The winter garden is coming along nicely! Just a few weeks ago I'd let it go all to hell, and due to my laziness, I can see I'm going to have a hard time eradicating all the Oxalis that's made itself at home in my garden. I used to eat the stuff when I was a kid. My friends and I all called it sourgrass, and we'd pick a flower, put the stem in our mouth and chew to release the sour juice. It wasn't until years later I learned that the lovely sour taste was oxalic acid. A toxin.
That lush greenery in the middle of the picture is the oxalis. Not so long ago, the entire yard looked like that, all four quadrants of the garden were just FILLED with the stuff. I couldn't poison it - that's a TERRIBLE idea when you're just about to plant vegetables - and I couldn't just whack off the tops with a weed whacker. That would leave the roots and bulbs belowground to regenerate. So I had to deal with it the long, slow tedious route. I had to pull it all out by hand.
After the first few handfuls, I noticed that only the tops were breaking away, so I sprinkled the area with water and let it soak in for a few minutes, then started plucking them again. This time not only did it go much faster, but the entire root came out with every pluck. Only about 10% of the plants broke off at the top, so I'll still have to go back every week and yank any newbies that have grown in, but that's 90% less work than I'd have to do otherwise, so I'm fine with that.
From this angle you can see some of the pepper plants that are still producing, even though they're starting to look scrawny. They go from left to right, straight through the middle of the picture. The brown thingys against the fence are the remaining summer cornstalks that I have to throw out.
To the left of the dark wedge is the onion patch. I already have reds and yellows growing there, but I left just enough room at the outside for two more rows of Leeks and shallots.
On the right of the wedge is the cabbage patch. I only seem to have enough room for red cabbage this year, but maybe I'll pop in a green cabbage seed if a red doesn't make it. A friend from Hunary just gave me her wonderful recipe for sweet red cabbage. My mouth is just watering thinking about it! I can't wait until I can sacrifice one of these cabbages to my pot!
Directly across the point of this dark wedge of soil is where I'll be growing another heirloom oddity, Romanesco Broccoli. It looks beautiful, doesn't it?
All those marvelous little turrets and spirals, and it's lovely apple-green color. I'm sure it would be wonderful steamed and dipped in gravy, or stir-fried. There are lots of recipes I'd like to try. But most of all I think it will look mysterious and exotic in the garden.
Park Seeds, The Victory Seed Company, and Botanical Interests all sell high-quality heirloom and organic seeds. Renee's Seeds have always been a favorite because I'm a very indecisive person. I want five different kinds of peppers or beets in my garden, but I don't want to buy five different packets of seeds. Renees sells wonderful mixed seeds in a single packet, all color coded so you don't pay for five and yet wind up with only two in your garden anyway. Botanical Interests does the same thing but now to the degree that Renee's does.
After I'd plucked out all the weeds, I raked up the debris, then went back over and yanked out any strays I might have missed the first time around. I added roughly an inch of compost all over my area and tilled the snot out of it, until the earth was nice and fluffy down to about a foot deep. I used to do this part of the work with a pickaxe and hoe, but I finally splurged this year and bought the smallest tiller I could afford. It cost me $200 and it's paid me back in vegetables and the cost of aspirin ever since. Its paid for itself. I highly recommend using one. So anyway, I tilled it all up (that's why it looks so dark and rich in the picture) and ran my furrows. I planted one long row of multicolored beets along the outside edge, followed by a slightly shorter line of multicolored carrots on the inside. In a week I'll add another line of carrots (I'm trying successive plantings this year) , a line of Parsnips, and a new mystery plant called Salsify. It looks like a skinny white carrot but tastes like oysters when you roast it. There's a black verson and a white version, and right now I'm just trying to decide which one I want to try.
To the left of the dark wedge is the onion patch. I already have reds and yellows growing there, but I left just enough room at the outside for two more rows of Leeks and shallots.
On the right of the wedge is the cabbage patch. I only seem to have enough room for red cabbage this year, but maybe I'll pop in a green cabbage seed if a red doesn't make it. A friend from Hunary just gave me her wonderful recipe for sweet red cabbage. My mouth is just watering thinking about it! I can't wait until I can sacrifice one of these cabbages to my pot!
Directly across the point of this dark wedge of soil is where I'll be growing another heirloom oddity, Romanesco Broccoli. It looks beautiful, doesn't it?
All those marvelous little turrets and spirals, and it's lovely apple-green color. I'm sure it would be wonderful steamed and dipped in gravy, or stir-fried. There are lots of recipes I'd like to try. But most of all I think it will look mysterious and exotic in the garden.
Park Seeds, The Victory Seed Company, and Botanical Interests all sell high-quality heirloom and organic seeds. Renee's Seeds have always been a favorite because I'm a very indecisive person. I want five different kinds of peppers or beets in my garden, but I don't want to buy five different packets of seeds. Renees sells wonderful mixed seeds in a single packet, all color coded so you don't pay for five and yet wind up with only two in your garden anyway. Botanical Interests does the same thing but now to the degree that Renee's does.
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