Tag: kohlrabi

Spring Into Summer

You may have noticed I took another little break from blogging.  Nothing exciting going on, just got busy with some other projects. But, my garden is in full growing mode after a tough winter and spring. Winter was long, cold and at our place in Door Co, WI, very snowy.  Spring came slow and seemed as though wouldn’t ever arrive.

I was late getting the flowers and vegetables in the ground because of a combination of the ground being too cold, and some poorly timed travel plans.  Really, who plans a vacation right at the peak of planting season?  But, it was fun visiting Seattle and Olympic National Park, and having both college kids home for a visit.

Then finally, spring and summer arrived almost all at once. All the spring blooms seemed to explode at the same time making for a spectacular show.

Back in early April, I started some of my favorite vegetables indoors;

  • English Telegraph Cucumber (Botanical Interests)
  • Sweet Burpless Hybrid Cucumber (Burpee)
  • Emerald Delight Zucchini (Botanical Interests),
  • Gold Hybrid Gourmet Gold (Burpee).
  • I tried growing Kohlrabi, but again they just didn’t grow well for me.  Luckily, my local nursery had plenty!
Mine in the front, nursery grown in the back

 

Outdoors in late April, I planted my early, cool temperature loving seeds including

More recently, I got the rest of the seeds planted including a second planting of the cool weather plants, and added Danvers and Calliope Carrots (Botanical Interests).  I also bought beautiful

  • Tomato (Sweet Million Cherry, Early Girl and Champion)
  • Sweet Pepper (Yolo Wonder, California Wonder and North Star)
  • Herbs for the “right outside the door” herb pots
  • cabbage and kohlrabi plants

from Vern Goers, a local nursery. I was also gifted a lovely yellow pear tomato plant from my mom. (I’ve switched to growing my non-cherry tomatoes in bags to leave more room in the raised bed for the squash, zucchini, cucumbers and kohlrabi.)

I also got my bed of zinnias sowed, and this year added a bed of marigolds from seeds I collected last fall. Check out my previous post, Cheerful and Bright Zinnias Bed, for an easy how-to.

Last but not least, I got my potato bags going with three different varieties (for more info, visit these past potato posts) and planted lots of Lancelot leeks, shallots, and yellow sweet Spanish onions (Dixondale Farms).

Almost forgot, I got all my flower pots planted too!

So I think I’m all caught up for now, but lots more to write about! Hope you’ve had a good spring and your gardens are growing beautifully!

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Farmer’s Market

 

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We are lucky to have a fabulous Farmers Market to our town every Monday, June-October.  The fruit and produce changes every week, so you never know what you might find. But, you are guaranteed that it will be super fresh and in season.  It’s a great way to supplement the harvest from my own garden (which so far has yielded some lettuce, spinach, radish, and recently a cucumber and a squash).  This year, they’ve added a couple of fresh bread vendors and some specialty items like olives and olive oil, tea, an old time knife sharpener, organic meat and more.  In June, they had some of the best tasting Michigan strawberries  that I’ve had in a long time.  I bought a bunch and made some very tasty jam.  I try to remember to go every week.

I find there are a lot of vegetables I don’t know what to do with, so I’ve started asking the vendors for their recommendations.  Kohlrabi is one of those things (the big white turnip looking thing in the right hand corner).  They were passing out samples last year of freshly sliced kohlrabi and it quickly became a favorite.  Cut up on it’s own, or as a tasty crunchy item in a salad, it’s delicious.  It’s season is short, and I can’t always find it in the grocery store.  So that’s something I’ll be getting for sure the next couple of weeks.  I’m looking for other ways to cook it, too.  Any suggestions?

Hope you can find a farmer’s market nearby you.