Planet Veggie Garden

We’ve got a little vitamin C grove under our front window. Two years ago we planted 3 citrus trees – a Fremont tangerine, a Satsuma Tangerine and a Blood Orange.

Oranges are one of the most popular citrus varieties. A lush glossy leafed evergreen – oranges have been cultivated for over 4000 years for their fruit as well as oil derived from the leaves and intensely perfumy small white flowers.

Originally from Asia, oranges spread slowly throughout the world. When demand increased, they spread rapidly during the seventeenth century as European and later American trade developed. In the United States today, oranges have become an important crop for California, Florida and Texas.

Orange varieties can be categorized into two different types; bitter and sweet.

Seville oranges are the most well known of the bitter varieties and best used for marmalades and preserves.

Of the sweet varieties there are three types: juice, navel and blood oranges.

Valencia is the premiere juice orange because of its sweet tart flavor and juiciness. Valencias are usually thin skinned, very juicy and have few seeds.

Hamlins are another juicing variety that is much sweeter than Valencias but lack the tartness.

Another sweet variety is the navel orange, characterized by its thick easy to peel skin and has no seeds. Navels are a favorite for eating out of hand but can be used for juice too.

Lastly, blood oranges are known for their red flesh and intense berry like flavor. Blood oranges are much more common these days as many citrus growers have added them trees to their orchards. You can easily find blood orange trees in your local nursery.

It’s been two years and we’re still waiting for our blood orange tree to start producing so patience is a virtue when it comes to starting your own citrus grove.

Care for citrus trees is pretty minimal. Citrus do not like to have constant moist roots so only water when the soil is starting to dry and then water deep. Our very mature lemon tree in the back yard rarely needs water between the rainy season. If you do water too much your citrus tree will tell you…it’s leaves will start to curl or yikes, fall off. I know as I almost killed our lime tree which we have planted in an oak barrel in the back yard.

As far as fertilizing, here is a handy chart that tells you when and how much.

It’s Veterens Day in the United States – a day to honor veterans.

I’d like to mention a few small-scale farm programs that are working with veterans.

Nadia McCaffrey is the mother of a soldier killed in Iraq. She recognized that many folks returning from Iraq and Afganistan were struggling. In 2007 she created Veterans’ Village. An organization that acquires farmland where veterans can work, rehabilitate and learn new skills.

The first location is in Sonoma County California with plans with additional locations in upstate New York and North Carolina.

Farms Not Arms is an organization that helps connect vets with seasonal jobs and internships on farms.

Farmer-Veteran Coalition is helping to match up vets and farmers.

Veteran Homestead built “Victory Farm” – a housing work program for vets on an 80-acre New Hampshire organic farm.

A person can find a lot of peace and fulfilment working the land.

We’re now poised for new leadership… and a new dog at the White House.

Will the nation’s food policy change?

Most of the campaign talk circled around the economy, health care and homeland security. In reality, our relationship with the food we eat is intertwined with all three of those areas.

With the commoditization of much of our food, we do spend less as a percentage of household income. Even with less expensive food, the rising costs this year has forced more people into a position where they can’t afford the weekly grocery bill.

A few generations ago before agri-biz was big biz and food was commoditized, we were closer to our food source and we valued the nutrition it provided. What we now eat – on average – is not as nutritious. The cost of that: poorer health, higher health care costs.

The food supply chain controlled by fewer and larger corporations. Food travels farther. Food security is more vulnerable.

Commodity or source of life

Obama has spoken out against the dominance of agribusiness. He has recognized that we need to develop and train a new generation of farmers. And he has also promised to boost support for organic farming.
But will he dig up part of the White House lawn and plant a garden?

Michael Pollan laid out some food policy suggestion in an open letter to the Farmer in Chief published in the New York Times.

Oregano is a super culinary herb  – a must have for many cuisines – notably Italian, Greek and Mexican.

In temperate zones, oregano can be grown year round. In zones with harsher climates, oregano is considered an annual. No worries, as oregano is easily grown from seeds and can be propagated from cuttings.

To grown oregano, choose a sunny spot with well draining soil. No need to ammend too heavily as the plant will develop more of the volatile oils (those responsible for it’s pungent flavor and it’s medicinal properties) in more challenging conditions.

If you are growing from seed just lightly cover the seeds with a dusting of soil as the seeds like a bit of light in order to germinate.

To harvest, pick sprigs when the plant is at least 5 to 6″ tall. For the best flavor pick young leaves in the morning when the oils are at their highest levels. Be aware that as the plant flowers the flavor begins to diminish and with some varieties even becoming bitter. You can delay blooming by pinching off the flowers as they begin to form.

When using the fresh leaves to flavor cooked dishes, add the oregano towards the end of the cook time for maximum flavor as the volatile oils tend to cook off with long cook times.

Oregano can also be easily dried – pluck the leaves from the stems, spread in a single layer on a tray in a cool well ventilated place until totally dried. Store in an airtight jar for up to 6 to 8 months.

Herbs are a great addition to any garden large or small. Oregano is a must have…if not just for it’s culinary use but it’s use as a natural remedy.

Oregano finds it’s roots in the Mediterranean and in parts of Asia. Today, we find it growing in all parts of the world and widely used in Italian, Greek and Mexican cuisines. Coincidentally, these are the 3 main varieties grown AND the 3 types with the most antioxidant activity.

Oregano has a long history of medicinal use dating back to Hippocrates who used oregano as an antiseptic as well as for digestive and respiratory disorders. Modern science (with research from the USDA) has backed up the health benefits of oregano showing oregano to be a super concentrated source of powerful phytochemicals and antioxidants including thymol and carvacrol. These compounds and many others are responsible for oregano’s many healing properties*:

• anti-microbial: used as an antiseptic; particularly effective against certain bacteria responsible for food borne illnesses
• anti-parasitic: found by Mexican researchers to be effective against giardia
• anti-fungal: used often by herbalist to fight yeast infections such as candida
• anti-spasmotic
• calmative / sedative

Generally, when used for it’s medicinal properties, oregano is taken as a concentrated oil in gel capsules by mouth or when used as an antiseptic – the oil is used topically.

Many of these “anti” properties lends itself to using oregano as a food preservative (use in dry rubs) or to extend the shelf-life of foods.

Tomorrow, tips on growing this must have herb.

*Be advised that any nutrition information suggested is not intended as a treatment for any disease. The intent of any nutritional recommendation is to support the physiological and biochemical processes of the human body, and not to diagnose, treat, cure, prevent any disease or condition. Always work with a qualified medical professional before making changes to your diet, prescription medication, lifestyle or exercise activities.

Many of us think sweet potatoes and yams are one and the same. While there is some rationale for the confusion they are indeed two different species.

Yams – like potatoes – are a tuber.

Sweet potatoes are roots and part of the Morning Glory family that grow on trailing vines and root at the nodes.

Yams have less sugar and more starch than sweet potatoes. They’re native to Africa and Asia. And… Louisiana decided to call the orange-fleshed sweet potatoes they grow yams to distinguish them from white-fleshed variety grown elsewhere.

Sweet potatoes are native to the more tropical areas of South America. They were favored by the French and Spanish who brought them Louisiana.

Sweet potatoes are grown from “slips” or sprouts. Plant them about an inch apart and two inches deep. Maturation time is 90-120 days. They need warmth – preferring soil temperature between 70 and 80 degrees F.

  Potato plants

We’ve had rain 5 days going – a very good thing in this state (California) after a few drought years.

The garden is benefiting and especially the potatoes. I didn’t plant many but some green has bursted through.

This is the International year of the potato, so anointed by the United Nations.

The humble potato is a rather amazing food:

• Originally grown near the border of Peru and Bolivia 8,000 years ago
• Brought from Latin America to Europe in the 1500’s by Spaniards
• Grown all over the world in many different climates
• China is the largest grower, followed by India, the Russian Federation and the United States
• The worlds #4 food crop and #1 non-grain food
• Unlike the better known grains (wheat, corn/maise, rice) it’s NOT a globally traded commodity. Potatoes are not widely exported.

Potatoes don’t actually need dirt. Strange at that seems. You can grow them in virtually any pile of mulching type materials. Of course you can also grow them in dirt. Additionally, potatoes grow similarly to a (upside down) tree… vertical and horizontal. So you can continue to put material on top of the stem and leaves as they grow… leaving about 6″ visible.

I planted my potatoes in a small no dig bed and a recycle bin we weren’t using. I throw straw on top them as they sprout up. If I had planted them in dirt, I would mound the dirt up around them.

You’ll know the potatoes are ready when the above ground green plant turns brown.

Potatoes prefer cooler – but not cold – weather. Plan to harvest yours before frost. Germination takes 1-3 weeks. Depending on the variety, they take 3-4 months to mature. You can grow a spring and a fall crop.

potato eyes

A potato seed is an “eye” from a potato. The eye sprouts to form the tubor. You can buy “potato starts” or take a potato and cut it into pieces, each piece having 1-3 eyes. Plant each one about 6″ deep.

Keep them well moist until they sprout, then back off some on the water.

Potatoes have always been relatively inexpensive so folks tend to not grow them… the “cheaper to buy than grow” argument. However, potatoes are a fairly heavily sprayed crop and organic potatoes aren’t so inexpensive. As well, regular potatoes have seen a hefty price increase this year. Go for fresh, go for organic, grow your own.

I realized many years ago that I love to cook because I love to eat. I just realized that one of the reasons I love to garden is that I love to eat.

If you love broccoli – there is nothing better than home grown. It is so sweet and tender all it needs is a quick saute with a nice pat of butter and a sprinkle of sea salt. Yum!

For a spring crop, start seeds indoors sometime in February so you can transplant them into the ground the end of April or early May. For a fall crop, you can put seeds directly in the ground early to mid summer. Plant seeds about 1/4″ to 1/2″ deep. The best soil is at a pH of 6.5 to 7.5, well draining with a good amount of composted manure. Broccoli does best in full sun but can tolerate a bit of shade – it doesn’t do well in heat. Plant from 16″ to 2 feet apart for best production. Broccoli is in the cabbage / brassica / cole crop family so rotate planting spots at least every 2 years.

Broccoli is a slow grower and thrives with day temperatures in the 70’s and night temperatures in the 60’s. Frost will damage the plants – luckily for us we rarely get frost and we have our handy row covers. Make sure the plants are watered well and stay moist. Mid season, gently dig in some manure around each broccoli plant. With broccoli you will get a main central head which when harvested will make the plant begin to produce side shoots. Many broccoli aficionados prefer these tender side shoots over the central head.

Harvest the broccoli when the flower buds are still green and tight. If you wait too long the flowers will open and you will be very unhappy. Cut about 6-7″ below the head at an angle to prevent moisture from accumulating and causing stem rot. Side shoots will appear and you can cut those at the point they grow out of the main stem.

Don’t forget the leaves! Broccoli leaves can be harvested and prepared the same as kale, collards or other like greens.

The main pests that we see are aphids which can be easily taken care of with a dilute soap spray. The other which we got to experience first had are cabbage worms – big green and voracious. I knew they were coming as a few weeks before I discovered big chomps off the broccoli leaves – the garden was fluttering with white butterflies – ha! Moths really. Part of my morning routine for a few weeks was to go out to the garden and search & pluck out these green oozing worms.

Oh yes, one more pest that we seem to have at the moment – flea beetles. This I know as many of the leaves of our broccoli and kale have neat small holes rather than big chomps. More about these critters and how to take care of them in a future post.

Broccoli seems to be a pretty easy vegetable to grow and we’ll report on our progress.

If you love broccoli, give it a whirl…
Broccoli…plant it, grow it, eat it!

I’ve always loved broccoli. In fact, as a kid when my Mom prepared broccoli for dinner, we kids would fight over it. I guess it had an impact on me as to this day I always make enough broccoli (for the two of us) to feed…12

But hey, Broccoli is oh so good for you!

• Loads of vitamin C and with a light steam you will retain a good amount of this heat sensitive vitamin
• vitamin K and beta carotene galore
• A good number of B’s including folic acid, B6, B2, B5, thiamin and niacin
• a gold mine of minerals: manganese, potassium, phosphorus, magnesium, iron, calcium and zinc

but wait there’s more…
broccoli is full of amazing phytonutrients that in lab studies block compounds that promote tumor growth, help detoxify the body of carcinogens, slow tumor growth and stimulate cell death in cancer cells. I say, “broc on!”

I tried to grow some last year but I now know that rats had chomped them down to the ground. Luck for us,  our friend and fellow gardener gave us some homegrown broccoli. Wow! I was in heaven – it was the sweetest most tender broccoli I ever had. This year I had to try again…
Round one of the seedlings started this summer suffered the same fate as last year. But this time, we knew what was eating our broccoli, so…

After getting rid of the rats, We got more seedlings started and they are slowly but surely growing under our row covers. To be honest I’m not sure how many broccoli plants I have out there since some did get munched on by a second swarm of ratlings but now we think those are gone (hopefully for good.)

Tomorrow, tips on growing your own sweet tender broccoli.

What produces more yield – organic farming or industrialized farming?…
5 acre farms or 5,000 acre farms?

I’d venture to say most folks believe industrialized and large farms are capable of higher yields through greater technology and efficiency.

I’ve read a number of sources that argue organic farming can now produce yields equal to “chemical” farming. This in part because chemical farming has stripped the soil so much it’s having a harder time keeping production up. And in part because organic farming has improved.

I read an excerpt from a book due out in the Spring of 2009: A Nation of Farmers, by Aaron Newton and Sharon Astyk.

It poses the question:
Can We Feed the World? More Importantly Will We Choose To?

A very interesting read with excellent historical perspective. I highly recommend reading it.