Your summer harvest is probably all in by now, and you may even have an overabundance of tomatoes, zucchini, or other crops. Have you thought about putting them up? Canning is a terrific end-of-summer activity, and after you’ve heard from our featured canner Suzanne McMinn and her friends at the online forum Chickens in the Road, you may want to give it a try, if you’re not already doing it.

Suzanne is an example of a modern canner: she didn’t learn until she was in her forties and moved from the suburbs to a farm. As with many people new to canning, Suzanne was soon hooked. Last week on her blog she wrote, “I’ve canned a lot this summer already and I’m not done…. I’ve canned things I’ve canned before–jams and butters, tomatoes and green beans, and I’ve canned things I haven’t tried before–relishes and pickles and salsas. There are more new things I want to try before the summer canning season is over. There’s always something new to try in canning.”

Though Suzanne learned to can from a neighbor, she expanded her knowledge by reading, and some of her friends at Chickens in the Road learned entirely from books. The “canning bible” Suzanne recommends is the Ball Blue Book Guide to Preserving, which we currently have on hand in a beautifully designed centenary edition.

The reasons people love to can are as varied as their personalities. When Suzanne cans staples like tomatoes, the process makes her feel “practical and self-sufficient.” When she concocts treats like Madeira Pear Mincemeat and Blackberries in Framboise and puts them up, canning allows her to express a gourmet flair. 

“You can get an incredible sense of accomplishment, satisfaction, and creative fulfillment from putting up your own food,” she says. “There’s nothing like the fresh taste of popping open a jar of summer in the middle of winter.”

Nearly all the posters on Chickens In the Road would agree: their pleasure in hearing the pop of the lids as they open seems to be equaled only by their feeling of satisfaction when they hear the lids pop closed at the end of the canning process.

A forum member named Susan writes, “I love hearing the pop, pop, pop of the lids sealing. This week it has been apples and tomatoes. Last week it was green beans, before that it was more tomatoes, salsa blackberries and cherry jam way back in June.”

Likewise, Estella writes, “I love the sound of the ‘ping’ when the jar seals!  It is a magic sound of a job well done, a sigh of satisfaction from a full cupboard…. The next few weeks are going to be very busy picking vegetables and canning.”

The posters at Chickens In the Road also share Suzanne’s overall good feelings about canning. A poster named Cindy writes, “It gives me a feeling of accomplishment when I open a cupboard and see all of the pretty jars filled with our garden bounty, waiting to be opened in the middle of winter, or given as gifts. I love not having to go to the store to buy these things. They have gotten so expensive!”

Another poster identified as Fencepost confided that since her husband has been out of work, he has become “the Jelly King and Salsa Sultan,” and that canning has been “good therapy.” He has laid up more than five cases of jelly and two cases of salsa and she plans to give them as Christmas gifts.

Some of the posters report that their children definitely prefer home canned to commercially canned food. Cyndi L, writes, “My eight-year-old asked when we were going to have ‘real green beans again.’ She would not eat store bought beans…she called them ‘fake beans.’ I made the garden a priority this year, and have put up forty quarts of green beans and planted another two rows of fall beans, which are doing great and will hopefully give me another forty quarts.”

Talking about children, it’s interesting to note that while some of the forum members have been canning since they were very young, others have started as recently as this summer. We’ll be hearing from some of these newcomers, but first we’d like to share some of the wonderful memories of the veteran canners.

Amy Buchanan writes, “When I was four years old, my job was to stand on a chair and turn the crank of the meat grinder as Mom fed endless apricot halves into it. We spent a couple years living with my Grandparents while Dad was overseas. Gardening and canning were expected of everyone. When Dad got out of the army years later, we lived next door to my Grandma and Grandpa and continued that…. My collection of beautiful filled jars makes me happy. Sharing them with my friends makes me happy. Having canned them with my kids (ages 2, 5, 7) makes me giddy beyond belief. It reaffirms the ties to my Mom and Grandma (and all the canners before them I never had the chance to meet), and brings back all those memories of the times we worked together.”

Another long-time canner, Lola Dawn, writes, “Nothing tasted as good as my Granny’s homemade sauerkraut! White as snow, it was crunchy, tangy goodness. Store bought cannot even compare, the taste is not even close. My mom made a sour piccalilli that is a family favorite. It was a labor-intensive endeavor and spanned weeks of watching and prepping. But so worth it! I remember one summer we made thirty gallons of dill pickles. Going to the cellar to retrieve Mason jars and washing them by hand in unbelievably hot water, snapping green beans for hours, washing veggies, grinding, peeling, pitting….But I am thankful for what I was taught. Most of it can be applied as life lessons: finish what you start; hard work pays off; tried and true is usually best; prepare for the future.”

Among the canners who have just started this summer is Maryann, who writes, “I shunned all attempts at homemaking and homestead skills when I was young. How foolish that was. Now, I am learning as I go the things I could have learned as a child. I learn from books, team up with like-minded friends and spend a lot of time on the phone with my Mom. (Eating humble pie.) The best thing I’ve done in a long time was to pick strawberries and cherries with my Mom and Dad while they visited this summer and turn our work into strawberry jam and canned cherries. My Mom said it was so good to work side by side with me in this.”

Senta Sandberg has a similar story, but one that is particularly touching: “My Grandmother had planned on teaching me this year and she did, but from her death bed, literally! She planted six rows of green pintos just for me, and she talked me through the process while in her hospital bed. Now I know how much she loved me, all those years she shared her canning treats—it takes a lot of love and work to make it all work out just right. But I’m glad I gave it a try and I’m even gladder that she was still alive to share in the accomplishment with me. Even though we lost her in June, I will always cherish our last summer of canning together.”

So, if you’re not already canning, what are you waiting for? Here at Garden Harvest Supply, we have the equipment you need to get started. Our selection of pressure canners ranges from basic models made by Presto to the top-of-the-line All American canners that have a capacity of up to thirty quarts. We also stock canning supplies such as pectin and citric acid, and a wide variety of mixes that will take the guesswork out of making and canning foods such as pickles that require a variety of seasonings. Jars and lids can easily be found locally, in fact, they are often put on sale during September.

Finally, don’t be discouraged if there is no one around to personally show you how to can. Our master gardener Karen is happy to answer your questions, and the folks at Suzanne’s online forum are ready and willing to lend a virtual helping hand. As you can tell from their comments, canning is about much more than preserving food: it’s about self-sufficiency, creativity, family traditions, and love!

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 10th, 2009 at 9:43 am and is filed under Harvesting Tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Potatoes are one of the most fun garden crops and one of the easiest to grow.  Potatoes can survive in nearly any climate above freezing, and they require next to no effort.  There are many varieties that will flourish in home gardens.  Just make sure, like with most plants, that you give potatoes plenty of room to grow.  Don’t try to place plants too close together, or you’ll reduce your crop.

Potatoes grow best in a hill or mound of dirt.  They’ll produce a lush, leafy green plant on the top, which sends nutrients down to the tubers.  Whether you’re harvesting “new” potatoes, the small, delicate early crop, or later crops, the process is the same.  Choose a warm and dry day—but make sure it’s not too sunny, because sunlight on the potatoes will cause them to turn green, which will alter their flavor.  You’ll know when they’re ready to pull from the ground, because they cluster just below the surface of the soil and it’s easy to tell by sight and feel when they’re adequate size.

Gently stick your hand into the soil and dig around for the ripe potatoes.  Or, you can carefully use a pronged fork to loosen the soil around the clusters of potatoes and ease them up out of the soil.  Take only the potatoes you want, and leave the plant intact in the soil if you have enough frost-free weather remaining for it to continue producing potatoes.  Shake off any loose soil, and have a warm, dark place ready to leave the potatoes for an hour or more to dry.  At this point, don’t handle the fresh-picked potatoes too much if you’re trying to brush the dirt off them, and don’t wash them.  They’ll store better if the skin isn’t bruised or nicked, but they need to be as clean and dry as possible.

If you stab a potato with a prong as you’re digging, be prepared to eat it right away, because it won’t store well.  It’s best to dig with your hands, but if you use a prong or shovel, dig well below the level you believe is the bottom of the potatoes and raise the entire cluster up out of the soil to avoid injuring them.

It’s not uncommon for potato skins to have small cuts or bruises.  That’s why a curing period of a week or two is required for best results before long-term storage.  Allowing the potatoes to rest in a 55- to 60-degree location with fairly high humidity and darkness will give the skins time to heal.

After curing, move the potatoes to a dark and cooler location, with temps between 35 to 40 degrees.  Moderate humidity and good ventilation will keep the tubers at their resting best.  A root cellar is the ideal location for keeping potatoes throughout the winter, but a basement or even crawl space with good air circulation will keep spuds from sprouting or rotting until you’re ready to eat them. 

Because potatoes provide large bounties of produce, it’s a good thing they are versatile in the kitchen.  Remove as many potatoes from your storage area as you’ll need for one meal, then bake them whole, and top with butter and/or sour cream and chopped chives.  Or dice them for a filling breakfast hash.  Slice them for hot German potato salad, or cube them and chill for American potato salad.  Make your own French fries or potato chips.  And what stew would be complete without potatoes?  No potatoes will compare to the ones you grow yourself!

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 14th, 2009 at 11:23 pm and is filed under Harvesting Tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Dark, leafy greens are an all-around “best value” for gardeners. They’re nutrient dense, versatile and easy to prepare, and they are prolific growers with very little coddling. Some are even extremely aesthetic plants and can be used as decorative garden borders, like “Russian Red” kale. Many greens are related to the cabbage family.

A few types of greens are considered delicacies in certain cultures. The tops of beets, kohlrabi, and turnips are examples of greens that some growers enjoy preparing and eating as much as the roots, and in many cases, the greens contain more nutrients than the more popular roots. Some varieties, like “seven top” heirloom turnip, are grown to produce the heartiest greens and don’t even generate much of an edible root.

Bottom line is greens can be used so many ways in the kitchen that every garden should grow some. Collard greens are a staple on Southern menus, boiled or slow-cooked, prepared with ham hocks or pigs’ feet. Kale roasted in olive oil and garlic will caramelize to bring out all the sweetness. Peppery mustard greens sautéed with olive oil, onion, garlic and a touch of sesame oil is the perfect complement to any Asian meal. Beet greens can be chopped and steamed right along with the deep red roots. Greens also preserve wonderfully in any type of vinegar pickling brine.

Freezing greens is an excellent way to store them for use in the winter. Any vegetable freezing method works—blanching, parboiling or steaming and packaging them in quick-thaw portions will have them ready to add to recipes in a snap. Greens can also be canned by traditional methods. The juice that’s left over from boiling or steaming greens contains a ton of their valuable nutrients, so don’t throw it away. Use it for soup stock and as a base for any dishes containing the cooked greens.

Greens vary in tenderness. Some cook in a flash, while others need to spend much longer on the stove. Mustard stems retain a nice crunch, where collard stems are too tough for some palates. Consult recipes to determine the best way to cook your particular variety of greens. But none are complicated or time-consuming. Greens are slightly to extremely bitter, and some are spicy, so be advised that not all taste great raw.

Young greens are the most flavorful, but you can harvest any time during the growing season. Just snip leaves with a sharp knife, and the plants will produce more. Cut off the entire plant and the root may generate an entirely new plant in an effort to produce seed.

High in dietary fiber, low in fat, and rich in chlorophyll, greens all contain a wealth of vitamins and minerals.

The best part about greens is they thrive in most garden conditions. Give them sunshine and well-drained soil, and they’ll provide a constant source of vegetation. Some even taste best after being exposed to a light frost, so plant early and enjoy throughout your growing season.

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 15th, 2009 at 5:28 am and is filed under Harvesting Tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Elegant white apple-sized globes with purple tops, or lush golden roots, turnips aren’t just for admiring from afar. This garden jewel is a treasure awaiting your discovery. Besides being tasty and super-nutritious, turnips are easy to grow, and they take up minimal space in your garden. This vegetable is in the cruciferous family, along with cabbage, cauliflower and broccoli.

Turnips are a root crop, meaning the dense, fleshy root is a prize in the kitchen. The green tops are also edible and nutritious—and some varieties are grown for their prolific greens alone—but that’s for the next blog. This page is all about the root, the part that is savored by gourmet and amateur chefs alike.

Turnips can be sown in the early spring to late fall, as long as you allow 2 months to maturity. If you plant late in the season, turnips can be stored for winter use. Turnips, like all root veggies, do best with ample water in the beginning—and they shouldn’t be allowed to dry out for long periods during the growing season. Whether grown from seeds or transplants, they need a good drink to get established in your garden. Successive plantings each 10 days or so will provide good-sized roots to pull throughout the summer and fall.

If turnips are allowed to grow too large, they get tough and woody. So, harvest your roots when the purple or gold tops, protruding out of the soil, are 2 to 3 inches in diameter, or medium-sized. Turnips store well in the refrigerator, in the produce drawer, where they won’t dry out. They can often withstand early fall frosts, making them a great late-harvest vegetable. Cool weather produces the sweetest flesh. A root cellar and some sawdust will keep your turnips always at the ready for winter recipes.

Turnips are nothing if not versatile. Simply rinse, remove the stringy roots, and trim off the skin to reveal the fully edible white interior. Include them in mashed potatoes to add additional cancer-fighting nutrients and rich flavor. Use turnips instead of cabbage to make a crunchy slaw or kraut. Raw turnips, cut in juliennes, add a wholesome and crisp addition to vegetable trays and salads. Steamed turnips topped with salt and pepper and a squeeze of lemon juice will satisfy a dieter’s low-calorie goals and craving for sweet flavor.

Turnips have a mild, delicate flavor and a texture that lends itself to boiling, broiling, baking, roasting (to caramelize and sweeten the vegetable for a little bit of heaven), steaming, and cubing for adding to soups and stews. Raw, with dips like ranch dressing or hummus, turnips make a great crunchy snack or addition to appetizer assortments. For the less health conscious, turnip fries can’t be beat on the flavor scales!

Low in saturated fat and cholesterol, raw or cooked turnips are a good source of vitamin C and fiber, as well as many essential minerals. With all this nutrient content and versatility in preparation, how could any garden be complete without turnips?

This entry was posted on Monday, January 12th, 2009 at 1:07 pm and is filed under Growing Tips, Harvesting Tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Sweet potatoes have been cultivated for eons because they are tasty, nutritious and versatile. This tuberous root vegetable is easy to grow, and it’s easy to prepare.

If you haven’t tasted sweet potato pie, you probably have never visited the South. With the bright, rich orange interior color, soft, delicate texture and sweet flavor, sweet potatoes are popular as a side dish or dessert ingredient—and sweet potato pie is a dessert no one can resist. Sweet potato melds well with the flavors of cinnamon, honey, coconut, pecans, ginger, butter, and nutmeg, which is why it’s a great ingredient in many breads, puddings, custards, and baked desserts—and sweet potato is equally delicious blended with fruits like apples and berries in casseroles. More savory spices such as green herbs and chili peppers also complement the sweet vegetable in casseroles and stews.

Yams and sweet potatoes are sometimes used interchangeably, but yams have a coarse, rough skin, and sweet potatoes have a smooth, thin skin. They’re actually the products of unrelated families of plants. The cooked sweet potato flesh is moister than a yam’s. If you’re trying to increase your beta carotene intake, sweet potatoes are way ahead of yams. Choose potatoes with the deepest orange color for the most beta carotene content. Sweet potatoes are also a good source of Vitamins A and C, calcium, and iron, and although they’re carbohydrate and calorie dense, they’re low in fat and high in fiber.

Sweet potatoes were first discovered in South America but now they’re grown in the U.S., while yams are all imported from the Caribbean. If you buy sweet potatoes in the supermarket, choose plump, firm roots. Store them in a dry, cool place, but never refrigerate uncooked sweet potatoes. Cook them by boiling, baking, frying, char-grilling or broiling. Dishes prepared with sweet potatoes will generally freeze well. Cooked sweet potatoes can also be stored in the refrigerator for a week or more. Sweet potatoes can be canned and stored for months. Although not the healthiest option, sweet potato chips or fries are a very interesting variation from the traditional white potato chips and fries.

Growing sweet potatoes couldn’t be easier, as long as they have a 80-120-day growing season, and plenty of space to spread out. They thrive in most soils, including sandy to heavy clay. Sweet potato plants ‘slips’ should be planted a full 2 weeks past the last frost. Till the soil to a depth of 8 to 10 inches, then add compost to keep the soil loose, making it easier to dig out your treasures in the fall. Make sure plants have 12 inches of space between them. Keep soil moist with at least 1 inch of water per week.

When it’s time to unearth your produce, most of the potatoes will be in a tight cluster just below the main stem. However, some may spread out below the soil, so start digging 18 inches out from the stem and work your way in, being careful not to damage the stray roots. Once the potatoes have been allowed to thoroughly dry in the sun for a few hours, move them to a protected area for a week or 10 days. This allows the skin to toughen, to protect the potatoes for a long storage life. It’s best to wait 6-8 weeks after harvest before sweet potatoes reach peak sweetness when baked. The ideal temperatures for storage are 50 to 60 degrees, with 60 to 70 percent humidity. Proper curing and storage should help the potatoes last for several months.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 3rd, 2008 at 2:45 am and is filed under Harvesting Tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Summer squashes (green and yellow) have a soft skin that’s edible, and they are meant to be harvested when the seeds and entire interiors are soft enough to eat, as well. Winter squash is different in that the seeds are mature and hard, and the skin is a rind—tough and hard, and not meant to be consumed. Remove the skin and seeds, and what’s left is flesh that is a culinary treasure. The hard outer skin on winter squash is what protects it and allows it to be stored over 3-6 months, through the winter and into the spring.

Squash is a vegetable that mostly grows on sturdy vines, but some can also be semi-vining or bushy plants. The most common types of winter squash are acorn, butternut and spaghetti—the one with the interior that becomes stringy like long noodles when it’s cooked. There are numerous specialized varieties, as well. Each has a unique flavor, and ranging from slightly sweet to peanuty. Some common seasonings used with cooked squash are butter, cinnamon, nutmeg, maple syrup, and ginger.

The difference between winter squash and pumpkins is mostly nomenclature. Some people interchange the terms. And, some cooks interchange them in pies, with squash doing a superb job without being detected as a faux pumpkin. Winter squash can have skin that is smooth or bumpy, thin or thick, and in colors ranging from light yellow to blue-grey to dark green to vibrant orange. They also vary greatly in size and shape. All contain flesh that is light yellow to deep, rich orange.

Plant winter squash in the spring. It will mature over the summer and be ready for an autumn harvest, before the first frost. Most winter squashes will store wonderfully over several months in a cool cellar throughout the winter. Some varieties benefit from an initial curing stage immediately after harvest, kept at around 70 degrees for 10 to 20 days, then moved to a cool, dry place, with 45- to 60-degree temps.

For the health-conscious, squash ranks high on the charts of nutrition-dense foods. It is high in fiber, and also contains potassium, niacin, iron and beta carotene, which converts to Vitamin A in the body.

Winter squash will be the sweetest and mildest when prepared with the seeds scraped out before cooking. The skin can be removed either before or after cooking. The flesh can be boiled, broiled, baked, or steamed. Then, it can be cubed, mashed, pureed, or in the case of spaghetti squash, used in place of pasta, for a healthier, lower calorie and more flavorful base for marinara sauce.

Squash seeds can be roasted with a little salt or tamari (soy) sauce and eaten as a healthy snack. Butternut squash soup is simple to prepare, with most recipes calling for few ingredients, and it’s popular with meat and potatoes gangs as well as uber-gourmets. Cooked squash freezes well, whether alone or in prepared dishes and soups.

Most vining squash plants will require a lot of room, so plan your garden space accordingly, and try a few varieties, to keep a range of flavors to enjoy over the winter months.

This entry was posted on Monday, December 1st, 2008 at 5:33 am and is filed under Harvesting Tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Eggplant is a warm-weather crop that is easy to grow, and it’s a colorful, attractive addition to the garden. Fruits vary from small egg-shaped globes to heavy oblong teardrops to skinny foot-long Asian varieties, and the glossy skins can range in color from deep purple to light violet, lavender, yellow, white, green and pink.

You can start Eggplant indoors 8 to 10 weeks in advance and transplant to the garden, or plant seeds directly in the garden after the threat of frost has passed. Choose a warm, sunny garden spot. Soil should be well-drained, fertile and rich in organic matter. Eggplant needs calcium, so an addition of mineral lime to the soil before planting is beneficial. Allow a foot or two of space between plants, and water frequently to maintain moisture in the soil.

Begin picking eggplant as soon as they’re big enough to eat and keep picking them throughout the growing season, to encourage production of new fruit. They should be shiny and firm, but not hard to the touch. Always cut the fruits from the stems, rather than pulling or twisting them off. As the frost season approaches, you can pinch off flowers to encourage faster maturation of fruits already ripening.

Eggplant will keep in a cool, dry location one or two weeks after harvesting. Because eggplant is so easy to freeze or dry, canning isn’t the preferred method of preserving it. Eggplant needs to be blanched before freezing. It is a low acid food, so you’ll need to add citric acid or lemon juice to the boiling water, to prevent the discoloration of the flesh. After four minutes of blanching, slices can be separated with sheets of waxed paper before freezing for use later.

Methods for cooking this vegetable vary widely, and each will determine its flavor and texture, and consistency. Skin can be peeled or left on. Eggplant can be boiled, broiled, baked, breaded and fried, or roasted. Stuffed eggplant is a delicacy in many ethnic cuisines. One thing is for certain, garlic and eggplant are a winning flavor combination.

There are as many ways to serve eggplant as there are types of eggplant. Recipes abound for Indian pickles and chutneys, as well as Far East Asian gourmet pickled relishes and dips. For more traditional dishes, stuff with bread crumbs. Or, bake with cheese, pasta, tomatoes and onions. Mix with a variety of other veggies and sauces to create casseroles that are a huge hit served piping hot from the oven. Or, combine diced eggplant with wild rice and mushrooms for a hearty winter stew. Cooked into recipes, eggplant will freeze wonderfully for individual servings to be microwaved later.

With its firm and meaty texture, vegetarians and vegans love the diverse uses for eggplant, sliced and diced to make salads, veggie burgers, soups and entrees. Roasted, it takes on a rich, thick texture and nutty flavor. Roasted eggplant is one of the main ingredients of Middle Eastern foods like Baba Ganoush, a hummus dip.

Dehydrating eggplant allows it to be stored in a cool, dry pantry for months. To rehydrate, simply soak slices in warm water and add to recipes like fresh produce.

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 20th, 2008 at 7:02 am and is filed under Harvesting Tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

From the first bite, everyone gets hooked on kohlrabi. The stems and leaves grow out of sides of the globes, giving the vegetable an odd, choppy exterior shape and exotic appearance.  It looks like a root crop, but it grows above ground. The young leaves at the top are edible and extremely nutritious, like all greens, but this vegetable is most beloved for its crunchy interior. There are green, white and purple varieties, all with the same crisp white interior flesh that is similar to a water chestnut or a turnip but with a mild flavor that makes it an extremely versatile veggie.

Kohlrabi is the perfect diet food: one cup contains fewer than 40 calories but it packs a wholloping 5 grams of fiber!  It’s a good source of potassium and calcium, as well as vitamins A and C and folic acid.  Sliced and served raw with dip, it will disappear quickly from appetizer plates.  It’s popping up in recipes from basic to exotic, for cooking in curries and soups and casseroles. The texture is satisfying as a crunchy raw snack, and it’s mild enough to go well with most dressings and dips. Cooked, it acquires a soft texture and mixes wonderfully with butter or cream sauces, and nearly every seasoning. Kids love kohlrabi because of its sweet, delicate flavor.

Kohlrabi will store well in a root cellar or refrigerator for up to a month, but make sure to harvest or buy globes that are firm and fresh looking, with no yellowing on the leaves. The sweetest and most ideal size for harvest is 2 to 2 1/2 inches in diameter.

A cruciferous vegetable related to cabbage and cauliflower, kohlrabi is similar in flavor to broccoli stems or a very mild radish. Kohlrabi is simple to prepare: use a very sharp knife and peel carefully, as the outer skin can be tough and woody. Once the white globe is revealed, you can create all kinds of wonderful snacks, side dishes or entrees. Cut the raw flesh into round slices or long spears to munch on instead of starchy snacks. Coat cubes with olive oil and roast to get a caramelized glaze, bringing out the natural sugars. Mix julienned slices with raw carrots and mayonnaise for an inventive cole slaw.  Steam diced kohlrabi and top with butter for a satisfying side dish.

Sliced kohlrabi is firm enough to make excellent pickle spears. The stems and leaves can be cooked or mixed raw into dishes along with the white interior.

When harvesting kohlrabi or buying bunches in the supermarket, choose firm, heavy bulbs with no blemishes on the outer surfaces. The larger the globes, the tougher the outer skin.

Gardeners love how hardy kohlrabi is.  It prefers cooler temperatures and will produce a spring and fall crop in some growing regions.  Seeds can be sown as soon as the soil can be worked, or they can be started indoors and transplanted. They require very little space, needing to be spaced only 6 inches apart.  Kohlrabi grows quickly and can even tolerate some snow, for late fall harvests.  This vegetable is relatively disease and insect resistant and it will thrive in most well-drained soils. Mix a good organic compost into the soil and use a general purpose fertilizer to promote quick growth. Water generously throughout the growing season to produce the most moist and mild-flavored vegetable. Clip the green leaves any time to cook like spinach.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 19th, 2008 at 12:47 pm and is filed under Harvesting Tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Beets are a food source that seems almost too good to be true. This root crop is super-easy to grow, and the produce adds bright color and delicious sweet flavors to meals. Beets are packed with so many nutrients they should be required eating! The globes and green tops are rich in vitamin C, folate, manganese, magnesium, potassium, iron, fiber, and loads of other compounds that fight cancer and heart disease.

Gardeners have many open-pollinated and hybrid varieties to choose from, with several sizes, colors and types available. There are shades of reds and purples, orange/yellow, and white with red stripes. Beets come in several shapes, including round, oblong or cylindrical, and they mature in sizes from miniature (silver-dollar diameter) to 3-inch globes.

Beets can be prepared in countless ways: raw (juiced or in salads); cooked (steamed, boiled, roasted); and preserved (canned or pickled). Both the green, leafy tops and the roots (the round bulbous part) are edible and are packed with nutrients. Snip the green tops and rinse in water, then prepare the same way as other edible greens like chard or spinach, by juicing, steaming, or tossing into casseroles and soups to add color and flavor.

Even amateur beet gardeners will enjoy bountiful produce with nearly no effort. Beets can be planted from seed or starter plants. The seeds are actually clusters of seeds within dried fruits. They should be planted in well-drained but moist soil, and spaced in rows a minimum of 12 inches apart. Plant seeds 1/2 inch into the soil, then thin to 3 or 4 inches apart, to allow room for the roots to expand. Beets do like nutrient-rich earth but they require little attention as they grow. The tops can be snipped for meals before the roots are developed, as long as 1/3 of the greens are left intact until root harvest.

Fresh beets are usually available year-round in the grocery, but they’re a great home garden staple, since they can be planted nearly a month before the last frost is anticipated, and they will grow well into fall. If you space the seed planting throughout the summer, you can spread out the harvesting over several months. You can gauge the maturity of the root by sight: they stick up out of the soil enough to see the diameter and you can poke the top to test the firmness. If they’re ripe, you simply grab the tops and pull them out of the ground.

Miniature round beets can be prepared whole, and larger beets can be sliced or diced for serving. Fans of pickled beets know that this veggie is the ideal complement to tangy pickling seasonings. Sliced beets and onions in either a sweet juice or a traditional sour brine are popular with all ages, because the vegetable keeps its crunch and dense texture.

Beet borscht is a Russian soup that is traditionally served cold with a dollop of yogurt or sour cream and a sprinkle of dill on top. It makes a great summertime appetizer because of its gorgeous pink color and refreshing flavor.

Beets and onions both caramelize when roasted, releasing their sugars and giving them a gorgeous outer glaze and striking savory and sweet flavor. It makes an excellent side dish for turkey or lamb meals.

Beets can be stored in a root cellar for up to a couple of months, or kept in sawdust or other dry packing material in a cool, dry place long past the garden’s last warm days.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 29th, 2008 at 5:13 pm and is filed under Harvesting Tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

One of the biggest benefits of gardening is being able to enjoy your produce long after summer has ended. What better way to enjoy a chilly fall evening than a dinner that includes your garden’s goods?

Brussels Sprouts are mini-warehouses of antioxidants (the cancer-fighting components of some foods) and nutrients. They’re a cruciferous vegetable, like cabbage, kale, cauliflower and broccoli, and they’re equally versatile and simple to prepare. Plus, they’re cute, looking like miniature heads of cabbage.

Since Brussels sprouts ripen late in the season, they’re the perfect vegetable for fall meals. They are hearty and can withstand cooler temperatures than most veggies—and even some frost. Harvest the bottom sprouts from stalks first, as they’ll be the ripest, and work your way to the top. When ripe, they should be approximately one inch in diameter and have a firm texture. With a sharp knife, cut straight across where they join the upright woody stem. Most plants will produce 20 to 40 sprouts and will grow 2 feet tall or more.

Before cooking, thoroughly rinse the sprouts to make sure there are no insects living in the outer leaves. Cut off any tough stem—and to allow the heat to absorb more uniformly, cut an X in the bottom of the sprout. They are usually cooked and served whole. They’re delicious hot, but also are a great addition cut into quarters and mixed into cold salads.

The entire sprout is edible and tender when cooked. You can simply steam them plain and enjoy their strong, nutty flavor with no seasonings. That’s also thought to be the healthiest preparation, as it helps the sprouts retain the most of their phytonutrients. Don’t overcook, or they’ll become limp and flavorless.

Remove from heat when they reach a semi-soft texture and the color changes from bright green to a more subtle olive-green hue. You can slow cook them in a saucepan with a little butter, or you can oven roast them with olive oil to caramelize their outsides for a rich, sweet flavor. Pretty much any flavors and seasonings that complement the other cruciferous veggies will work with Brussels sprouts. Who could resist any vegetable drizzled with a creamy cheese sauce?

A classic method of preserving Brussels sprouts for winter eating is pickling. There are many ways to pickle, from traditional sterile canning to faster, more modern techniques, and from basic dill flavors to exotic vinegars to sweet marinades. They can be stored long-term or eaten within a few hours, depending on the method you choose.

Brussels sprouts can be dried in a food dehydrator, for a quick and healthy snack. They can be blanched and frozen to store over an entire season. Entire stems with sprouts can be cut from the garden and stored short-term in a root cellar, or in small containers with proper ventilation.

Because of Brussels sprouts’ strong flavor and tendency to get limp when canned, that isn’t the most popular method of preserving. Freezing and drying are more common. If you are overloaded with sprouts and enjoy canning, experiment with pickling seasonings, to make a superb relish or cold side salad.

This entry was posted on Saturday, October 18th, 2008 at 7:45 am and is filed under Harvesting Tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.