Autumn Gardening: Projects & 1 Failure!

Autumn is in full swing. Winter is right around the corner..

The weather has been strangely cool this spring and summer (2015) and oddly warm this autumn.  Usually, by early November in Michigan zone 5b, we have had at least one brief snow. Instead, this year we have had a couple of mild frosts, and several 70F (or higher) days.  VERY unusual.

On the plus side, this has given us a longer span of time in which to gather leaves, mulch, plant bushes, and clean up dead plant material.  All the usual tasks of fall.

GATHERING LEAVES 

If you have read any gardening articles this fall, you know how important leaves are to gardeners!  But in case you haven't read any other articles: LEAVES ARE IMPORTANT!  They are high in mineral content and provide essential microscopic fungal organisms for the soil that help your plants grow.  Here are few quick tips on how to make best use of your autumn leaves:

Composting leaves.

1. Compost the leaves.  Leave provide the "brown" or "carbon" component that is essential to making good compost.  Do not burn your leaves!  Throw them in the compost heap! Your plants will love you once the compost breaks down!

2. Make leaf mold.  Leaves are full of fungal organisms and minerals that are great for plants.  These are most concentrated in leaf mold. Making leaf mold is super easy.  Just gather the leaves, pile them up, and let them rot. You can contain the leaves in a bin with air holes poked in it, in a small area fenced with chicken wire,

Perforated bag of leaves to make leaf mold.

or you can do what I did: put them in a black plastic bag, add water to the bag, poke holes in the bag, then stash the entire thing under the deck.  Leaves take some time to break down.  You can expect leaf mold in 1-2 years after collection depending on your climate. If you wish to speed the process try shredding the leaves and/or mixing them with a high nitrogen material such as coffee grounds, manure, urine, or corn gluten meal.

                                                              3. Insulate your roses (or other plants).  Piling

Insulated roses within a burlap wind-break.

leaves up around the base of roses during the winter can help to insulate the roots.  You can further protect the roses, and hold the leaves in place by erecting a barrier made from garden stakes and burlap. This acts as a wind break and keeps the stems from drying out and dying. Be sure to remove the leaves in the spring to avoid causing rot from moisture build up at the base of the rose.

4. Use the leaves as mulch.  Leaves make excellent mulch.  They help to insulate the ground, protect the soil organisms

Mulching with leaves.

and are a favorite food of earthworms.  To mulch with leaves, simply pile them onto your garden bed to a depth of 1-2 inches.  If you wish, you can shred the leaves first, which will make for a cleaner/neater and more uniform look.

5. Leave the leaves alone!  Unless your leaves are extremely thick to the point of shading out your lawn, consider allowing them to stay where they are.  Most of them will break down by spring and will help to fertilize the lawn and garden. They also help to shelter beneficial insects, amphibians, and small mammals.

GARDEN CLEAN UP

Please do not go crazy with fall garden clean up! You do not need to cut back all of your perennials. You definitely should NOT prune trees!

Leaving perennial leaves and stems in place is often a GOOD thing to do!  The seed heads help to feed birds and small mammals.  The hollow stems allow beneficial insects to over-winter in the garden.  The leaves and stems act as insulation for the plants own roots through the winter.  So leave them alone now, and clean them up in spring!  I am giving you permission to procrastinate!! :)

There is one exception: clean up diseased material.  If one of your plants had a disease (e.g. black spot, powdery mildew) it is a good idea to clean up their leaves and any debris from the plant and to either send this material to the municipal dump, or burn it. This will help to prevent the diseases from re-emerging next spring.

DO NOT PRUNE TREES OR BUSHES IN THE FALL!  The plants may have lost most of their leaves, but they are not fully dormant yet!  Pruning encourages plant growth. This is not an ideal time of year for a plant to put on new growth. It wastes the plant's energy which is better stored for next spring.  Also, if the plant makes new shoots in fall, they are likely to get damaged over the winter.  So please, save your pruning for when the plant is completely dormant.  Prune in late winter or early spring (January to March in Michigan zone 5b)!

FALL IS FOR PLANTING

Vacciunium cyanococcus 'jellybean.'

Fall is a great time to plant trees and bushes.  If you plant in fall, the soil is still soft and warm. This allows the plant to establish healthy roots and then to rest through the winter.  By spring, the plant will be so happily situated with regard to its roots that it will put on very healthy spring growth.

This fall, I planted dwarf blueberries, myself.  The varieties I chose were 'jellybean' and 'northcountry'.  The 'jellybean' variety should grow to a maximum size of 3ft tall by 3ft wide and 'northcountry' should grow to a maximum size of 3ft tall by 4 ft wide. I purchased these bushes at a local nursery. They have several nice looking buds on them and the roots appeared to be very healthy in the pot.   I am hoping for berries within a few years of the plants getting establishes! YUM!!

If you are interested in growing blueberries yourself, please remember that they need acid soil with a pH of 4 to5 in order to be able to absorb the nutrients that they need.  If your soil is not acidic enough, you can increase the acid by amending the soil with peat moss and/or sulfur.  But beware!  Maintaining acidity in soil that is not naturally acidic can be difficult.  This will require testing the soil pH yearly and amending it yearly in order to maintain the health of your plant.  Also, be sure to select a plant that is hardy in your USDA growing zone, and one that will grow to a size that you can manage in your landscape. In other words: READ THE TAG (or online growing description)!

FEED THE BIRDS

Remember to fill your bird feeders and to put out suet. Many birds are flying south and can use the extra energy. Soon, the wild plant seed and fruit will be consumed by a variety of creatures, and winter will be here.  There will be a shortage of food for the birds who need the energy to keep warm.  So please, keep those feeders full until spring!  Also, remember to provide an ice-free water source if you are able.  

NIFTY TIP:  I learned from the "You Bet Your Garden" podcast that hot pepper/chili powder can be mixed with bird seed or can be used to coat suet in order to deter squirrels from eating the bird seed.  Why? Birds like hot peppers. Their beaks do not have mucous membranes, so the spicy-hot capsaicin  does not burn their mouths. However, squirrels do have mucous membranes in their mouths (just as humans do) so the capsaicin burns their mouth. If they get it in their eyes while dangling from the bird feeder, their eyes will sting as well. They will avoid the bird feeder after that sting!
 
"F" IS FOR "FALL" AND ALSO FOR "FAIL"

I can't remember where I saw it, but I found what I thought was a cute bird feeder project on the internet.  This involved cutting a pumpkin in half, scooping out the insides, filling it with bird seed as if it were a bowl, and putting it out for the birds to use as a feeder.  The idea was that the birds would eat the seed and also nibble on the pumpkin.  EPIC FAIL!

This project did not work at all.  While the pumpkin did make a cute bowl (see the picture on the left), none of the birds pecked at the pumpkin at all as far as I could tell. Even worse, the moisture from the pumpkin moved in to the seed via osmosis and made for a damp, grainy mess that was unappetizing for the birds, and began to rot rather quickly.  My advice: use a regular bird feeder, and skip the cutesy pumpkin nonsense!


Happy Fall Y'all!  Check in soon for more blog posts!  :)

5 Types of Autumn Squash

My newly acquired squash collection ;)

It's the end of October already!  Halloween is this weekend.  Winter squash and pumpkins are fresh, plentiful, inexpensive and perhaps even on sale this time of year.  I ran across one such sale at a local farm stand around the corner from my home (the corner of Brighton Rd. and Chilson in Brighton, MI if anyone lives near me and is interested.) Of course I had to stock up!


Winter squash are extremely useful for cooking. Most smooth fleshed winter squash (like those listed below) can be used interchangeably in baking, chili recipes, soup recipes or others. While their flesh does vary slightly in flavor, all tend to be sweet and have the same basic flavor profile.  You can find many recipes for squash by doing a simple Google search, visiting any of the cooking sites listed to the right of this post, or by viewing 2 of my posts listed here:

Recipe for Squash Puree, Squash Scones & Squash Butter
Recipe for Roasted & Mashed Squash and Squash Soup


Did you know?
You can roast, salt and eat the seeds of all winter squash. Once roasted, the seeds store for at least 6 months in an air tight container at room temperature.  Visit the Betty Crocker Website to learn how.

You can also save squash seed for planting next year.  Simply dig them out from the center of the squash, spread them flat onto a paper towel an allow them to dry for 3-4 days. When the seeds are dry, store them in an envelope in a cool, dry place.  Don't forget to label them so that you know what kind of squash they are! 

Squash leaves are also edible.  Simply strip the leaves off of the thick part of the ribs and stem, then add them to soup, or steam them. These last about 1 week fresh in the refrigerator. 

Happy Halloween!

I thought that I might share my top 5 favorite farm stand winter squash finds with you along with a bit of information on each type of squash.  Here they are:


PUMPKIN

Everyone is familiar with this bright orange autumn squash. Although there are many varieties, the two you generally see are either those used to make jack-o-lanterns or the smaller pie pumpkins.  Pie pumpkins have thick, sweet flesh and are commonly used for baking, especially for making pumpkin pie.  The jack-o-lanterns are not as good for eating but have thick skin and hold up well to carving.  Pie pumpkins store well for about 3 months in a cool, dry place.

My dog, Snickers, likes to use the sniff test to inspect for squash quality.

ACORN SQUASH

These squash are small (for a squash), green, and shaped like a giant acorn.  They have smooth, sweet, nutty flesh.  They are often used for stuffing and baking.   This squash stores well for about 3 months in a dry cool place.

BUTTERNUT SQUASH

This squash is elongated and tan or yellowish in color.  The flesh is orange, very sweet, and contains less fiber than a pumpkin.   This squash can be stored in a cool dry place for at least 5-6 months fairly easily and gets sweeter the longer it is stored.   This is my favorite squash for making squash butter.  I find it both sweeter and richer than pumpkin butter.

BUTTERCUP SQUASH

This squash is about the size of a pie pumpkin, but is green and color with silver lines through it.  Its flesh is orange, sweet and nutty.  It contains less fiber than a pumpkin. This squash can store for about 4 months in a cool dry place.


HOW TO GROW SQUASH -  the basics:

Each of these grow in about the same conditions. Plant in full sun and rich soil. If your soil is poor, add compost and/or organic fertilizer.  For more on how to improve soil, please see: My Garden Soil Articles.  Plant the seeds 1-2 inches deep after the average temperature is around 70F (21C) for several days.  (That would be late May to early June here in zone 5b - but watch the weather report, this is Michigan after all! The weather can change when you blink!)

 If you have a short growing season (Zone 3 or 4), you can start squash indoors, but this is not ideal. Squash do not like to be transplanted, so it is better to start them in the ground.  To ensure that this will work, either use seed from squash that grow well in your local area and/or when you purchase seed, read the seed packet to see how many days there are until the squash matures. Choose a length of maturity that is somewhat shorter than the length of time between when the average spring temperature reaches 70F (21C) and first frost date in your area.  Here in Zone 5b, that means that you should select seed that mature around 100 days (give or take) .  Seed should be simple because most squash mature between 85 and 125 days.

Compost fall leaves, squash shells & scraps to enrich your soil!

Squash vines can grow up to 30 feet in length. So be sure to leave plenty of space between the plants (at least 10 feet!).  Spacing is also important to maintain good airflow between the plants so that the leaves do not become infected with downy or powdery mildew. Consider planting in a field, in a bed along the South side of an out building or in another location where you don't mind having a low sprawling vine.  If your area is prone to flooding, make a mound about 1 foot high, and 1-2 feet wide, in which to plant the squash and/or plant in a raised bed.  If your area is dry and drains well, you do not need to do this.

One classic way to plant squash is beneath corn stalks and along side beans. It is one of the "3 sisters": corn, beans and squash.  All 3 plants enjoy rich soil and full sun.  Beans help to produce nitrogen for the corn and squash. The squash acts as a ground cover around the corn to prevent weed growth.  The corn acts as a pole for the beans to grow on. Please consider growing these 3 together.

Water the squash in the morning so that the leaves have time to dry off during the day.  This also helps to prevent downy and powdery mildew infection.  For more information on potential squash pests and what to do about this, please visit:  http://allaboutpumpkins.com/growing.html

Harvest the squash when the fruit is large, bright in color, of good weight and when the vine starts to die away slightly.  The shell should also be hard and not easily dented with your finger.  When you cut it open, the flesh should be brightly colored.

I hope to be volunteering at the Brighton Victory Garden again this summer.  If you are willing to donate 20 hours of time to the project, and speak to Kay (the coordinator) about this in advance, she will often agree to give you a row to plant for yourself.  I plan on doing this next summer.  In my row I will be planting the squash seed that I save from the squash discussed in this article.  I am also going to try planting watermelon for the first time. Having a row in the sunny Victory Garden field will be essential to growing these plants.  My yard is both too small and too shady to grow very many of these large, sprawling plants. So, I will grow smaller vegetables in my yard (tomatoes, peppers, greens etc.) and will grow the larger ones (corn, beans, squash, melon) at the Brighton Victory Garden.  I plan to share part of my harvest with Gleaners Food Bank in keeping with the Victory Garden's mission.   Keep reading next spring and summer to see how this goes!  I will be posting about it.

For More Information / Works Cited:

A great website with a list of nearly every type of squash: "All About Pumpkins"

You can buy seed here or just read the growing instructions.  They also have a chart about squash storage and other great growing tips: "Johnny's Selected Seeds" 

"I love the smell of fresh pumpkin in the morning.  It smells like... autumn!"

Winter Squash: cooked 2 ways

Pic borrowed from ohmyveggies.com

So... you see these ugly (or beautiful!) squashes at the farm stand or supermarket.  Maybe you even grew some.  But what do you do with them?  Well, here is your answer:

MASHED SQUASH (side dish):

Time: 1 hour 3 minutes

Servings: usually 4 (depends on size of squash)

Ingredients:

1. Winter squash such as the buttercup squash shown above (do not use spaghetti squash - it is too stringy)

2. 1 tablespoon butter (or more to taste)

3. 2 tablespoons maple syrup

4. Salt and pepper

5. Brown sugar (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 425F (218C)

2. Place the squash on a baking sheet.  Cover the sheet with parchment paper if desired to make clean up easier..

3. Spread the butter over the sliced halves of the squash, then drizzle the maple syrup over the sliced halves of the squash.

4. Bake the squash at 425F (218C) for 1 hour.

5. When the squash is cooked, scoop the orange part of the squash out of the shell with a spoon and place in a bowl. (Remember to wear gloves or cooking mitts - the squash is hot!)

6. Mash the squash as you would potatoes.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Add more butter if desired.

7. Sprinkle the top with brown sugar if desired to add sparkle. 

CREAMY SQUASH SOUP:

Time: 1 hour 15 minutes

Sevings: 6

Ingredients:

1. One winter squash such as butternut squash (shown above), cut in half and cleaned of seeds

2. 3 tablespoons maple syrup

3. 1 tablesppoon butter

4. 1 onion, chopped

5. 1 apple, cored and chopped

6. 1 pinch dry tarragon

7. 1/8 teaspoon cardemom

8. 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon

9. 1/2 cup cream

10. Water or vegetable broth to loosen

11. 1 tablespoon cooking oil

12. Salt and pepper

13. Parsley, roast pumpkin seeds, graham cracker crumble or croutons (optional for garnish)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 425F (218C)

2. Place the squash on a baking sheet.  Cover the sheet with parchment paper if desired to make clean up easier..

3. Spread the butter over the sliced halves of the squash, then drizzle the maple syrup over the sliced halves of the squash.

4. Bake the squash at 425F (218C) for 1 hour.

5. While the squash is cooking, heat the cooking oil over medium-low heat in a pan on the stove. Add the onion. Cook until softened (about 5 minutes).

6. Add the apple, cardemom, tarragon and cinnamon to the onion.  Sprinkle with a pinch or two of salt.  Cook until carmalized / light brown over medium-low heat (about 15-20 minutes).

7. When the squash is cooked, scoop the orange part of the squash out of the shell with a spoon and place in a blender. (Remember to wear gloves or cooking mitts - the squash is hot!)

8. Add the cream and apple-onion mix to the squash in the blender.  Blend until puréed. 

9. If the mix is too thick, loosen by adding water or vegetable broth, a few tablespoons at a time, until the soup reaches the desired thickness. Season with salt and pepper.

10.  If the soup is too cool for your liking by the time the blending is complete,  pour in to a pot and heat gently over low to medium heat until the desired temperature is reached.  Stir often.  

Serve with a garnish of roast pumpkin seeds, parsley, croutons or graham cracker crumbles if desired.

This keeps well in the refigerator for 1 week.  Stir before reheating on the stove or in the microwave.

Congratulations! Your ugly squash is now gorgeous and delicious! 🎃

Vegetable Garden Soil - From Scratch!

PREPARING THE VEGETABLE BED

Having moved in to my home only last summer, I thought that it was a good idea to do one or two garden beds at a time.  If I tried to do them all at once I would be biting off much more than I can chew!

This summer, I completed the herb garden and the small mailbox garden.

Next spring (2016), I plan to plant the vegetable garden!

It is true that a good garden begins with good soil.  Unfortunately, when I did my soil test on the bed that I planned to use, I discovered that the soil was very poor in nutrients and had a high (alkaline) pH of 7.8!  Something had to be done to rectify this before I can plant anything!

On top of that, there were 4 burning bushes in the bed blocking the western sun and spreading some gnarly roots throughout the bed.  To complicate things further, there are 2 wires running through the bed.  One to the pump for the sprinkler system, and one for the dog's electric fence.  Clearly the area would need some work before I could plant anything!

BUSH REMOVAL AND LIGHT IMPROVEMENT

 First, I cut back the four, 8-foot-tall burning bushes and dug out the stumps.  This took the better part of a day, but was well worth it. The bed went from being part sun/part shade to nearly full sun.  There is some shade over the bed for part of the day due to the oak tree 50 feet away in the neighbor's yard, but the effect of this is minimal compared to the shade cast by the four large bushes that were directly in the garden bed.

My sandy, nutrient poor soil.

These bushes left behind an extensive root system.  Some of the roots were up to 1inch diameter. 
These were spread throughout the bed and made for some difficult digging later on.

IMPROVING THE SOIL

 The next step was to improve the soil.  The native soil in the bed is sandy, alkaline and nutrient poor.  The advantage to this is that sandy soil drains well.  The problem is that nutrients wash out of the soil easily with the water.  For this reason, sandy soil is often low in the nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium - NPK) that plants need to grow well.

My goal was to improve the texture of the soil so that it holds a bit more moisture and nutrients, to increase the nutrient content of the soil, and to acidify the soil so that it has a pH in the range of 6.8 to 7.0.

In addition, I needed to pull the roots of the former burning bushes out of the soil, and to loosen the compacted soil.

Double-digging the trench - note the root and wire sticking out.

Originally, I considered tilling the soil to break up the root systems and to add my chosen soil amendments.  Tilling would have saved me a lot of time and effort because I could use a machine to do the hard work of digging. However, there were 3 problems with this: 1. There are two wires going through the bed for the pump and the electric dog fence.  If I used a tiller, these wires would be destroyed, and I could be injured.  2. I would have needed to rent the largest and most expensive tiller available from the big box store in order to cut through 1 inch roots. 3. Unless I tilled very carefully and lightly, there was danger that I could work the soil into a fine powder which would destroy the soil tilth and lead to worse compaction than I started with!

spreading soil amendments in the trench.

So, I decided to bite the bullet and double dig all 300 square feet of root-filled soil by hand. This process allowed me to add soil amendments, to loosen the soil and to rip out the old roots a little at a time.  Double digging involves making a trench in the soil, adding compost and soil additives to the bottom of the trench, then spreading the top soil and some compost back over the top of the trench. In my case, I chose to add a mixture of 3/4 composted horse manure, 1/8 sphagnum peat moss, and 1/8 recycled used coffee grounds. Once I covered the compost in he trench over with the top soil, I also spread a thin layer of soil acidifier, peat moss, coffee grounds, and compost to the surface of the soil and covered that with mulch. Double digging the entire bed, by myself, by hand (including hauling the manure from a pile to the back yard) took me approximately 15 hours of time, spread out over several weekends. (It also caused me to grow Pop-eye like muscles ;) and gave me a nasty, blistering sunburn!!)

Luckily, I should only have to double dig this garden ONCE.  Now that the soil has been loosened, and a base layer of organic matter has been added, I can maintain the soil more easily in the future simply by adding compost to the hole when I plant, and spread about an inch or so thick over the surface of the soil.  Also, now that all of the roots have been removed, digging holes for planting will be WAY easier! 

 MY CHOSEN SOIL AMENDMENTS

I spread my soil amendments about 2-3 inches thick along the bottom of the trench that I double-dug, and then mixed the topsoil back over and in with the amendments. The amendment mixture I used was made up of the following: 

1. Composted Horse Manure -  I do make my own compost, but did not have nearly enough to cover the 300 square foot area of my garden.   So I loaded up a truck with some lovely, FREE, composted manure from Brighton Rec Stables.  3/4 of my added soil amendment was made up of horse manure. Horse manure is high in organic matter and has NPK values of approximately 0.7-0.3-0.6.  (Please see this website for more information on the nutrient content of various manure types: Manure NPK.) As you can see, the nitrogen content is low enough that I do not need to worry about "burning" my plants.  Actually, unless you bury your plant with a ridiculous amount of fresh, wet manure, it is very difficulty to cause harm to most plants.

Cute compost makers!

2. Recycled Coffee Grounds - Starbucks, and other coffee vendors will give you their used coffee grounds for FREE if you ask for them at the front counter. 1/8 of my added soil amendment mix was made up of used coffee grounds. These grounds have an NPK value of 2.28-0.06-0.6 and a pH of 6.2. They are also high in copper, and earthworms love to munch on them! (For more information see test results at the Sunset website.)  There is a rumor going around that used coffee grounds are dangerously acidic.  This is not true.  Ideal soil pH is 6.8.  Used coffee grounds have a pH of 6.2 and are being mixed with your native soil.  Once mixed with the soil, the pH of the coffee grounds is negligible.  Unless you are planting in pure used coffee grounds, or soil that is mostly made up of coffee grounds, this should not be a problem. It is even less of a problem in my garden, with my super alkaline soil of pH 7.8.  My soil needs to be acidified!

3. Sphagnum Peat Moss - Peat moss contains little in the way of nutrients (NPK), but is great for adding organic material to the soil. 1/8 of my soil amendment mix was made up of peat moss. The peat moss helps to hold moisture and nutrients in the soil.  It also has a very acidic pH of 4.0 (way more acid than coffee grounds!).  This pH is low enough to actually lower the pH of the native soil and is often used to acidify the soil around azaleas and blueberries.  Because my soil was so alkaline (pH 7.8), I chose to add a small amount of this as a soil amendment along with my compost and coffee grounds. 

Raking the soil back into the trench after adding soil amendments.

4. Soil Acidifier - The soil acidifier that I used was 30% sulfur.  The package recommended using 12lbs per 100 square foot of garden space for every 1 point in pH reduction desired.  I only used about 6 lbs over the entire 300 square foot space.  The reason that I used less than was recommended was because I was already adding peat moss, coffee grounds and compost to the soil. The combination of these items, especially the peat moss, should lower the pH somewhat already.  I did not want to lower the pH too much. Therefore, I added much less acidifier than recommended.  In the spring, I will test the soil pH again and will add more acidifier if needed.  The reason that I am not testing the soil pH now is because I want to give the earthworms, insects, weather, water, and "Mother Nature" in general time to "mix" my soil additives in to the native soil of the garden.  By the time spring arrives, the peat moss and sulfur should be worked in to the soil enough to change the pH somewhat.  I can make adjustments from there.

5. Mulch -- I already had some wood-chip mulch on the garden bed, left over from the previous owner.  However, this mulch had partially decomposed and was not enough to cover the surface of the bed to a depth of 1-2 inches as I would prefer.  So, this fall, I will be dumping shredded leaves from the local oak trees onto the bed as a mulch.  This will help hold moisture in the soil and prevent weeds.  Leaves are also very high in nutrients and break down into "leaf mold" as they decompose.  In addition, earth worms, beneficial bacteria and beneficial fungi love to eat them!  They should greatly enhance the viability of the soil over all.

Note:  Everyone's soil is different! Please test your own soil and decide what you want to add to your particular soil.   If you have acidic soil, you may want to add lime to "sweeten"/add alkalinity to the soil.  If your soil is neutral or between 6.8-7.0, you don't need to adjust the pH and may only want to add compost.  If you have heavy clay soil, you may want to add a lot more compost than I did. (Never add sand to clay soil! Never add clay to sandy soil! This will turn your soil into CEMENT!! Do add compost instead!)  If you need advice about what to add to your soil, please get a soil test and/or contact your local extension office for advice! Click here for the link to MSU extension "Ask an Expert".  Click here to find out how to test your soil.

SOIL IMPROVEMENT PLANS FOR NEXT SPRING

 Next spring, I will be planting vegetables in the garden.  Before I do this, I will be adding corn gluten meal (organic Nitrogen - N), bone meal (organic phosphorus - P), and potash (organic potassium - K) to the soil in the amounts recommended by the soil test that I had done by the MSU lab.

My home-made compost before and after.

I will also be adding 2lbs of azomite rock dust to the soil in order to boost some of the trace mineral elements in the soil.  Azomite only has an NPK of 0-0-0.2.  But it contains 67 other elements including  1.8% calcium, 0.5% magnesium, 0.1% chlorine, and 0.1% sodium. 

In addition, I will test my soil pH again with a home soil pH testing kit to see if I need to add more soil acidifier or not.

Finally, as I plant each vegetable, I will add some of my home-made compost to the hole and soil surface for an extra boost, as well as to help maintain the amount of organic matter in the soil.

FUTURE SOIL MAINTENANCE 

To keep my soil healthy, I will continue to add compost and/or manure to the soil each time I plant.  I will put some compost in the hole, and will spread some over the surface.  I will also add a thin layer of coffee grounds each year, as well as the recommended amount of corn gluten meal to keep up the level of nitrogen.  Nitrogen needs to be added yearly in a controlled amount because it dissipates into the plants, and into the air over time.   I will continue to mulch with leaves in order to keep up the level of minerals in the soil.  I plan to test my soil pH yearly using a kit from the local big box store, and to get a soil lab test every 3-5 years, or if my plants show signs of problems.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON SOIL & COMPOSTING SEE MY PREVIOUS BLOG ARTICLES:

Pimp My Soil!!
Pimp My Soil - Part Deux!   
Soil - Timing is Everything
MI Free Compost
Make Compost Tea
Red Worms & DIY Vermicomposting

Follow me via:

Twitter: @alhramAndrea

Pinterest: @MiLakeGarden
Facebook: Mi Lake Home Garden

Instagram: @MiLakeHomeGarden

NOW GET OUT THERE AND DIG!!! DIG!! DIG!! DIG!! DIG!! DIG!! DIG!! DIG!! DIG!! DIG!! DIG!! DIG!! DIG!!

DIG!! DIG!! 

 DIG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Easy Recipe: Roasted Squash (or Sweet Potato) Soup

It may be bright out today, but it is still cold.  Perfect weather for a warm bowl of soup made from those well-preserved squash from the autumn harvest.

 This soup is substantial and filling enough to stand alone as a lunch on a cold day, or can be an entree before dinner.



 The nutmeg, cardamom and black pepper add an extra dose of spicy warmth to this creamy soup.

Ingredients:

1 butternut squash (alternate: 2 acorn squash, or 1 pie pumpkin, or 4 large sweet potatoes)
1/2 cup maple syrup (the real stuff - NOT the high fructose corn syrup mix!)
32oz (4 cups) vegetable broth
8oz (1 cup) heavy cream (it's ok to substitute whole milk or half and half)
1 tablespoon ground nutmeg
1 tablespoon ground ginger (or 1 1/2 tablespoons fresh)
1/2 teaspoon cardamom (optional)
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper (or to taste) 
salt to taste (there may be enough salt depending on which vegetable broth you use, taste first)
raisins to garnish (optional) 

Directions:

 Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (204 degrees C).

Cut the squash  in half and scoop out the seeds.  Paint the meat of the squash with the maple syrup using a kitchen brush.  (Alternately, peel and halve the sweet potatoes and paint them with the maple syrup.)

Place the squash on a cookie sheet and bake in the oven for 1 hour, or until soft enough to scrape out of the shell easily.

Pour all of the vegetable broth into a blender.  Add the nutmeg, ginger, cardamom and black pepper.

Remove the squash (or sweet potato) from the oven.  Scrape the meat of the squash out of the shell and add to the blender mix. (Alternately, add the sweet potato to the blender mix.)

Blend the mixture until it is creamy without any chunks.

Pour into a pan and heat to a simmer. (You could also do this by zapping it in a microwave for 2 minutes.)   Remove from the heat and stir in the heavy cream until combined.

Pour the soup into bowls and garnish with raisins if desired.

Eat and be warm!! :)

Please remember to share this blog with others, book mark it, or link it to your page.

Please consider donating to a good cause via one of the links to the right. It only takes a click to make the world a better place!  

Recipe of the Month: Pasties (Pocket Meat Pies)

Let's face it, it is FREEZING out!  This weather calls for a hot, portable lunch!  We could do soup - again - but personally, I'm getting bored with taking soup to lunch all of the time. Sandwiches?  Also boring, and not nearly warm enough.  But I have a solution to this lunch hour problem!  The delicious, the portable, the warm, the traditional: Pasty!

Pasties originated in Cornwall, England.  But they have become a tradition here in Michigan.  Particularly in the Upper Peninsula.  Although I am not a"Yooper,"but a lowly "Troll" (I live "under da Mackinac Bridge." Get it? ;) )  I think that  I can handle passing the recipe on to you all.

So there are 2 ways to make Pasties.  One is faster, but uses pre-made, processed food components.  The other is slower, fresher and entirely home made.  They are basically the same recipe, though.

This recipe is also a good way to use up some of the veggies still lurking in your freezer from last summer's harvest.

Scroll down to the "Possible Variations" section if you need a vegan or vegetarian option. See the note the same section on gluten free.

 FASTER PASTIES:

(Makes 6 pasties - 430 calories per pie)   

Tools Needed: 

• 2 bowls - one large, one small.
• sheet pan or cookie sheet
• spoon
• whisk
• fork
• knife or pizza cutter
• oven

Ingredients:

• 1 package pre-made pie crust - 2 dough circles.
•  8 oz ground beef 
• 1/4 cup pre-sliced frozen carrots
• 1/4 cup pre-chopped frozen onion 
• 1/4 cup pre-cubed frozen potato
• 1/4 cup frozen peas (optional)
• 1 egg
• 1 T dried parsley (and/or a large pinch of  chopped dried rosemary - optional)
• Salt and pepper to taste

(Note: It is healthier and more eco-friendly if the beef is organic/grass fed/local, the eggs are organic/free range/local, and the veggies are organic/local/home-grown - but this is, of course, optional.)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F  (177 C).

2. Mix together the beef, carrots, onion, potato, peas, parsley, salt and pepper in a large bowl. Set aside.

3.  Beat the egg in the small bowl.  Set aside.

4.  Lay the two pie dough circles out flat.  Cut each into thirds. You should have 6 pieces total.

5. Spoon about 1/3 cup of the meat/vegetable mix onto one half of each pie dough piece.

6. Then, rub the edges of the pie dough with the beaten egg.  (Use your CLEAN finger, or a brush for this step.)

7. Fold the crust over to form a pocket or dumpling over the top of the meat/vegetable mix.  Crimp the edges of the crust with a fork to

seal the pie.  You can also use a barbecue brush to "paint" the pasties with the remaining egg to give it more of a shiny/crispy quality when it bakes.

(Note: the store bought pie dough is not as stretchy as home made.  Because of this, holes may occur when you fold the dough over. If this is the case, simply pinch the holes together to seal them and/or use less pie filling. If you end up with left over pie-filling you can use it to make breakfast

hash or in soup.)

8. Place the pies on the baking sheet and bake in the oven for about 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until the crust is golden and the meat is cooked through.










Scroll to the bottom for storage directions. 

SLOWER, 100% HOME MADE PASTIES:

 (Makes 6 pasties - 430 calories per pie)  

Tools Needed: 

• 3 bowls - 2 large, 1 small.
• sheet pan or cookie sheet
• spoon
• whisk
• fork 
• knife or pizza cutter
• rolling pin
• food processor
• oven

Ingredients:

Dough: 

• 9 1/2 ounces all-purpose flour (about 2 cups)
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 1/2 ounces shortening (about 6 tablespoons)
• 3/4 cups milk

Filling:

•  8 oz ground beef 
• 1/4 cup (1 large) sliced carrot
• 1/4 cup (1 small) chopped onion

  

  Always weigh ingredients when baking

• 1/4 cup (1 small) cubed potato
• 1/4 cup cubed rutabaga (substitute sliced parsnip or 1/4 cup peas if you don't like rutabagas)
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley (and/or a large pinch of  chopped fresh rosemary - optional) 
• Salt & pepper to taste

(Note: It is healthier and more eco-friendly if the beef is organic/grass fed/local, the eggs are organic/free range/local, and the veggies are organic/local/home-grown - but this is, of course, optional.)

Directions:

Make the dough:

(This dough recipe was created by Alton Brown. Please see: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/pocket-pies-recipe.html) 

1. In the bowl of a food processor, combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Pulse for a few seconds and then pour into a large mixing bowl.

2. Add the shortening and knead it into the flour with your hands until it is crumbly. 

3. Add the milk all at once and mix in with a spoon or spatula until it begins to come together. 

4. Lightly flour your hands and the counter top and turn the dough out onto the counter top. Knead the dough ball, folding over 10 to 20 times. 

5. Using a rolling pin roll the dough to 1/3 to 1/2-inch thickness.

6. Cut the dough into sixths.

Assemble & Bake the Pasties:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F  (177 C).

2. Mix together the beef, carrots, onion, potato, peas, parsley, salt and pepper in a large bowl. Set aside.

3.  Beat the egg in the small bowl.  Set aside.

4.  Lay the two pie dough circles out flat.  Cut each into thirds. You should have 6 pieces total.

5. Spoon about 1/3 cup of the meat/vegetable mix onto one half of each pie dough piece.

6. Then, rub the edges of the pie dough with the beaten egg.  (Use your CLEAN finger, or a brush for this step.)

7. Fold the crust over to form a pocket or dumpling over the top of the meat/vegetable

mix.  Crimp the edges of the crust with a fork to seal the pie.  You can also use a barbecue brush to "paint" the pasties with the remaining egg to give it more of a shiny/crispy quality when it bakes.

(Note: the store bought pie dough is not as stretchy as home made.  Because of this, holes may occur when you fold the dough over. If this is the case, simply pinch the holes together to seal them and/or use less pie filling. If you end up with left over pie-filling you can use it to make breakfast hash or in soup.)

8. Place the pies on the baking sheet and bake in the oven for about 1 hour and 15 minutes, or

until the crust is golden and the meat is cooked through.

Storage options: 

 These will last for about a week sealed in a zip bag or container in the refrigerator.  They can be re-heated via 1-2 minutes in the microwave or the oven for 5-10 minutes.

If you wish to freeze the pasties for later use, you can let them cool, wrap them in plastic wrap, then wrap them again in aluminum foil, place

them in a zipper bag or plastic container and put them in the freezer.  Reheat by baking in the oven for  about 15-20 minutes at 350F or until heated through. You could also microwave them, but they may become mushy that way.

Possible Variations:

Try substituting different vegetables:  Use the same amounts provided in the recipe.  Keep in mind, you want to keep this pie fairly dry so that it travels well in your lunchbox.  Avoid super- moist veggies such fresh tomato.  Celery and

peppers could be used, but in a smaller amount if chopped into smaller pieces rather than large chunks. Try adding the same amounts of other firm root vegetables such as celery root, turnip, sweet potato etc.  Firm, starchy, above-ground vegetables such peas, cauliflower, cooked beans, or cooked lentils would work as well.  You could even experiment with things like sun-dried tomatoes, mushrooms, peppers or cheese.

For Vegans & Vegetarians: You can substitute a legume mixture, corn/legume mixture or pureed beans for the meat. Try adding cheese. You could skip the egg when sealing the pie and replace it with a bit of  soy milk if you are vegan.  A couple of recipes can be found here: Vegetarian Cornish Pasties and Vegan Cornish Pasties.

Try substituting different meat: A total of any 8oz ground meat, or meat mixture should work in this recipe. You can experiment with flavors. 

Try ground pork, lamb, turkey, buffalo, venison etc. A mixture of pork, lamb and beef is traditional for making meatballs and might work. It would also be interesting to substitute pre-cooked pulled pork or smoked meat along with maybe 1T of your favorite barbecue sauce.

If your taste runs to Italian food, Calzones are the Italian version of pocket pie.  Basically, you use pizza dough in place of pie crust and fill it with pizza mix.  A good recipe for Calzones can be found here:  Jamie Oliver's Calzone Recipe.   Remember, you can buy pre-made pizza dough at some groceries and at many mom and pop pizza shops, so you don't necessarily have to make it from scratch.

Make Dessert: You can also stuff pie crust fruit pie mix for a quick desert. Again, be careful to choose a drier mix if you want to eat the pie later or to travel with it.  These pies can become mushy over time with a moist filling.   Alton Brown also has recipes for mango chutney and chocolate filled pocket pies here: Alton Brown's Pocket Pie Recipes.

Gluten Free: Gluten free does not work well with this because most gluten free pie crusts are not stretchy enough to make a pocket. If you happen to discover one that works, please comment below! You could always fill a gluten free pie crust with the filling and make a non-pocket pie.  It would then be more of a pot pie and less of a pasty, though.  Sorry gluten free friends! Here is a recipe for gluten-free pie dough: Martha Stewart's Gluten Free Pie Dough.

EAT AND ENJOY! :)
 

Have 1 sec.? Please click the “follow” or share buttons (g+, Facebook, pintrest) to the right of the blog text to share or follow this blog.

Have 2 mins.? Click the “comments” (sometimes it says “no comments”) link at the bottom of the article and share your own ideas on this topic. I would LOVE to hear from you!

Have $? Click the donate buttons to the right to help humanity!

Broke? Donate blood to Red Cross.  Click the link under the donate  section to find out how. Or, click the "Greater Good" link under the donate section. On that site there are "give" buttons that cost you nothing but a glimpse at some advertisements, and still donate to charity.  Also, consider donating your time to a local charity this year.

As always, thank you for reading my blog!