Growing Salad

Tonight I remembered to add the basil, fennel, parsley and mini-peppers to the broccoli, peas and lettuce salad.   Added lavender to the sweet pea bouquet, too.   The kitchen has a nice aroma from the herbs and flowers.

In the garage, I have new sprouts of rainbow chard and lettuce. 

Slug Retraining Program

Slugs have found the fennel seedlings and quickly chewed two of them down to stubs. The others all had signs of damage like the photo below. Something had to be done. Now, I don't mind having slugs meet their end, but I don't like to put out the poison to do that. I decided to try the same training program I've use with the cats, Dear Husband, and myself, for that matter.

Simply change something enough to make the bad habit less convenient or satisfying, or offer a better option. If the cats start sleeping somewhere I don't want them to be, I put something in the spot for a few days that encourages them to find a new place. By the time the "something" is removed, they've found a new place. It's best not to give a DH example. (See, the training has worked on me too. And removing the cats or DH is not an option!) Ok, sometimes it works, at least.So what to do with slugs? I decided to try coffee. First, I used the coffee grounds from my french press. However, that didn't go too far. So, I coarsely ground up some old coffee beans I had. Now, I don't know that it is the coffee that has much effect on them, but I thought they might not like the texture. Again, the purpose is simply to make things different enough that they decide to go elsewhere. I once used some old sheep wool trimmings around broccoli seedlings with success too.
All but one of the seedlings have new growth now (photo above), even one of the stubs. The other stub might still pull through too. The new growth is not being eaten, either.

If nothing else, I'm hoping the training simply distracts them long enough for Petunia to show up and eat them.

Fennel

Throughout March, I'll be posting about different vegetables. This is for my own reference, and chance for us to share experiences or ask questions. I appreciate your input and any questions for me or other gardeners that you also have about the subject vegetable.

Fennel; Florence Fennel; Foeniculum vulgare

Above photo from July 31, 2007. See the sweet seedling photo, here.

My first experience with fennel was in a restaurant in York, England. It was cooked with other vegetables and served with a meat dish. It was tasty and we asked to be sure what it was we were eating.

When I read about growing it, it sounded versatile and not too difficult: eat the refreshing licorice flavored foliage, stalks, bulbs, seeds. My type of plant. 2007 was my first season and I will be growing it again. Did I have beginner's luck?

Do you grow fennel, or not grow fennel, for any specific reason?

Variety I'm growing: Perfection, organic, from Territorial Seed Company
Days to Maturity: 75
Soil temp for germination: 55-70 F

Seeded: Indoors in early March 2007. I used small but deeper pots to give the roots room. Looks like it will be mid March 2008. I will also plan to succession plant fennel this year, to spread out the harvest.

Planted out: Moved to semi protected cloche in mid/late April 2007, planted April or early May. May be able to start a fall crop in July. Heat can make it bolt. Doesn't mind a light frost.

Harvested: First one in July. Others followed, though the last one went to seed. I hope it self-sowed too.

Saving seeds: Should work. Seeds are similar to dill.

Eating: Baked/roasted bulb & stalks; feathery foliage, skinny stalks and raw bulb in a salads. Lately, I had a store bought one that we added to soup and it was very tasty and tender this way.

Mid-Summer Notes

Yesterday & today...
Planted seeds in pots for Brussels sprouts, lettuce and broccoli today. Started to do peas for the fall, but planting guide suggests later in August.

Harvested garlic and onions (can hardly wait to roast the elephant garlic). Harvested more beets, broccoli, peas, chard and the last of the lettuce. Also a few more sungold tomatoes, and the 3rd yellow tomato from the heirloom assortment.

Cooked (in oven) the first & largest fennel bulb, harvested a week ago. See his baby picture here. Tasty, but still need to find a recipe/method I like the best. Any ideas? Another is ready to harvest soon. The stalks also made a nice crunchy addition to salad (like celery, but better flavor).

First harvest of French filet beans should be this week (the few snacks in the garden already don't count).

Trimmed up some of the lamb's ear and catmint in the herb row. Pulled up the oldest of the broccoli to get this bed ready for other things. Don't worry, the bees have other broccoli plants to visit now. The pea plants may be removed later this week as the blooms have really slowed down.

I found a left over white & orange small pumpkin (see this post) some time ago and cut it open for the seeds. Last weekend, I planted them and they have now sprouted. Bet the harvest will be closer to Oct than Aug (like last year)!

Will post pumpkin patch photos soon. They are growing quickly now. Delicata squash is growing and the cucumbers are climbing their fence.

Job's Tears seeds from Hanna & her Illegal Garden are growing. I do hope to harvest seeds this year, at least enough for a bracelet!

April Salad!

I love grabbing the basket and heading to the garden! No better shopping could there be. A break in the cool spring rain for a garden stroll, so much the better. The aromas & bird songs just explode following a light rain. And fennel trimmings! The seedling is big enough to contribute a tasty treat, but I better get some more growing soon.
I have one more just sprouted in the house, and perhaps a few more seeds will come through. Once I get this guy in the ground, I'll seed some others around him. We had a meal in York, UK that left quite the memory. Guess I'll be figuring out how to cook them now.

Sprouting Notes

For reference, from the March 11 indoor sowings:
Lettuce - many sprouts today, March 14th!
Snow peas - 3 out of 8 have sprouted today.

From the March 3 indoor sowings:
Broccoli - 4 of 4 sprouted earlier
Fennel - 1 of 4
Parsley (old seeds) - none yet
Tomatoes, sungold - 3 of 4

From the March 4 outdoor sowings:
Peas - none yet
Radishes - 1, maybe 2 sprouts

March Garden Madness

A fine surprise, weather-wise, yesterday led to some garden madness. The garden soil was quite workable and I was able to dig the winter crop of rocks while preparing a couple beds for future planting. Each was only a small pebble when planted last fall and now I'm set for many meals of rock soup!

Hopefully the snow peas and snap peas planted yesterday will do as well! I've never planted them this early, but thought I'd give them a try since some in this area plant them around the February Presidents' Day holiday. I can plant more later if needed. Oh yes, planted a few radish seeds also. The nice condition of the soil also meant the grass & weeds pulled quite easily. I brought out my favorite weed pulling tool (see this post for more about it). Yes, it is a "rat's tail" file, but you'll notice it easily loosens the soil to the bottom of the dandelion root.
Fortunately, I have friends who help in the garden rain or shine, even when I'm stuck inside.
I noticed last year, and again yesterday, that the worms really seem to like the green coffee bags used as mulch/weed block. This is one I picked up to move.
Not only can we recycle the paper/jars/cans from inside, we also have a yard waste wheelie bin. I can use a lot of yard waste in the garden, but not the awful blackberries! No way these cuttings will go to my garden. Starting this month, I'll be able to fill this up every two weeks and off it will go to more powerful composting than I could ever do.

On Saturday, I also planted a few seeds indoors: broccoli, fennel, parsley, and tomatoes. I'll do a post later if they show any promise of sprouting!

Needless to say, I'm going back to my desk today to recover!