October
in The Garden
In all
the books from back east and England, you'll find fall as a season of
'going to rest,' 'putting the garden to bed' and other allusions to
'sleep' and restoration. It is not true for us! We are in our other
Spring and this Spring is really much more like the Spring other
parts of the world experience. This is our shot at carrots, peas,
and other cool season plants. We either have all our space filled
with plants, or we've just got a part planted with big plans (dreams)
for the rest. So the Winter garden is just beginning its full swing.
I
tried to plant one chard plant because I only need one to provide me
with enough chard for all my needs, but there are so many colors to
choose from, I feel a need to grow at least three: yellow, red and I
love the orange. These plants provide continuous chard over a long
season, negating the need for succession planting. Almost
everything else benefits by being sowed at intervals throughout the
season, a process called 'succession sowing' or 'succession
planting.'
Succession
planting is the mark of a really good gardener. This is a person who
plants a garden to get to eat the very freshest of food – you don't
pick your veggies and put them in the fridge to age before you eat
them – that isn't the intent. To the degree possible, only plant
enough of what can be eaten in a reasonable amount of time. As a
single person, I have found that a twelve to eighteen inch row for
most things is the perfect size to grow enough to supply fresh
carrots, beets, parsnips, cutting lettuces, for any given time. A
typical planting schedule for me might look like this (in
parenthesis, I name the varieties I like):
| Week 1 – carrots (Cosmic
Purple)
|
Week 7 - lettuce (Drunken
Woman Frizzy Head) |
| Week 2 – beets (Golden) |
Week 8 – carrots (Nantes) |
| Week 3 – parsnips (Hollow
Crown) |
Week 9 – beets (Red Ball) |
| Week 4 – carrots (Armadillo) |
Week 10 – spinach (America) |
| Week 5 – beets (Chioggia) |
Week 11 – turnips (Purple
Globe)
|
| Week 6 – turnips (DeMilano) |
Week 12 – beets (Golden) |
Quickly
you see that, though I do eat parsnips and turnips, I don't eat
nearly as many of them as I do carrots or beets. Your situation
might be different in that you could care less at all about ANY
parsnips, but spinach is near and dear to your heart so you would
have spinach in the rotation much more than I do. Also note, that
only one of the carrots, Nantes, is orange. Cosmic Purple you have
already guessed is purple and Armadillo is yellow. There are other
colors and other varieties out there, don't get boxed in by what you
are used to! Enjoy diversity! Diversity in nature is a a sign of
strength and resiliency.
You
can do the same thing, for a larger family by planting three
different things per week – carrots, beets and spinach in week one;
turnips, lettuce and parsnips in week two; carrots, beets and
parsnips in week three. Or spinach, one row, every week all cool
season long. Tailor the program to your needs! You might also find
that you need longer rows – I wouldn't imagine that an 18” row
would suffice for a family of four! Play around with the scheduling
and the row length and the mix of plants you grow until you find what
your family needs. At which point, their needs will change, but
you'll have a lot more data with which to figure out the new
schedule.
One
of the marks of a very good gardener is succession sowing down to
such a science allowing fresh vegetables on the table without lag
time or a concentration of over-abundance and wild fluctuations
leaving you with nothing from the garden for intervening weeks.
Learning how to do this well has been the work of a lifetime for many
and, as for me, I still find it a moving target. But at least I know
what I’m shooting for!
Start
These In Containers
|
Start
These In The Ground
|
Move
to the Ground from Containers
|
All
cabbage family crops
Fava
beans
|
Fava
beans
Lettuce
|
Any
cabbage family plant big enough to survive.
|
Leeks
|
Potatoes
(tubers)
|
Leeks
|
|
Carrots
|
Herbs
|
|
Lentils
|
|
|
Peas
|
|
|
Garbanzo
beans
|
|
|
Garlic
(bulbs)
|
|
|
Shallots
(bulbs)
|
|
Here
is the deal with winter sowing – you can continue to sow all winter
crops through November. After November, we need to begin to look at
the harvest dates. Before November is out, you will need to have all
your onion family plants in the ground. These include garlic, leeks,
onions and shallots. They take a long time. Celery and celeriac,
another long season grower, should probably not be planted after
November as well. Carrots and parsnips can be planted deep into
December, but after that, look for smaller carrots that will be done
before your world heats up.
You
can cheat – this isn't mathematics where the answer is right or
it's wrong. Often the answer in gardening is “it depends.”
There are perimeters of hot and cold, sun and shade that we work
with. There are no hard and fast rules about when to plant what –
mostly just guidelines. You can lose – even when you don't cheat.
I know, it is unfair, but it's part and parcel of growing food and
you can see why many books from antiquity regularly address putting
food in storage and consciously regard famine as an ever-present
problem to be dealt with.
If you
plant one thing on one date every year, in at least one of those in
seven years will not work out for you. Not your fault. The weather
is not the same every September 5th. Or any other day in
the calendar. If you could predict the weather out for 6 months or
so, you'd be very rich. But this has been the problem of food
growers from the beginning. And climate change has made it even more
forbidding. There are years when I'm watching baby tomato plants
struggle in late May I wish I had planted beets instead – any we
may well find that is the way we do things – start tomatoes AND
plant beets at the same time.
Butternut
Squash With Pecans And Blue Cheese
I've
done this annually for many years and it's always been a hit! I know
grilling in the fall seems like I missed the summer boat, but really,
in Southern California, we can grill almost year round, avoiding
windy days during dry season. Any sweet, hard skin winter squash
will suffice; butternut is only one of the many that will work.
4-1/2
lbs butternut squash
3
tablespoons olive oil
6
stalks fresh thyme or 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1
cup pecans
1
cup crumbled Roquefort or other blue cheese
Get
the grill going and warmed up.
Halve
the squash, leaving the skin on, and scoop out the seeds, then cut
into two to three inch cubes; you don't need to be precise, just keep
the pieces uniformly. Smaller, they fall thru the grill.
Mix
the squash in a bowl with the oil adding thyme. Cook on the grill
until just tender enough to eat.
From
the grill, throw them into a bowl with crumbled blue cheese and
pecans and mix. The hot cheese will hold pecan pieces to the squash.
Serve at once. You may eat the entire squash, skin and all.
Alliums
When
we sow seeds of most of our food plants, they show up with two little
leaves right off the bat. Those cute little leaves are technically
called “cotyledons” and the ones with two leaves are
appropriately called “dicotyledons” - the “di” meaning two.
Gardeners often shorten this to “dicots.”
“Alliums”
refer to all plants in the “onion” family. All alliums have only
one little leaf and therefore are called “monocotyledons” or,
more often, “monocots.” This gives you some of the botanical
background on these plants. As far as evolution goes, monocots are
much newer on the scene than dicots. Monocots, like dicots,
describes a very large group of plants, but we know dicots came first
and monocots are the newcomers. Monocots include palm trees,
grasses, all the grains (which are grasses) and are very diverse and
adaptable. In fact, if you consider that dicots have been around a
couple of thousands of years and then take note of all the land
occupied by monocots, you can see with your own eyes how adaptable
these monocots are! Who wrote that line, “I am the grass, I cover
all...?” It was an honest and perceptive observation.
Allium is
a group of plants that includes hundreds of species, including
the cultivated onion, garlic, scallion, shallot, leek,
and chives. There are less planted species like clumping
onions, 'walking' onions and others – but they share a sharp odor
and taste. They are usually used in some moderation as flavor
additives and not the star on their own. They appear in cuisines
from all over the world.
The
American food system has done a horrible job with these plants. The
preoccupation with profit – often with merit given OUR
preoccupation with the price of our food – has led most
supermarkets to stock only one of two varieties of garlic -
“California Early” or “California Late.” Read descriptions
of these garlics and rarely does “taste” come up as an attribute
– the number one quality of these two garlics is their ability to
withstand rotting.
Also,
check out the prices on shallots. One of the more expensive tastes
in the fresh veggie area of the store. However, shallots are easier
to grow than onions! Which are not that easy to grow in our climate.
No
matter which alliums you choose to grow, they are, for the most part,
easy. While they are all similar in many ways, there are details to
know about each.
All
Alliums: Plant in fall. Pointy end up. Scarred end down. No need to
cover clove. Slow from seed. Usually can find sets/plants.
Senescence of leaves indicates harvest time is nigh. Cut back water.
Knock over tops that have not fallen. Allow to cure for a few days.
Harvest should be dried for a further two weeks sheltered from direct
sun and stored in a cool, dark place away from potatoes. Some folks
swear by storing onions in small brown paper bags punched with holes.
Do not plan on storing alliums for more than four months, unless you
have ideal circumstances.
Onions
Let's
start with this ubiquitous ingredient in our cuisine. Like all
alliums, onions for us are a Fall/Winter crop. There are many
different types – some of which have national recognition. Let's
start out with the well-knowns, like Walla Walla, Vidalia and from
California, Imperial Valley Sweet Onions. While the Imperial Valley
Sweet might be able to be grown in your garden, most of the others
cannot and if they could, would not have the same sweetness because
their sweetness, in part, is a function of the particular soil and
climate they are grown in.
Only a
few years ago, seed catalogs used to indicate the different “day
length hours” for each onion variety.
Different
types of onions have different light (and dark) requirements.
The
varieties of onions that require a shorter period (11 to 13 hours) of
daylight to bulb are termed "short day" onions. Those that
require the longest period of daylight (14 hours per day or more) to
form bulbs are known as "long day" onions. Those with
intermediate requirements (from 13 to 14 hours of light per day to
bulb) are called, logically, "intermediate" onions.
In
Southern California, we need short day onions – ones that will bulb
up in our winters – the intermediates will work too, if planted
later in the season, although an early hot spell can doom them. But
with seed catalogs not telling us the day length, what do you do?
Choose varieties that have names that indicate they would be short
day onions; Texas grows onions in the winter, so anything with
“Texas” in the name, you have a good bet it will be short day.
About half the Italian varieties will be short day, or if you buy
from a California company you have 50/50 chance of getting short-day
onions.
The
ways you can grow onions can be overwhelming. Each of these have
benefits and once you understand them, you will adapt to the other
alliums with ever-increasing enthusiasm and certainty.
Seed
– sow seed at the beginning of September – or even earlier if you
have a cooler protected area. They will look like grass as they
start. You can sow almost a half packet of onion seed in a six pack,
like 15 plus seeds per cell. And they will suffer the indignity of
being forgot with more aplomb than the majority of plants. Once most
of the extreme hot weather is beyond us, say the second week in
October (he says wistfully), set the baby plants out about five to
eight inches apart.
Sets
– Sets are onions plants that were started and grew to a small
onion size. They are harvested and sold and the gardener will pop
these little dried onions into the soil, then water and poof. They
begin to grow again. They will take less time than onions from
seeds. You sacrifice choices, though, as you will find only one
variety of yellow, white and purple. They come in a bag with enough
for three or more city gardeners to share. Unless you really eat a
lot of onions. Sets are put in the ground with about ½
to ¾ of the bulb showing. The only reason to bury it deeper would
be to prevent frost damage. If you get frost damage, bury it deeper.
Plants
– just like the name, you are buying small plant. Usually sold by
the pound with a five pound minimum, this is a great way to get one
of the most wonderful of onions, the Italian Red Torpedo. This is an
intermediate onion, elongated, and not too fat of a bulb. It is
sweet enough to eat fresh from the garden, but grilled, these onions
are amazingly sweet and worth the effort. Biggest drawbacks: poor
storage life, they rot soon after being pulled, expensive
($5.99/pound, 5 pound minimum order) and they always sell out! Can
also be started from seeds. Because of expense, the Italian Red
Torpedo is the only onion I would consider growing from plants.
Shallots
Can
be grown from seed – most of that seed, though is hybrid which I
try to avoid. Shallots are easier to grow than onions and cost way
more at the store. Save your time and your back: grow shallots and
ditch onions!
They
also can be grown from sets and that is the most common way to
purchase shallots to grow. You can find shallot seed at
superseeds.com and Johnny's Selected Seed, but shallot sets are all
over the place. I haven't grow enough of them to consider myself an
expert – yet. Planting of sets is described above.
Garlic
“Before embarking on a gourmet garlic expedition, remember each
variety yields experiences as unique as its name.” Laura Maher,
garlic writer/expert
If
you have not grown your own garlic and you do not hang out in gourmet
circles, you might have been missing one of the greatest culinary
delights in your life! Garlic you can buy to grow includes much more
flavor that that stuff in the grocery.
There
are two types: hardneck and softneck. There are further divisions
and classifications, but lets just start here. Articles will tell
you you cannot grow hardneck garlic here. That's not true. I did it
before they told me and I've been doing for over twenty years.
Hardneck: try Chesnok Red – mild; Spanish Roja – my favorite, a
light bite (Slow Food USA's Ark of Taste variety) and Music –
slightly hotter than Roja and the current fav of chefs every where!
Softneck: Inchellium Red is memorable – by “memorable” I mean
it will take you time to get that spicey out of your mouth! Also on
the Slow Food USA's Ark of Taste.
Elephant
garlic is a form of leek. It has a leek- like soft allium flavor,
but nothing like the real garlics above.
Leeks
From
seed or sets. Plant tiny plants at the bottom of a foot wide trench.
You are trying to grow the leek so more of the bottom is white
(blanched) so dig your trench down about six inches, plant the sets
or baby plants at the bottom – as they grow, pull more and more of
the soil back into the trench to keep most of the plants out of the
sunlight – this will give you more blanched leek to eat! Pull as
needed – you aren't going to dry these and save them in a cool,
dark place.
Chives
are a perennial onion grown for the green leaves which are chopped
fine and used as a onion flavored addition to many dishes – in
fact, can make an ordinary dish take on a little more polish with a
pinch. Plant
clumps of up to six chive bulbs 5 to 8 inches apart. Divide large
clumps about every 3 years. Dig up the plants and divide them into
small clumps with four to six bulbs each. Harvest as needed
leaving enough leaf for the plants to keep producing. Remove
flowering stalks – flowers are edible too.
Perennial
and bunching onions – There are many.
You
will see “Walking Onions” - sometimes with “Egyptian” on the
front. They are small onions, baby onions grow in the foliage,
eventually becoming heavy enough to pull the foliage down low enough
for the baby bulbs to hit the ground, where they grow roots and give
the impression that the onions are “walking.” Use in place of
shallots – a bit more oomph and not to everyone's taste.
Perennial
onions divide at the base. One plant becomes five plants, five
plants become 25 plants. Share them as well as eat them. They need
that kind of attention. I grow walking onions as well as I'itoi
onions, which rarely
flower or set seed. They are propagated by division of the bulbs.
When the greens dry down, the bulbs can be dug up and divided. Enjoy
a few, but be sure to save a some for the next planting. The name
I'itoi signifies the Elder Brother, who is the creator deity in
Tohono O'odham legends.
Grow
these plants. They do not take a lot of room, although do keep them
somewhat separate as they will have to remain unwatered at the end of
their season – that can be hard on other plants.
Aliums: Garlic
HARVEST/STORAGE
Harvest time depends on when you
plant, but the clue is to look for yellow tops. Harvest when the
tops begin to yellow and fall over, before they are completely dry.
In our climate, harvesting will
probably be in late May or early June.
Check the bulb size and wrapper
quality; you don’t want the wrapper to disintegrate.
Dig too early and the bulb will be
immature.
Discontinue watering.
To harvest, carefully lift the
bulbs with a garden fork. Gently pull the plants, carefully brush
off the soil, and let them cure in an airy, shady spot for
two weeks. Hang them upside down on a string in bunches no more than
six bulbs. Make sure all sides get good air circulation.
The bulbs are cured and ready to
store when the wrappers are dry and papery and the roots are dry.
The root top should be hard, and the cloves cracked easily apart.
Once the garlic bulbs are dry, you
can store them. Remove any dirt and trim off any roots or leaves.
Keep the wrappers on—but remove the dirtiest wrappers.
Garlic bulbs may be stored
individually with the tops removed, or the dried tops may be braided
(provided you planted softneck garlic) together to make a garlic
braid to hang in the kitchen or storage room.
Bulbs should be stored in a cool
(40 degrees F), dark, dry place, and can be kept in the same way for
several months. Don’t store in your basement if it’s moist!
The flavor will increase as the
bulbs are dried.
If you plan on planting garlic
again next season, save some of your largest, best-formed bulbs to
plant again in the fall.
RECOMMENDED VARIETIES
There are three types of varieties of
garlic: Softneck, Hardneck, and Greatneck (Elephant).
Softneck varieties,
like their name suggests, have necks that stay soft after harvest,
and therefore are the types that you see braided. It is less
winter-hardy than other types and cannot be grown where there are
harsh winters. A good flavor, but shine as good keepers. Recommended
varieties: ‘Inchelium Red', ‘Purple Italian’
Hardneck varieties
grow one ring of cloves around a stem, there are not layers of
cloves as there is in softneck varieties. They are extremely
cold hardy, but do not store as well or long as other varieties.
Many hardnecks have strong flavors and are among chefs are some of
the most sought after garlics in the market. Recommended varieties:
'Music', 'Spanish Roja.'
Greatneck varieties are not
recommended. They are more closely related to leeks than other
varieties and their flavor is more like onion than traditional
garlic. Bulbs and cloves are large, with about 4 cloves to
a bulb. Big bulbs, but a flavor bust.
