Early Winter in an Austin Urban Garden January 6, 2013

It is a gorgeous day today – the first day that will reach 60 degrees after 9 days of wintery weather.  The warm shining sun, feels pretty Spring-like, so I ventured out to check on my gardens, and start thinking about preparing them for Spring planting.  I know, we have a ways to go, but this time of year, you need to think ahead.

Much of my lettuce, and some broccoli, had bolted (gone to seed), with the warmer than normal temps that precluded a couple weeks of winter.  I left a couple of the broccoli plants in the garden, because the bees love the flowers, and because we need bees and I don’t need the space.  The broccoli I planted from seed, is the size of a transplant now, so those will hopefully do better since the weather cooled off.

Bolted Broccoli

I left some of the bolted lettuce in, last time I cleaned up the garden,  hoping it would just re-seed itself, but I pulled it up today, to make room for more.

The herb garden looks great, if not messy from falling leaves.  I use the tomato cage to support the cover for the garden when it gets close to freezing.  I’m happy to still have some cilantro growing, as well as parsley, chives, several kinds of thyme, oregano, rosemary and tarragon.

I pulled up the rest of the carrots, that occupied a half of a 4′x8′ garden.  Strawberries occupy the other half, and will remain in that space until late Spring.

This is the third harvest about this size, that I’ve had from one pack of Renee’s Garden Seeds, Carrot seeds.  I think I finally have figured out the secrets to good carrots.  I used to believe that it was thinning, and I hate thinning, so I never really had a good crop.  While thinning would provide a more uniform crop, I’ve decided that, for me, the secret is patience.  Carrots take a long time.  Some varieties say 60 days, some 60-90 and some 100 days.  Mine seem to take closer to 100 days.  I have found, that if you leave them alone long enough, some will get to full size, some will be smaller, and some won’t even mature.  They don’t pull up in a uniform bunch, and that’s just fine – they all taste good.  I’ve embraced my baby carrots.  Although the planning guides say that you can still plant carrots, I will not, because I want to plant something else in that space in early Spring, and carrots won’t be done by then.  Plus, I’m a little sick of carrots.

The newest gardens on the side of my house, are mostly occupied by onions.  I planted mine early, and they are looking just fine.  But, onions take a long time as well, so those beds will stay occupied for a few months.

I’ve got some spinach and cabbage growing, but they have been fairly growing the the cold.  The recent rains should move them along.

Cabbage and spinach

So, in evaluating the space available now and the space I will need in late February for my Spring planting, (not to mention what I want to eat) I decided to seed some Romaine Lettuce, which is mature in 28 to 57 Days, and some salad scallions, which should take about 65 days.  I won’t plant many of those, so they shouldn’t take much room.  This way, nearly the entire 24 foot bed and half of the 4′x 8′ bed in the back will be available for tomatoes, which I will plant in late February, weather permitting.

Organic Scallion and Romaine seeds

Gardening is so rewarding, but it does take a little planning.  Just read the back of your seed packets for maturity dates, so that you can have optimal growing space year round.

The Time Between Winter and Spring in an Austin Urban Garden March 4, 2011

I think Austin should have more than 4 defined seasons.  There is always this time when it feels like Winter has left us and Spring is here.  We flock to the nurseries to purchase our tomato seedlings and feel that eager itch to get our hands dirty.  But we know, history being that factual reminder that Spring might not have sprung just yet, and we wait for one last freeze.  Around my house, all evidence points to Spring.  My peach tree is putting on gorgeous blossoms.  Perhaps this year I’ll get to the peaches before whatever critter always robs me of them.

 

Peach Blossoms

 

The Lime Tree is budding like crazy, making me ever hopeful for lots of limes.

 

Lime Tree blossoms

 

The onions and elephant garlic are starting to tempt me to pull them, they are so big.  But, then I wouldn’t have fully matured onions to last for months.

 

Onions and Elephant Garlic

 

The Sugar Snap Peas have come up and will need their trellis soon.  The carrots are up too, although I may have planted those a bit late.  We shall see.

 

Sugar Snap Peas

 

The Leeks are rocking right along.  They are a bit slow for my liking, I’m ready for leeks.

 

Leeks

 

There is still plenty of lettuce.  And the strawberries are flowering like crazy!

 

Lots of lettuce

 

There is some spinach in there too.

 

Strawberries very soon

 

The potatoes are not up yet, but I accidentally (or not) unearthed one and it had formed quite a root structure.

So, with the Saturday night low expected to be 39, the tomatoes which I have transplanted into 6 inch pots, remain in the greenhouse, along with the sprouted seedlings.

 

Tomatoes in the Greenhouse

 

Here they will stay, probably for another 2 weeks, depending on the weather forecast.  For the dedicated bed, I purchased a soil sample kit and tested the ph.

 

ph test

 

It tested around 6.5 which is slightly acidic.  I think most plants like slightly acidic conditions, but I’m going to do some research about tomatoes, because I’ve never tested my soil, although I am a serial soil amender.

As I sit here, I’m expecting several gardening friends to show up for a seedling exchange.  I had lots of success, so I have lots to share.  I’m looking forward to seeing what the others will bring!

 

My contributions to seedling exchange.

I have always thought one of the best parts of gardening is sharing the fruits of our labor.  It does make sense to share seedlings, because no one needs 50 pepper plants.  But, it is quite labor intensive, at least the way I did it.  I planted the seedlings in trays, then transplanted them into 4 inch pots.  Time consuming, yet rewarding.

 

No Grocery Store Challenge, Day 42 February 12, 2010

Today was a pretty good day.  I had cold bacon in the kitchen while waiting for coffee, for the last time.  I’m going to fix that this weekend.  I wanted to eat locally for lunch, so after my relatively positive eye Dr. appointment (ulcer finally healing!), I picked up my mom, and we went to Cipollina, on West Lynn for a locally sourced lunch.  We were in a hurry so, I ordered the Ceasar Salad with Dewberry Farms Chicken.  Kudos to Cipollina for embracing the slow food movement, and buying so much of their food from local farms.  This place is on my daily travel route, and I’ve been eating there since they opened.  I think they lost their way for a while, when they reconfigured the space and changed the way they did business.  But then something clicked in, they found out who they wanted to be, and now they are rocking all the damn time.  I highly recommend everything there.  Seriously good food.

I spent the afternoon taking my mother to appointments, (she no longer drives)  then our normal Friday family dinner.  Tonight, because I wanted to eat early and close to home, we went to Corazon at Castle Hill.  I still miss Castle Hill, and never understood the remake.  I had a salad and the beef tenderloin and it was good.

I also stopped by Antonelli’s Cheese Shop earlier today, to get the entire account of their first day yesterday.  It sounded amazing.  The neighborhood came in and brought gifts, and the neighboring businesses lended their support as well, by feeding Kendall and John and offering their encouragement throughout the day.  What a fabulous start to a great local business, with some really great folks at the helm.  I’m so happy for them.  Seeing people living their dream is awesome inspiration.

Here is a great write up of Antonelli’s Cheese from Addie Broyles from the Austin American Statesman:

http://www.austin360.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/food2/entries/2010/02/11/antonellis_cheese_shop_brings.html

I have lots of eating out this weekend, tomorrow night, and Sunday Brunch,  but am going to try to eat as locally as possible while on my own.  There will be no cooking unless I make breakfast tomorrow, or dinner Sunday.   I’ll be happy if I can have 1 local meal a day.  Tomorrow lunch will be at Dai Due at the Farmer’s Market.  I really don’t want to impose my crazy little challenge on anyone else, and certainly don’t want to be that girl with all the eating restrictions, that I don’t get invited out.  I’m not trying to kill my social life, but just want to be more aware of the food I eat, where it comes from, and to learn how to make better choices.  I think I’m on the right track.

After dinner tonight, and telling my folks about the Tasty Up Trailer Tour, I decided to drive them by Gourgoughs and Odd Duck, so I could see where they are.  I’m not a big sweets eater, but decided to get a couple of donuts for my parents for dessert.  There was a line of about 10 people, and after perusing the menu, I ordered a donut with heath bar shavings, and one with cream cheese and jalapeno jelly.  I tried neither, but they just called to report, that this trailer is not a fad, the food is really good.  Go figure.  Big fat donuts, with crazy stuff on them.  Doh! Nuts.

No Grocery Store Challenge, Day 41

Another rainy day, and I feel bad complaining, since we always need rain.  I’m looking forward to sun and I can see some blue sky poking through the clouds this morning from my office window.

Yesterday I didn’t manage any breakfast.  My friends, John and Kendall Antonelli had their opening day of their cheese shop, Antonelli’s Cheese, so I headed over to their Hyde Park Shop on Duval around noon, and was happy to see several friends.  And Bill, that includes you.  John gave us tastings of several of his favorite cheeses, all wonderful.  But my mission was to purchase local cheeses, and I was really excited about the parmesan he had found for me.  It is from Brazos Valley Farms and its great.  It isn’t as aged as what you would get from Italy, but it it still very tasty and fills the parmesan void.  I also got some chevre from CKC, Cheddar from Veldhuizen, and Hoplessley Blue from Pure Luck.

Lactose Intelorent Chart

After sampling (and buying) cheese, we headed over to Asti for lunch.  I had trout and green beans.

For dinner, I ate the leftover Kocurek cassoulet and a salad with lettuce from my garden, onions from the Farmer’s Market, and Texas Olive Ranch Oil and Basalmic.

I’d like to keep posting about restaurants with gardens.  I have one other that I know about, Hudson’s on the Bend, but if you know of any others, please let me know.  This can’t be all of them, surely?

No Grocery Store Challenge, Day 39 February 9, 2010

Almost 40 days now, that I have not been in a grocery store.  That seems so strange, because the grocery store was like entertainment for me.  At least, Central Market and Whole Foods were.   I always left both stores with things I didn’t intend to buy.   I do miss the grazing on Saturdays, I must admit.   And, I’m realizing now how much I relied on already prepared food.  Chicken salad, salad bar salad, rotisserie chicken, soups, pre-made pizzas and whatever else looked good at that moment.  I have not reheated anything in the microwave for weeks.   Now, I shop with more purpose, and more of a plan.  Still not enough of a plan however, and I need to get better about that.  I was gone all day today, got home late, was grumpy and didn’t feel like cooking.  I don’t have much besides lettuce that doesn’t require cooking.  This was an evening that I typically would have picked up something already prepared from Food Food, or a P. Terry’s burger.   Not that doing either would have gone against my challenge, I’m just trying to reserve eating out for social activity with friends and family, not just laziness or convenience.

I ran out of toilet paper and dish soap this morning, and had to stop at CVS for the toilet paper, then go to Breed & Company, for the Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day dish soap that I use.  I used to get the TP at Costco, and the Mrs. Meyer’s at Fresh Plus.   A typical grocery/sundry shopping day might have included 3-5 stores.  Seriously.

So, for breakfast I had 2 slices of Kocurek paprika bacon, already cooked.  I ate it cold, standing in my kitchen, while waiting for my coffee.  Too lazy.  Lunch was a sad little salad of my garden lettuce, some hydroponic tomato from the Farmer’s Market, and some Full Quiver Mozzarella with Texas Olive Ranch olive oil and Pomegranate Basalmic.   I was rushed and ate that standing in my kitchen as well.   Dinner was Kocurek Roasted Garlic Sausage with stir fried garden broccoli and Farmer’s Market green onions.   I ate that while at the computer writing the prior blog post and answering emails.  Not really proud of that.

Do I have a meal plan for tomorrow?  No, I don’t.  Tomorrow is a busy day trying to make some progress on a large garden and rainwater collection system installation that has been on hold due to rain.  And more rain is coming.  And more jobs are on hold and stacking up.  The soil is wet and heavy trailers and wheelbarrows trench wet lawns, and we don’t want that.   The irony of having to put a rainwater collection job on hold, on account of endless rain does not escape me.   But rain is good, so I’m not complaining.   We’ll catch up.  Off to make a plan for food tomorrow.

Oh yea.  Antonelli’s Cheese Shop (unless I missed contrary news today) is opening in 2 days!  This Thursday, they will open their doors on Duval in Hyde Park.  I’m excited.  John and Kendall are great folks, and I think they are going to be a huge hit!

Edible Landscape at Austin Wine Merchant

I have been a patronizing The Austin Wine Merchant, 512 West 6th Street, for years.  (I must admit to being temporarily seduced by the big box liquor stores when they arrived in town, but that didn’t last long.)   The Merchant has a wonderful, thoughtfully chosen selection of wines, and the staff is very helpful and knowledgeable about them all.  I find their prices to be the best in town, as well.  (They sell liquors and beer also, but I only have personal knowledge about the wine).  They also have a variety of stemware and other items that make great gifts for wine lovers.  John Roenigk, one of the owners, is always on hand to assist customers and make suggestions for new wines to try.    I have never left with a bottle of wine that I didn’t thoroughly enjoy.  They also do complimentary wine tastings every Wednesday evening from 5:00 – 6:30, and Saturdays from 12:00 – 3:00.  Details about the wines to be tasted are available on their website http://www.theaustinwinemerchant.com, and they also maintain an email list for notifications about tastings, sales, wine dinners, etc.

They maintain a list of wines purchased by each customer, so if you don’t remember the name of something you had before, they can look it up.  They also offer an amazing gift service.  Last year, I needed a nice gift for an attorney who had graciously done some legal work for my family, and refused to bill us, so I emailed John and asked him to select some wines the attorney had enjoyed before and gave him a price range.  The following day, I was in the attorney’s office when the beautifully wrapped case of wine was delivered to him.  He was blown away, and very excited to see in his case, wines that he knew and loved.

A while back, I started to notice that the landscape around the parking lot at the Austin Wine Merchant was changing.  There was lettuce growing along the East side of the building, where grape vines once grew.  Then on a subsequent visit, to buy wine, and harass John about opening a Twitter account, I noticed that half of green space along the back of the parking lot was planted with a variety of herbs and vegetables.  Lots of cilantro and broccoli, especially.   It was about that time that John asked if our company would plant the remainder of that space with a winter garden.  Nothing organized, he stressed, and I had to suppress my desire to seed in the shape of a giant wine bottle.  We tilled the soil, amended it with 3 yards of compost and planted lettuces, arugula, kale, chard, cauliflower, bok choy, radishes and lots of herbs.  I went by this morning and took a few pictures.   I think the idea of an entirely edible landscape is fabulous, and hopefully the wave of the future.  Go on by the Merchant, pick up some wine, and snip some lettuce or cilantro to take home with you.  That’s what its there for.   And if you eat at Bess Bistro,  you might just find some of the Austin Wine Merchant’s produce on  your plate as well.

The Austin Wine Merchant

Lettuce growing next to the building

Garden at the back of the parking lot

Front garden by the the street

Vegetable Planting Guide for Austin, February-March February 8, 2010

If you have limited garden space, its the time of year right now that planting takes some thought.  Most folks want to plant tomatoes and peppers this Spring.  There are approximately 45 days between now and the first date recommended for planting tomatoes, March 25.  The recommended tomato planting dates are from March 25 – May 1.  So that 45 days from today could be stretched to around 80 days if you were to plant tomatoes May 1st.

So, if you have space in your garden now, but want to plant peppers, why not make the most of it and plant something that will be ready for harvest by tomato planting time.  Here are a few suggestions.  Keep in mind that if you plant some of the things that take the full 80 days to harvest, this leave you with little time to let the soil rest, amend it, and get the tomatoes in the ground by the end of the Spring planting season.  In my garden, I planted radishes, lettuce, carrots, and broccoli in the last couple of weeks.

beets (plant after Feb. 15)  55 to 65 days to harvest

broccoli 60-80 days to harvest

cabbage 65-80 days to harvest

carrots 70-80 days to harvest

collards 55-70 days to harvest

kale 50-70 days to harvest

lettuce 60-80 days to harvest

mustard 40-50 days to harvest

peas 60-80 days to harvest

radish 25-30 days to harvest

spinach 40-45 days to harvest

turnip 45 to 60 days to harvest

February Garden February 6, 2010

Finally, the sun is shining!  The rain had kept me from even peeking at my garden for days.  It looks great this morning, and I’m sure the sun will make it happy.  I have lots of lettuce ready to eat as well as a smallish crown of  broccoli.  The cabbages are absolutely gorgeous and healthy, but still don’t seem to be forming heads.  I’m not giving up just yet, I don’t need the garden space for another month, when it will be overhaul time to make room for tomatoes.  The carrots have sprouted, and the watermelon radishes are rocking along and in need of thinning, a task I don’t enjoy because it makes me feel wasteful.  But, I’ll do it, to give the little radishes the room they need to be big radishes.

Watermelon radishes

Carrot sprouts

Lettuce ready to eat

Headless cabbage

February Planting Guide, Zone 8 January 31, 2010

Crop                    Days to maturity

Asparagus         2 years to production

Beets                    55-65   After feb. 15th

Broccoli              60-80  after feb. 15th

Cabbage               65-80  I have to call BS on this one.  Mine has been in the ground over 100 days and no cabbage heads

Carrots                  70-80

Collards                55-70

Kale                         50-70  I recommend Dinosaur Kale

Lettuce                   60-85  I like Black Seeded Simpson, Butter Lettuce, and Buttercrunch

Mustard                  50-60

Onions                     100-120  Patience required

Peas                         60-80  Plant until Feb. 15th

Potatoes                  70-90  I reccomend Red Lasoda, and Kennebec

Radish                       25-30  So fast!  Very rewarding

Spinach                     40-45

Turnip                       45-65

You can also plant blackberries now, which will be bare root plants that like to grow up a fence or trellis.  I think cilantro will still do well, but most of the herbs will start to be planted early March.  Just pay attention to the maturity dates if you want to plant tomatoes and peppers in the Spring, so that you have room for them.  Feel free to ask me anything.  If I don’t know the answer, I surely will make something up!  Kidding.

No Grocery Store Challenge, Day 29

For a nice hot hearty breakfast this morning, I had some of the bulk pork sausage from Richardson Farms and 2 duck eggs scrambled with market tomatoes.  Then I layered up and headed to the Downtown Farmer’s Market in Republic Square Park, which was to debut its new layout and deck under a huge oak tree, with tables and chairs and live music.    I’ll post some pictures later, I just realized I haven’t downloaded them yet.  It was great!  That venue is perfect for the growing market, and I ran into so many friends there, grocery shopping has never been more enjoyable.  I got home with the Kocurek torchons and andouille I bought Wednesday and forgot to bring home, as well as some Texas Hot Sausage and molassas bacon.  I bought pepper jack and cheddar cheese from Full Quiver, butter lettuce from Bella Verdi, (and he gave me some microgreens to try) an enormous Napa cabbage and shallots, and Texas Coffee Trader’s coffee.  Oh, and more pasta from Texas Pasta Company.  I need to make my own from local wheat, but haven’t gotten to that yet.)  It was a really fun farmer’s market today.

For a late lunch, I had a Whole Wheat tortilla made from scratch with Richardson’s wheat, with some full quiver cheese folded over into a quesadilla.  I need to work on the tortilla recipe a bit to give it more flavor.  Today was the first time to try that recipe.   I used an electric tortilla press, which allowed me to get it thinner than I could have otherwise, I think.  It was pretty good.  The recipe called for cooking it in oil, which would have added flavor, but I was trying to keep the calories down, with the dinner I had in mind.

Dinner, was a bit odd.  Trying to adapt existing recipes to what I have on hand,  is not as smart as trying to come up with new recipes to highlight what I do have.  Lesson learned.  I had watched Tyler Florence make Stroganoff, with pasta, mushrooms, garlic, sour cream and cream, and the beef was short ribs.  I had thawed Bastrop Cattle Company short ribs and cooked them in the oven at 300 for 2.5 hours.  They were great, with lots of olive oil, my garden thyme and rosemary.    I had the rest of the wheat pasta from the downtown market a couple of weeks ago, and cooked that.  I sauteed market mushrooms and the shallots I got today in Kocurek duck fat, thyme and red wine.  (The absence of garlic in everything was noticible.)  Then for the cream sauce, I attempted to make one from goat milk thickened with chevre.  The result was an oddly purple colored (from the wine) thin sauce that didn’t taste bad, but wasn’t really that good either.  I wish I had just stuck to my homemade pesto that the freezer is full of.    Oh well. Now I know.

So today was interesting.  I’m full of good, healthful, local food, it just wasn’t the triumph I had hoped for.  I do have wheat tortillas that are ready to go, in the fridge now, which is a bonus.  Pizza crust is next.  Tortillas and pizza are not on my regular menu, I just seem to need to know they are available.  More hoarding mentality I guess.