Shelling Beans

Our three-year-old working hard

Splitting the dried pod reveals the beans

Towards the end of the growing season, we began leaving the largest pods on our purple-podded pole bean vines (green beans) to mature into next season's seeds.  We left the beans on the vines until the pods were good and dry.  The pods should rattle like a maraca when shaken.  

After they were dry, we brought them in and split them with our fingers over a bowl and discarded any small, discolored, or damaged beans.  A cool, dry, dark storage environment is desirable to preserve viability.  We keep ours in a labeled ziplock in the freezer.

Next year's seed crop

Weekly Gardening Outlook

This will be a continuing series where we look ahead at the coming week in gardening for the Northwest Arkansas area.

The last of the tomatoes

About 1/4 of the tomatoes have ripened thus far.  I just finished turning them into salsa.  A few went bad and had to be thrown out before they turned red and we will see what happens with the remaining green ones.


This will be the last weekly gardening outlook until next spring.  I will post here and there over the winter, so sign up for the email subscription on the right or link in with an RSS reader.  I have an idea for an interesting series in January and February.  I can' talk about it right now, but it should be interesting if it works out.


We are still only getting 1-2 eggs a day.  It' enough for us, but we aren't having eggcentric meals like we used to.  It's part of the cycle of egg raising and we are grateful for what we are getting.

Weather outlook:

-Highs around 70 and lows around 50 until Saturday.  Perfect growing weather.  Saturday it will cool down and a freeze is expected.  Minimal chance of rain through the week, 

-Ten day forecast

What's being harvested:

-Green onions

-Lettuce

-Chard (still hanging in there)

-Mint (still hanging in there)

Building and Using a Cold Frame (Plus Some Alternatives)

See previous post about cold frames here.

Six bales of straw make up the walls of this cold frame

 We helped a customer construct a simple, straw bale cold frame a few weeks ago.  As seen above, an enclosure is made around the bed with the bales.  We pushed them together tightly and stuffed straw into any cracks to prevent drafts.  For the top, they covered two old screens from a sliding glass door with plastic.

Sliding screen doors covered with plastic serve as a cover

When an overnight freeze is expected, the tops are put in place a few hours before sundown to gather the sun's warmth.  In the picture above, only one screen is in place.  A second identical plastic covered screen will completely seal off the interior of the cold frame.  Swiss chard is visible growing in the lower right quadrant.

Young kale growing in the cold frame

Kale is quite cold hardy and with this cold frame in place, they should be able to grow it all winter long.  The green grass on the left are sprouts from wheat seed left in the straw bales.

Sweet basil growing next to kale

 Even after getting down to 22 degrees, this volunteer sweet basil plant is doing just fine.  Basil is notoriously intolerant of freezing temperatures, so it is a good sign that the cold frame has been effective.

How to use a cold frame:


Cold frames are not a "set it and forget it" tool.  They require the gardener to monitor the forecasted temperatures and the conditions of the plants inside.  If the temperature during the day is in the mid 60s, the temperature inside could easily climb into the 90s or higher, roasting the plants inside.  If it gets too hot inside, lettuces and other greens will think it's summer time and will bolt (send up flower stalks), which makes them bitter and inedible.  Control the temperature inside by propping open the top or removing it all together on warm days and sealing it up tightly on cold nights.

Don't let me discourage you though.  This time of year, the top stays off most most nights.  As an example, looking at the forecast ahead, our customers won't need to cover their cold frame again until Saturday night.  Today is Monday, so that's a pretty good stretch without having to do anything.  Early in the season, the cold frame is there to get you through the cold snaps here and there and allow your garden to enjoy the great growing weather in between.

Jugs of water inside the cold frame will absorb heat during the day and radiate it back out at night.  This can help keep the cold frame warm as we get farther into fall and winter.  When temperatures dip into the teens and lower, a heat source may be needed at night.  A 100 watt light bulb is simple and effective.  A small, electric heater with a thermostat can also be used.  Please exercise all due caution with electrical devices.

Here's a previous post on cold frames with more information.

Alternative uses of household items:

A cracked aquarium makes a great miniature greenhouse

The lettuce in the aquarium above had been harvested for last night's dinner.  Note that the plants were cut 1-2" off of the ground.  This allows it to regrow again and again without requiring replanting.

A fish bowl, a one gallon pickle jar, and a juice bottle with the bottom cut out

Many things around the house can be used to keep the cold out.  Ask around for old, unused fish aquariums.  If you cannot find any, Wal-Mart typically has small fish aquariums at a low cost and a few of those can keep fresh salads on your table well into the winter.  Treat these like cold frames and remove them on warm days.  Put them in place a few hours before dark when a freeze is expected.

An unused fish bowl keeps the cold at bay for this lettuce

Note the increased growth of the previously covered lettuce

Random thoughts:

• The straw bales will absorb water and begin to break down over the winter.  They should make a nice addition to the compost pile in the spring.
• I am contemplating replacing the straw bales on the south side with some transparent material to allow more sun into the cold frame.  As winter progresses and the sun sinks lower into the southern horizon, that southern wall will cast a longer and longer shadow into the growing area.  Perhaps a sheet of transparent corrugated siding used in green houses?
• Remember that with the top in place, rain fall is excluded.  Water as neccesary.
• The artificially warm environment can attract/house damaging insects, voles, and mice.  Keep an eye out.

UPDATE:  See updated results and experiences with cold frames and glass enclosures here.

Weekly Gardening Outlook (Summer is gone)

This will be a continuing series where we look ahead at the coming week in gardening for the Northwest Arkansas area.

The last tomatoes of the season

 We harvested all of the tomatoes ripe or not due to the impending freeze.  They have taken up residence on our kitchen counter in hopes that they will ripen up.  The one's that don't will be chicken food.

The freeze killed the tomato plants deader than a door nail

The garden, now just a salad garden

Chard not liking the freezing temperatures

 The chard can stand light to moderate frosts, but doesn't like freezes.  With it expected to get to 25 degrees later this week, we don't expect the chard to hang around much longer.

Lettuce

New lettuce coming up

 We are getting a couple of family sized salads a week from the garden.  We planted more a week ago and it's popping right up.  Our source for a glass door for the cold frame hasn't come through yet, so our cold frame plans are put on hold until spring.  Without a cold frame our lettuce growing season will be shortened.  We did build a cold frame at a customer's and promise a post about that this week.

Next year's strawberry plants are digging the cooler weather

 Towards the end of the season, we allow our strawberry plants to send out runners into the main garden bed.  This is a great source for free daughter plants next year.  They will overwinter here and be transplanted in the early spring.

The blueberry bush leaves are turning red

No eggs today

We're averaging about a half dozen eggs a week right now.

Weather outlook:

-Highs in the mid 60s to low 50s over the next week with a chance of rain today.  A freeze is expected Thursday, Friday, and Saturday night. 

-Ten day forecast

What's being harvested:

-Green onions

-Lettuce

-Chard (Probably the last week that this will be available)

-Mint (The only herb that has survived the first freeze)

Freeze Warning Tonight!

The weathermen are calling for a low of 26 degrees tonight in Northwest Arkansas.  Harvest all summer crops (tomatoes, beans, squash, peppers, etc.) and cover the more fragile fall crops (lettuces, chard, etc.).

Weekly Gardening Outlook

This will be a continuing series where we look ahead at the coming week in gardening for the Northwest Arkansas area.

The garden

Much of the garden is now fallow.  A pending freeze Thursday night will pretty much do away with the summer crops like tomatoes and peppers.

This tomato plant became too heavy for the wire cage to support

This plant was a volunteer Roma from the spot where our compost pile was last year.  We left it in the spot it sprouted in and put a wire cage around it and mulched the base with grass clippings to help keep the grass away from its roots.  This was our largest, healthiest, and most productive tomato plant.  Fusarium wilt affected all of our tomato plants except for this one.  This is a reminder to rotate crops.  Next year, we will not grow tomatoes in the same locations as this year.

Green tomatoes

We've harvested 10-12 reddish tomatoes over the last couple of days.  The pending freeze Thursday night will have us out collecting all tomatoes that we can.  Hopefully they are mature enough to ripen up inside.

The daily bounty from our molting flock

Our chickens have given us 1-2 eggs per day for the last week.  They have been eating a lot more feed over the last several weeks.  They require a lot of energy to replace their feathers.  Their consumption will remain somewhat elevated over the winter as wild forage availability will decrease with cooling temperatures.

Blueberry bush

 Our blueberry bushes had a severe case of leaf spot earlier in the year.  We lost two of the five to it.  The remaining three are flourishing after a few treatments with Serenade.  We've discussed this organic treatment before here and still highly recommend it.

Late season jalapeños 

Rocky Top lettuce

We practice the cut and come method with this lettuce.  We harvest it to 1-2" high and it regrows again quickly without replanting.

The first year apple trees

From leafless sticks to a 3 foot tall, multi-branched trees our two new apple trees have survived Japanese beetles and drought. We treated them with neem oil once a week while the Japanese beetles were arround and that kept them at bay.

Over summered kale

The kale absolutely did not regrow when cooler weather hit as we had hoped it would.  Next year we will pull it as soon as it bolts and plant something else in its spot.

Weather outlook:

-Highs in the mid to upper 60s with a chance of a freeze Thursday night.  Clear with no chance of rain through the week.

-Ten day forecast

What's being harvested:

-Green onions

-Lettuce

-Peppers (We will likely harvest everything on Thursday)

-Tomatoes (We will likely harvest everything on Thursday)

-Chard

-Basil, mint, and other herbs (We will likely harvest everything on Thursday)

Weekly Gardening Outlook - Empty Nest Syndrome, Indian Summer, and Transitioning into Fall

We apologize for the brief interruption in egg laying...

Empty nest boxes and feathers strewn about means it's molting season

The girls are not looking their best

See the new feathers growing in on this chicken's chest and throat

The chickens have been molting for the last two weeks.  This is a normal process where the chickens lose and replace their feathers.  It takes a lot of protein and energy to replace the feathers, so unfortunately for us the hen's body shuts down egg production to compensate.  It usually occurs once a year in the fall and lasts for 2-4 months.  Our chickens began their first year of production last December and this is their first molt.  That is 10 full months of production.  Because Black Australorps are known to be prolific layers and the fact that our flock produced for 10 straight months, we are hopeful they will be back into production by mid December.  Our flock of 6 hens has produced 1,500 eggs for us over the last 10 months.  I think they have earned a rest.

Eggs!

Update:  While this post was still under construction, I made my rounds checking on the garden, dogs, and chickens and checked the nest boxes just in case.  Look what I found!  It seems a couple of the girls are coming back into production after two weeks off.  This isn't unheard of as commercial egg laying operations are able to force molt their flocks in two weeks.  We have chosen not to do this though as it requires confinement and starving the birds for an extended period of time.  However our girls are doing it, we are thankful for some eggs!

Indian summer:

A bounty of green tomatoes in late October

Frost, frost, stay away

An unusual warm period is extending the summer crops a few weeks past the average first killing frost date.  As you can see, our tomatoes are loaded with fruit.  With the lowest predicted temperature in the next 10 days at 38 degrees, it looks like we are going to get an unexpected bounty!

Swiss chard, beautiful as always

Lettuce mix is growing well

Pink Beauty radishes are ready to eat

The Serrano peppers haven't handled the cooler weather well

The jalapeño peppers are doing a little better 

The bean pods saved for seed are drying out

The green onions are winding down

Prepping for fall gardening:

Trellises put away for winter

Being prepped for fall gardening

It's getting to be time to either put your summer garden to bed for the winter or begin making preparations for fall gardening.  I recently helped a customer harvest their sweet potatoes (look for a post on that soon).  While I was there, we removed the trellises, cleaned up the garden, and built a straw bale cold frame (also look for a post on that soon). They are going to grow kale, Swiss chard, lettuce, and turnips in the cold frame.

Weather outlook:

-Wild temperature swings from a high of 63 degrees today to a high of 81 degrees on Thursday.  It has been raining today and there is a good chance of rain as we approach the weekend.

-Ten day forecast

What's being harvested:

-Radishes

-Lettuce

-Peppers

-Tomatoes (Loaded with full sized fruit.  We are closely watching the overnight low temperatures)

-Chard

-Basil, mint, and other herbs (enjoying them while they last)

Celeriac

Celeriac in early June

Celeriac in August

Celeriac is a variety of celery that produces large, flavorful roots and much smaller stalks than traditional celery.  We grew it for the first time this year and it grew without special attention and was free of pest issues.  During the growing season, we used the foliage in place of parsley and it added a nice flavor to our recipes.

We started from seed inside in late February (8 weeks before the last frost).  We planted them outside in mid-May.  The only peculiarity of celeriac is that it is biennial.  So if it's planted outside too early and experiences several cold nights in a row, it can be tricked into thinking it has gone through a summer/winter cycle and is now in year two.  In year two, biennials put energy into flowering instead of root growth.  Try to plant it late enough in the season to avoid multiple sub-50 degree nights and you should do well.  Keep it well watered and somewhat weed free.

Celeriac in September, nearing harvest time

 Celeriac appreciates cold nights, but because much of the root is above ground, it should be harvested before a killing frost (28 degrees).  Harvest by pulling the root, cutting off the greenery, and shaking off excess dirt.

Harvested celeriac root

We dried our celeriac for easy addition to soups and other recipes.  Other storage options include blanching (as described below) and then freezing or you can store the whole root in a root cellar environment (~55 degrees and dry).

Dehydrating Celeriac:

Partially peeled celeriac root

Shredding peeled celeriac root 

• Peel the root, removing all of the brown skin
• Shred the root
• Blanch in boiling water for 4 minutes and then immediately immerse in ice water to stop the cooking
• Dry in a dehydrator on its lowest temperature setting (ours was 95 degrees) until the pieces readily break into two pieces when bent
• Grind into powder and store in an airtight container for later use

Blanching celeriac root with ice water waiting

In the dehydrator before drying

In the dehydrator after drying

Grinding dried celeriac into powder