Fall Crops

One of the challenges of urban farming is learning how to keep all the garden beds productive through the fall months.

This morning's harvest was a continuation of late summer crops---tomatoes, beans and elderberries. About two dozen butternut squash remain on the vines. The fall-bearing raspberries ("Heritage Everbearing") are producing heavily, unlike the summer raspberries ("Nova" and "Latham") which produced almost nothing. We're not sure if that is the result of a harsh winter or uninformed pruning.

After harvesting potatoes, onions and garlic in mid-summer, I replanted those beds with bok choy, spinach, Swiss chard, scallions and beets. Most of these were started by seed in the greenhouse and were ready for transplant when the root crops were harvested. This is the tricky part---knowing when to seed so fall crops are ready to transplant to available beds. I've found that sowing fall crop seeds in the greenhouse in early July is helpful, and sowing seeds outdoors in the beds no later than mid-August is most productive. Any later than that, and our daylight is just too limited to get those seeds germinating even if the weather is cooperative.

Now I'm off to the kitchen to process my crops for winter storage.

Three Sisters

Hundreds of years ago, Native Americans planted a trio of complementary crops: corn to grow tall, beans to vine up the corn stalks, and low growing squash to shade the root systems. This trio is known as the Three Sisters.

We've grown pole beans and squash together at Red Bucket Farm for a few years, but this year we added corn, the third sister. I was reluctant to grow corn because it encourages raccoons, and heaven knows they don't need any encouragement. But I could hardly resist a little package of corn seeds known as Blue Jade, a miniature plant with ears of sweet steel-blue kernels that turn jade-blue when boiled.

This raised bed is growing nicely. The beans are indeed crawling up the corn (see the photo above). It's important to keep a close eye on the beans, as they grow from toothpick-size to the size of a cigar seemingly overnight. The ears of corn and the squash are still developing. It's a different kind of sisterhood!

Harvest Totals

I haven't posted about our successful harvests because I was afraid it would sound like bragging---and Heaven knows that bragging is one of the seven deadly sins. Nevertheless, I want to tell you about it as inspiration for your own gardens. Remember that Red Bucket Farm is just my backyard in an average 1970s neighborhood with less than a quarter acre property including the house. You can do this, too.

Harvesting began in June with a lovely supply of currants and strawberries. I made the currants into jam and sauce. Some of the strawberries became jam and others were frozen. In July we harvested cherries from three cherry trees. We made a few pies and have several bags of cherries in the freezer.

The summer raspberries produced nicely, too, some of which became jam, some frozen, and plenty of them enjoyed fresh. The blueberry bushes are coming along, and we were able to freeze a few for winter use. Our peach tree did very well---90 pounds of peaches! My freezer and canning shelves are full---jam, peach rum sauce, spiced honey peaches, peaches in light honey syrup, and plain frozen peach slices (for pie later on).

In July we harvested honey from our one surviving hive. We made mead and strawberry melomel (a fruity mead variation). Honey is shelf stable and will last the winter.

Vegetables in raised beds have also done well. I harvested 50 pounds of potatoes and 50 pounds of onions in early August, and immediately replanted those beds with spinach, arugula, Swiss chard and beets. We'll hoop those beds to stretch the growing season through November. The butternut squash have exceeded 60 pounds, and there are still more growing on the vines.

This year the tomatoes have outdone themselves. I grow only six Amish paste tomato plants and I have enough tomato products to keep us until next year----plain tomato sauce, pizza sauce, tomato paste, and two kinds of salsa. I'm not kidding---only six tomato plants and they're still producing. Green beans continue to produce into the fall. We have dilled beans and frozen beans to last the winter.

What have I forgotten? Lots of basil/pesto, herbs, carrots, beets, scallions, and garlic. Fall bearing raspberries are awesome!

You can do it, too. If there is a secret to successful gardening, it's not a very well-kept secret: sunshine and compost. Start planning for next year's garden!

Summer vs. Winter Squash

We entertained visitors at Red Bucket Farm over the holiday weekend. One guest asked, "Just how big are you going to let those squash grow?" The implication was that our squash had already grown way beyond their usefulness. I think the confusion is understanding the difference between winter squash and summer squash.

Summer squash are generally yellow skinned vegetables that grow in a variety of shapes---pattypan, crook-neck, straight-neck, and their green skinned cousin zucchini. This family of squash often grows in a bushy habit, and it has soft flesh. If not harvested early and often, the fruits can quickly grow to the size of a football. Jumbo zucchini isn't a crisis, it just requires a little creativity to use its prodigious quantity. (Try them in fritters.) Summer squash doesn't store very well. It's best to eat it promptly, hence it is called summer squash. Sorry that I don't have any photos of summer squash, but we didn't plant any this year.

Winter squash grows on long enthusiastic vines, and in a wide variety of shapes, colors and sizes. Our favorite is butternut squash, which we make into all things savory and sweet. The flesh of winter squash is solid, with a small seed cavity similar to pumpkin. Often the skin can also be quite firm. Winter squash is a longer growing vegetable, harvested in the fall just before the first frost. The little fruits start out green and mature into bright colors in late summer and early fall. Many winter squash will store nicely, adding to the variety on the supper table well into February and March. 

So don't fear large squash. And when you hear the meteorologist warn about first overnight freeze, you'll know I'm outside in the dark harvesting squash by flashlight. 

Carrots--Storage & Menu

In September and early October, I harvested a ridiculous amount of carrots---around 55 pounds. These aren't picture-perfect long slender carrots. Most of them are gnarly and twisted, which is clearly my fault for not having thinned out the seedlings properly. In fact, I intentionally planted them in bunches based on a gardening tip that I had read. Since I'm not selling produce, it doesn't matter to me what shape the carrots take. These carrots are delicious and sweet.

We've experimented with long term storage of the carrots. Our best method so far is simple. We store them in zip-lock bags inside the refrigerator. Our extra fridge is kept warmer than our primary fridge, mostly for storing root vegetables and home brewed beer and cider. It's important to prevent the carrots from dehydrating without simultaneously molding the squash and onions. Hence, we use zip-lock bags.

We've gotten creative with carrots recipes: carrot cake, braised and glazed carrots, mashed carrots with garlicky yogurt. We add carrots to soups, omelets, and stir fries. Yesterday I made sweet carrot pie, which is similar to pumpkin pie. I should probably look for that carrot jam recipe, too.  I think it's important to remember that slightly deformed vegetables taste perfectly fine and don't need to be recycled to the compost pile.

Root Cellar Substitute

When I was a kid, we had an unheated room in the basement that we called the fruit cellar. I didn't realize how unusual it was to have a root cellar in a mid-century ranch home. For the most part, root cellars slowly disappeared from modern American homes after the arrival of electric refrigerators and freezers.

I haven't thought about the long-term storage of vegetables before this year. It's not a big deal at Red Bucket Farm since most of my crops have been canned or frozen. But I can anticipate that a cellar would be useful for storage of squash, potatoes, onions and apples.

A friend simply tosses her crops into a wheelbarrow in the garage, so I've followed her example and set up an old desk and some wooden storage bins in our attached garage. This year it's an experiment to see if the squash and potatoes will survive the coldest part of winter. I'll monitor the temperatures and see if it will be possible to store veggies for several months. This isn't ideal, but it's a simple way to start.

Summer Squash

It seems like nearly every gardener has a surplus of summer squash at this time of year. Summer squash and zucchini are easy to grow and prolific. They're also easy to cook and so mild in flavor that they can fit nearly any cuisine.

Recently we've used summer squash in a variety of meals. We grated the squash and stirred into fritters with garlic-herb sauce. I made crispy Korean-style pancakes with squash and rice flour served with Asian sauces (plum sauce, hoisin sauce, sweet-n-sour sauce, miso-soy sauce). We grilled pizza with pesto, squash and cheese toppings. I baked squash gratin with eggs and wild rice. We stirred up a spicy burrito filling with grated squash. Last night we sauteed very thin peels of summer squash with chunky mushrooms in olive oil.

Other ideas include vegetable griddlecakes, breaded and fried squash sticks (like french fries only better), baked squash with herbs in parchment, risotto with squash, grilled squash (kebabs perhaps), or grilled squash in panini sandwiches.

Don't pass by the ubiquitous summer squash at this time of year---just get creative! If you need ideas, I recommend Mark Bittman's book How to Cook Everything Vegetarian.

Growing Squash

We've never grown squash at Red Bucket Farm. We have limited space on our urban farm and squash plants have a reputation of growing very large and sprawly. Besides, squash are relatively cheap to buy at the grocery store, so we've not been motivated to grow our own until now.

My interest in growing squash began with butternut squash, which we ate regularly last winter. Butternut squash store well, so I started Waltham butternut squash by seeds in the spring, just four small peat pots. Today I'm enjoying their ample presence in the gardens. It's true that they refuse to stay neatly in the raised beds, but I like their diva attitude, their gigantic leaves, and their profuse growth patterns. It seems like the squash fruits grow about an inch every day. At least they're not pouting like the tomatoes!

I also planted one "Butterstick" summer squash in a corner of a raised bed, and one pattypan summer squash in a large container. The pattypan squash looks like flying saucers. It's nice to have a few summer squash for immediate eating, and it's fun to watch the winter squash progress so quickly on the vines. I'll certainly plan to grow squash again next year. (Tomatoes are on the "maybe" list.)