bad, bad gardener.

Tonight I made a big mixed green salad from the garden with a few fresh herbs as well. It accompanied an angel hair pasta with a homemade tomato sauce with fresh basil and oregano from the garden. Lovely.

As the British say...Grow your own Veg!

It'll make ya feel good...promise

How dare they

Let the backyard battle begin...so I planted another young peach tree this spring. When I brought it home it had one tiny baby peach on it. I've watched this peach grow and ripen to the point where I was JUST about to pick it. Yesterday morning as I looked across the back yard something was missing. The little speck of orange I'd been patiently watching was gone. You've got to be kidding me. Not only did "they" take the peach...they also took the branch with it. Chewed it right off. Now...I already engage in this yearly battle with the squirrels... they like to steal my biggest tomatoes the day before I plan to pick them. They watch me...they mark it on their calendars. So this is not something new to me. But I only had one...one little peach. Not one peach to spare. Needless to say this kind of event evokes feelings of pulling out the red rider bb gun, that I do own, and sitting watch. Yes, peach thievery evokes these murderous feelings even in bleeding heart vegetarians like myself. Sigh. But, on the bright side, I happened to discover one more little peach on the tree. So now, I'm guarding it...bb gun in hand. Go ahead Mr. Squirrel...make my day....

Veggie update

Now that the trees are trimmed, I think we'll have much better sunlight in the veggie garden this summer. Bush bean and radish seedlings are on their way up...

The corn has been a little inconsistent in its growth habit due to the bit of shade that was being cast in the back. Hopefully the smaller plants will have a spurt now that they have more light. Potatoes are happy.

Here are the tomato plants I started from seed - in the flood, with hail, then freeze...the ones I didn't think would even germinate. It's been such an unseasonable cool spring...but they made it and the seedlings are now coming along nicely.

Found the first squash bloom of the season yesterday. These squash were also direct seeded. I have a few varieties, this being a dwarf cultivar.

We've been harvesting really nice salad greens lately. Again, it's been unseasonably cool and normally by this time of the year it's warm enough that the greens can't help bolting. But we're still cool enough that the baby greens are still fresh and tasty.

Blackberries are coming on...I think their flowers are so pretty

Seedlings...

A shocker...
The tomato, some pepper and egglplant seeds I sowed outside 3 weeks ago...the day before a torential downpouring flood, with hail, then a freeze a few days later...actually germinated...total surprise. These photos are about a week old. Lettuce, corn and squash seedlings as well.

 

Veggie bed update...

Ok, got the rest of the new veggie beds anchored and filled today. Planted potatoes and sweet corn.

Oh my back hurts....

Ok, let the veggie garden expansion project begin. Yesterday we build three new 6'x12"x12' new raised cedar beds for the veggie garden. I got one of them anchored in the ground, weed barrier in and filled with soil. Still have to decide exactly how I want to situate the other two and anchor them in. More soil to be delivered for those beds next week. Cleaned out the old beds and got a few transplants of tomatoes, peppers and herbs in. Started seeds of the tomato, eggplant, lettuce, summer squash and peppers I'm testing for the mag. In addition to the already built new beds, I'll still need to build a few smaller ones to balance out the garden, plus add some pretty containers. I have an above ground irrigation system I built for the garden, so I'll have to add a couple of zones and run it to the new beds as well. Not an immediate need, but I'll have to get that done before it gets too warm. Then finish off the pathways around all the new beds as well, which is a time consuming project in itself. whew... (oh, and ignore all those weeds in the yard...they aren't really there. really. just a figment of your imagination...) Oh, by the way, I use a combination of organic compost, humus and high quality topsoil for my soil mix for the beds.

Holy Mole!!

Indifferent to my negligence, the vegetable garden has continued to produce...as if I have time to harvest! I'm going to have to get out there soon because there is some mean salsa to be made.....

Pepper 'Hole Mole', All-American Selections winner, really has a great flavor and produces heavily.
Anyone need some Habaneros? Boy that salsa is going to burn.....

Veggie Garden

The rainy cool weather this spring has definitely gotten the veggie garden off to a good start. Lot's of "babies" on the way. Here are some (windy) pictures of a few things. Despite my caging efforts on the strawberries, the birds managed to clean both plantings totally clean of my first crop. Devastating! So, this morning, I'll be double caging them to try and fend off the attack. There are new berries forming, so I've got to get to it quick. Of course, they only steal them riiiiiight before they are just ripe. Sneaky. The Rhubarb is quite robust. I'll be harvesting some in the next few days and will start canning it. My goal is to get a strawberry & rhubarb pie out of the garden this year! The tomatoes are in high gear this year. (I attribute that to my fantabulous NHG organic veggie food...). The first on the way are 'Sugary' and 'Sun Sugar' a yellow variety.  I'll be trying to can as many tomatoes as I can get this year. Actually, I've got all the ingredients in the garden for a good salsa, so I'll probably make and can that up too. Tiny baby squash are on the way. I have 'Peter Pan' and a couple other varieties. Potatoes and horseradish are growing nicely. Will be looking for a fall harvest there. Corn seedlings are up to about 4" tall, as well as purple beans, snap peas and one last crop of lettuce. The first 3 banana peppers of the season are ready, but the pepper plants won't really take off until the heat comes on. Anyone need pepper sauce or pickled peppers? I'll have plenty! I decided to espalier fruit trees all along the NE side of our yard - which has an ugly chain link fence. If I let them grow standard, they'd shade the veggie garden. So this way, I can camouflage the fence, keep in the sun, and get better fruit production. So far I've planted a pear and a peach. I'll probably plant another pear and a plum. I've also planted blackberries and raspberries along the remainder of the side fence and along the back fence. We have great neighbors and they said they wouldn't mind sharing the "fence fruit"!