It is Raining! Really

OK, now that summer is over the garden is doing very well. In the winter garden the kohlrabi, bok choy and black kale are doing better than they should be. Even the beans that went in very late are starting to have many blossoms and tiny beans pods. I think I may have added too much of the good stuff to their bed. This was an experiment in "lasagna" gardening.

As to the summer garden I am still picking beans, tomatoes and just look at the Poblanos. They are prolific! I have already stuffed and frozen some and it appears that I will be doing many more.

About the lasagna gardening. I vaguely recall reading, a very long time ago, about a Japanese garden master who developed a process of planting through layers of various materials. He may have been the first to do this. I have searched the web for a reference to that but so far have come up with nothing. Years later I heard about the "lasagna method" which appears to be an adaption of the method I had noted earlier. I became interested in this because my digging days have passed. (More about that at the end of this posting.) If this method works, and it seems it does, it will be my system from now on.

I have a black plastic "potato planter" that I got from Gardener's Supply several years ago. (Disclaimer below.) I used it successfully for a no dig potato patch for several years but this year I needed an extra raised bed. It is a four sided box with top and bottom open. It measures about 4.5 ft. square. I set it on the bare ground that had once been a driveway. The asphalt has been removed but the ground untouched and hard as concrete. I layered the inside of the box with some papery dried sticks, actually the stems from the Cardoon blossoms. Every few days I added more; a layer of grass clippings, a very small amount of steer manure, a layer of compost, more grass clippings, repeating all and then topped it with some potting soil. There are probably as many recipes for the garden lasagna as there are gardeners using it. Some even include newspaper. My recipe evolved from what I had available at the moment. Basically it seems to be a compost pile of sorts.

The box was watered well every time the garden was watered to hasten the breakdown of the various ingredients. The seeds went in a mere four or five weeks after I started the layering. As you can see, nothing planted in there will have very deep roots; I doubt any root reaches the original hard layer. What is in there is growing faster and bigger than I could have imagined. that is why it looks so over crowded. I have been thinning the bok choy (second from right, top photo), removing some of the half grown heads to leave the others more room, but that is not really noticeable as it fills in so quickly. The kohlrabi is already forming little balls (far left, top photo); they are now bigger than a golf ball. I have been stealing leaves from the kohlrabi to add to the greens in the kitchen.

Every Spring we dig the garden bed. Digging brings up weed seeds. Which means, according to the proponents of this method, that every year we add more weeds to our gardens. If we don't dig, do we get fewer weeds? I am concerned about two things. If we don't aerate the ground will it become compact? We shall see. Secondly, will this eventually transition and open up the hard ground below? This layering method is quite popular in replacing lawns where they do not remove the old sod but just layer on top. (Google or Bing "lasagna gardening" and you will find quite a bit of information.)

The weather is changing here. Haven't seen the sun in a couple of days. Today the rain has started. (I rapidly type so as to beat the power failure which is sure to come.) This is expected to be a monster storm. The grape growers have been really hustling to get their remaining grapes in, especially the more delicate varieties like Chardonnay. Should the water lodge in those clusters the grapes would easily rot. Most of the reds are a little sturdier, but not entirely safe.

Where there were fires last summer there could be mud slides. And where there are streams flooding is likely. Some communities have distributed sand bags. Nice to be prepared if you can, nicer if the weather man is wrong and we just have a good rain. We certainly need that.

Recipe

The ski slopes have opened already. That brought to mind this shaker recipe. Shakers, by the way, were the first mail order seed company. With their seeds they often sent recipes to illustrate the use of the plant, especially herbs. This is one of their recipes which has been adapted many times by many people.

Homemade bread is not usually on the menu for the ski family, but this is one you might consider. Leave the stand mixer and bread pans at home. You just need a bowl, a dough whisk (photo below), or you can use your hands. Remember to pack instant yeast and some seeds. Pick up some cottage cheese. Dill seeds would be in keeping with the Shaker traditions but change it as you will. If you have a chili waiting in the slow cooker you might want to use cumin seed. Because of the cottage cheese this bread has some protein and calcium not usual in bread.

Casserole Bread

2 1/4 to 2 1/2 cups flour

1 tablespoon instant yeast

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons dill seeds (or cumin seeds, or crushed coriander seeds)

1/2 a medium onion finally diced (or 1 tablespoon instant minced onion)

1 cup large curd cottage cheese, warmed

1 tablespoon oil

1 egg slightly beaten with 1/4 cup warm water

You will need an oven proof bowl

Place half the flour, all the yeast, soda, sugar, salt and seeds in an oven proof bowl. Stir in together. Add onion, cottage cheese, oil and egg beaten with water.

Mix together until all the dry ingredients are moistened. Beat with the dough whisk, or a wooden spoon, or your hands for about 70 strokes. Dump the remaining flour onto your work surface and turn the sticky dough from the bowl onto the flour. Wash the bowl thoroughly in warm water. Dry well and oil the inside of the bowl.

Knead the dough on the flour, picking up as much as it needs to have a little structure. Then shape the loaf, creating surface tension on the top. You do this by pushing into the center of the dough and pulling the sides up over the crease you create. (Photos below shows this method shaping the individual loaves.) Rotate the dough 90 degrees and repeat. When the ball seems tight across the top place it in the warm oiled bowl cover at set in a warm place to rise. this takes about an hour. Preheat oven to 375 and bake abut 25 minutes or until an instant read thermometer registers 190 degrees.

Instead of one loaf you can use the large muffin pans and make six individual loaves.

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Bio

On the 22nd of this month, (next week) I will be in the hospital getting a new knee. I should be in on Thursday and out on Saturday. I will then check into a rehab hospital where I will learn to walk... again... for the third time, now. I will keep you posted on my progress.

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There seems to be some concern about bloggers getting gifts from companies who want the publicity. Gardener's Supply has been my go to place for things I can't find locally for many years now. The potato planter I purchased from them is several years old now. My 11 year old granddaughter, Tammy, is shown here when she was about 4, discovering how potatoes grow.

The dough whisk I got from the King Arthur Flour Company catalogue, probably before Tammy was born. Neither company has given me anything, nor have they paid to be mentioned.

To explain her costume, her mother keeps forgetting that we have a completely different climate than she does, though they live only a few miles away. This day Tammy and I were working in the yard and she needed gloves, mine, and some sort of a wind break, my tee shirt. As you can see, she is a cute kid in spite of her fashion statement.