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.

Project: Cold Frame

Late last Fall my husband, ever thoughtfully thinking of me, chanced upon some discarded windows on the side of the road. He picked them up knowing that I have been kicking the idea around of constructing some sort of cold frame – and that's exactly what we used them for.

Although we started this project early in the Spring, we didn't finish until well into the growing season but it made me reconsider hinging the windows onto the frame so that I could still use the frame as a planting bed during the height of summer.

We built a simple frame out of 2x6 pine. The base is 6" high and the top is 12" high. The sides are a 2x6 cut on a diagonal. To build the frame we referred to a wonderful article in Fine Gardening on how to construct a cold frame (see video link here). We did not spend much. This cold frame is an experiment for me, much like all gardening in my view. I think you can read and learn from other sources, maybe even mimic them exactly, but it will be your experience and experimentation that will ultimately teach you the "zen of gardening."

Making sure the windows fit the base.

During the summer I grew peppers in this windowless frame. Now that fall has arrived and the peppers are done, the windows top the frame. Even during cloudy days they steam. I hope to learn when to vent this cold frame instinctually, but automatic solar venting devices might prove to be a better option. I figure if I "take" to cold climate gardening I may invest a little more into my next cold frame which will be higher allowing for taller plants.

I planted a variety of greens including spinach, swiss chard, broccoli rabe, curly and lacinato kale on October 18th. I thought I might have been too late in my planting but all six rows have already sprouted!

I planted greens that I felt could grow in much colder weather but it will be interesting to see the actual results of this experiment – of course, I'll keep you "posted." Over the Winter I will also be studying Eliot Coleman's The Winter Harvest Handbook in depth. If you are not familiar with Eliot Coleman, he is an expert in year-round cold climate gardening. He resides in Maine!

So, while the leaves are turning and continuing to fall, I'm looking forward to some green!

Wild Grapes

Come Spring I hope to start seeds in this cold frame but that's another experiment for another day.