Tag: carrots

Late Bloomers

cauliflowerIt’s been a while. A good, long while.

Now that this gardener writes posts and website copy for a living, she’s much less inclined to write for POD. It’s kind of like the carpenter’s house that’s in a constant state of construction. There’s only so many nails you can hammer and there are only so  many words in a week.

Which is a shame, really, because now there’s no written record of my end-of-season success and failures. And unlike the Hurricane, my pre-occupied memory is a faulty beast.

At any rate, here are a couple of photos excavated from the over-stuffed memory of my phone. Bless technology and date-stamping.

cabbageandwild onionCauliflower: Ordered as starts from Burpee’s, these beauties were harvested in mid-December. Of the six, though, three fell victim to cabbage loopers and weird slimy heads, likely the work of some cold, wet weather and the aforesaid evil worms.

Cabbage: Also ordered as starts, these tiny potent heads were welcome additions to several burrito and gimbap nights. Harvested January 30, 2016.

Brussels: Like the cauliflower and File_000cabbage, these tiny brassicas began life at Burpee. Nothing says stay-in “date night” like martinis and brussel sprouts and bacon, baby.

Rutabagas: From seed. Yes, yes, yes.

Daikon radishes: Oh my, best things ever. Even if they’re bigger than my arm.

Carrots: These touchon carrots, plated rather late, provided an oh-so-welcome scavenger hunt for the Hurricane. Nothing says January 30 like a bowl full of sugar-sweet carrots. The Hurricane’s squeals of carrot digging delight? Priceless, as they say.

25189116549_f0052e070f_zWith any luck, these late bloomers will play a starring role this fall/winter. Next year, though, I’m hoping to have a little more time and patience for seeds. Organic cauliflower in December, pretty amazing. Cost-effective? Absolutely not.

 

 

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A New Leaf

081815_carrotsThe mighty cucumber is no more. After producing at least 100 fruits the workhorse was retired.

Weep not, dear gardeners! Rejoice, for the time of fall planting is at hand! Behold: four short rows of rutabagas have taken its place. (Pictured to the left, though, are carrots. Sorry.)

Anyhoo, rutabagas are a new addition to the POD lineup. According to the UGA Extension, this turnip-like brassica is easy to grow and needs to be planted about 60-90 days  prior to the first heavy frost. At 75 days, we’re good.

Also on deck? spinach, carrots, daikon radish, and a second attempt at zucchini. All of which (with the exception of 081815_zucchiniIIcarrots) are new for POD — and the notion of a fresh start in August helps alleviate the sting of back-to-school sales, shortened days, and cool pre-fall nights.

Pickled Carrots

Pickled Carrots
David Chang’s Pickled Carrots

The past couple of winters have brought a slew of lovely cookbooks into the Plants on Deck house. (For a little pictorial tour, check this out: Yummy) One of the more recent additions to the sagging cookbook shelf  is the delightful Momofuku,  by David Chang and Peter Meehan.

Chang’s super-simple pickling recipe arrived just days before Philly’s first hard frost and rescued POD’s carrots from certain death. Sadly, the parsnips and sprouts may not survive. Obviously, the brine is easy to scale back and a 1/4 recipe took care of the carrots.

Momofuku Pickled Carrots
1 c. water super-hot tap water
½ c. rice wine vinegar
6 tbs sugar
2 ¼ tsp kosher salt
vegetables (carrots, cauliflower, beets, radishes, cucumbers, etc…)

1.) Combine the water, vinegar, sugar, and salt in a mixing bowl and stir until the sugar dissolves

2.) Pack the prepared vegetables into a quart container. Pour the brine over the vegetables cover, and refrigerate. You can eat the pickles immediately, but they will taste better after they’ve had time to sit 3-4 days at a minimum, a week for optimum flavor. Most of these pickles will keep for at least a month.

3) Two pounds baby carrots (as in infant or dwarf, not the whittled and bagged supermarket variety), scrubbed, peeled, and trimmed. If you can buy carrots with tops, leave ½ inch of the tops attached and clean them well; it makes for a better presentation. For larger but still small carrots, cut them lengthwise into halves or thirds – they should be a size that’s comfortable to pick up and snack on, through they don’t need to be bite-sized.

Parsnips Peeping

parnsipsA few weeks ago, in a fit of Chicken Little-like panic, fall garden planning began. This is a first for POD — usually the containers get retired when the last of the straggling cucumbers make their way onto a salad and the herbs have been hacked down and transformed into indoor pets.

Not this year, though! POD has visions of making the Thanksgiving trek to Michigan with armfuls of parsnips, Brussels sprouts, carrots, and maybe even some last-gasp chard. (There’s no hope that the wee parmex carrots will amount to much, but hey, it’s worth a shot.)