I'll have my radish and eat it too!

Mr. H, with a frenzied gleam in his eyes, declared "No matter how hard it is, no matter how long it takes, I will not be denied a radish! Oh, the root maggots might have gotten the best of me in years gone by, but no longer." This year I fought back, I grew the 'podding radish'." He exclaimed amid peals of deranged laughter.

I have tried and failed miserably to grow any sort of a decent radish for years now. I tried different varieties; big radishes, watermelon shaped radishes, black radishes, and white radishes. I even tried French radishes that I assumed must be so foreign to the northern reaches of Idaho the worms would not possibly be able to understand them... all to no avail. I tried growing them individually at the far corners of my garden. I put down ash. I even attempted to grow them through a plastic weed barrier. The maggots soundly defeated me on every front, burrowing into the fruits of my labor just before they could be harvested.

Then, last year I grew podding radishes. Oh yeah, I beat the dirty little buggers at their own game. No juicy little roots for them to tunnel through, no not one. The podding radish gives you all the delicious spicy flavor of a radish without the maggots. The loathsome monstrosities never could figure out how to crawl up the stock, which they would have to do in order to get at the pod.


You see, the podding radish, or rat-tailed radish, produces small inedible roots. The radish quickly bolts to seed and provides one with numerous plump edible pods that are a most delicious addition to salads and stir fries. The pods are best when harvested while still young and tender. As far as I know all radish seed pods can be eaten, but podding radishes were bred for their much larger more flavorful pods. No more maggot ridden radishes for me, no sir none at all.

Here is an informative article on podding radishes. http://www.kitchengardeners.org/rat-tailed_radish.html.

Pass the Peas Please

I was delighted to see our over wintered red Belgium endive has started to flower, seeds should follow shortly. Actually, past experience with saving endive/chicory seed serves as a reminder of just how long it takes for the many flowers to bloom and finally form seeds. Last year I had to wait until September to harvest the seeds off my wild garden chicory, but everything is a good two weeks ahead this year... so far. I briefly discussed this magnificent plant in a previous post. What's Growing On?


A taste test was performed on the four types of peas we are growing this year and all passed with flying colors. From left to right, two blue podded pole peas, Tacoma afila bush, Alaskan bush, and an Alderman pole pea that I have saved seed from for many years now. I was a bit surprised to find the Alderman's not only had the best flavor but were so much larger then the rest. So once again it will remain my faithful standby, even if I do have to help it climb every step of the way.

Alderman

I will definitely be planting the Tacoma pea again as it was one of the best bush peas I have ever grown. Not only did their many tendrils help them clamber up and over a 3' fence with ease but they also put out a decent amount of pods for a bush pea. The Alaska bush is taller then me, so I am not sure what that's all about, it was easily second best in taste. My heirloom blue (they really should be called purple) pole peas grew quickly and are a very colorful addition to this year's garden. It will be interesting to see exactly how many peas they put out as they are still growing up, almost 7' now.

It must be a good year for peas as they have all grown much taller than expected. One of the main reasons I am growing the Tacoma pea is its short stature, the upper echelons of the taller peas can and often are severely damaged by the winds in our area.

Tacoma afila

Blue podded

My heart sank as I awoke to a windy thunder storm late last night. I rushed out this morning to see how much damage was inflicted on the garden, especially the tall plants like peas. Miraculously, everything was in good standing... that makes my day. Maybe this really will be a good garden year, that would be nice for a change. Well, I'm off to slog about in today's much needed rain.

Purple Peacock

We have been picking various broccoli for a few weeks now. Out of the four types I am growing the heirloom Di ciccio seems to be performing the best this season. We rarely have very large heads but always seem to have more then enough smaller ones.


One of the broccoli plants in our garden is called purple peacock. A plant that not only provides us with a nice little head of broccoli followed by numerous smaller ones, but the leaves are most delicious as well. This plant comes from crosses between Green Goliath broccoli and two kale's. I assume from looking at the leaves that the kale's are red and white Russian. We really like this vegetable not only for its culinary versatility but compact and very cold hardy nature as well. I love looking at the ruffled leaves, it is unlike any other broccoli I have seen. There were a few issues with brassicas prematurely bolting this year but none of the peacock broccoli were involved in the dissent. They seem to be slow growing and very reliable thus far.



I first heard about this wonderful plant on http://www.veggiegardeningtips.com/purple-peacock-broccoli/ a few years back and just had to grow my own. I have not been disappointed.

Strawberry Spinach

One of the more interesting plants we grow, or should I say, grows itself is strawberry spinach, also called strawberry blite, beet berry, Indian paint, and a number of other names. The plant is very cold hardy but will thrive in the hottest weather. With a long taproot it can get by on very little water, of course the more water it gets the larger the fruit.


Our strawberry spinach (Chenopodium capitatum) grows two-three feet in both height and width. The serrated triangular leaves are a great substitute for spinach when young but become somewhat tough as they mature. The mature plants develop brilliant red thimble sized berries that when really ripe taste, to me, just like Malt-O-Meal cereal... kind of sweet and nutty. How great is that, not only do you get to eat the greens but little fruit as well. Technically, I think the berry is considered a flower, I'm not really sure.


This plant can also be used to create pink and red dye by simmering the berries in water until the desired color is achieved, though I have never tried this. The seeds germinate rather sporadically but if allowed to reseed, and we allow it, they will come up on their own all over the garden. I have introduced this plant to the the wooded areas of our property and it seems to be taking hold, another great "permaculture" plant for the food forest.

I have no doubt that strawberry spinach has many healthy attributes, but do not know what they might be. I have read that they are possibly high in vitamin A and C. There seems to be very little information regarding this lesser known member of the goosefoot family. As always, I love plants that only need be planted once and then simply tended for many years thereafter.

Delectable Wild Cherries

A trip to the foothills around lake Coeur d'Alene last week not only provided us with a sampling of wild cherries but a place for the boy to burn off some energy.


I am not exactly sure what kind of cherries these are, some of the trees had black cherries and others were red. Mostly I am interested in the stone of this fruit as I have successfully grown a number of these trees from seed in the past. Some of the trees we came across were at least 50 or 60" tall making cherry picking interesting to say the least. The trees grow extremely fast and the one in the below pictures background is four years old and may give us a cherry or two this year.


We simply plant the seeds, mark the spot, and let mother nature take it's course. In the spring, if we are lucky, there will be a few cherry trees popping up. The cherry do not germinate as readily as apple seeds so we made sure to plant enough.

Gone To Seed

Due to the dramatic fluctuations in temperature this spring a few of our biennial plants have bolted prematurely this year, fortunately it has only been a few. This has allowed me the opportunity to watch a purple kohlrabi attempt to form a seed head, a first in our garden as I have never really tried to save seed from this type of brassica before. I thought it had a most interesting flower. The rest of our summer kohlrabi are forming nice little bulbs and those for winter storage were just planted this past week.

This is easily one of our favorite vegetables, nothing beats the flavor of fresh, raw kohlrabi grated over a summer salad. They store remarkably well and can be used for forced greens as well as the bulb in the winter months.

Wuttahimneash

"Wuttahimneash" is what the Naragansett Indians called strawberries, referred to as heart-seed berry by many Native Americans. We have been enjoying the first of several harvests of strawberries from our everbearing plants for over two weeks now.

A somewhat disturbing event has been taking place the last couple years as the number one competitor for our strawberries, the robin, has not appeared in great numbers. The reason for this is that all the baby birds are being stolen from their nests by ravens. Ravens fly around searching the trees until they find a nest and then kill and remove the baby bird to be eaten later or fed to their own young. We have not even bothered to cover our berries this year, for the first time. I must say that I would rather cover the berries and watch the baby birds learning to feed themselves... such is life. On the other hand, ravens are one of my favorite birds regardless of their bad dining habits.

We not only gather our berries from the gardens but have been entrusted with two types of the over 35 species of wild strawberries. Virginia strawberry (Fragaria virginiana) and Woodland strawberry (Fragaria vesca) grow throughout the forested areas of our property. Some Indian tribes used to mash the berries and mix them with cornmeal making a bread of sorts that English colonists transformed into the modern strawberry shortcake we now enjoy today. We pick the small wild berries and make a strawberry walnut bread out of them, it's very good.


I have also been planting easily lifted spring runners from the Virginia Strawberry, one of the few small strawberries to reproduce from both seed and runners, in my garden. It will be interesting to see how they perform under more pampered conditions.


Strawberries seeds are on the outside rather than contained inside the fruit. They are called straw-berries because straw is what was commonly used to mulch them. The everbearing woodland strawberries in this picture do not develope runners and must reproduce through seed. They have a very 'strong' sweet flavor.


Thinned beet green quiche and strawberry salad for two was on last night's dinner menu. Yummy!

Out With The Old

Our last spaghetti squash and carrots were grated raw into a salad last night. As challenging as last years adventures in subsistence were we still managed to fully stock our root cellar and other food storage areas.

It has been our privilege to dine on a diverse variety of fruits, vegetables, and wild edibles since the end of last July. The spaghetti squash in the picture was harvested the first week of October I believe... not bad. Still in good shape and of decent flavor we decided it was only fitting that we consume this cucurbit in it's most natural state.

We are not out of potatoes yet and should have enough to get us through until the new ones magically appear in a couple weeks. Overwintered green onions are still plentiful, but beets are a distant memory. It never ceases to amaze me how well/long some of these crops can hold up if stored properly.

"All plants are our brothers and sisters. They talk to us and if we listen, we can hear them." - Arapaho