Home Garden Companion

Ilona's Garden Journal




Vegetable garden

Homesteader Heirloom Apples and Real Cider

by

The Renaissance of Heirloom Apples

Traditionally, an old fashioned fall treat has been the availability of aromatic autumn apples and the rich complex flavor of pressed cider.

Source: fishermansdaughter 
Source: fishermansdaughter

Although grocery stores attempt to carry “cider” in pasteurized containers all year, the taste is insipid in comparison to the special flavor that blended heirloom varieties give to their juices.

Some of those heritage types especially loved for cider making were in danger of being lost, but there has been a resurgence in planting and growing the old heirloom trees. We can now enjoy many of these flavors, again.

Apples Are An Old Standby For Americans

We make apple desserts and sauce, cook them with meat and poultry, and eat them fresh. And nothing is as American as apple pie!
We make apple desserts and sauce, cook them with meat and poultry, and eat them fresh. And nothing is as American as apple pie!

What Can You Learn From This Page?

The old types and how they are best used, tips on which you want to choose for cooking, eating fresh, or making cider. Products for preparing and preserving the fruits, resource books, and some great apple pie recipes follow in the paragraphs below.

Informative videos for picking and choosing some of the selections you may find in a Farmers Market near you!

About Old Fashioned Apple Varieties – What were they used for?

Cox Orange Pippin
Cox Orange Pippin

Old Time Apples

Cooking? Fresh Eating? Long Storage?

FIND THE RIGHT APPLE FOR YOUR PURPOSE

Ashmead’s Kernel apple is not a pretty face, but has delicious flavor and is useful for eating, salads, cider, and cooking. Wow- if I were a homesteader this is the apple I would want to grow. Learn more about Ashmead’s Kernel

Gravenstein is a coastal type of apple. Quite famous in the past, a very old variety that originated in South Denmark. It is used mainly for cooking and cider.

Esopus Spitzenburg apple is an eating apple. It was Thomas Jefferson’s favorite. “The flavor is truly aromatic and matches the complexity of the English aromatic apples. The flesh is a buttery dense yellow, and there is a rich sharpness which is often characteristic of high quality dessert apples.” It is not a very healthy tree, though.

Cole’s Quince apple is a very rare cooking and eating apple.

Adam’s Pearmain apple is an old-fashioned dessert apple. Dry rather than juicy, it has an aromatic flavor.

Cox’s Orange Pippin is an old dessert apple variety, Gala apples are today’s version.

Antique Varieties

Grow The Best For Your Climate

Old Southern Apples: A Comprehensive History and Description of Varieties for Collectors, Growers, and Fruit Enthusiasts, 2nd Edition
Old Southern Apples: A Comprehensive History and Description of Varieties for Collectors, Growers, and Fruit Enthusiasts, 2nd Edition

Not every apple tree grows well in every part of the nation. Farmers developed those which grew well. Like many other fruit crops, there were particulars ones that were prized by those in Southern Climates.

This book, in its second edition, provides history, cooking and growing information of the classic apples of the South.

All About Apples

Learn about the old apples

  • Trees of Antiquity
    Trees of Antiquity : fruits of all kinds-heirloom trees,
  • Apple Journal- “A Passion for Apples”
    Apple Journal is a comprehensive resource for growers and consumers about apples and apple growing. Find information about cooking, nutrition, variety selection and usage, farm market reports, historical archives, and orchards

For Cooking And Eating

Cooking, Eating, Or Applesauce?

Did you realize that certain fruits have qualities of texture and flavor that make them best for cooking or fresh eating? The same goes for qualities that produce the best cider or applesauce.

Make Lots of Apple Sauce

Heirloom Varieties And Their Uses

Brier’s Sweet Crab originated in Wisconsin. Very sweet and good as dessert apple and for applesauce.

Newell’s Late Orange is good for cooking.

Dula Beauty, great for baking, hails from North Carolina. Dark red with yellowish, crisp flesh.

Winter Banana is a tart-sweet apple which makes it good for cooking. Also prized as an eating apple which has a “banana aroma”. Originated in Indiana.

Bentley’s Sweet is a very sweet and long keeping apple. Late ripening dessert apple.

Bietigheimer, from German origins, is an early ripening cooking apple.

Bramley’s Seedling, an English variety, is good for baking and cider. It has a sharp taste that is excellent used in those ways.

Chenango Strawberry, from New York, an aromatic apple good for eating and cooking.

Duchess of Oldenburg is an old Russian apple which is fine for both eating and cooking.Has a tangy flavor reminiscent of Winesap.

McIntosh Red is widely available in supermarkets, but is an old variety. Great for salads, and for cooking and baking. Famous for its sweet but mildly tangy flavor.

Margil was widely grown in England in the1700’s and established popularity in the Colonies here by the 1750’s. It is now a rare apple, tends to the small side with russet coat. Its flesh is tender, ivory, very sweet, and flavorful. Red Jacket Orchards of Genvea, New York grows it and I found it in my market in Ohio. Delicious!

Northern Spy from New York in the early 1800’s; it has a spicy, aromatic flavor. Quite famous for pies.

Softer apples are best for applesauce

Best varieties to use: Pippin, Rhode Island Greening, McIntosh, Elstar, Cortland, Fuji, Gala, Gravenstein

apples by kightp
Source: Kightp

Cider Apples

Best apple varieties for cider making

Cider is a blend of several apple juices made from crushed apples.

How To Make Cider

Crush ripe apples and extract their juice under pressure.

If making an alcoholic sort of cider there is a fermentation process.

“The four types of apples for cider are describes as sweets, sharps, bittersweets and bittersharps. Sweet and sharp are easy enough to understand (eg Cox and Bramley) but the bitter types are apples grown specifically for cider and are not used for eating or cooking.

The specific thing about these fruits is that they have high levels of tannins, flavour compounds which set your teeth on edge if you bite into the apple, but which ferment out to give a richer, aromatic flavour with good mouth feel in the finished cider” [1]

Old  Fashioned Cider

Apple Cider
Apple Cider

Special Cider Varieties

American Varieties for Cider

  • Red Limbertwig
  • Harrison Cider
  • Campfield

English Varieties for Cider

  • Kingston Black – Bittersharp
  • Dabinett – Bittersweet
  • Sweet Coppin – Sweet
  • Crimson King – Sharp

How To Press Cider From Your Apple Crop

New England Cider Pie

Recipe from James Beard– that man really knew how to cook!

Ingredients

  • Pie dough for a 1-crust pie
  • 2/3 cup boiled cider or 2 cups apple cider- boiled down to 2/3 cup
  • 2 tablespoons sugar- to taste
  • 2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon unsalted butter -melted
  • 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
  • Pinch of salt
  • 3 large well beaten eggs
  • 2 tart apples such as Granny Smith- peeled | cored | coarsely grated
  • 3 tablespoons packed light or dark brown sugar
  • 1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
  • Vanilla ice cream or whipped cream

Instructions

  1. Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface to a large circle about 1/8-inch thick. Fit it, without stretching, into a buttered 8- to 9-inch pie pan. Trim off the excess dough, leaving a 3/4-inch border. Fold under the edge of dough, pressing along rim of the pan and forming a high, fluted border. Chill the pie shell while you preheat the oven to 375° , with a rack in the lower third.
  2. In a bowl, whisk together the boiled cider, sugar, melted butter, lemon juice, salt, and eggs. Add the grated apples and stir to blend well. Pour the filing into the pie shell; sprinkle the brown sugar and nutmeg over the top.
  3. Bake until mixture is just set in the center, usually 50 minutes.
  4. Let the pie cool on a wire rack. Serve warm, topped with ice cream or whipped cream.

Apple Gadget – Pare lots of apples

Norpro 865R Apple Master-Apple, Potato, Parer, Slicer & Corer with Vacuum Base & Clamp
Norpro 865R Apple Master-Apple, Potato, Parer, Slicer & Corer with Vacuum Base & Clamp

This is the original style of apple parer you may have seen in your grandmother’s kitchen. Still works great!

Baking and Cooking Apples

Apples need to retain their shape to be good for cooking and baking, should not be too sweet. Good varieties are: Granny Smith, Jonathan, Jonagold, Pippin apples, Gravenstein, Braeburn, Fuji, and Pink Lady Apples

All American Favorite

Middle Western touch of cheddar cheese. Photo by bucklava
Middle Western touch of cheddar cheese. Photo by bucklava

Deep-Dish Apple Pie from Emeril Lagasse.

Use the included Pie crust recipe

Ingredients

  • 3 tablespoons butter
  • 2 pounds Granny Smith apples-sliced 1/2-inch thick
  • 2 pounds Macintosh Apples-sliced 1/2-inch thick
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup light brown sugar
  • packed
  • 1 lemon- juiced
  • 4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
  • Pinch ground nutmeg
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup pecan pieces
  • 1 egg- beaten
  • 4 ounces Wisconsin Sharp Cheddar-grated
  • 1 Pie Crust recipe below

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
  2. In a large sauté pan, melt the butter. Add the apples and sauté for 2 minutes. Add the sugars, lemon juice and flour. Continue to sauté for 2 minutes. Season the apples with nutmeg, cinnamon, and salt. Mix thoroughly and remove from the heat. Mix in the pecans. Cool the mixture.
  3. Lightly dust a surface with flour. Cut the dough in half. Roll out each half to 12 inches in diameter and about 1/8-inch thick. Fold 1 circle of dough in fourths. Carefully lift the dough and place in a 10-inch deep-dish pie pan. Unfold the pie dough and spoon the apples into the pie shell. Place the second round of dough over the apples. Using a sharp knife cut away the excess dough. Using your fingers, crimp the edges of the pie firmly to seal the dough completely. With the same sharp knife, make 3 slits, about 4 inches long and 2 inches apart, across the pie dough. Brush with the beaten egg, place the pie in the oven, and bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes.
  4. Remove the pie from the oven and sprinkle the cheese over the top. Return the pie to the oven and continue to cook for 8 minutes or until the cheese is bubbly. Let cool to room temperature before slicing, about 1 hour. Serve with vanilla ice cream.
  5. Pie Dough:
  6. 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  7. 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
  8. 3/4 teaspoon salt
  9. 11 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/4-inch pieces
  10. 3 tablespoons solid vegetable shortening
  11. 5 tablespoons ice water
  12. Sift the flour, sugar, and salt into a large bowl. Using your fingers, work in the butter and shortening until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add 4 tablespoons of ice water and work with your fingers until the water is incorporated and the dough comes together. Add more water as needed just until the dough comes together, being careful not to over mix. Form the dough into a disk, wrap tightly in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before using.
  13. Yield: enough for 1 double crust pie

Bake A Great Apple Pie – KitchenAid can Help

KitchenAid KEBS208SSS 30 Double Wall Oven - Stainless Steel
KitchenAid 30 Double Wall Oven – Stainless Steel

Dependable appliances that work well to deliver you the best baking, and roasting outcomes.

Thanksgiving Cider Pie

Old fashioned pie from the archives of the Columbus Dispatch “Cooks Corner”

New England Speciality

Serving Size

Serves: 8

Ingredients
  • Crust:
  • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 8 tablespoons (1 stick) chilled unsalted butter-diced
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 3 tablespoons ice water
  • 1 large egg yolk-lightly beaten
  • Filling and topping:
  • 2 cups apple cider
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 2 large eggs at room temperature-separated
  • 1 cup creme fraiche or sour cream
  • 1 to 2 tablespoons whipping cream or whole milk
  • Confectioners’ sugar
Instructions
  1. Combine flour, butter and salt in a food processor. Pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add ice water and egg yolk. Process until moist clumps form, adding more water by teaspoonfuls if dough is dry. Gather into a ball and flatten into a disk. Wrap in plastic and chill at least 30 minutes or longer.
  2. Roll dough out on a lightly floured surface into a 12-inch round. Transfer to a 9-inch pie plate. Fold in overhanging dough to form a high-rising border. Flute the edges. Refrigerate dough at least 30 minutes. (Pie shell can be prepared 1 day ahead; cover with plastic wrap and keep refrigerated.)
  3. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
  4. To make filling: Put cider in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Cook until cider reduces to 1/2 cup, about 15 to 20 minutes.
  5. Add sugar, water and butter to cider and return pan to high heat. Bring to a simmer. Reduce heat and cook until mixture reduces to 1 cup, about 10 minutes. Transfer mixture to a medium, heatproof mixing bowl and cool to room temperature.
  6. Whisk yolks into the cooled cider mixture. With an electric mixer on high speed, beat egg whites until just firm. Fold them into the cider mixture in three additions.
  7. Spoon filling into the prepared pie shell. Bake 10 minutes, then reduce heat to 350° . Continue to bake until crust is golden brown, and filling has puffed and set and has become dark brown on top, about 25 minutes more. If filling and crust are browning too quickly, cover pie with a buttered sheet of foil.
  8. Cool to room temperature.
  9. To serve, place creme fraiche in a serving bowl, and whisk in 1 to 2 tablespoons cream to lighten slightly. Dust pie with confectioners’ sugar. Garnish with creme fraiche.

Growing Heirloom Apples – Resources

Keep Your Apple Crop – Old Fashioned Apple Rack

Orchard Rack, 6 Drawer
Orchard Rack, 6 Drawer

With good air circulation, the drawers slide for easy access. Ideal for keeping apples, squash, potatoes, and even drying herbs.

  • Cider
    Apple cider notes from a personal point of view. The apples we grow are described more fully in the varieties page
  • Real Cider and Perry
    Old Scrump’s Cider House: one of the most valuable web resources for cider & perry enthusiast.
  • The Wittenham Hill Cider Portal
    All about small-scale cider making, cider growing, and making apple juice and vinegar – written by Andrew Lea, a food scientist and hobby cidermaker
  • In Celebration of The Apple
    Apple recipes


The Plan For Your Own Potager

by

An Easy-Peasy Organic Garden

Good Eating from the Garden

The French call these food gardens “potagers”, the English called them “kitchen gardens”, Americans have always called them “the vegetable patch”, but growing your own little plot of ground with fresh tasting produce for the table is a growing passion. And a delicious one!

Lots of people think about paring their food bill by growing some vegetables in their own backyard. Some people are even moving food growing plots into their front yards. However you plan to landscape your property, why not tuck some gourmet quality into your kitchen, by way of a little vegetable patch?

Veggie gardens can be quite pretty, and once you have the basics for a food garden, it may interest you to try the kind of produce that costs much more in the grocery stores (if you can even find them) then your budget may allow.

In fact, some people grow their own food simply for the superior taste and knowledge that it was produced without chemicals.

Whichever motivation most compels you -cost or tastiness, look over some summer garden plans for a little gourmet garden of your own.

How To Grow Delicious Vegetables

There are plenty of ways to make a productive spot in the yard.

  • Good Soil: Improve your soils with amendments and regularly adding compost (which you make yourself by recycling many wastes such as kitchen scraps, and plants past their prime)
  • Find the right spot for your plot: sunny, with good drainage. Away from competitive tree roots.
  • Grow heritage or heirloom vegetables, or special varieties bred for flavor and nutrition, not shelf life.
  • Organic methods preserve the healthful qualities of your food and the environment.
  • Invest in some equipment to make  your gardening experience easier and more comfortable. Composters, garden shoes and gloves, good weeding tools, maybe even raised beds are useful components of  a productive garden patch.
Grow Your Own FoodGrowing Food

Your Own Little Potager

Little gardens are perfect for baby vegetables or growing only the very best tasting varieties. Find good quality seed, and reap succulent success.

Excellent seed house with heirloom and gourmet varieties of veggies, herbs, and more. Very high quality seeds.

Excellent seed house with heirloom and gourmet varieties of veggies, herbs, and more. Very high quality seeds.

 A planting plan example

Here is my ideal little gourmet garden and how it would look:

Nothing is better than homegrown strawberries and tomatoes, so I would have both of those in my garden. (And I do!). I would have a circle bed in the center that held a tomato tepee planted with a pink Brandywine heirloom tomato plant, then fill in below with 15 strawberry plants of the Honeoye variety.

Rectangle beds on either side and square beds at each end would hold the rest of the plantings.

One rectangle bed would hold graduated sowings of loose leaf and mesclun lettuce mix. Lettuces grow quickly in cool weather, and you have baby lettuces coming along if you graduate the times they are sown. Rows of “Bertan’ or “Littlefinger” carrots in between the lettuces, after harvest these would be replaced with Maxibel Haricot Vert beans grown on tepee trellises.

The opposite side of the circle bed, the rectangle would hold another tomato, some sweet peppers, and a zucchini squash plant, all underplanted with Italian leaf parsley. The one end square bed holding eggplants of the Chinese Round Mauve variety surrounded by dill plants and a few Johnny jump up violas, while the other square bed is filled with herbs of thyme, savory, marjoram.

Small space , but produce fabulous foodSmall size garden

Another beginners garden plan, a starter vegetable garden is found on my garden site.

The Cook's Herb GardenThe Cook’s Herb Garden

Organic and Gourmet, Kitchen Gardens

Learn about this beautiful way to make a vegetable and fruit garden.

History Of Kitchen Gardens
  • The Kitchen Garden
    Growing food can look as beautiful as it is tasty. A kitchen garden how-to and history.
French Potager

The garden of the true gourmet. The French are renowned for their love of cooking and eating, including fresh seasonal produce. who better to look to, for wonderful gardens that combine cut flowers for the table and delicious gourmet vegetables for the table?

A French Potager pour vous

Remember to Harvest Early
Don’t let the fruits of your labor go to waste. check often on your plantings and harvest many of them early: baby lettuces, zucchinis, etc, are often the most delicious.

Get The Whole Enchilada

Gourmet Garden Seed CollectionGourmet Garden Seed Collection: Broccoli, Brussels Sprouts, Cabbage, Carrots, Cauliflower, Corn, Cucumber, Dill, Endive, Lettuce, Marigold, Nasturtium, Mizuna, Parsley, Sorrel, Spinach, Squash, Swiss Chard, Tomatillo, Tomato, Turnip

When you want to supply your kitchen with a gourmet mix of tasty vegetables this is the selection to buy.

The greens are easy to grow and nutritious, some of the selections are veggies that taste best when harvested from your own gardens. Marigold and Nasturtium flowers are important companion planting additions.

Want to Grow Exceptional Tasting Food?

Video Vegetable Gardening Tips

A video on growing some special foods for yourself. See the great “organza bag tip” in the edible landscape video.

Improve The Taste and Nutrition Of What You Eat

Buy This at Allposters.com

What’s in a Gourmet Garden?

HOW TO GROW YOUR OWN HIGH QUALITY PRODUCE
With today’s information you can have skills and know-how right at your fingertips. It has never been easier to have a green thumb.
There are a few tricks of the trade… one is to rotate your crops each year. See the tips on that technique on this page.

Another is the use of companion planting techniques to help plants stimulate each others growth and repel pests. There are lots of combinations which both help and hinder each other.  The use of companions can range from helping to stimulate growth to serving as a “catch crop” for destructive insects such as aphids.

Special Varieties

Adding the “Gourmet” to garden usually means varieties that are tastier, more tender, and meant for earlier harvesting (baby vegetables).

Slightly unusual types which have special flavor qualities, like Thai Basil instead of simply “Basil” create your own supply of high quality ingredients for flavors that wow your palate.

Look for “Heirloom” varieties for superior taste, as well.
Beets Gourmet Blend Certified Organic Heirloom Seeds 100 SeedsBeets Gourmet Blend Certified Organic Heirloom Seeds 100 Seeds

Beets are especially easy to grow, and you can eat both the roots and the greens. They are nutritionally dense with plenty of folate, a unique source of phytonutrients, and the greens contain lutein, which is good for preserving eyesight.

 

Try Mesclun Salad Greens

SimplySalad Seeds Global Gourmet Mix - Pellitized SeedSimplySalad Seeds Global Gourmet Mix – Pellitized Seed
The best varieties for delicious greens in your salad bowl. Colorful and nutritious.

Why pelletized seed? It makes tiny seeds much easier to plant. and growing your own greens couldn’t be easier than this. They provide tasty salads full of nutrients, ready from the garden in a regular supply. Baby greens quickly grow and are ready for eating as you thin out the plantings.

Organic Growing

Go Organic, Tips

  • Improve the soil with natural, not chemical fertilizers. Bone meal, blood meal, cottonseed meal, green manures, and many more. And yes, compost.
  • Use companion planting and timing to help thwart pests and disease, and help plants thrive to produce.
  • Mulch, cultivation, and other means to conserve moisture, and lower plant stress.
  • Find solutions to pests, using beneficial insects, soap and pepper sprays, and other common methods.
  • Crop rotation is a tried and true way to productively plant vegetables for good results.

 Second sowings

You can begin in August and extend through September for a second crop.

Seeds of Change Certified Organic Chinese Cabbage, China Choy - 150 milligrams, 50 Seeds PackSeeds of Change Certified Organic Chinese Cabbage, China Choy – 150 milligrams, 50 Seeds Pack

Broaden the horizons of your kitchen with yummy Asian veggies. Chinese cabbage, aka Nappa cabbage, is a cool season crop which means that it will bolt during hot weather.

Consider it for your late garden (second sowings or fall garden), planting in August for Zone 5 (here in Ohio). Easy to grow, it likes to be manured and given regular moisture.

The plants are frost resistant, ready to harvest in 50 – 85 days.

Be Sure To Rotate Crops

Crop rotation cuts down on pests and plant diseases; it helps replenish the soils nutrients.

the rotation of crops

Rotating crops in the simplest form means simply not growing the same kind of crop in the same place twice in a four year cycle. Plant are grouped as to types according to their needs. There are leafy plants like lettuce, root crops like carrots, fruit crops like tomatoes, and legume crops like peas. Leafy crops need nitrogen, legumes put nitrogen back into the soil. Fruit bearing crops need potassium, and root crops need potash.

If you have a schedule of changing the crops, there is less chance for insect pest damage, and it gives the soil time to recover fertility.

There is no one way to do this rotation, but there are a number of theories on how to do it. One to try… Factsheet Here

The Gourmet GardenThe Gourmet Garden

How to grow your own gourmet produce in your garden, greenhouse, or even in a window box. From baby vegetables to herbs, fruits, mushrooms- just all sorts of things.

Use Containers – Add more plants and grow vertically

Trellises train plants upward and are a great way to grow more produce even if you are short on space. Beans, tomatoes and melons may all grow on trellises.

By fattymattybrewing
Zziggysgal 100% CERTIFIED ORGANIC NON-GMO Culinary Herb Set - Original Set of 12100% CERTIFIED ORGANIC NON-GMO Culinary Herb Set – 12 popular Easy-to-Grow Herb Seeds by Zziggysgal

Grow your own fresh herbs with this high quality mix.

I would always plant these choices

…For my dining table

Heirloom selections are sometimes the most flavorful. I’ve started growing more heirloom tomatoes for the past couple years.

Start With Growing These Herbs and Vegetables

  1. tomatoes
  2. peppers
  3. strawberries
  4. fresh lettuce mix
  5. basil
  6. dill
  7. marjoram
Delectable Strawberries

Grow Alpine Strawberries
Grow Your Own Woodland StrawberriesAlpine Strawberries

This is one fruit you probably can’t find in a store, and they are pretty easy to grow. Try a row of these diminutive berries for a taste treat that will have you looking forward to their appearance each year.

How To Begin Growing Nutritious Food

Composting For Good Dirt

Feed Your Soil- Feed Yourself

Every Organic Garden Should Have A Compost Pile

Compost is simply rotting organic material which helps create humus. Ever seen dark, rich, crumbly soil? It likely had a lot of humus in it.

To make compost is quite easy, but there are many people who favor certain methods…some to get quicker results, some to get more plant nutrients. If you decide to collect kitchen scraps, you might want a small covered pail to keep smells to a minimum and neatly store.

In a small yard a composter saves space, and it can speed up the process, turning the contents with ease. Or you can make a pile in an “out of the way” place in the yard like I do.

Plow Natural White Cedar Slat-Side Composter Composting

However you make compost, be sure to add it to your vegetable garden for increasing the nutrients of your harvest and improving the quality of the garden soil.

Kitchen Composter Pail

RSVP PAIL-SM Steel Compost Pail, 1/2-GallonRSVP PAIL-SM Steel Compost Pail, 1/2-Gallon

Charcoal filter reduces odors. Stainless steel means great looks and easy clean-up.

Wonder How To Compost? Find Out Here

Make Your New Kitchen Garden Space

Find a sunny location

A Kitchen garden is simply a garden dedicated to keeping your kitchen full of fresh grown food. It can have fruits, vegetables, herbs, all growing together in happy harmony. The choice of what to grow is yours. All that is needed is plenty of sun, good soil, and ready source of water when it’s needed.

Don’t skimp on preparing the soil and keeping it in good fertile condition because that is what create good healthy plants, nutritional components of the food produced and flavor.

Compost is a great amendment to your soil, and a good way to recycle kitchen wastes. Read more about composting in the “Cheap Gardening” lens.

If you use raised beds it will be easier to keep the soil in good tilth which contributes to better seed germination and carrots that grow straighter, etc.

Outfitting The Garden

The easiest tiller – A Mantis Tiller

When we moved out to the country, we had to have a tiller for the large vegetable garden I put in. We had a back tine tiller after our front tine one went kaput. These were good quality machines with Briggs & Stratton engines. But they had to work hard.

Besides, they were Behemoths, and while I was the main one to use them, and manhandled them into submission, now that I’m older I appreciate the ease of use of the one I have now.

I finally bought one of these tillers- I wish I had started with the Mantis from the beginning of my garden career.

Mantis 7225-00-02 2-Cycle Gas-Powered Tiller/Cultivator (CARB Compliant)Mantis 7225-00-02 2-Cycle Gas-Powered Tiller/Cultivator (CARB Compliant)

I finally got one of these Mantis tillers. I wondered why I had waited so long! Don’t make the same mistake… these are really handy -especially if you are going to grow a food garden.

Are all those tools worth it?

Like your kitchen, a garden is something of a factory… a workplace. That is why there are special tools involved, and not just the hoe, spade, and trowel. Whatever keeps the soil productive, solutions to eliminate pests and diseases, ways to keep produce in good condition, clean-up, these are all parts of an efficient space.

We don’t usually think of it this way, and sometimes wonder why all the bother?

Why should we grow our own food – buying equipment, sweating, and expending hard earned coin for something we could more easily pick up in a store?

Some of the argument for growing these foods has been said: the freshness, the flavor, the variety. Often these are just not available in the grocery. Tomatoes are probably the best example of that. But there is another reason…

I think the answer is in the importance of good health. Preventive care through good nutrition is now more important than ever. Rising food costs are increasingly of concern. And then there are some of us who really care about food tasting delicious and fresh.

All those concerns are reasons to grow a gourmet garden in you backyard.

Great Investment For Gardeners

EASY ON, WATERPROOF SHOES

Footwear gear can be a great investment in utility and comfort. Sometimes you want a waterproof shoe to walk around a rain-drenched mucky soil or trod through the pathways still wet with dew. Something that is easy to slip on and off, and sturdy enough to put some heft into digging with a spade.

This Is A Garden Tool, Too

This is the shoe you are looking for- it will be your favorite garden footwear.
Sloggers Women's Rain and Garden Shoe with "All-Day-Comfort" Insole, Midsummer Black PrintSloggers Women’s Rain and Garden Shoe with “All-Day-Comfort” Insole, Midsummer Black Print – Wo’s size 8 – Style 5102BK08

One of my favorite purchases has been a pair of these garden clogs. They are easy to slip on and off, and you can use them when tilling, walking in a wet garden, or just anytime.
Add to your garden patch… – Grow transplants.

Growing Upwards

Vertical Gardening

One way to give more space to the garden is to use trellises or some other structure like a tuteur to direct bean vines, squash vines or tomatoes upward. Certain nasturtiums will climb, too. A vertical area not only saves space, but gives visual interest, too.

Check out…

Frame It All Garden Trellis
A trellis for growing vines, whether your own grapes or annula plantings of beans. A beautiful trellis is not for roses only, think outside of the box and use

 What Grows Vertically?

Tomatoes, Beans, Squash, and Melons are some of the most common plants to grow on a trellis. These plants vine or tend to spread far and wide on the ground.

Tie them up to a support, perhaps cradle the growing fruits and you will find this is a great space saver that improves fruit quality and makes it easier to control the plant (and find the fruit).

Tuteur – Useful garden sculpture

Garden Tuteur for beans, melons, cucumbers, or flowering vine accent. Plus, structures like this make things pretty. Yes, just for the sheer beauty of it, we add garden ornaments to our yards, so why not make them useful AND pretty?

You can build your own, look for them in garden centers or order them from Amazon right here and now. But get growing up off the ground and discover what a great tip this is.

Essex Trellis, Tall Decorative Flower and/or Vegetable Support

You can make your own plant support, but a metal tuteur will lend elegance with sturdy support for your climbing nasturtium or melon vine… or a Heavenly Blue Morning Glory!

Garden Trellis – For your squash, melons, beans, and more

Vertical gardening doesn’t support itself- you need to provide the framework.But the reward is better vegetables, up out of the reach of many pests.

Gardeneer By Dalen Trellis Netting Heavy-Duty Nylon Tangle-Free Net 5' x 30'Gardeneer By Dalen Trellis Netting Heavy-Duty Nylon Tangle-Free Net 5′ x 30′

To grow vertically in space saving method or to keep squash and melons safely off the ground, this netting can be used to support your precious harvest.

Go to top

 

Front Yard Fit To Eat

EFY bookcover

More people are growing vegetables in their front yards!

Fruits and vegetables can be grown in your front yard and look like a colorful garden landscape.

GROW YOUR OWN FOOD

Like fruit? Why not a cherry tree with a cloud of spring blossoms and a crop of ripe red cherries in June? Need some groundcover underneath? Strawberries will tolerate the part shade. Line a walk with marigolds, border the sideyard with nasturtiums, make a patchwork of lettuce and herbs with areas of Swiss chard and kale for contrast. Blueberry bushes are pretty if you have the acid soils they like, and raspberries can be trained on a fence. Bush beans grow low with attractive leaves, and some herb plants alongside give subtle colors with their leaves and blooms.

Walk out your front door to harvest something for your meal that evening, what could be more natural?

Front yards can be used for food gardens. when you use decorative herbs, and ornamental supports such as well made tuteurs, the front yard food garden is beautiful landscaping as well.

USE YOUR POTS

Many of the best crops are harvested young- some are smaller sized and can be grown in containers. Use your containers for exotic peppers, or a variety of herbs. Even a balcony in the city can hold the makings of the best Italian sauce: Roma tomatoes, oregano and basil, even onions or shallots if you want them.

Edible flowers

Flowers that you can eat…

Give color and fresh taste with edible flowers. Some may have been growing in your yard all along, and some, like squash blossoms are just a different way to eat a food plant.

Watch the video to garner great tips on the best way to grow and use blooms to garnish your plate with taste and color.

Tips On Edible Flowers

Out Of Your Gourd Gardening

by

The Seed That Grew Birdhouse Gourds

– Lots Of Them!

birdhouse gourds
Pretty white blossoms turn into gourds to paint and shape into crafts.

Gourds are easy to grow. And besides being easy (which makes them a candidate for growing in a children’s garden), there are lots of things that you can do with them if you love to craft and decorate.

The main thing that a gourd plant needs is SPACE.

If you have limited space, no worries mate, vertical gardening can be an ideal way to grow all the gourds you could desire.

White Flowering Draws Moths Pollinated mainly by moths and other night insects, the blooms of many of these squash family plants are often white and open at dusk. They have an unearthly beauty.

I decided to grow one specific kind, the birdhouse form Lagenaria, during one growing season. It turned out to be so fruitful that I ended up with enough dried gourds for years of decorating (maybe you won’t take as long to finish your projects, but the harvest was great). If it is before June, in Zone 6 and lower, you have time to grow your own from seed. Or make your plan for next growing season.

What can you find on this page?

  • How to grow gourds
  • Vertical Gardening ideas for saving space
  • Craft ideas for the gourds you grow

If you are interested in growing gourds and turning them into fun projects like gourd art, birdhouses, or even musical instruments are on the final leg of the gourd discovery tour at the bottom of the page.

How To Grow Gourds

My Gourds Took Over
My Gourds Took Over

A Very Simple Plant To Grow, Ideal For A Beginner

Factsheet for Growing and Curing Many Types

Tender Plants

  1. You can start the seeds indoors if you like.
  2. I started mine directly in the garden, planting according to directions on the packet.
  3. Plant 2 feet apart in the row, with rows 5 feet apart
  4. Water regularly, like for tomatoes
  5. Use 10-10-10 or 10-6-4 fertilizer once plants take off.
  6. Harvest before frost

Keep in mind that these plants are warm weather plants which should not be planted out before the last frost. They will grow best when the soils are warm.

Humid, hot days and warm nights suit the gourd family just fine, but they can be subject to some diseases and pests.

Mosaic Virus and Powdery Mildew are two of the worst, most prevalent of the diseases they can get, and those problems can kill a crop.

With Mosaic, which is a plant virus, but be sure the mottled foliage is not from an application of insecticide, which can mimic the problem.

Prevent Powdery Mildew by using the vertical garden methods which will increase air circulation. (Mildews are promoted by stagnant, close conditions).

Hand pollination can improve fruit set.

Ready To Try Growing Some Amazing Varieties?

Gourds, Vining, "Bath Loofah" - HeirloomGourds, Vining, “Bath Loofah” – Heirloom

Renee’s is a reputable seed house company that many gardener’s rely on. I love the selections and have always had good reults, so I am very confident in recommending you buy your seeds from Renee.This packet will provide you with a selection of shapes that you may use in traditional ways or as a canvas for art projects that can be anything you imagine.

This is the perfect plant for a child’s garden because it is easy, and provides fun projects that kids love. The large plants are exciting to watch grow and gives a real feeling of accomplishment come harvest time.

Other ideas for creating a Child’s Garden.

”Did you know this? The flowers attract hummingbirds!”

Growing Gourds For Crafts

Why Vertical Gardening Works For You

Cucurbit plants (cucumber and melons included) take up a lot of space, and you may want to plan for that at the outset.

If you do not wish to allow lots of garden space for gourds, consider vertical garden ideas. One of the best things about vertical gardening, besides its space saving feature, is the way the produce is at eye and picking level, as well as kept clean.

Get your vertical support ready before you plant the seeds.

Easy Vertical Garden Ideas

As you can see- a trellis is good for tomatoes, too.

garden trellis
4′ x 8′ Cedar Raised Garden Bed with Irrigation System and Optional Trellis

Vegetable Trellis

Consider using vertical growing ideas not only to save space, but to keep the fruits from damage. In English vegetable gardens it is not unusual to see netted cradles holding the cucurbits, no matter what variety they are. I think those nets are more practical for heavier fruits such as melons, but have seen them used for courgettes.

I grew the Lagenaria on the ground because I wasn’t prepared for the spread of these plants. Just a few plants took over the entire vegetable garden that year, so I would definitely recommend using a trellis or support of some kind to grow the vines upward.

While the frame and trellis outfits work extremely well, if you have a fence, especially chain link, you can use that to support the vines. Netting strung between sturdy posts would also work.

The Many Forms of Gourd Fruits

Use the following charts to see the wide range of types that you can plant and use for many different purposes. All may be grown in vertical ways, or if you have the room, along the ground.



Digital Gourds chart © Dan Dunkin 2003
This chart is used courtesy The Gourd Reserve

Starting Your Seeds Indoors

Getting a head start on the season

Many people like to start the Cucurbit family indoors. What is this plant family? All those of the squash and melon family are included, as well as the gourds. Find out more about their family,Cucubitaceae.

Like starting any tender plants inside, first plant the seeds in moist seed starter soil ( regular potting soil and certainly outdoor soil is too heavy and might cause rot).

Once you begin seeing little leaves, lightly fertilize and keep in a well lit space.

Harden off the plants once you near the frost-free date.

Plant your seedlings outside in the garden in good garden soil after all danger of frost is past.

Make Your Own Pots?

Your own pots can be easily made using origami techniques and old newspapers. How to make your own paper pots, illustrated tutorial.

There is even a small form available to ease the chore of making many pots.

Source: Secrets du Potager Paper Pot Maker One of the benefits of using old materials to make your own pots is that by recycling you are being environmentally green. Not to mention that it is a frugal step that saves plenty of money to use in for other gardening projects.

Be Green

More ways to be frugal and recycle:

Use egg cartons, or pots made of wrapping paper tubes, cut in 8″ lengths and lined with newspaper circle.

Be sure to fill your seedlings pots with good growing medium. It is not money saving to scrimp on soil that is sterile and of the right ingredients to give your new plants a good start. Regular garden soil won’t do. It is too dense, and has organisms that can contribute to the demise of your new seedlings. Of course you can (and many gardeners do) mix your own medium and go through the process of sterilizing it yourself, but that is more labor intensive than many have the time and energy for.

The following available mixes are good for your plants, and are easy to obtain and use.

Miracle-Gro Seed Starting Potting Mix, 8-Quart (currently ships to select Northeastern & Midwestern states)

Or buy the fixings and make your own:

Seed Starting “Soil”

  • 1 part coir or sphagnum moss (my local greenhouse uses coir)
  • 1 part perlite
  • 1 part vermiculite

Early Start IS 66412 3-Shelf Green House WorkbenchEarly Start IS 66412 3-Shelf Green House Workbench
Having the right light, with green house humidity is one surefire way to a great start on the season

Home Gardeners Grow Them – Woo Hoo! A Good Sourcebook

That means you. You can grow these veggies easily,  and this guide will give you all the tips.

Gourds in Your Garden: A Guidebook for the Home GardenerGourds in Your Garden: A Guidebook for the Home Gardener

Guidebook for those who are serious about growing and crafting with gourds.

You can take hours poring through hundreds of online articles, or you can get this primer and get started right away.
Covering Topics:

  • Popular gourd shapes
  • Controlling gourd plant pests
  • Preparing your gourds

…and loads more including lists of suppliers, a growing calendar, and space for notes.

Easy to grow with large seeds and fast germination rates, but need a long growing season.

Building Trellis For Gourds – Garden Girl Demonstrates

Vertical Gardening – Grow vining plants or wide spreading plants with ease

Just grow up!

Literally, grow skyward and let authors Rebecca Sweet and Susan Morrison guide you into all sorts of ideas and landscape solutions which involve vertical gardening. Perfect for putting gourds into your garden.

Garden Up! Smart Vertical Gardening for Small and Large SpacesGarden Up! Smart Vertical Gardening for Small and Large Spaces

Urban and suburban gardens don’t always have the extra space for plants such as the gourd family, but this book provides plenty of landscape inspiration and creative ways to include more plants in more ways than you may have imagined.

Birdhouse Gourds Drying

Birdhouse Gourds Drying

Gourd Arts

Burn, Carve, Paint

Gourds can be beautiful.Sometimes in their own right, but this fruit just begs to be decorated. Plenty of craftspeople and artists have answered that plea, and you would be astonished at the gorgeous art that starts out as a humble gourd.

photo by Miguel Vera

One of the places I discovered how many truly beautiful artworks that people create from lowly gourds was on Pinterest. I was already aware of the useful projects, like simple birdhouses, and decorative displays of them (my mother always had some dried and varnished gourds in a bowl because she loved Autumn colors). I also had taken quite an interest in the painting that is displayed in the Kentucky Artisan shop off the highway in Berea, Kentucky, but until I saw the splendid works of art online I had little idea of the intricate and ingenious ways the gourds can be embellished.

So You Want To Be An Artist – How-to video

Gourd Art

How can you decorate a gourd?

  • Burn
  • Carve
  • Paint
  • Decoupage

See the work of Carol Kroll and Martha Danek

A sweet, very easy way to use your gourds for garden art is to make fairy houses. I saw a number of these cute and creative little homes posted on Pinterest boards and thought that this would be a great way to combine growing gourds with other parts of a garden plan. Create fairy gardens and a community of houses made from this material.

Uses

As utility containers they can be used as ladles or birdhouses, bowls, or bottles. Many love them as fine art canvases or sculpted pieces.

Invite Purple Martins

You grew your gourds, made your birdhouses, and now what?

Invite Purple Martins to your yard! Purple Martins are premier mosquito and insect eaters. They love to have “apartment complexes” and this is a great way to use the many fruits of your labor.

Make a birdhouse for purple martins.

Hang the gourd houses at least two stories up. Purple Martins like to live on high in the middle of the yard.

 

Complete Book For The Crafting Of Hardshell Squashes

Complete Book of Gourd CarvingComplete Book of Gourd Carving
One of the best, and most useful, how to books on the art of carving a gourd.

You will be amazed by the many ways that people turn gourds into true works of art, and here are detailed instructions needed to make your own artistic carvings.

Crafting Tools You Will Need To Make Your Own Gourd Art

 

Be sure to see the other gourd preparation videos in the series. How to saw and prepare a gourd for crafts.

List of Helpful Sites – Growing info and Craft ideas

Ladle out your comments here, let the little birdie speak, spoon it on thick, be crafty about it, burn it into our brains, and carve out a place for your thoughts… in this space.

Originally published by Ilona Erwin 02/09/13 on Squidoo.

Ready To Eat Local? How About Slow Gardening?

by

Go Slow

Slow Food and Slow Gardening are related.

What is slow food you ask? Sourcing your ingredients locally and using high quality is the gist of it. Growing your own would be a part of it, but patronizing the farmer’s markets and encouraging your grocer’s to supply locally produced products would be part of it, too.

How about slow gardening? I suppose there is something of an official definition, but I think of it as the way I garden plus a few additional considerations thrown in.

My Own Slow Gardening

  • I don’t sweat the small stuff, but I sure do sweat. (I betray my Midwestern roots, since I am given to understand that Southern ladies do not sweat under any circumstances)
  • That means weeds are taken care of by hand, usually with hand tools. And as I age, that means weeds have a place, albeit a controlled one, in my gardens.
  • My gardens are not just for working. They are for gazing at an impossibly perfect summer sky, getting my hands dirty, taking time to smell the roses, …and the honeysuckle,… and the lilacs…. and, well, you get the drift.
  • While I plant more vegetables and herbs than I eat… because I have become a lazy cook, I like to grow them every year with good intentions.
  • I buy as many plants and seeds locally as is feasible.
Now, on that last one, the fact is that we don’t have the many full service nurseries and garden centers that I remember from the heyday of garden years past. Economics means we must source our supplies through the internet and by mail order, oftentimes. But I do like to find nice, thrifty plants ready to haul away immediately, preferably grown locally.
This last point may find us needing to buy seed and grow our own.
A little plug here for American Meadows. They sent me wildflower seeds to trial, and if you go to their site you can see that they bag it up with your territory in mind. It was also was such a generous amount for economical prices. And the seeds looked exceptional when I put them into the ground.
I expect great pictures, come this summer.

Inspiration For This Post?

Actually I was researching something totally different and came across a few resource for those interested in slow gardening and slow food ideals and lifestyle. Thoughts of passing on to my readers gave rise to talking a little about the concepts for those who want to join in on whatever level to encourage local growers and gardeners.

First:
In Columbus, Ohio the Slow Food Columbus site has a nice map where you can identify many local growers and the list of what they are known for.
Map of Locally Grown Produce in Ohio

Second:
From the LocalHarvest site is a way to locate your own nearby Farmer’s Markets- how cool is that?

Find Farmer’s Markets

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ // ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Visit Ilona’s Garden Journal on facebook: Click here
© 2014 written for Ilona’s Garden Journal by Ilona E. An excellent blog.

When Thoughts Turn To…Plants

by

Seed Packs
It is January, and in Ohio we experienced our usual January thaw… so everything is quite soggy at this point. Most of the gardeners here realize that we have several more months until we can garden and at least one more month to expect winter weather, but right now our thoughts turn to plants -the way a young man’s thoughts in spring turn to love. Oh, right, maybe that is all the time.

Lots of people are buying their seeds now. I’m an old gardener and I have to think about it more before I start buying seed packets off the racks or ordering a slew from the catalogs. My life continues to change, and my gardening is part of that change.

To start seeds or not to start seeds? That is the question for me.

Should I Start Seeds?

The answer to that is beyond whether I want to… starting your own plants from seed is fun, and can be economical money-wise. The question arises when I think in terms of time and attention, both while growing them, but more importantly when planting time comes.
Some of the points in my thinking process:

  • Might I be willing to prepare the ground and do the work of planting lots of little plants?
  • Or will I want larger sized plants ready to pop into the soil?
  • Am I planning to go out of town during growing or planting time?
  • How physically capable am I of preparing the garden (the digging, the hoeing, the raking,…etc) for baby plants?
  • Do I want more perennials, or do I want annuals? Do I want vegetables or shrubs or roses?

If, as in former years, many of my answers indicate that I have less time and energy for the kind of plants I would start from seeds, then I will choose to wait and buy my plants from the nursery.

My Trends Or Garden Trends

In past years I have relied on making containers filled with plants for my garden color.

The garden has increasingly turned into a more natural, less maintenance intensive, space.

As the garden matures, it has needed more pruning and less planting. Dividing and culling has been more important then making new beds.

The thing that bucks the trend for me is my vegetable gardening. I have a space to clear and till, the need for more seeds, and the desire for more of my own produce each year.

I join many others in that last trend. Everyone benefits from growing a few of their own foodstuffs even if it is just some herbs on the windowsill. One necessity in my diet that the grocery stores just can’t get right (even Whole Foods Market!) is a homegrown tomato. That is always on my list of plants to grow every season.

Seed Needs, Rainbow Tomato Mixture (10+ Varieties) 70 Seeds Non-GMO

Brand Seed Needs
EAN 0682962474909
Label Seed Needs
List Price $4.00
Manufacturer Seed Needs
Model HeirloomSeeds001
MPN 4316305690
Package Quantity 1
Part Number 4316305690
Product Group Lawn & Patio
Product Type Name SEEDS_AND_PLANTS
Publisher Seed Needs
Studio Seed Needs
Title Seed Needs, Rainbow Tomato Mixture (10+ Varieties) 70 Seeds Non-GMO
UPC 682962474909
Price Disclaimer

Decisions, Decisions

I haven’t made my mind up about whether to start my own seeds, but there is still time. It is  actually better to wait for a month for most plants, so that the seedlings aren’t too spindly at the planting time for Ohio, which is early May.

However it is time to watch videos and read up on gardening. One good thing about Ohio January weather is the occupation of being an armchair gardener.

I liked this video filled with garden/plant facts and ideas. It is smooth and it is well done -enjoy it 🙂

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ // ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Visit Ilona’s Garden Journal on facebook: Click here
© 2013 written for Ilona’s Garden Journal by Ilona E. An excellent blog.

Chicagoland Visit

by

Snapshots of Evanston Yards

 While in Chicago last week, I managed to  visit my old neighborhood in Evanston, a suburb on the lake. The neighborhoods are still quiet and beautiful, the beaches alluring, but a few things have changed. The houses used to be almost uniformly painted in shade of light gray with deep gray trim. Now you will see a wide range of Craftsman era color. I think it looks good and the Lake climate creates lovely conditions fro the gardens.

Another change was the inclusion, in some parts of the neighborhoods, front yard vegetable gardens. No one can complain about their looks- they are well integrated and some of them were screened behind waist high hedges.

Front Yard Vegetable Gardens

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ // ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
© 2011 written for Ilona’s Garden Journal. An excellent blog.