Test Seed Viability

I recently found some old seed in my office and wondered if they were still viable. If you save leftover seed to use the following year, here are some ways to find out if they are still good. 

Seed viability is a measure of the number of seeds that are still alive to produce plants. Some seeds stay viable for many years, while others might only last a short time. For example, parsley and onion seed only last a year or two, while watermelon and cabbage should last four years or more. Most seed packets are dated so you know how old they are. 

The best way to see if your seed is still viable is to do a germination test following these steps. 

1. Place 10 seeds on a slightly damp paper towel. If the towel is too wet, the seeds will rot. 
2. Roll up or fold the paper towel and place it in a closed plastic bag to keep it from drying out. Use a permanent market to record the date and type of seed on the outside of the bag. Also, note the average germination times listed on the seed packet.  
3. Leave it in a warm place (above 70 degrees) for a few days. Although light isn’t a major factor for most seeds, a warm windowsill often works well. The top of the refrigerator is another good location. 
4. Based on the average germination time listed on the seed packet, check the seeds in a few days to see how many seeds have started to grow. If you don’t know the average germination rate, check them in 7-10 days. You might be able to see them through the paper towel. Often the roots begin growing first. 
5. Once they’ve begun to germinate, carefully remove the paper towel wrapped seeds from the bag. Then, unroll the paper to see how many seeds have sprouted. 

The germination test will show you the percentage of those seeds that are still alive. If only half of the seeds germinated in the paper towel, it is likely that only half will grow in your garden. If the germination rate is 70-90 percent, you should sow them a little thicker than normal in the garden. If less than 70 percent germinate, it might be better to buy new seed. 

You can plant the sprouted seeds in the garden or in a container. Since the root often grows into the paper towel, cut or tear around the seeds then plant the seeds, towel, and all. 

Larger seeds can also be tested using a water method. Place peas, beans, and corn in a bowl of water. If they sink, they're fine. If they float, toss them.

Seeds last longer when they are stored in a cool, dry place. In the winter, a cool basement or garage that doesn’t freeze works well. In the summer, a cool room or refrigerator will keep them at the right temperature and humidity level. 

Click on this factsheet link from Colorado State University Extension for more information on Storing Vegetable and Flower Seeds.

Originally Published in Canton Ledger Column on 2-4-17

Food Garden Safety Begins with a Lead Test Soil

The garden season is in full force, and I’m excited to hear about all the food and community gardens happening in our area. As we begin growing food and other plants this summer, please consider some potential health hazards.

Forest Hill Community Garden in Peoria, IL

A growing concern in urban soils is lead contamination, though suburban and rural soils may also be contaminated. I recently partnered with the Peoria City/County Health Department to highlight the importance of avoiding lead contaminated soil during the gardening season.

Some garden soil contains high levels of lead that can pose a serious health risk. The risk can be from contaminated garden soil brought into the house on clothing, shoes, tools, or clinging to vegetable crops. Soil becomes mixed with house dust that is inhaled or ingested, resulting in lead poisoning. Roots crops (carrot, radish) are more likely to contain high lead levels than fruiting (tomato, pepper) and leafy (lettuce, spinach) vegetables. The harmful effects of lead poisoning can cause lifelong problems such as learning disabilities, behavioral problems, and lower IQ 

Gardeners can reduce the risk of lead poisoning by following safe gardening recommendations. A good start is with a soil test to determine if the soil is contaminated with harmful lead levels. Garden soils can be contaminated with lead found in old house paint, old lead plumbing pipes, or old leaded automobile fuel. The greatest lead concentration is in the top 1 to 2 inches of soil.

Soil samples should be taken from several areas to determine the location of the contamination. Sample children’s play areas and vegetable gardens separately. With a trowel or shape, take several soil samples from within the chosen area. Combine the samples together, break up clods and mix the f soil thoroughly.

Use about one pint of the soil mixture as a sample to send for testing. Discard the remainder. Send samples to a soil testing lab with a special request for lead testing. Be sure the lab you choose does lead testing.

Gardeners can reduce the risk of lead poisoning from lead contaminated soils by growing food crops in raised beds. Covering ground at the bottom of an eight-inch high raised bed with landscape fabric, then fill with a good potting mix. Avoid using chemical treated lumber.      

More information on how to grow food safely in the home vegetable garden is found on the University of Illinois Extension Lead in Soils Resources website. In addition to a Lead in Garden Soils factsheet, there is also information on soil testing, soil labs, general gardening, other soil contaminants, and more.

Published in Canton Daily Ledger Column on 6-17-2017

Coffee Grows on Tropical Evergreen Shrubs

Many people enjoy coffee, especially during the holidays. There are so many different types of coffee and ways to brew it. We drink coffee every morning while we enjoy nature all around us – either from the hot tub or dining room windows.

Jamaica's Blue Mountain coffee

During my travels, I’ve seen coffee growing in many different places. Coffee plantations scattered Costa Rica as we drive from San Jose through the Tilaran Mountain range. I visited a coffee farm with antique processing displays in Puerto Rico. We bicycled through Jamaica’s blue mountains and drank fresh coffee brewed over an open fire.

Coffee beans grow on the Coffea arabica plant, which is an evergreen shrubby tree. Its leaves are broad, shiny, and shaped like an arrowhead. In the wild, it grows to a height of 14 to 20 feet, but when cultivated it is usually kept pruned to about 6 to 10 feet to facilitate picking the beans and to encourage heavy bearing.

The plant has fragrant flowers that are typically pollinated by native honeybees. The flowers are small, white blossoms that cluster at the base of the leaves. These mature into a small oval berry that are about the color and size of a small cherry. Inside of the skin and pulp, two coffee beans are nestled with their flat sides together. About four thousand beans make a single pound of coffee. 

Coffee bean harvest is done by hand and only when the cherries are ripe. A worker can pick 7-12 baskets a day. Once picked, the cherries are transported to coffee mills where the cherry skin is immediately removed from the coffee cherry.

Coffee grown as houseplant

Processing involved many steps including washing, pulping, fermenting, drying, storing, and finally roasting and packaging. Beans are a pale tan color until they are roasted, which changes the beans to a beautiful shiny brown color. Roasting is done according to customer preference such as medium roast, full bodied dark roast, or espresso roast.

I really like a robust cup of coffee. The best coffee I ever had was in Ecuador, fresh brewed by my daughters-in-law’s grandmother. She roasted and ground the beans herself, and then slowly dripped a small amount of water through the grounds to form a think almost-syrup liquid. The syrup was mixed with hot water at the table to each person’s taste.

I also enjoy coffee in a French press, Italian Moka pot, Espresso machine, boiled on the stove, and auto dripped in a traditional American coffee maker. I typically drink my coffee black, but I also really like a skinny, soy latte.

As you enjoy your coffee this holiday season, think about the coffee plant and how it was grown. You might also try growing a coffee plant as a houseplant.

Spirited Plants

Happy New Year! Whether you toast in the New Year with sparkling grape juice or a more spirited drink, it is interesting to think of all the plants that make up spirits.

Spirits are named by the fermented material from which they are distilled. Various grains make up whiskey, vodka, gin, and most types of schnapps. Brandy is made from fermented grape juice, and fruit brandy is made from other fruits. Rum and cane spirits come from fermented sugar cane juice or molasses. Tequila and mezcal come from the fermented pulp of the agave plant.

Whiskey is distilled from various grains. It is aged, often for extended periods of time, in wooden barrels (usually oak), which adds aroma, flavor, and an amber hue. After some time, these whiskey barrels are cut in half and sold as plant containers. Scotch and Irish whiskeys are made from barley, while North American whiskeys are typically a mix of corn, rye, wheat, barley, and other grains in different proportions.

Vodka is distilled from a mash of pale grain or vegetable matter, including potatoes, molasses, beets, and a variety of other plants. Rye and wheat are the classic grains for vodka, with most Russian vodkas being made from wheat.  In Poland, they are mostly made from a rye mash.

Juniper berries

Gin is a juniper berry-flavored grain spirit. Junipers are grown worldwide and are very common foundation plants.

Rum comes from sugarcane. While touring the Bacardi factory in the Bahamas a few years ago, I found out that Bacardi rum’s unique recipe is not only a distillation of molasses and water but also special yeast. The yeast is the secret and has been growing since 1862.

Distilling the fermented juice of agave plants in Mexico makes tequila. The agave is a spiky-leafed member of the lily family (it is not a cactus) and is related to the century plant.

Other alcoholic beverages include wine and beer. Wine comes from grapes and other fruits, while the beer is brewed from grain and hops.

For those of you who toast in the New Year with champagne, you might be drinking sparkling wine. Champagne is a region of France, and only wines that come from this region can properly be called "Champagne." Similar drinks from California and the rest of the world should be called "sparkling wines."

Have a safe and happy New Years! Please take care of yourself and each other, and don’t drink and drive!

Sugar-n-Spice and Everything Nice

Sugar and spice make everything nice, especially Christmas cookies. But, do you know where your sugar and spice come from?

The white sugar we use comes from two different plants: sugar beets or sugarcane. Worldwide, 70 percent of our sugar comes from sugarcane. Sugarcane is a tall grass that grows in tropical areas. In a tropical setting like Hawaii and Jamaica, it grows in fields and looks similar to corn.

Sugarcane growing in Costa Rica

To get sugar from sugarcane, the cane is pressed to extract the juice, then boiled, and spun to produce raw sugar and syrup (molasses). The raw sugar is then sent to a refinery where it is washed and filtered to remove remaining non-sugar ingredients and color. It is then crystallized, dried and packaged into refined (or granulated) sugar.

Most of the sugar we eat here probably came from sugar beets. Sugar beets are a root crop resembling a large parsnip grown mostly in the temperate zones of the north. Beet sugar processing is similar to sugarcane, but it is done in one continuous process without the raw sugar stage. The sugar beets are washed, sliced, and soaked in hot water to separate the sugar-containing juice from the beet fiber. The sugar-laden juice is purified, filtered, concentrated and dried in a series of steps similar to cane sugar processing.

Most of our spices are native to the tropics, and many come from trees. If you’ve ever been on a trip to the Caribbean, you’ve probably seen the plants that produce our allspice, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg.

Allspice, grown on the pimento tree (Pimenta dioica), is a dried berry native to Jamaica that tastes like a combination of nutmeg, cinnamon, and cloves.

Cinnamon comes from the inner bark of tropical cinnamon trees (Cinnamomum zeylanicum). These are small trees that grow about 30 feet tall that are native to southwest India.

Nutmeg (Myristica fragrans) trees are the only tropical fruit that is the source of two different spices, obtained from different parts of the plant. Nutmeg is the seed of the tree’s fruit, and mace is the seed’s veil-like covering.

Ginger growing in greenhouse at
Biltmore in Ashville, NC

Ginger is an herbaceous perennial plant with a beautiful flower. It has a knobby, bumpy root with a peppery yet slightly sweet flavor. The tropical spice ginger (Zingiber officinale) is different from our native ginger (Asarum canadense).

The next time you eat “sugar and spice and everything nice,” think of our tropical friends that produce these crops.

Grow Your Own Hops

Gardeners have been growing hop as an ornamental vine for many years. Recently, I have seen more hop grown in backyards for home brewing. This is especially popular among younger male gardeners aged 18-34.

Hop is a herbaceous perennial vine that grows well in central Illinois. Two types of hop grow here. Our native American hop (Humulus lupulus) comes in various cultivars used to produce different flavors in beer and tea. Do not grow the Japanese hop (Humulus japonicas) because it can be quite invasive. Both have palmate leaves, but the American hop leaf has three lobes, while the Japanese hop has 5-7 lobes.

Both types are vigorous vines requiring good support. American hop vines can grow 20 to 30 feet long in one summer and then die back to the ground each fall. I have American hop growing on a picket fence in my herb garden. Because hop grows so quickly, I continually guide the vines to grow on the fence and not the surrounding plants.

Hop plants produce both male and female flowers. The female cones (also called hops) are used to make beer and tea. The hops are mature when you can see the yellow substance (lupulin glands) within the cone petal. They will also be sticky and have a hop fragrance when crushed. Harvest cones when they feel dry and papery. Dry cones can be stored in air-tight containers or in the freezer. One hops plant will yield about one to two pounds of dried cones in early- to mid-fall.

Brewing craft beers at home is a growing trend. The basic ingredients of beer are water, a starch source such as wheat or barley, a brewer’s yeast, and a flavoring such as hops. I have become a big fan of “hoppy” beer, especially those flavored with citrusy hops. In addition to beer, the female hop cone is also used to make tea. I use my hops as an ingredient in many tea blends.

Nugget and Cascade are popular hop varieties with home brewers. Nugget is considered a bitter hop that stores well, though it is late to mature. Cascade is regarded as an aroma type that matures early with a floral and spicy aroma.

As I mentioned, hop is also grown as an ornamental vine. A favorite variety for this use is ‘Aureus.’ It has maple-like leaves that are a luminous, clear shade of yellow.  

If you decide to grow hop, be careful because it can scratch you! The leaf and leaf petioles have sharp prickles that catch clothing and scrape the skin. I learned the hard way to wear a long sleeved shirt and gloves when pruning and handling this plant.

Obviously, you do not have to be an 18-34-year-old male to grow hops. Whether you grow it as an ornamental vine or to brew beverages, hop is a great addition to many gardens.

Sweet Potato or Yam?

Do you ever wonder if you are eating yams or sweet potatoes for holiday meals? They are known by both, but horticulturally there are differences. Officially a sweet potato is never a yam, but sweet potatoes are often referred to as yams. 

Sweet potatoes (Ipomoea batatas) are yellow or orange tubers that elongate into ends that taper to a point. There are two types of sweet potatoes, which creates the confusion over yam versus sweet potato.  The paler-skinned sweet potato has a thin, light yellow skin with pale yellow flesh which is not sweet and has a dry, crumbly texture similar to a white baking potato. The darker-skinned variety (which is most often called "yam") has a thicker, dark orange to reddish skin with a vivid orange, sweet flesh and a moist texture.

 Most of us have probably never seen a true yam. The true yam is the tuber of a tropical vine (Dioscorea sp) and is not even distantly related to the sweet potato. The yam is a popular vegetable in Latin American and Caribbean markets, and is slowly being introduced here. The true yam is actually even sweeter than the sweet potato, and the tuber can grow over seven feet in length. The yam tuber has a brown or black skin which resembles the bark of a tree and off-white, purple or red flesh, depending on the variety.

Another root vegetable commonly used in Central America is called cassava or yuca (Manihot esculenta). It differs from the yucca plant we grow here. When we were in Costa Rica several years ago, the starchy cassava root was peeled and boiled like potatoes. I really liked eating yuca, especially when paired with beans and rice covered in Lizano Sauce. Interestingly enough, when yuca root is dried to a powdery (or pearly) extract it makes tapioca.

Ornamental Sweet Potato Vine

Here we grow a couple different types of sweet potato vines in Central Illinois. Ornamental sweet potato vines are popular for their ornamental value as ground covers, hanging baskets, in planters, and even in bottles of water in the kitchen. The ornamental vine’s tubers are edible but are reported to have a bland taste. 

Sweet Potato Vines in Garden

Culinary sweet potatoes are easy to grow in the summer garden using starter plants called slips. I particularly like baked sweet potatoes smothered in butter and brown sugar. I also use them as meat substitutes in tacos or covered in BBQ sauce for stir fry.

In the end it doesn’t really matter what you call it. Regardless of whether you call them yams or sweet potatoes, enjoy them often – they are a healthy and tasty choice for your kitchen table.

Plant Garlic This Fall

Do you use a lot of garlic in your cooking? If so you might try growing your own. Fall is the best time to plant garlic in your garden.

Garlic is a hardy bulb, and thus is best planted in the fall when other bulbs, such as tulips and daffodils, are planted. October is the ideal time in this part of Illinois. With garlic, new plants are grown from the individual sections of the bulb known as "cloves." Each bulb may contain a dozen or more cloves, depending on the variety.

Now is the time to purchase garlic for planting. Be sure to buy it from a reliable garden center or mail-order source. Storage temperature of the dormant garlic affects the bulbing of the future plants. Temperatures above 77 degrees F may inhibit bulb formation, so using garlic from the grocery is ill-advised for planting purposes. Garlic that has been stored at about 40 degrees F for several months is ideal for starting a new planting.

After planting, the individual cloves will begin to root and sprout before cold weather begins. Plants will over winter in this vegetative state. In the first thaw of spring, the plants will begin their luxuriate growth.

Garlic grows best in fertile soil that is high in organic matter. Gardeners that grow good onion crops can grow good garlic. Apply 3 pounds of 10-10-10 fertilizer per 100 square feet.

Fall planted garlic will begin forming bulbs the next June. Bulbs can be dug when the tops start to yellow, usually in July or August.

Garlic drying at Barefoot Gardens near Macomb, IL

Bulbs are placed in a dark, airy place with moderate temperature to cure and dry. Tops and roots are allowed to remain on the drying bulbs. Throughout the digging and storage operations, it should be remembered that the bulbs are living things that must be handled with care for best storage and quality. Any small bruise may cause the whole bulb to spoil in storage. Unless garlic is to be used for braiding, tops and roots should be removed once bulbs are cured and dry.

You can also grow garlic in the form of scallions. Topsets or small cloves are planted fairly thickly in a row and the green plants dug, cleaned, and bunched like green onions. The whole plant, tops and all, is then chopped into dishes for flavor.

If you like the taste of garlic, you might also try growing garlic chives. Garlic chives (Allium tuberosum) is a perennial plant and grows very similar to chives with flat leaves like leek and garlic. The flavor is very much like garlic, and the tops are harvested like the regular chives. Garlic chive has white flowers and grows taller than regular chives.

Enjoy your garlic! Not only is it good to eat, it also keeps the vampires away.

Dry herbs for winter use

I recently harvested herbs from my garden. Herbs are an important staple in my kitchen. I add them to my evening tea or as added flavor to our meals. Here are some of my favorites.

Lemon balm is true to its name. This plant has a very strong lemon scent and provides a nice subtle lemon flavor. My plant grew about two foot tall this year. Since this is a tender perennial and will mostly likely not survive our winter, I typically harvest the entire plant. I add a couple leaves to many types of tea, including black and lavender.

Lavender is quickly becoming my favorite evening tea. I grow lots of lavender in my garden. The mild floral scent is heavenly and therapeutic. Studies have shown that just smelling lavender can reduce anxiety. Lavender is a perennial plant here and should survive a central Illinois winter. It does prefer a well-drained soil, however, and can die out in early spring if the roots stay wet too long. Since I’m leaving all my plants in my garden, I only harvest the flowers and longer shoots.

Mint is also a perennial plant, but it can be very invasive in a garden. I grow most of my plants in containers, placed where roots cannot escape into other parts of my yard. The opposite of lavender, mint is considered a “pick-me-up” herb. The slightly crusted whole leaves add zing to water, iced-tea, and mojitos. Spearmint is the traditional mint for use in mint juleps and mint tea.

Sage is a staple of my herb garden. I use it fresh and dried. Dried ground sage is a required ingredient in my meatloaf and turkey stuffing. I’ve been using the fresh leaves this summer to make a sage tea and a hair rinse. It tastes just like turkey stuffing and is surprisingly good. This is also a perennial plant that overwinters here. I cut a few leaves off the plants and leave the rest to overwinter. Sometimes I use sage leaves to make decorative wreaths. Once the leaves are dry, grind them in a mixer, food processor, or coffee grinder.

Stevia is a natural sweetener that is grown as an annual plant in our climate. Therefore, I usually harvest the entire plant. Once the leaves are dry, they are crushed to release stevia’s sweetening power. Homegrown stevia lacks the potency of refined white stevia extract available in grocery stores. Still, I find that my homegrown stevia sweetens my herbal teas just fine.

Be sure to cut and dry your herbs so that you can use them all winter. Good air circulation is the key to successfully drying herbs. Sometimes drying is easier if the leaves are stripped from the stems and dried on screens or in food dehydrators. This year I dried most of my herbs in a food dehydrator, but I also like to use mesh metal baskets, wicker baskets, paper towels, paper bags, and more. When dry, store the herbs in airtight container and use regularly. Be sure not to use any pesticides on herbs you harvest to eat.  

Below is a video I made a few years ago that demonstrates how I dry herbs. 

It’s Grape Pie Time!

I love the taste of Concord grapes. As a child, I remember eating grapes directly from the vines. To me, there is no flavor comparison between concord grapes and store-bought grapes. I especially like concord wine and concord grape pie!

Concord grapes grown in central Illinois are quite different from most store-bought grapes. Our native Concord and Niagara grapes are slip-skin types, which means that the skin easily slips away from the fruit pulp. Most store grapes are native to Europe and are called fixed skin varieties because the skin and pulp are all in one.

Here are some tips for harvesting the best grape. First, make sure your grapes are ripe before you harvest to assure that the grape is fully sweet.

A grape’s color change is not always the best indication of ripeness. Most berries change from green to blue, red or white (depending on the cultivar) as they approach maturity. Many grape cultivars turn a ripe color before their flavor fully sweetens. When fully ripe, the natural bloom or whitish coating on the berries will become more noticeable. The color of the seeds changes from green to brown.

Second, consider the size and firmness of the berry before harvest. It's helpful to be familiar with your cultivar's characteristics, but most grapes should become slightly less firm to the touch.

Finally, the best way to tell if a grape is ripe is to taste it. Unlike some other fruits, grapes do not ripen further once cut from the vine. So, be sure the grapes are ready before you harvest.

Grapes don't require direct sunlight on the fruits to ripen and develop good color. Rather, it is the amount of light that reaches the plant's leaves that determines the quality of the fruit. The leaves create the sugars that move into the fruit.

Once you've decided to harvest, you can store the grapes for about eight weeks. Refrigerators are a good place to store grapes. A crisper with a damp towel over the top of the fruit is ideal.

If you have an abundance of grapes, try making them into jellies, jams, juice, or wine. My family especially likes grape pie. Grape pie is time-consuming to make, but worth every bite! 

Here is my recipe from our Kinsel Family Favorites 2009 cookbook. 

My son Tyler helping make grape pie in 2000. 

My son Derek helping make grape pie in 2000.

The Incredible Edible Elderberry

I have always loved elderberries. As a kid there was an elderberry bush outside my bedroom window. I waited patiently each summer for the first berry clusters to ripen. I’d eat them right off the plant whenever I walked or mowed past the delicious, though tart, fruit.

Our native American elder (Sambucus canadensis) is commonly found along roadways, in ditches, and along woodlands. It grows very well in our dry, hot summers. This plant grows 8 to 10 feet tall and wide, and can be a bit scraggly unless kept under control. The 5 to 12 inch creamy white flowers in June and July are followed by tasty ¼ inch purple-black fruit in August and September.

Elderberries sucker and spread and therefore work best when used in naturalized landscapes. This versatile plant also works well in in shrub borders, roadside plantings, as a screen, in edible landscapes, to attract wildlife, or as part of a native plant garden.

Elderberry fruit is used in preserves, jellies, pies, and syrup. My mom made a delicious elderberry jam, which was amazing on her homemade biscuits. It also makes delightful drinks, including immunity tea, sparkling water, kombucha, wine, craft beer, and cordials. Elton John, Jerry Lee Lewis, the Rolling Stones, and even Prince referred to elderberry wine in their songs.

Last weekend I harvested elderberries that grow on our property. A 5-gallon bucket of picked berries with stems yielded about 10 cups of berries. I made 4 cups into syrup and I dried 6 cups for use later in teas. The recipes are below. I only picked half the berries on my shrub, so next year I plan to pick elder-flowers too.

Finally, a word of caution that you might find this plant on some poisonous plant lists. Stick with eating only elder flowers and fruit because other parts, especially the roots, can be quite poisonous.  

Dried elderberries

Dry fresh elderberries in a dehydrator, oven, or in the sun. I used a dehydrator on medium-high setting for 10-12 hours, then placed them in a glass jar. (6 cups fresh berries produced 5 ounces dry berries. I’ve paid up to $20/pound for dry berries in the past.).

For tea, infuse (steep) 1 teaspoon of dried berries for 5 minutes. Add honey to taste. This is a great immunity builder.

Elderberry syrup (tonic)

4 cups berries (1:1 water to berry ratio for fresh and 2:1 for dried)

4 cups water

4 tablespoons fresh grated ginger

1 ½ cinnamon sticks

1 tablespoon whole cloves

1 cup honey (more if like it sweeter)

10 cups fresh elderberries produced
3 cups syrup and 1 pint dry berries. 

1.      Bring berries, water, ginger, cinnamon, and cloves to a boil on the stove. Reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes (longer if you want thicker syrup). Let cool.

2.      Strain the liquid from the berries using a sieve, colander, food mill, or other straining device. Press to get all the liquid out. If still not all liquid, do a final strain through cheese cloth.

3.      Add sweetener (raw honey, real maple syrup, sugar, or other).

Use as a pancake syrup or as a winter tonic to build immunity against flu, colds, and upper respiratory infections. I take 1-tablespoon 3 times a day, or alternate with an elderberry-echinacea tea.

Disclaimer: always discuss herbal supplements, including teas and tonics, with your doctor before using them. Research is inconclusive in the scientific community about many herbal supplements.

Growing Pinto Beans

This year I planted a three-sisters garden, which consist of sweet corn, climbing beans, and squash. I chose pinto and lima beans for my climbing beans, and they are doing very well.

Pinto beans are one of many different types of dry beans, including black, kidney, northern, and more. They are not commonly grown in the home garden but are very easy to grow.

I purchased mine from the Vermont Bean Seed Company. Their catalog lists the pinto bean as a 90-day, half-runner-type pole bean. The light green pods are lightly striped pink and quite pretty. They produce a medium sized bean that is light beige specked with brown. I planted mine on May 27, 2020.

I was able to harvest most of them on August 4^th. Since a half-runner-type bean is part bush and part pole bean, it produced pods closer to the ground. The new growth continued to climb upward on the corn plants in my three-sisters garden.

I harvested the bean pods that were completely dry, with dry beans inside. A small dishpan produced about a half pound of shelled beans. Since they were dry the beans came out of the pods very easily.

I was so excited about my first pinto bean harvest that I brought them right to the kitchen to cook. After cleaning, I boiled them about 10 minutes and let sit for an hour (in lieu of an overnight soak), then drained them. After adding 2-3” of water above the beans, the beans were boiled with a small white onion (also from my garden) and a bay leaf. After about an hour the beans were soft, but not broken.

They taste wonderful alone, but I plan to add barbecue flavor to make a sort of baked bean. I also really like pinto beans as vegetarian refried beans or as a bean dip that includes tomato, chives, and cilantro.

My first experience growing pinto beans was so successful that I plan to grow them again next year, in an even bigger three-sister garden!

Midsummer Vegetable Gardens

Are you enjoying the “fruits of your labor” from your vegetable garden this summer? With proper care, vegetable gardens provide fresh produce well into the fall.

Watering 3-Sisters Garden with upright sprinkler

Although we had too much rain in June, July began quite dry. It is essential to keep plants watered consistently during the heat of summer. On average, plants need one inch of water per week and this may need to be stepped up to one inch every five days during the heat of summer. Watering is the most important maintenance item, so don't skimp on it. Soak the soil thoroughly to a depth of at least 6 inches rather than sprinkling the garden lightly.

If you did not mulch in spring, consider doing it now. Most vegetables benefit from mulching, including tomatoes, cucumbers, melons, beans, and potatoes. Besides controlling weeds, the mulch will save moisture, keep the soil temperature more even, and keep the fruits clean. The many types of mulch include leaves, grass clippings, straw, cardboard, newspaper, and black plastic.

Straw mulch

Pests are one the biggest frustration for home vegetable gardeners. When possible, use disease-resistant varieties. Crop rotation every 3 to 4 years is also very effective for many insect and diseases problems. This is done by moving vegetable types to other areas of the garden or yard.

New gardeners sometimes wonder when they should begin harvesting their product. This varies from crop to crop, but there are some tips that will help the produce stay fresh and tasty longer. Avoid bruising or damaging them, because injury encourages decay. Most vegetables last longer if they are place in cool storage immediately. In particular, sweet corn loses its sweet flavor quickly if it is not cooled as soon as possible.

Arugula, Swiss card, cucumber, baby carrot, and yellow squash

If you have harvested part of your garden, now is the time to begin your fall garden. A fall garden extends your supply of fresh vegetables. Unfortunately, a successful fall garden demands additional work and planning at a time when you are busiest. Irrigation is usually necessary and weeds grow quickly at this time. But the pleasure you can derive from a fall garden far outweighs the extra effort involved in planning and planting it.

The midsummer planting usually takes place from July 10-20 and could include snap beans, beets, broccoli plants, cabbage plants, carrot, cauliflower plants, and okra. From August 1-10 you could also add many cool-crops such as lettuce, mustard greens, turnips, and winter radishes. Spring radishes, spinach, and more leaf lettuce can go in as late as August 25 to September 5.

How is your garden growing?

Grow Vegetables in Containers

ICC Master Gardener display garden
in 2018 

This year I added a terraced raised bed garden where I am growing most of my vegetable crops. It is allows me to grow a lot of food in a smaller space, while also looking good. If you don’t have space for a large row garden or just want to try something different, here are some other options to try.  

Container herbs on 5-13-2020

One trend right now is growing vegetables in raised beds and containers. Container vegetable gardens are particularly popular with gardeners who have little or no ground space. Containers may be located almost anywhere and can be both decorative and harvestable. Popular choices for container gardens include attractive pots of kitchen herbs, hanging baskets of ripe red tomatoes, and window boxes of bright leaf lettuce or fresh radishes.

'Mighty Mini' aerogarden tomatoes

Dwarf vegetable varieties work particularly well in containers. For example, there are many different types of dwarf tomatoes that produce fruit in small spaces. Most dwarf tomatoes have determinate growth habits (see definitions at bottom of page). I have had success in the past growing ‘Bush Goliath’ tomato in a container. It is a two to three-foot-tall plant with 3 to 4-inch, sweet tomatoes. I have also grown ‘Mighty Mini’ cherry tomatoes in my indoor aerogarden. Considered by many to be the smallest tomato plant, it grows only five to six inches tall, producing sweet salad tomatoes. By the way, the trick to growing tomatoes indoors is good light and pollinating flowers by hand.

  

If you don’t have a container you can actually garden right in the potting mix bags. Purchase potting soil bags at your local nursery or garden center, and cut a few drainage holes in the back side of each bag. Lay the bags flat on the ground, and then cut holes in the top of the bags to make room for the plants. Use a hose to moisten the potting mix, and then add plants. This makes a quick and easy vegetable garden.

Watermelon in 2013 at
Washington Community Garden

For those with extremely limited space, a vertical garden might be the way to go. Vining crops work especially well when trellised up a wall. Other options include bean poles, teepees covered in vines, may poles, or even tomato cages. Vegetables to try include peas, pole beans, squash, melons, cucumbers, pumpkins, and some tomatoes. When choosing the structure, make sure that it is strong enough to support whatever will be grown upon it. Plants loaded down with fruit can become quite heavy. In some situations, dwarf varieties might work better.

Regardless of your gardening style or technique, have fun. Home gardening is quite rewarding and very tasty.

25-foot indeterminate tomato
at Dixon Springs Ag 

Definitions

Determinate and Indeterminate tomato growth habits. Determinate varieties set fruit at the ends of their branches on terminal buds. Once buds are set they stop growing in height, so these plants need little or no staking and generally have a short harvest period. Indeterminate varieties continue to grow and produce leaves and flowers until the first frost and require staking and pruning.

Tomato label terminology. Look for label terms that indicate a tomato plant’s resistance to various diseases: A for alternaria disease resistance, F-fusarium, N-nematodes, T-tobacco mosaic virus, and V-verticillium. This does not mean they are immune to the disease, but rather that they are less likely to get that disease. Also, be sure to rotate your crop for better disease management.

Rhubarb...delicious though sometimes poisonous

We have a freeze warning tonight so it seems like a good time to discuss rhubarb. 

I love rhubarb, but it can be toxic. The leaves of rhubarb are extremely poisonous. They contain large amounts of oxalic acid and should not be eaten. Also, do not feed rhubarb leaves to animals. Rhubarb stalks (stems) are safe to eat, unless the plants are severely frozen. If rhubarb leaves freeze and leafstalks are “mushy” the oxalic acid may have migrated from the leaf blades to the stems. Additionally, frozen leafstalks have poor texture and flavor and should not be eaten.

Also known as the pie plant, rhubarb is a very hardy perennial garden vegetable that grows extremely well here. Rhubarb is available in either red or green stalk varieties. A popular green stalk one is Victoria. More types are available in red including Canada Red with long, thick, extra sweet stalks, Cherry Red with red inside and out, Crimson Red that is tall and plump, and MacDonald with tender skin and brilliant red color.

If you want to start rhubarb, here are some tips. Plant enough for your family. A half-dozen plants should provide enough rhubarb for most families. Plant or divide rhubarb roots in early spring when the plants are still dormant for best results. You can move small plants now, but don’t wait much longer.

Place roots with the crown bud 2 inches below the surface of the soil. Space the roots 36 to 48 inches apart in rows 3 to 4 feet apart. Good drainage is essential. Water new plants properly and keep weeded. Rhubarb doesn’t need much additional care once established. If you want to fertilize, use a complete garden fertilizer such as 12-12-12 granules before growth begins in the spring.

Harvest requires a few rules of thumb. Never harvest rhubarb during the first year of planting or too late in the fall. The plants need upper growth to build up healthy and vigorous to make it through the winter. Stalks may be harvested for 1 or 2 weeks during the second year. By the third year, you should get a full harvest of 8 to 10 weeks.

If seedstalks and flowers develop during the spring and summer, cut them from the base of the plant. This will assure the plants put energy into more stalks and not flowers. Leafstalks are the highest quality in early spring, but can be harvested through mid-summer.

Although considered a vegetable, rhubarb is used as a fruit in pies, tarts, cakes, and sauces. Here are two of my favorite rhubarb dessert recipes. 

Rhubarb Cobbler Dessert

Crust

Blend the following, then press into a square (9x9) pan and bake 15 minutes at 350 degrees. 

- 1 cup flour 

- 5 Tablespoons powdered sugar

- 1/2 cup melted butter

Filling,

Mix the following well. Spread on crust. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes. 

- 1 1/2 cup sugar

- 1/4 cup flour

- 3/4 teaspoon salt

- 2 beaten eggs

- 2 cups chopped rhubarb

Easy Rhubarb Cobbler

Fill a 9 x 13 baking dish 1/2 - 3/4 full with chopped rhubarb, add sugar if you prefer sweeter cobbler 

Sprinkle dry white cake mix over the top

Dot with butter every 1-2" across top of dry cake mix

Bake at 350 degrees until butter melts, cake mix is brown, and rhubarb is bubbly (~30 minutes)

Edible Flowers Add Color and Flavor

Do you want to “spice” up your meals? Sometimes I’ll add flowers to a dull looking salad to add color. Or, sometimes I just eat flowers right out in the garden.

But one very important thing that you need to remember is that not every flower is edible. In fact, sampling some flowers can make you very, very sick. Make sure you know for sure the identity of the flower before eating it. You also should NEVER use pesticides or other chemicals on any part of any plant that produces blossoms you plan to eat.

Here are a few of the flowers I’m planting this year for beauty and flavor.

  

SUNFLOWERS - Almost everyone knows what a sunflower looks like. There are many different types and sizes to choose from. I’m planting both giant types (Mammoth) and a dwarf one (Sunspot). You can harvest the seeds after the petals drop, cure them, and then eat them raw or oven-roasted. Or, you can save them to feed the birds this winter.

NASTURTIUMS - This is one of my favorite edible flowers. They add a mild pepper taste to salads. This low-growing annual has blossoms that taste like watercress with a slightly sweet flavor. There are several edible varieties to choose from, most of which grow best in full sun or light shade. I also planted a climbing type this year in a couple places in the yard.

BORAGE - This annual ornamental plant produces clusters of one-half inch sky-blue flowers, which bees find particularly attractive. Borage blossoms have a light cucumber taste and can be added to salads, fruit cups, or frozen in ice cubes for cold drinks. Plants grow two to three feet tall.

CHIVES - This herb has attractive lavender-pink blossoms that make a delicious addition to salads, egg dishes, and potatoes. Both blossoms and the slender dark green leaves (or "stems") have a subtle onion flavor. This perennial plant likes full sun and grows to one foot.

ROMAN CHAMOMILE – This dainty little plant has edible daisy-like flowers. Although both the leaves and flowers are edible, I prefer the flowers to use as herbal tea. This plant does not tolerate hot, dry weather, so a slightly shaded area might work best.

CALENDULA - Also called pot marigold, this is another plant that is not only beautiful, but also often used as an herb. The edible ray florets of the flower heads (petals) are used in tea or as a saffron substitute.

      Finally, there are a few edible weed flowers to consider. Dandelion flowers are a pretty and mild addition to spring salads, though they get bitter later in the summer. Wild blue violets are good candied or brewed into a bright, purple syrup.

Edible weed greens included purslane, lambsquarters, and garlic mustard. I make pesto from garlic mustard. Somehow it felt satisfying to eat this prolific, nasty weed.