4th Question –
-How does your gardening/food growing/storage change throughout the seasons?
Gardening is a pleasurable way to adapt to the seasons of the year, and of the stages of life by being in the elements of nature amongst growing things. As soon as the winter holidays are past, gardeners start to prepare for the spring. I browse several catalogs and by February have placed or received an order of seeds. This year I chose Territorial Seeds. It is an investment, and sometimes an extravagance, but specialty seed buying is something I treat myself to. The reward of growing beautiful and delicious food is well worth the money, time and effort. Once the deepest cold of winter is over, I plant in the greenhouse, seeds of the brassicas first, and follow up with each type of plant as it’s hardiness allows. When the snow is all melted, onions can go in the garden as well as spinach and asian greens. Snowpeas and Sugarpod peas are also planted directly in the garden. I vary the location of the plants in the garden from year to year. Early in the spring I use a plastic covered cold frame in the garden for overwintering kale, chard, and for hardening off lettuce and some of the young plants before I expose them without any covering. This time of year (April and May ) is very busy planting and moving plants in and out of the greenhouse. My neighbor and I share the space of the greenhouse, and consult with each other on various questions we might have. I value her advice, and more meticulous methods. I have a much more random style.
If I kept a journal, I could tell you week by week the changes that occur in the garden throughout the growing season. I will just say that there is continual planting, harvesting, caretaking, and adapting to the plants needs. Disappointment and the frustration of failure are learning experiences, and outweighed by the surprises and delights of successul outcomes. I love the sweetness of young lettuce and the intense flavor of basil and garlic, mashed together with good olive oil and parmesan. Fresh picked tomatoes, onions, peppers and cilantro makes for such delicious salsas. Seeing a child relish the flavor of homegrown broccoli is so rewarding. A mature and healthy cabbage is spectacular. Summer is my favorite time of year.
In late summer, we are harvesting and canning, in addtion to eating really well. Last year we set up a kitchen outdoors so that I could boil away and enjoy being in the open air. I tend to find new ways to improve the way I prepare and store the harvest. Last year, I had so many tomatoes, that if I simply canned them, I would have more than I needed of straight jars of tomatoes. I decided to slow roast the peeled tomatoes on trays in the oven and then to can them as an intensely flavored sauce. I freeze roasted eggplant, and peppers. We smoke both hot and semi-hot varieties of peppers. We also smoke fish, and I hope someday to be able to say I caught it too, but we have not added fishing to our summer pleasures yet. I look forward to being able to.
Last year, I harvested the dill seed heads as they reached the perfect stage of development and to froze them in bags so that I could have them fresh for the pickled beans I make every year.
As I mentioned earlier, in the peak of summer, when the outdoor temperature is 80 and above, the temperature inside the greenhouse reaches 200 or more. Early in the morning I harvest and prepare cherries, apricots, plums, apples or other fruits for drying on screens. It is much more efficient than using a dehydrator, and seems to produce a more consistent texture of dried fruit.
Before the fall is over, if I don’t miss the opportunity, (as I did last fall ) I plant garlic. I have grown both hardneck and softneck varieties, and done well with both. Before the first frost, we bring the potted geraniums, rosemary and other cold sensitve plants that we want to save for the next year into the greenhouse.
We use surface irrigaion lines that we take up in the fall. We clean up the spent plants, rake the leaves from the yard and cover the garden soil.
Throughout the year, we enjoy the foods that we have canned, dried, smoked and frozen. I have been making fruitcakes for my friends and family for over 30 years using home dried fruit, often locally grown nuts if I can find them. I use discretion in who I give them to, choosing only people who claim that they really LIKE fruitcakes!
Secrets from Granny 