Snowy Blanket for Cloche
Jan. 16--A small cloche with overwintering lettuce, carrots and spinach got a light dusting of snow as a cold front engulfed Seattle yesterday. With temperatures predicted to drop into the 20s at night, I hope more snow will fall and give my garden an even better blanket. The seedlings under this cloche are also protected with a double layer of floating row cover right on top of them under the hoop house.
Beets Brighten Winter
Jan. 3--Pulling back the cloche to harvest some sweet Chioggia beets is a welcome task on a dry winter day. This cloche uses 9-gauge wire hoops and 6 mil plastic held down by bricks and stones. I've found beets to be pretty hardy in our winter, and they could be protected just with a nice layer of straw mulch, but I had some small ones in the bed too, so decided to give them some extra warmth to encourage baby greens.
Come to Our Holiday Book Signing on Dec. 4
Nov. 19--Would you like a copy of Edible Heirlooms for a friend this Christmas? Come to my holiday book signing at Santoro's Books in my neighborhood of Phinney Ridge on Sunday, Dec. 4, 1-3 p.m. You can get a little packet of free heirloom seeds from my garden to go with the book, AND meet the authors of the new Urban Farm Handbook, who will also be in the store, signing and revealing their farming secrets. Hope you can make it!
Ready for Winter
Oct. 22--The garlic is planted and snug for the winter under a layer of straw, fall peas (on the Rickey Cabine trellis behind the garlic) are modest but tasty, and winter lettuces have sprouted under the cloche. The garden is ready for winter weather!
Sweet Harvest
 Sept. 28--This bountiful harvest included, left to right, Toma Verde Tomatillo, Small Sugar Pumpkin, Aunt Molly's Ground Cherry (in plastic tub), Red Kuri (aka Hokkaido) winter squash (in front), Hungarian paprika peppers and Liberty apples. The leafy green looming over the left corner is red mizuna.
Fall/Winter Veggies to Start Now
Aug. 9--Last weekend I gave a talk at Christianson's Nursery outside Mt. Vernon (thank you for the nice reception!) on the topic of fall and winter vegetables. Here's the handout from the talk, which includes a list of common ones to grow and varieties to look for. You're still able to plant many of these from seed, but a few of the overwintering ones, like broccoli, cabbage and kale, should have been started a few weeks ago, so look for starts in the nurseries.
I'll be giving another talk on this topic two Saturdays from now at City People's Garden Store in Seattle (Sat., 8/20, 10 a.m.), so come if you can. We'll walk the nursery and choose plants after the talk.
Winter Garden Starts
July 24 -- My seedlings are up for the winter garden, at least the ones I wanted to start in pots. For some of these longer-season vegetables, like Purple Sprouting Broccoli and January King Cabbage, it helps to start them in pots because I generally need them to be sprouting before I have the beds prepared. So now I'm clearing spring vegetables from a couple of prime locations so that I can move these into place once they've sized up a bit.
It does feel strange to be planning for winter at the height of summer, but it pays off.
Dissing the Tomato Cage
July 14 -- OK, I admit it: I hate those wimpy round tomato cages. This month in Edible Seattle I royally dissed the cheap little wire things, but I think I more than made up for it by describing a number of ways you can cultivate wonderful tomatoes in your garden this summer. Even if the temperature gauge never breaks 70 here in Seattle. Check out my feature article in Edible Seattle's July/August issue, on newsstands now (or better yet, subscribe!). And if you want to read more about heirlooms, my article Cultivating the Past from their March/April issue is on their website.
Picked, Packed and Pickled Pods
July 5 - Got busy this holiday weekend picking and then pickling some of those plentiful radish pods. A quick hot-water bath, some white vinegar, peppercorns, mustard seed, even some parsley seed heads from the garden, and voila! I hope they taste as good as they look.
Radish Pods!
June 22 -- These overwintered Black Spanish Radish plants have been covered with tiny pink-and-white flowers for a month, and for the last couple of weeks have been delivering spicy radish seed pods off their stems for our salads. There's so many I'm going to try pickling them, and looking for other uses. Any ideas?
Your 'Personal Shopper' for Heirloom Hot Crops at the Seattle Tilth Plant Sale.
May 3 -- Going to the big Seattle Tilth Edible Plant Sale this weekend? I'll be there, and from 11 to noon on Saturday, I'll be sharing tips about my favorite warm-season vegetables being sold at the sale. I'll be happy to pair you with the perfect tomato, pepper or squash from the list.
Come see me at the Readers to Eaters booth near the entrance to the sale. If you're around at noon, we may even stroll the sale together!
More Chances to Share Seeds:
Farm Co-op and Green Festival Events
April 13 -- Are you a member of the Seattle Farm Co-op? Those chicken- loving urban farmers are celebrating the opening of their new SoDo warehouse on April 30, and have invited me to come and talk about saving seeds. I'll have some seeds to share, and hope you will bring some too. I'll also serve as a personal shopper for the heirloom warm-season vegetables that will be on the tables at the Seattle Tilth Edible Plant Sale.
But wait, there's more! I'll be doing a talk about the value of heirloom vegetables and once again hosting a seed swap at the upcoming Seattle Green Festival. The big event greens up the Qwest Events Center in Pioneer Square on May 21 and 22. I'm speaking Saturday, May 21 at 3:30 p.m.
Articles in Two Great Edible Magazines
April 8 -- This spring I'm sharing stories about heirloom vegetables, seed saving advice and much more in two great regional magazines: Edible Portland and Edible Seattle. My articles are in their current editions.
Although they're both part of the Edible Communities network, each publication has its own unique voice and wonderfully represents the local farmers, eager eaters and sustainable gardeners of its community. I'm proud to be associated with these fine magazines.
Olympia Seed Swap Coming in May
April 4 -- If you're in the Olympia vicinity on Friday, May 13, come out and join me at a celebration of heirlooms and a seed swap. We had such a great time doing that at the Anacortes library that I decided to reprise the idea for Olympia's Timberland Regional Library. I'll tell stories and show slides of heirlooms, and then we'll swap. Details coming -- save the date and bring your seeds!
San Francisco Gardeners: Here's My Tomato List
March 28 -- I had a great time meeting so many gardeners in San Francisco last weekend, and was pleasantly challenged by your questions about growing tomatoes. I hope you have an abundant year and somehow figure out a mechanism for clearing the fog above your tomato patch.
I tried to cover a lot of ground in my Ten Steps to Your Best Tomato Year Yet presentation. In case you want more time with any of the information, here are my presentation notes. Also, as promised, here is the tomato seminar handout. Hope to see you again next year!
Grafting Tomatoes
March 27 -- Here's something new at the San Francisco Flower & Garden Show: grafted tomatoes! John from GardenLife.com is showing off the Mighty 'Mato, which has a strong, disease-resistant root stock with different varieties of tomatoes grafted onto it. They're even grafting some heirlooms. Hey, if it works for fruit trees, why not? This one is two stems with two varieties - what a concept!
NW Garden Show: Ideas Abound
Feb. 26 -- I had a great time visiting with old friends and meeting new ones in the booths, gardens and seminars at the Northwest Flower & Garden Show this week. Read my article on some of my finds.
At the Yard, Garden & Patio Show in Portland, I saw this ingenious, easy
way to use a cold frame. Simply sink it at an angle into a garden bed! See
more show photos on my Facebook page for Edible Heirlooms.
Handouts from Seattle & Portland garden show talks
Feb. 23 -- In conjunction with my talk today at the Northwest Flower & Garden Show in Seattle, I'm providing a handout of my topic as a PDF here, rather than doing the old paper method. I'm also providing the handout for a talk on tomatoes that I gave last weekend at the Yard, Garden & Patio Show in Portland. Here are handouts for the Cool Season Gardening and Ten Steps to Tomatoes seminars.
City People's Gardening Series Announced
Feb. 9 -- I will be doing a series of three vegetable gardening classes at City People's Garden Store in Seattle's Madison Valley this spring. They are:
- March 12: Season Extension Techniques
- April 2: Heirloom Vegetables
- May 14: Growing Great Tomatoes
Random Acts of Cloching
Feb. 4 -- February is the most hopeful of all months to a gardener. Buds are swelling, shoots are poking and days are lengthening. What else could you want?
Well...if you’re a maritime Northwest gardener, maybe a little less rain and a little more warmth. You can’t change the weather -- entirely -- but you can create little microclimates to make early spring gardening easier and more successful. Do it by using a cloche or a cold frame.... See my entire post on the Random Acts of Gardening blog.
Watercolor pencil drawing of tatsoi by Susie Thorness for Edible Heirlooms. The book contains 30 of her color images.
The February Vegetable
Jan. 31 -- Tatsoi (also known as tah tsai) a spinachlike mustard green that grows in a handsome rosette, is to me one of the most wonderful winter greens. Its spoon-shaped leaves stand up well to a light stir-fry, keeping their crunch and succulence. Its name translates as "February vegetable," and if you don't have some in your garden, look for it at its freshest in the markets right now.
Super Seed Swap in Anacortes
Jan. 5 -- A long-planned visit to Anacortes is coming in early Feburary. I'm packing up my seeds and heading to the Anacortes Public Library to give a talk about heirlooms on Sunday, Feb. 6. The Superbowl-day talk is part of the Jeane Thomson Memorial Garden Lecture series.
The event is 1-2:30 p.m. I will talk about the history and value of heirlooms, and show some slides of my favorites. Then we'll pull out our seed packets and trade!
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