07-01-08 More Radishes

With mounting radishes, I am scrambling to find more ways of using them. I always loved the Vietnamese Sandwich called "banh mi", so I decided to make the radish slaw that goes in it...

banh mi (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B%C3%A1nh_m%C3%AC) is an Asian food with French influence. Now that's something you don't find very often. You can read all about it in wiki.

For my radish slaw, I used the Crimson Lady Finger Radish and carrots. Slice the vegetables with a Mendelian to match sticks, place them in a large bowl. Make the syrup: Add distilled vinegar and water (3:2) in a sauce pan, add sugar and salt (3:1). Heat liquid and dissolve the sugar and salt. Cool the liquid, then pour into the large bowl. Let stand for a while, radish will get limp and settled. Place the slaw in glass jars and keep in the refrigerator. Let it ferment sometime (5-7 days) and gives out nice pickling flavors. It will be ready to use. This can last quite a while in the frig.

6-30-08 More Radishes

Ella's postcard to Nathan (Finish Boyband) and my radish studs:






The wave of radishes just keeps coming. We have experienced 94 F weather this weekend, since we kept the radishes well watered, they are bigger and tastier than ever. I bagged another 15 lb. this morning-had to do something about it... I made some Chinese pickles over the weekend (fermentation type, no vinegar). It should be ready in about 5 days. I added some radishes spears to the Real Dill pickle juice, they are delicious. I am on the third day of my Seaweed Radish diet. I still love the taste, and I lost 3 lb.! Only if anyone knows how hard it is for me to do that! I think I am going to add some chopped cilantro today for variation.

Thoughts on sowing seeds closer then recommended

I often sow my seeds closer than the recommended space. I call it intensive growing method. The reasoning behind that is for home gardeners we are not looking for growing uniform crops. As a matter of fact, we want to stretch our harvest as long as we can for obvious reasons. Sowing seeds close will allow you to do just that.

When the veggies are growing closer together, they will not all mature at the same time. The spots where they are grow close, they will not grow as fast. That gives you the control to a certain extend of where and when you want them to grow. In any circumstance, don't make them too close together, or they will not grow properly. In fact, the key to success is to thin the plants at the right time and places. And enjoy the thinning as the garden grows.

Veggies suitable for growing this way include: radishes, baby bok choys, beets (enjoy the beet greens in early stage), lettuce Chinese Broccoli (Gai Lan- New Dimension Seed). Watering and fertilizing is also vitally important if you what to grow your veggies intensively. Fruit bearing veggies are usually not good candidates.

06-28-08 All the radishes you can eat!

I went outside first thing this morning to harvest my Crimson Lady Finger Radish (New Dimension Seed). I got about 10 lbs! They are 6" long and about 1" across. I sowed these radishes on May 12, have been harvest them since 6-15. They are still pretty good. The key to grow good radishes are watering. If you keep the plant watered, they will be mild and crunchy, but if you don't water them frequent enough, they may turn hot. Also, I applied very little base fertilizer when I sowed the radishes, because too much nitrogen can produce bad radishes. It makes scene, since we grow radish for its root, we do not want too much leafy greens. Too much nitrogen will also make the radishes hairy and produce inferior quality radishes...They way it's going I should have radishes in the next 2-3weeks...

P.S. Sow radishes close together and thin them out as they become mature. Ella just sent Nathan a post card, it must be a Finish boy band. They are four sexy topless boys with flames all around them, they look awfully like my radishes....and that's how close you can plant them.

My thoughts on the heir and tortoise

I have heard people say gardeners are either the rabbit kind or the tortoise kind. To me, a more appropriate analogy is the three bears. Meaning one should not start the garden too early, neither too late, but just right.

Seeds do not come with internal calendars, they come with environmental cues. To be a good gardener, you need to have a good plan in place, then observe the environment and make appropriate decisions to get your veggies out there. With the aid of some type of protection, you should have an easier time to accomplish this. A few things I like to do is:

(1) Feb: start the heat loving plants, ie. the tomatoes, peppers and eggplants early. I start then in early March. These plants need time to get to the size needed to transplant. Tomatoes and peppers should be ready to transplant after Mother's day. Eggplants are best transplanted when the temperature warms up significantly.

(2)March: Radishes, cabbage beets, spinach, peas, baby bok choys and fava beans are cold tolerant, and can be started in early march if you use the Minihooper from New Dimension Seed. Onion sets should be planted as soon as the ground is workable. You will be able to enjoy some of these veggies from 30 days after sowing. Plant them closer together and enjoy the thinning as you go along. This work particularly well for radishes. I pick some of the beet greens and put them in my salads.

(3)May: June should be safe to sow beans. If you have the Minihooper, you can get an early start by sowing them 2-3 weeks earlier. I sowed my on May 12, they now have bosoms on and I think I will be able to enjoy them the first week of July. I also sowed my corn and soybeans (edamame).

(3)May: I planted more cabbage, Chinese Broccoli, and kohlrabi directly in the garden without the minicooper. Also sowed are the Asparagus Beans. I am taking a chance here, they may or may not make it, all depends on how warm the weather is...

(4) I am also taking a chance on cucumbers. The lure of getting cucumbers in July is too great, so I decided to give it a shot again this year. I transplanted them in April, covered them with the Minihooper. I remove the cover when the weather is warm, and finally took it completely off in late May. They are growing ever so slow, but is coming along. The hot days should give them a boost this weekend.

June Watermelon is slow but coming along

This year the spring is kinda odd, it is very much on the cool side. It is already mid June, the night time temperature is still in the 50th. we did have a couple heat spurs where temperature reached a whopping 100 degrees for 2-3 days, then back to cool nights again. This is the week before the 4th of July. It suppose to heat up to triple digit again! I have planted my watermelon three times in the garden. Each time they came up, then between the cold night and the birds, the seedlings always end up getting destroyed. I am making some scare crows.... I finally got some nice seedlings going. I am keeping my fingers crossed... I am really looking forward to my watermelons this year in particular, because i think they are going to be expensive this year because the high gas price.

05-15-08 Fresh lettuce from my box garden!

I have a few big wooden boxes in my covered shed. The shed is built on the south side of my shop. It has plastic sides and polycarbonate top. It works great for growing vegetables when the outside is still cold. I sowed my lettuce in Feb. and have been enjoying them as salads from April to June. I grew the Polar Ice Green Lettuce from New Dimension Seed. It is great, it's a loose leaf type. I harvest the large leaves and leave the plant in the box. They just keep generating fresh leaves.