The Manlius Formation

I picked the last of the summer bounty today - about 1.5 lbs of carrots, which were promptly peeled and frozen for winter stew, and 4 servings of beans:

Also, we have about a yard of some really rich compost (on the upper right of the photo below), and we’ve started the new batch for next year (in the foreground).

All in all, it was a great experience. We had lots of veggies throughout the summer, and we still have pickled beets in the cupboard, along with beet greens, pole beans, carrots, and tomatoes in the freezer to enjoy this winter.

You may recall my earlier post on the tomato blight issues I encountered this year. I have a few updates for you:

Fact one: while traveling through my neighbor’s yard on the way to another neighbor’s yard, I noticed that his tomato plants were doing fine. These plants came from the same plastic egg-carton seedling holder thingie two of mine came from. Fact two: the tomatoes on the heirloom plants are way more fungusy (is that a word?) than the two I got from my neighbor. These facts make me change my mind about the root of the fungus infection. Sorry, neighbor.

With that confession out of the way…

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You try to raise them right. You do what you can to keep them healthy. You do everything in your power to ensure they grow up in a nurturing environment. You encourage them to be independent, and not follow the crowd.

And then the throw in with their peers and join whatever craze is in fashion at the moment. I thought we’d be immune to it, since all indications up to this point were positive. I was wrong. And it happened so fast I hardly saw it coming.

So in order to minimize my losses, I’ve decided to keep the bits that are worth saving and let the remainder work itself out.

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A few weeks ago, the beets were a good size - and getting a little crowded - so I decided to do a little canning experiment. I did some research^[1] and discovered that if I pickled the beets I wouldn’t need to buy a pressure canner^[2] so all I’d need is a big pot to boil the filled jars in.

I found a few quart-size canning jars we had collected over the years, so I only needed to acquire some new lids (a few bucks at Wegman’s). Other than that, the only other newly incurred expenditures were time and electricity.

A summary of the lessons learned:

1. Give yourself enough time. If you don’t want to feel like you’re rushing, you’ll want to do some preparation and planning before you dive in and chop stuff up. I did not do this.
2. As a corollary to number 1, make sure you have enough of everything you need, like sugar.^[3]
3. What looks like a lot in the beginning doesn’t look like so much at the end. A blue bin filled with beets and their greens became two-and-a-half quarts of pickled beets. It makes sense when you think about it, but is a bit underwhelming when you look at all the dirty bowls and pots.
4. Pickling is wicked easy – it’s a shame we’ve become so detached from basic skills like this.

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1. This site was the most useful [back]
2. I have since discovered a co-worker with one he’s willing to lend me next time around [back]
3. a tip of the hat to the Cook family – I had never actually borrowed a cup of sugar before! [back]

A quick update on the garden as we approach the heart of summer:

Spinach: All the spinach I planted in the spring has finally bolted, so I pulled it. I planted more, but the pole beans are growing slower than expected, so I don’t think the new plantings will have enough shade. Spinach likes to bolt early when it’s warm. Time will tell.

Radishes: We had such a glut of radishes that what remained was giant and woody. I pulled those (and added them to the compost pile) and now have a free spot in the garden. I’ll probably let the squash migrate into that plot.

Tomatoes and Cukes: Going crazy. I have a few small, green tomatoes. No cuke flowers yet.

Beets: We have already had a few sidedishes of beet greens, and we recently began to harvest the roots. Beets are INCREDIBLY easy to grow. And I’m quite partial to sliced beets.^[1]

Corn: Going strong. About 2.5-3 feet tall.

Carrots: Also doing really well. I snuck one to munch on earlier this week. Nice and sweet, but they’ve got a little more growing to do.

The aforementioned Pole Beans: Coming along slowly. We’ve had very wet, cool weather. I wonder if that’s affecting them. The Cornell Cooperative Extension says that bloom time is mid to late summer, so I’m not too worried yet. On the plus side, they’re starting to climb the tent.

That’s all for now.

1. Kathleen’s recipe: a dressing of apple cider vinegar, olive oil, salt, and a pinch of sugar; a little mustard powder keeps it nicely emulsified. I added some sliced onions to a smelly - but tasty - effect. [back]

Spinach and beets were the first seeds planted (May 3), followed by carrots and radishes the next day. A few weeks later (May 23) we put in tomato plants and sowed corn and cucumber seeds. Most recently, Thomas helped me plant beans on June 6; they sprouted in 4 days!

As far as harvesting goes, we have eaten or given away loads of radishes, and we’re going to have some spinach with supper tonight. I included some photos below for all you veggie voyeurs out there. If you need to satisfy your craving for higher resolution vegetables, head over to the gardening section of the gallery for full-size images.

Spinach (right) and beets (left) with tent structure for pole beans, followed by the aforementioned pole beans. The idea is that the beans will grow up the poles and provide shade to the spinach and beets since they don’t like full summer sun.

Tomatoes and cucumbers. The cukes - planted in the cross pattern - should fill in around the tomatoes and help trap moisture as the weather gets warmer.

Radishes (top) and carrots (bottom). I can’t believe how fast the radishes grow. Lesson for the future - don’t plant all your radish seeds at once. And, yeah, I know that the carrots don’t like the rocks. We’ll just have to see how that works out.

Corn. By far the one I’m most excited about. I have three rows like this one next to each other. I plan to plant some squash between the rows and see how that works out.

One other thing I’ve learned already - the garden is too small. I have a feeling that this is what happens to every gardener. Still, we’ll get some nice benefit from even this modestly-sized plot. And there’s always next year.

We started the day with a nice hearty breakfast of challah bread french toast, and it’s a good thing, too, because we needed the energy. Today was busier than yesterday.

After breakfast, Kath started the process of applying waterproof sealer to the deck while the boys helped me sow our first seeds in the garden. We put in spinach and beets today. (Tomorrow we’ll put in the carrots and radishes.) I kind of let them explore a bit, so I’m not expecting neat, segregated rows of perfect seedlings. I’m learning to embrace the chaos that travels with my boys like Pigpen’s cloud. It’s easier to give in than to fight it.

After spending the morning doing that and hanging in the backyard, we had BLTs^[1] for lunch and then the boys and I headed to Thomas’ second tee-ball game of the weekend. Thomas played catcher for two of the four innings. No, I don’t know why a catcher is needed.

After tee-ball, we stopped in at the bike shop to make a second attempt at finding a rack to hold panniers on the back of my bike. No luck again.

We arrived home and found Kath breaking in the new lawn tractor. Yee-hah!

I pulled out an old tree-bush-thing while Kath mowed, the boys “washed” my car^[2] and I even got to do a little mowing myself, which I found to be very therapeutic.

We had one of those thrown-together suppers that is surprisingly satisfying, cleaned up, and put the kids in bed - which is where I’m headed in five minutes.

Oh, one more thing. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that as of today we have another shoe-tier (tyer?) in the house. Way to go big D!

1. …almost as good as a nice mutton, lettuce, and tomato sandwich; when the mutton is nice and lean. [back]
2. which is not much cleaner, but is now nice and streaky [back]

Excellent progress today on the home improvement front. Since the boys woke up at 5:54am today (yes, you read that correctly), I had a new faucet purchased AND installed well before lunch.^[1] Thomas was my helper while Daniel attended his first soccer game of the season with his chauffer/coach/mom.

Here is the new faucet, in all its brushed-metal glory:

Mmmm. New faucet.

After lunch, the kids and I took some time to spread the recently-delivered top soil and compost in the garden. They did an admirable job. Click on the thumbnail to see the full-size images from the gallery.

After that we took a little break and drew up plans for where we want to plant stuff in the garden. I need to pick up some fertilizer, but I think we’re ready to put in spinach, radishes, beets, and carrots this weekend.

1. I have to note that installation was WAY easier than removal. [back]

I stopped off at Tracy Lumber Saturday afternoon to pick up the 2×10s, and had time this afternoon to put together the frame for the raised garden bed. Next step: get topsoil delivered.

I snapped a few pics of my helper and our finished product. Click on a thumbmail to see the full-size image in the composting and gardening gallery.

I set up the Eliminator on the edge of the side yard^[1] today. We had been using the simple, unbounded “compost pile” method over the winter, but I figured since I have this resource, why not use it?

Here is a shot of the Eliminator in all its black, monolithic awesomeness. And if you look carefully, you can see our Christmas tree just above dead center in the photo.

Check out the gallery for more photos of my first attempt at lasagna layering: putting down a layer of browns, then greens, then browns, then… well, you get the idea.

Compost away, my precious.

1. the “side yard” is actually the empty lot next door [back]