What's Growing: Brussel Sprouts

Just this morning I trekked out to the Potager and snipped a few collard leaves for lunch. I sauteed them in oil with garlic, chopped walnuts and a spiced pepper blend. Then gently folded them into some quinoa with goat cheese crumbles.

Kale and brussel sprouts in the Potager under our first snow 

I've also been enjoying brussel sprouts. I have one more delicious harvest left to savor. I harvest them from the ground up, clipping off the lower leaves as they grow, rather than pulling the whole stalk.

One of several brussel sprout harvests

I am still harvesting kale although my supply is dwindling. I found a wonderful recipe for it - Northern Spy's Kale Salad. I made it for Thanksgiving dinner and several times after. I rarely follow a recipe exactly and finished off a blend of carrots, parsnips and delicata squash with a touch of maple syrup. I am still harvesting carrots from the garden and enjoy them prepared in what I call "bistro style" which is simply pan-roasted on the stovetop.

"Bistro style" carrots, potatoes & onions

An honest confession: I am afraid to pull my parsnips. Every year I grow parsnips and they just do not seem big enough to pull by Fall so I leave them to over-winter but I never seem to find them again in the Spring. This year their leaves look large enough that there just may be a perfectly beautiful parsnip under there. I pulled one. It was pretty decent. I especially like them mashed, like potatoes, with garlic. My craving will overcome my fear and I will pull every last one next thaw. Any tips you might offer from your parsnip growing experiences would be greatly appreciated.

The cold frame is growing slowly. I have secondary leaves on most of the plants. I should have planted earlier (which I suspected when I finally did get around to planting), as I would now be able to enjoy some of the salad mixes. I could probably cut a little but I am trying to wait just a bit longer until the kales and collards that are growing openly in my garden are depleted. Maybe the Gourmet European Salad Mix (a blend of arugula, endive, radicchio) will have grown a few more inches by then. Hopefully, I will be eating from my cold frame experiment next month.

Our snow has melted. This photo shows the Potager now seamlessly connecting to the Woodland Edge (in foreground) and to a new bed that will continue along our new fence on the northwest side of the garden after a bit of reworking this summer.

By creating a little more space, I can plant an asparagus bed in the Spring – another new experiment – I hope you'll join me. For now, I will be planting sprouts - indoors.

What's Growing

I admit, I have never had much luck with seeds but last year a friend asked me to grow some seeds for her family cabin garden and handed me a "Jiffy" seed starting kit. How could I refuse? It was so much fun and all the seeds sprouted and she had some flowers that even I didn't manage to keep in my garden! So, this year I picked up a couple of those "Jiffy" starters for myself. So far, I have a couple of seeds starting but germination days are nearing over the average. Last year I didn't really keep track and had more fun with it so I am just going to try to relax about it. Every year, no matter my luck, I start seeds indoors because well, winter just drags on and on and ON and I feel I need to do some type of gardening! So, here is my makeshift set up this year. Of course, two of the starter kits were not enough once I began to get into it and I created some mini starter kits of my own from salad containers.

This is the best window in the house, facing south. Even so, I think I have the same problem I have every year – not enough light. I am using this old clip on light I found in the cellar with a plant bulb in it for extra light. I should really just make a plant stand and use shop lights but I don't really have a lot of room and then I would have to store it the rest of the year. This is the other end of our kitchen (and dining) table. I have all the mini green houses on large plastic trays so I can move them easily if I need to. This also makes it convenient to harden off the seedlings. The tray by the window is sitting directly above a heating vent – very convenient. I have a heating pad under the tray on the table.

There is something so hopeful in seeing a tiny sprout!

I marked a "top" to each Jiffy greenhouse and then made a chart so I know what the plants are. I, of course, planted about ten different things in each one which isn't really very smart because each plant germinates at a different rate. Then again, the hyssop which was supposed to germinate in 10-14 days, came up right away! And only one pot of Scarlet O'Hara Morning Glory germinated quickly, very quickly. I had to take it out.

Meet Super Scarlet! My salad greenhouses seem to be working quite well. Most of my veggies have already sprouted.

I just rotate these around each day hoping to create strong stems. I think the top may have to come off of this one. This year I am starting all of my vegetables from seed including brussel sprouts, cauliflower, brandy wine and cherry tomatoes. I sure hope to see them growing strong in the potager come summer.

Outdoors I have made some mini greenhouses from water jugs and club soda containers. In these I have planted perennial seeds. They're on my covered front porch where I can keep a close eye on them.

So far nothing (sigh), but it is still quite cold here. I figure a few warm days ... These won't have to be hardened off and I want to compare them to seeds started indoors. Hopefully soon, I will not have to buy salad in containers!

What's (Still) Growing

If only I had that hoop house up as planned! (Sigh.) It will have to be another day. Regardless, I am still harvesting from the garden. The swiss chard is just non-stop. Though slightly damaged by heavy frosts, the leaves underneath are still as crisp and tasty as ever.

Peek-a-boo carrots, I see you. Will still be using these for soups even if snow falls.

I still have several good dinners of brussel sprouts. I think I will be picking the remainder of these in the next few days, however, before the snow falls.

There may be a parsnip under here! The nasturtium-gone-wild sort of took over and shaded the parsnips. But after several heavy frosts, the nasturtium is now compost and a few parsnip surprises were uncovered.

I just love arugula. I wonder if this will survive the first few snows? I'll keep on eating it as long as it keeps on keeping on.

Hmmm, it might be nice to have some sunflower seeds for snacking. Did the birds leave me anything?

Luckily, I picked all my green tomatoes before the heavy frosts. I was going to keep them in paper bags or newspaper - something I read somewhere - to see if they'd ripen in the cellar. But they never quite got as far as a bowl on the counter. They began turning red anyway and I thought I should take a picture before I ate them all. They taste just as fresh as ever. Ah, there were more ... sort of reminds me of Christmas.

Can you believe my neighbor is already all lit up for Christmas? What happened to Thanksgiving?