Victory Garden 2012

Leap Years Day photos. (29 Feb.) Always surprised at the number of blooms this time of year.

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Weird ghostly looking things. The color is not shifted!
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More green flowers:
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Some of my favorites:
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And these too!:
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And some of the old reliable onion patch:
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All of these plants pretty much do their own thing. No help from me!
:)

I don't expect to see bluebells for another month or two. Strange winter though, I was reading in the paper that they moved the planting schedule further north this year. My garden isn't even plowed yet so no rush on that. I'm looking at an early May, maybe late April planting time.

Yep, it's that time of year again. Thanks to the hot winter we had here and the fact that the soil temps never got much below 52 degrees we have early asparagas, about 4 weeks early. Have cut it 3 times already. Usually don't get any till late March at the earliest. The collards are about done for, starting to run up to seed but I managed to crop one more mess. Too hot and dry last fall for turnips and mustard, most of it died. One bit of good news is that we've picked up a bit over 4'' of rain since last thursday.

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Originally Posted by vintage hunter

The collards are about done for, starting to run up to seed but I managed to crop one more mess.

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MMMMM, collards! Had to cut back, as they are a natural attractant for fatback. Or salt ham trimmings. ("Country ham" to some of us.)

My aunt always let the asparagus go too long, so it's one vegetable that I prefer out of a can. But that's a personal problem!

It was 80 above here the other day. Twenty years ago we would get a May heat wave, but this is only March! Nobody has memories of this.

Normally, we have 4 feet of snow and a howling NW wind. Instead, we had a thunderstorm with rain tonight.

After 2 successive Springs of record flooding, we have had a brown winter: very little snow, what came went fast. Oh well, bottom of the river should have nice, fine sand!

Climate now is getting much as it was when Bjarni came here first (985) but it still has a way to go. Patterns seem to be changing to give some of our regular crap weather to Europe. This could be a Good Thing; normally they do not believe that we regularly get 30 and 40 below because, as I have been told, it is "impossible" for anyone to live in that kind of climate. I have been doing it now for most of my years (only 67 so far), so they can have MY share of the 40 below for a while. Maybe they will believe it, then! They might even stop bitching because Canadians "use too much energy"; climate like ours, you have to use energy or freeze to death.

Come to think of it, they might even forgive us for producing all that nasty oil and coal and hydro power...... all of which they will expect us to give to them while they destroy our industries with dumping. Some of them are in for a rude awakening, I'm afraid.

JMOORE, your flowers are BEAUTIFUL! That's all I can say!

VINTAGE HUNTER: can you advise me, kindly, what are COLLARDS? This is something we hear about on the Tube and in books and films, but they don't grow here at all; I have never seen such. As to Asparagus, doesn't it grow in cans? I know that it is a perennial but, to us, that usually means "froze out very year". This weather is MOST unusual.

Should be a FINE year on the range.
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Beautiful pics ... :)

Thanks for posting them ... :super:

Regards,
Doug

I'm not Vintage Hunter but to sort of answer your question Collard greens are used a lot like other greens. Cook with water salt to taste a dash of liquid smoke some salt pork and bingo "greens". Down here we dont use a lot of the Collards but we do use them. More turnip greens here. We also grow Kale to use in soup and as a mix of greens. Kale in particular should be well suited to your cooler northern climates but all should do well, they do very well here in my area.

Collards are a member of the Cole crop family which includes Kale, Cabbage, Broccoli and Coliflower to name a few. Asparagus is an herb related to lilies. When in season it has to be harvested every 3-5 days when the spears are around 6-8'' tall. If left alone it will grow into a bush about 4-5 feet tall and be filled with small round seed pods that turn red when ripe. Theres a few farmers around here that grow it, it also grows wild along the roadsides. My cousin is a produce farmer and has approx. 2 acres of Asparagus and usually plants 4-5 acres of Collards yearly so I'm well supplied. My favorite seasoning for cooking collards are smoaked neck bones, simmer them a while till the water looks sorta white and add the collards. Some folks add a pinch of sugar to sweeten them up a little but the Georgia and Vates varieties have a higher natural sugar content so they don't normally require any extra to be added.

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Originally Posted by smellie

VINTAGE HUNTER: can you advise me, kindly, what are COLLARDS?

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As above, but more bitter than turnip greens. Salt or vinegar(usually with small hot pepper in the jar) is commonly added to "sweeten" them. Usually served with stone ground cornbread (and not the "sweet/"sugarated" variety!) Never heard of adding liquid smoke! Must be for rich folk.

Jim,
After laughing so hard I almost wet myself I decided to reply. Over my life time I've been called more things than I can even remember but rich was never one of them. If you knew me I think you would see the humor in this as much as I do, so dont mis understand me laughing. It's just funny. Anyway the greens we make up have always had a bit of smokey flavor in them and that's why a dash of liquid smoke goes in our style of greens. I do like your idea of canning with a small hot pepper what kind? and will darn sure give that one a try. Some of the best growing veges we can grow here are the greens due to the cooler nights in this part of the country. I'm always looking for new things to try and your pepper in greens is a new one to me, sounds great.

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Originally Posted by FTIII

I do like your idea of canning with a small hot pepper what kind?

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Whatever you can get in the bottle!

ETA:

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Originally Posted by FTIII

I do like your idea of canning with a small hot pepper what kind? and will darn sure give that one a try. Some of the best growing veges we can grow here are the greens due to the cooler nights in this part of the country. I'm always looking for new things to try and your pepper in greens is a new one to me, sounds great.

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Having re-read your post, the pepper vinegar isn't added during canning. It's added after cooking! Use whatever peppers you like, mild to wild. When the juice is gone out of the jar, add some vinegar again to whatever peppers are left. Let sit as long as possible and it ought to be as good or better the next time or three! A few jars in rotation works well. The flavor's good even after the peppers get a bit "less than fresh" looking.

Whilst it's still March, some photos from the 21st and maybe a day or three later:

Grass is stating to grow (Not my grass, BTW!):

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More flowers. I like 'em, but I don't buy 'em! Plenty enough to go around in my yard as it is.

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I did "liberate" some trillium from the woods while turkey hunting a few years back. It seems to do well around the shady spots. A little more each year.
Looks like next year's new camo pattern!

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Ancient dogwoods.

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About the best smelling plant in the woods!

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I've no idea. But it's interesting looking.

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How can I keep the brickwork "sanitary" when these and other little beauties insist on growing where they "ought not"? Just gotta be careful where you step.

Tomato plant report fairly soon. Beans in early this year. Figured it might not freeze again! But the spinach is a no show! Very odd...

Where I grew up the collards were chopped up before cooking and then removed from the water afterward. Just before serving they were put into a skillet with a little bit of lard and stirred as they were refried. Hard to beat; lots of vitamin K, so if you're on an anticoagulant you might want to limit your intake or your blood will turn to mud. The water they were cooked in is referred to as "pot liquor" and is drunk from a cup, usually with the help of some good cornbread. The only thing which will get me to the table quicker is a good squirrel gravy over my grits and eggs.

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[I]I've no idea. But it's interesting looking.

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That one is a Columbine.

Many decades ago my first wife's family had a small alfalfa seed farm in SW ID and asparagus grew like weeds there; hardly anyone cared about it but my wife and I would drive the distance from Mtn. Home in our MGB and fill the small boot with brown-paper bags of asparagus to take home and share with friends. I still love asparagus above all other kinds of 'greens'. Beet greens are another favorite of mine; local 'green grocer' saves them for me - folks up here don't want to haul them home on the beets. Rutabaga (peel on a lathe with an spokeshave, simmer for 2 months) and kohlrabi are favorites for us old-timers, along with parsnips and turnips up here in northern MN. I love Brussel sprouts but my wife won't tolerate being cooked when she is in the house (same for fine liver and onions). jmoore; I'm looking to see your fabulous tomato garden again this year! So, why do I live up here if I so love garden procuce? It's the Loons and Mergansers and Wood Ducks (not that I eat them - I provide the nesting).

Aspen catkins are developing. Ice went off the lake one week ago, earliest ice-out we've ever had. I can recall ice still thick enough to walk on at fishing openers (typically Mothers' Day) for many years. Had a storm a few days before that drove 10" thick half-ton slabs of it up onto my shore-line. Crocus are peeking up now through the just-thawed ground.

Anybody hungry? How bout some BBQ'd deer loin and fried onions fresh from the garden seasoned with a little bacon.

Have had to split up the onion clumps again. Now they're going to seed. Smallish, but not too firey.

Oh, and it's snowing. -Dogwood petals! A blizzard of white and pink.

Still freezing here at night. Must have 2 foot of snow to melt off yet. I wish that global warming would show it's face in Fairbanks!

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Originally Posted by vintage hunter

Anybody hungry? How bout some BBQ'd deer loin and fried onions fresh from the garden seasoned with a little bacon.

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Had some vacuum sealed 2006:eek: vintage deer ham steaks last weekend. Wasn't expecting much, but they were excellent! That vacuum sealer is an absolute wonder when used carefully.

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Originally Posted by Old Soldier

Still freezing here at night. Must have 2 foot of snow to melt off yet. I wish that global warming would show it's face in Fairbanks!

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The only "blizzard" at our house this year:

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Dogwood petals! Swept up big piles of 'em!

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Some future food:

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Way early to plant beans, but there's lots of seed in reserve.

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Blueberries already

Onion Kapow!
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Tomatoes are going slow, though:
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What type of vaccum sealer do you have JM? I've been using the ZIPLOC vacuum bags for several years. They work ok but are'nt much for long term storage. By the time deer season opens up in August my stocks from the previous year are gettting low anyway so no real dramas there. Soon as I get a spare moment I'll post some pics of Asparagus when it's fully grown for those who've never seen it.

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Originally Posted by vintage hunter

What type of vaccum sealer do you have JM?

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"Food Saver" I make my own bags out of the rolls they sell. Two separate seals at each end. Sometimes the vacuumed end gets the first seal done twice or more to boil off any juices.

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Stumbled across some wild roses whilst checking the blackberry crop (looks VERY promising!):

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May have to bring some plants home. If they do this well wild, they may be able to survive me.

Oy, since it's been a while, here's some of the the last few weeks.

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One of my least favorite plants to work around. Make me brek out in welts with intense itching for 15-30 minutes. Better than poison ivy, though!

Beans! Pods are forming. Some plants up to six feet already. Have way more than what's shown here, but this was the best photo to date. My father had one old picture that looks like a wall of green. Nothing like my uncle's plots though- Awesome they were.
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Blackberry time! Dang, hot work. One hour and lots of cuts and sweat later- 6 and 1/4 cups. Tiny berries iin the giant patch behind the new hangout. Need to hunt a richer patch. The best picking area got bulldozed. Another got logged and there's no access any more.

Oh, and the beans are coming in a little at a time. Earliest ever I recall picking them. Everything else is kinda stunted. Very odd.

3 lbs of beans last weigh in. Not so bad. Cut some bamboo yesterday as it looks like it'll be needed. Some bean plants are climbing like crazy. Others I can't get to climb for nuttin'. Silly vines.

What kind of critter eats tomato plants, but only small ones, and not many at that?

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Originally Posted by jmoore

Blackberry time! Dang, hot work. One hour and lots of cuts and sweat later- 6 and 1/4 cups. Tiny berries iin the giant patch behind the new hangout. Need to hunt a richer patch. The best picking area got bulldozed. Another got logged and there's no access any more.

Oh, and the beans are coming in a little at a time. Earliest ever I recall picking them. Everything else is kinda stunted. Very odd.

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We are experiencing the same weird stunted growth phenomenon around here. Plums are less than half their normal size and number, as are apples and peaches. Whatever the cause, it did not affect the pears, they are abundant and look to be normal size so far.

jt

I stopped by my garden today and what a mess. We have been getting heavy rain on all the days I have time to work on it and sun when I don't have time so the weeds are getting an early lead on me. Plus, my sweet peas which were doing so nice all disappeared since Sunday. Seems something is eating them faster than they can grow. I hate putting fence up but it looks like I'm going to have too. The rain has been good for the corn. Two inches high after only 5 days in the ground. My first planting from three weeks ago is about 8 inches high.

A very late frost the last week of April claimed most of the friut crop here. One thing that did escape were the dew berries. They actually came in rather early this year. Potatoes and sweet peas have done their thing already, quite good yields this year, a bit over 3 bushels of taters and a peck and a half of the peas. The sweet corn is ready, what of it survived the squirrels. Last year the little buggers waited until it was ripe before raiding it but this year they chewed the stalks down way before it put on any corn. Never had them do that before. Tomatoes and squash are late, could'nt seem to get the squash seed to germinate and the late frost got my first batch of tomatoe plants. String beans are coming along well, expect the first crop to be ready in about another week.

JM, post a photo of whats left, if anything, of the tomatoe plants that have been nibbled on.
There may some tell tale signs left behind as to what it was that worked them over.

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Originally Posted by vintage hunter

JM, post a photo of whats left, if anything, of the tomatoe plants that have been nibbled on.

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Nothing at all left!

I may end up with a bunch of shelly beans if the OT keeps up. Haven't visited the tomato plants in 2-3 days.

Wabbit! That's what ate the tomato plants. Big, skinny, and surprisingly ugly rabbit. Vaccuuming plants off the brickwork in the middle of the afternoon Friday. May be dead rabbit if the opporunity arises.

Finally had an easy pick Saturday. Went to the range, but spent most of my time there picking these:

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Yesterday we stringed and cooked this big ole' pot of beans. Need to cook them a couple of more times before they're really good. Water, Kosher salt and RLO are the only other ingredients.

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Not cooked yet!

Cooked that pot of beans another 4-5 hours yesterday. They're getting quite good! The only problem is that by the time they're awesome there's very little left...

This pot is actually the first time I added the raw linseed/flaxseed oil at the beginning of the process- it has been added just at serving time previously. But this way seems better. The oil has lost it's "heaviness" in taste. it's about identical in flavor to the traditional pork fat that's generally added. Not seeing a downside here! Good for you, tasty, and does double duty as a rifle stock finish/treatment.

Fig time. Which means climbing trees barefoot to get to the upper fruit. I supose i could take a camera, but I'm just happy the things still hold me up and I haven't come crashing to the ground- yet!

At any rate here's a few from yesterday's pick:

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The green ones will ripen on the table. No picking today- range time and galavanting about, so some were plucked early to keep the birds and squirrels from taking them.

These are going into the freezer. Like little Pop-sicles without the stick (some very ripe ones retain the stem):

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Wasn't kidding about the barefoot free climb (The rope's to raise and lower the goody basket.):

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DO look down:

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Amazing that the last of the garden is just now being harvested:

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Pitiful little tomatoes. But the second bean crop planted in September yielded more seed than were planted. Just an experiment. Weren't enough at any one time to fill a pot.

These tiny flowers have been blooming here and there on the hunting property. No idea what they are, except hardy!:

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