A Basement Full of Garden

This time of year our basement resembles a strange nocturnal garden full of potted plants whose foliage we rely on to help sustain us through the winter months. Just before the ground started to freeze this fall we potted up Belgian & Batavian endive, parsley, Swiss chard, celery, red sorrel, and other greens. We are even experimenting with rhubarb, arugula, and various lettuces this year. Some of these (not the Belgian endive) we leave outside, after potting, for as long as possible so they can more easily adjust, via new root growth, to their enclosures and receive the last few rays of sunlight before entering the gloom of our root cellar/basement for the winter.

Most of these plants are brought upstairs into the light a few at a time starting in January to help supplement our daily salads. This is especially helpful on days that the weather or time prevents us from gathering greens from under our row covers. This week finds the plastic on all of our covered rows firmly secured to the ground by a thick layer of ice making it difficult to remove the covers without tearing them and was a good reminder that I needed to start encouraging growth from our potted plants. Within a week of sitting next to a somewhat sunny windowsill the plants begin to quickly green up and grow. Many of them can be cut numerous times before needing to be replaced.

While our Belgian endive roots were much smaller this year due to the fact that I did not thin them properly (again) we have simply stuffed more into each container enjoying the leaves all the same. The endive does not produce a very good second crop after the first cutting but the roots can then be used for coffee, tea, or roasted chicory chips.

Belgian endive beginning to put out new shoots, they will become very bitter once subjected to sunlight but possibly more nutritious.

This Batavian endive's blanched color will transform to dark green after being exposed to light for a few days.

Parsley is an excellent cut and come again crop that not only thrives in the basement but outside under our row covers as well. It seems to maintain it's greenness long after the other plants have begun to pale in the darkness. I will be growing Hamburg, a root parsley, this year and think/hope it might also perform well in this unnatural environment.

They don't look like much now but I just brought these plants upstairs and trimmed all the bad leaves off, they should start growing soon.

While all but the smallest leaves of the Swiss chard outside in our covered rows have finally succumbed to the weather and turned to mush after numerous freeze and thaw cycles those in our cellar live on. The potting up of Swiss chard is a little new to us in that we have only been experimenting with the forcing of this plant for a couple years. I have noticed that the more mature chard with a bigger root system hold out much better than the younger plants and will provide us with at least a few good cut and re-grow cycles before they are spent and begin to focus on bolting to seed.

I left a few of the smaller leaves on the chard but cut most of them back to compensate for any root damage caused during the potting process. After two months in the dark they are still maintaining their color pretty well.

Our hybrid Utah celery performs much better in the basement garden than its open pollinated kin Giant Red whose stalks tend to be more hollow and can get a little tough as the months progress. We find the new smaller shoots are best off this variety whereas the Utah's bigger shoots are better able to maintain a firm crunchy texture. This year I will be growing three new types of open pollinated celery in the garden in hopes of finding more varieties for winter forcing. I would like to try Safir, Par-Cel, and Ventura. That said, I still love my wild and temperamental Giant Red celery because of its cold hardiness and unusually strong flavor and will probably always save a spot for it in the garden.

We do not normally bring our celery upstairs due to the size of the containers and simply harvest shoots as we need them directly from the root cellar where they continue to put out new, albeit pale, growth.


Occasionally we separate a few of our more gnarly less palatable kohlrabi to bring upstairs and after being subjected to sunlight will harvest the greens. New shoots will then form at various places on this bulbous vegetable's "stem" allowing for numerous harvests. When you use a beet or kohlrabi in this manner the vegetable itself will become tough but can still be used as a food source for animals. Although I did experiment with beets and found that they were still pretty edible if used directly after the first forced growth had been harvested. The bigger the root or bulb vegetable the bigger the greens.

To control this leafy growth on my "good" kohlrabi, the ones whose thick stems I wish to eat, I will either keep them in a cooler part of the basement or am simply diligent in pinching back any growth before it takes hold, much the same as with my potatoes and carrots in the early spring when the cellar begins to warm a bit.

Arugula and the "frilly lettuces" as I like to call them seem to be holding up pretty well, time will tell the outcome of these and decide whether they are worthy of the indoor garden. Although, so far, I have been surprised at how long these lettuces have retained their green color in the gloom of our root cellar. I only potted up thirty 8" pots of the lettuce and arugula for this experiment, but could do many more next fall if we are pleased with the results. My fear is that they will immediately bolt once introduced to a warmer environment...I shall soon find out.


Lest I forget to mention them we also force, to some degree, turnips (the ugly ones), onions, dandelions, and my favorite forced veggie...beets. Tending hundreds of potted plants in ones basement may seem like quite the ridiculous chore but if it keeps me out of the grocery store I am more than game for the task. With any luck, this basement garden alone will provide us with a couple large salads every week during our most challenging months. Gardening never really ends around here it just takes on different, sometimes unusual, forms.

For more of my scribblings on forcing check out last January's post Forced To Provide.

The Pied Piper

Convincing my flock of 13 lazy redheads that the half-hearted throws of winter have temporarily subsided and what little snow we have received thus far has melted was no easy task. I was forced to act as a kinder version of The Pied Piper leading my fat little hens into the forest to fend for themselves for a few hours. They have yet to lose their free-ranging freedom to the winter's cold but have become a little too content to stay holed up in their den anxiously awaiting their all too generous daily ration of greens from our winter rows. As you can see only half the flock was convinced to follow a siren's call to greener pastures.

Reflections of the Past, Looking Forward to the Future

A couple videos showing part of our early July garden bring back many fond memories but what I am really looking forward to is the garden and foraging adventures of 2010. Happy New Year!

The north end of garden plot #3 taken with my little camera, please forgive the picture quality and music that is covering up my neighbor's backhoe noise.


The other end of plot #3.:)

Full of Beans Part 4 - Musings on Kabouli & Delinel

I promise to stop talking about beans after this post or at least until spring when I might actually have something of interest to say about them. The last two types of beans we grew this past summer were Kabouli Black Garbanzo and Delinel bush beans. They both performed well and were an excellent addition to the garden.

I've read that Kabouli beans were discovered in Kabul Afghanistan and have been cultivated for thousands of years, a true heirloom. Now Baker Creek, whom I bought my original seeds from, states in their 2008 catalogue (pdf) that "This unique heirloom variety was collected in Kabul, Afghanistan. The 2’ plants produce unusual dark purple beans (mine were definitely black). The purple color comes from a pigment called anthocyanine, which enables seeds to sprout in cool soil, making this variety good for short season areas. Perfect for hummus and other Middle Eastern dishes."

But...

FEDCO states in their catalogue that although garbanzo beans in general originally hailed from Afghanistan "Black Kabouli was developed at Washington State University to be tolerant of cold soils and light frosts. The 2' plants with ornamental purple flowers bear abundant two-seeded pods resembling beach peas with black medium-sized beans."

Hmm?


As legend has it this bean is supposed to attract thunderstorms when blooming so I suppose inconsistencies regarding whether it is anthocyanines or WSU that brings out their cold heartiness is of little importance when one has to worry about being struck by lightning. Regardless, we not only grew them because of their cold tolerant nature but the fact that they are so small we should be able to use our hand powered grain grinder to pulverize them, saving us lots of time on quesadilla night as powdered beans are much quicker to prepare. I have not tried this yet.


The Kabouli beans were as productive as can be expected from a bean that only produces two seeds per pod.


The Delinel bush beans were very vigorous, providing us with numerous fresh green beans throughout the summer months. We did not save any for dried beans or seed (I forgot) so I have no pictures of the of the little black beans that reside in the mature pods.


Thompson Morgan insists that I must never eat these beans raw because they may make you sick. I was not aware of this and did indeed eat many of them raw without consequence. I was not sure if that was supposed to apply to all green beans or just my Delinels.

In all seriousness, I have never heard of this raw bean issue before so I looked up some information regarding the potential toxicity of raw green beans and found that they supposedly contain "Prussic (hydrocyanic) acid," aka Cyanide, which is rendered safe by cooking. Apparently some people can become quite sick after eating raw beans or bean seeds and may suffer from declining blood pressure, vomiting, stomach ache, circulation problems, convulsions, or even heart palpitations. It appears that the susceptibility to these reactions is hereditary, much like "Favism" is in Fava beans. I knew about Favism.

This may indeed be true, I am just surprised that I have been oblivious to the possible toxicity of raw beans. How very interesting. Going forward I think I will continue to "push the envelope" and risk eating raw green beans as I have done since a child. Some people climb mountains and others sky dive, I on the other hand, being the adventurous spirit that I am, eat green beans...raw.:) Please tell me that I am not the only person that was unaware of this?

Sweet Tea

A couple months ago our grandson came down with some sort of stomach ailment, perhaps the flu. On a whim, his grandmother prepared a concoction of various dried herbs that included echinacea, mint, our favorite clovers, lemon balm, elderberry flowers, and various other herbs. Steeped on the wood stove for 30 minutes with a heaping teaspoon of honey added before serving and voila!...she had created the boys new favorite beverage, "Sweet Tea." Thusly named by the lad himself one day while attempting to request it, we've been calling it that ever since. His old favorite, hot chocolate, is now a thing of the past and no longer even asked for. We both feel much better with this choice of beverage and have noticed a significant decrease in both his colds and stomach ailments this season. Coincidence? Perhaps not.

Two ingredients that are always included in this sweet tea are echinacea and elderberry flowers. Echinacea, often referred to as a "natural antibiotic" is supposed to stimulate the immune system thus helping the body to fight off colds, flu, and viruses. We use the fresh & dried roots, leaves, and flowers. It did take a couple years for the roots to develop enough to use, but once a nice clump was established we found them easy to divide and transplant. The matured flower heads are fairly easy to collect seed from and between the seed and transplanted roots we should have an excellent medicinal source going forward.

Second year echinacea roots ready to be transplanted, the best roots come from bigger three year old plants.

Containing small amounts of essential oils elderberry flowers have have also been used in the past as remedy for colds, helping to ease sore throats and congestion. We try to pick them while still white and fresh, before they begin to yellow. My wife simply cuts the branches directly below the blossoms and allows them to dry someplace out of the sun until the tiny petals fall off or are easily removed.

We also pick a variety of different clovers for our tea that are kept in quart jars after they have been thoroughly dried. Clover, especially red clover is known to contain high amounts of phytoestrogens, which imitate the action of female hormones in the body thus helping with menopausal issues. I asked my dear wife just what this means to me and the boy, she said not to worry about it and focus on the fact that clover is also a good source of natural calcium and that the dried blossoms work as an expectorant and are a fitting addition to her infusion. OK honey, but if I start cross dressing...

I must say I have never been a huge fan of tea, it's been a flavor issue, but I am quite taken with this particular brew and drink it regularly. We all agree, sweet tea is the beverage for us. I just wish it was caffeinated so I would be more inclined to give up on coffee all together.:)

Our Dirty December Garden

I cannot remember the last time, if ever, I've had the good fortune of being able to work in the garden in December, December 20th at that. What an absolute treat for me to not have any snow this time of year. Last year we had a historical record of snow for this month (60'), starting December 16th I believe. So yesterday I was out and about in the garden prepping the soil for next season by adding composted chicken manure mixed with bean pods and straw to our rows. The ground had thawed and with the days rain had become a mucky muddy mess but I will take that over numerous feet of snow that make any gardening impossible. Perhaps we will enjoy an El Nino after all.

Row mulched with manured bean pods under which are the remains of our parsnip bed


I am once again focused on enriching our soil through a form of sheet mulching. Before winter I pulled up all of the remaining plant materials, broke them up a bit, and distributed amongst the garden rows. According to Emilia Hazelip, whose superb gardening video I have recently listed under a picture on my side bar, plants synthesize from light and only receive a small portion of their mass from the soil. The rest comes from air and light and if left in the garden to decompose will give back much more to the soil then they take out.

Is this true? I'm not sure but it certainly worked for us this past season and is a method that fits nicely into our garden scheme. Will leaving the plants remains in our garden cause a carry over of disease? I don't know, but I do know that so far we have never had any disease issues in the garden. Bugs yes, disease never. We usually follow this procedure by adding compost in the spring but I am more then happy to use this snow free Christmas present to get started a little early giving the bean pods and straw extra time to break down in the soil.

In this section we had corn that was diced up and left. It will eventually be covered with compost that will aid in its decomposition.


The below rows were home to cole crops. We chopped up and left any bad leaves and roots behind and have begun to cover with a straw chicken manure mulch.

Full of Beans Part 3 - The Three Amigos

...and to continue my ramblings about beans I thought I might share a few thoughts on some of our pole varieties. Among the new additions to our garden this past season were Purple Podded and Rattlesnake pole beans. Even with spring conditions conducive to bean planting ours got off to a slow start but come August they were growing like gangbusters, surprising us with a decent amount of dry beans by fall. Luckily, the weather graced us with an extended summer without which we may not have been as fortunate.

I planted a 55' row comprised of the aforementioned two plus my old favorite, Kentucky Wonder. We strung a tall trellis of fencing wire down the row and planted the beans on each side. For whatever reason many of them, especially the Rattlesnake and Kentucky, had to be replanted numerous times due to poor germination. I even waited extra long to plant this year, making sure the soil was warm and the rains had passed. Of the three, I was most impressed with how the purple beans turned out, especially considering they were stuck at the shady end of the garden and took the longest of the three to produce a sizable bean.


I also grew some of the Rattlesnakes up my tomato cages, planting about three per tomato plant. That worked out quite well and was a great way to obtain a couple more buckets of (un-shelled) beans from the garden. They even helped hold the tomatoes up a bit...sort of.

In the end, Kentucky Wonder was my worst performer, normally it's my best. For more years than I can remember we have been saving their seed and growing these beans in a somewhat shady location in another garden plot. However, this year they were granted a prime location in the main garden. I almost wonder if the sun was too much for them, while this is highly questionable I'm at a loss as to what may have caused their less than usual beaniness.

Something I did notice this summer was how harsh the sun was on many of our plants, even burning and drying some of the leaves...and our garden is pretty shaded as it is. The eggplants, although they put out a superior product, looked less than lovely because of this and many of our brassicas also suffered from the dry leaf issue only recovering after the weather had cooled. Fewer aphids on the cole crops and a whole lot of ladybugs helped make up for the ugliness, that was nice for a change. Each year is so very different from the last. I suppose these challenges and occasional frustrations are what help make gardening such an interesting experience for the two of us.

A Glimpse Into the Future

You can see more of Novella at Ghost Town Farm blog.