vegetable

Thanksgiving dinner rainbow connection

Written on November 22, 2011 at 10:28 am , by Denny Schrock

Don’t get me wrong. I like turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes and gravy as much as anyone. My expanding waistline is weighty evidence. But this year for Thanksgiving dinner, I’ll stray from the bland beige foods of my Midwest upbringing by adding to the holiday table a rainbow of fruits and vegetables from my garden. Red and yellow will come from heirloom tomatoes still ripening on the workbench in my garage, despite a killing freeze almost a month ago. Baked ‘Georgia Jet’ sweet potatoes from the root cellar provide a splash of orange. Green will come from parsley and ‘Panther’ cauliflower. I harvested the last of the ‘Panther’ cauliflower (more chartreuse green than forest green) and purple ‘Graffiti Hybrid’ cauliflowers a week ago, but they’re holding well in the fridge. Blue was the most difficult color to introduce, and I’ll admit that I’m stretching it a bit by using frozen black chokeberries harvested earlier this fall. (Blueberries and blue/black raspberries never made it to the freezer. They were devoured as soon as they were harvested!)

Will colorful fruits and veggies will grace your Thanksgiving table? If not, consider planting some next year to perk up your plate with diverse hues. After all, the first seed catalogs arrived this week. It will soon be time to place seed orders for next year’s colorful feast.

Vegetable Garden Controversy

Written on July 14, 2011 at 5:55 am , by Justin W. Hancock

I admit that I’m a follow-the-rules kind of guy. I was raised with the belief that rules largely exist to help us know what kind of decision to make when we’re confused, to keep the world in order, and to prevent us from falling into deep, inescapable chaos.

But when I read the story of Julie Bass in Oak Park, Michigan, I silently gave her a thumbs up.

Julie Bass’ story is an interesting one: According to what I’ve read, she’s being threatened with a misdemeanor crime for violating city code and having a front yard vegetable garden instead of more traditional lawn and shrubbery.

Personally, I don’t find the pictures I’ve seen (view for yourself here) particularly unattractive. It’s not the most traditional approach to front yard landscape design, but it’s certainly not bare earth. And it’s not the first time I’ve heard of growing vegetables out front; in fact, you can see a picture of a front yard that incorporates herbs and vegetables in a front yard right here on BHG.com.

So what do you think? Is this brouhaha over nothing — should she be fined and forced to move her vegetable garden out back and replace it with lawn? Or should she be cheered for doing something a little different? Share your comments!

Fall’s bountiful harvest

Written on November 19, 2010 at 10:04 am , by Denny Schrock

Although we’ve had a few frosty nights here in Des Moines, IA, my veggie garden continues to produce prolifically. I took this shot of some of the home-grown bounty on my dining room table last evening. The center bowl contains a mix of baby lettuces and mesclun (Both were protected from frost in the garden by floating row covers.) and a couple mini cabbage heads–secondary heads that developed after the main crop head was harvested earlier this summer. I use them like large Brussels sprouts or as I would regular cabbage.

Surrounding the bowl (from the center foreground) are purple ‘Graffiti Hybrid’ cauliflower, ‘Golden’ beet, heirloom red tomatoes, Swiss chard, ‘Small Sugar’ and ‘Long Island Cheese’ pumpkins, collard greens, ‘Red Cored Chantenay’ carrots, ‘Soldier’ beet, and ‘Furry Yellow Hog’ tomato, another heirloom variety.

Shortly after I took this photo, I enjoyed a tasty dinner that included a lettuce-mesclun salad with chopped tomatoes and carrots. Some of the other veggies will make it to the Thanksgiving table–either in the form of a side dish or as part of the centerpiece. They’re so colorful that they’re a feast for the eyes as well as the stomach. For more ideas on beautiful vegetable varieties to grow, see our slide show on growing colorful vegetables.

Grow Carrots in Containers

Written on June 9, 2010 at 7:20 am , by Justin W. Hancock

I think that, with the exception of watering, container gardening makes growing most plants easier than trying to cultivate them in the ground.

This applies to vegetables, too: In my experience, tomatoes don’t get as diseased in pots than in the ground (maybe because they’re up higher where air flows better or because a good potting mix is free of disease spores), eggplants become even more ornamental, and carrots are easier to harvest.

Yes, you read that right: carrots. If you have a deep enough container, you can grow really lovely carrots in a pot. They’ll typically grow straighter, especially if you have rocky ground, and are a cinch to pull from loose potting mix as compared to the ground. And the ferny foliage looks great, too — either in a mass by itself or as an accent to your favorite flowers or herbs.

Want to give it a try? There’s still time this year to plant a batch of carrot seeds!

farmers market season

Written on April 30, 2010 at 10:19 am , by Denny Schrock

Tomorrow marks the opening day for the 2010 season of the Des Moines Farmers Market. This Saturday morning gathering of 200 plus vendors has become an event that attracts 10,000 to 15,000 people weekly, eager to purchase fresh-picked produce, buy beautiful flowers, and snarf fresh-baked goodies. It’s a party atmosphere where you’re almost certain to run into other people you know. It’s even a tourist attraction! My sister-in-law and one of her friends are visiting this weekend from two hours away so that they can join in the festivities.

This early in the season asparagus will be at peak production, along with salad greens such as lettuce and spinach. Visitors will also be sure to find lots of annual flowers for sale as hanging baskets or bedding plants. (Need to know how many plants to buy to fill your flower bed? Try our handy bedding plant estimator that will make the calculations for you.)

Do you have a farmers market in your town? They have nearly universal appeal. The shot at left is from the Market Square (Grote Markt) in Haarlem, Netherlands. I recently stayed just a few blocks from the market, and was able to see the beautiful flowers that vendors had for sale. Here are a couple more shots of the blooms to buy. And even though I don’t speak Dutch, I was able to figure out the translation for boeket! These bouquets of gerberas, mums, freesias, and hypericum were selling for just under 5 Euros (about $6.50 at current exchange rates)—a great example of the wonderful bargains you can find at farmers markets.

greens from the garden

Written on November 20, 2009 at 9:58 am , by Denny Schrock

You can have fresh greens from the garden on the table for Thanksgiving dinner, even in central Iowa where the average first frost date arrives in early October. This year my yard was blanketed in snow on the 10th of October. Tender veggies such as the tomatoes and peppers turned to mush after that blast of cold. But other hardier crops continue to thrive despite sub-freezing weather.

I’ve been enjoying salads of chard and mesclun mix (a blend of lettuces and Asian greens) for the last several weeks, and expect to serve some up with the turkey and dressing at Thanksgiving when my family is visiting. I planted the mesclun mix in August, and covered it with floating row cover soon after it emerged, partly to protect it from marauding rabbits, and partly to prevent damage from frost.

I’ll add some Bull’s Blood beet greens to the salad to liven up the blend. I grow this beet almost exclusively for its brilliant red/maroon leaves, which are mild and tasty, especially during the cool weather of fall and spring.

Fresh broccoli is also on the menu. After I harvest the primary head, I let the side shoot sprout. They’ll continue to produce until temperatures dip into the low 20s F. These smaller heads easily fit into the vegetable steamer without needing to be chopped up. Flavor improves with the cool weather. And best yet, there’s no need to worry about closely examining the tight clusters for hidden worms! I prefer to get my Thanksgiving dinner protein source from turkey rather than cabbage loopers.