Straw Bale Potato Storage
We had a huge potato harvest as the result of growing three beds rather than two and using seed potatoes from Wood Prairie Farm that gave us a much greater yield than previous seed sources. We ended up with over 300 pounds of potatoes from a 30 pound planting. I knew...
Roasted Butternut Squash Medallions with Sage Garnish
You may have read about our harvest of smaller squash in a previous post by Noel. The trellised squash yielded about 35 winter squash. We hadn't even started counting the large varieties which included a 37 pound Boston Marrow, four Hubbards, several Red Kuris, large...
Fermented Cabbage the Kraut Source Way
Above is a picture of the purple sauerkraut I started a couple of days ago with cabbage, ginger, dill and hot pepper. We had about ten cabbages of four different varieties in this year's garden. Since we don't have a great way to store them fresh for any length of...
Garlic Planting in Open Raised Beds
Our target for planting garlic is the end of October. We hit it this year and I'm always happier when the cloves are set for their winter sprouting. Yesterday, I planted 76 saved seeds and added 38 new seeds, Lorz Italian, a softneck variety we purchased last week...
2015 Sweet Potato Harvest
As the garden season winds down, we're happy to report that we've had another great sweet potato harvest. I like to remind people that it's easy to grow sweet potatoes even up north, here in Wisconsin. Here are the potato vines, about two weeks ago. We already had a...
Trellised Squash Harvest
We harvested about 40 small winter squash yesterday. They were trellised using T-posts and concrete reinforcing grid. The trellis is discussed here. The advantage of trellising is space saving. These squash only took up about 60 square feet of garden space, grown in...
Eggplants Bounce Back
Here are three beautiful eggplants. We’ve already enjoyed some of my favorite eggplant Parmesan and our eggplant harvest is going to be very good. Our eggplants are looking pretty good and giving us some beautiful fruit, but six weeks ago, I really thought the crop...
Grilled Zucchini
Noel outdid himself with the squash plantings in this year's garden. Barring any complications with squash bugs, squash vine borers, and other varmints that come along we should be up to our eyeballs in squash of all kinds. This includes a wide variety of winter...
Onion Harvest
Here are about 300 onions we harvested from one of our 5 feet wide by 20 feet long open raised beds. The red onions are Red Bull, which performed extremely well. The yellow onions are Copra, a reliable storage onion that we've grown for many years. Both are...
T-Post Squash Trellis Follow Up
I posted on June 28th just after I set up a trellis system using concrete reinforcing grids and T-posts. Here is the post. I’m happy to report that the trellis has so far exceeded my expectations. The plants have climbed well over the top of the 7 foot high trellis....
Melon and Squash Trellises Using T-Post and Metal Concrete Reinforcing Grid
I planted smaller squash and melons without a firm idea on how I was going to trellis them. Going online, I found several references to using metal concrete reinforcing grids as trellis material. I knew immediately this was a good solution that would easily...
Hilling Potatoes in Open Raised Beds
Most years I grow 2 beds of potatoes. This year, as part of my way bigger than needed garden, I’m growing three beds. They’re planted more intensively than I’d like. That’s because I got carried away with my seed potato purchase from Wood Prairie Farm, an organic...
Snow Pea Mushroom Tofu Stir Fry
Pea pods or snow peas are in - just in time to take over the green aspect in the kitchen from the dwindling asparagus patch. The young and tender pods are great eaten right off the vine. They're good raw and also make a crunchy addition to a stir fry as long as you...
Improved Tomato Trellis
Last year I bought a bundle of 7’ bamboo stakes specifically to build a reliable tomato trellis. I built a beefy structure that performed well, but it had drawbacks. Here is last year’s trellis post. This year I’ve simplified the design. I eliminated the...
Radish and Pea Pod Sauté
With the abundance of radishes in the garden this year I'm trying something new. We've always eaten our radishes raw, right out of the garden, or sliced in our salads. I had heard of cooking radishes but never tried it myself. Noel keeps bringing in radish thinnings...
Sautéed Mustard Greens
Noel has mustard greens growing like weeds in the garden. He planted the mustard along with various lettuces at the edges of the pea patch and also interspersed them with the garlic plants. Some of what doesn't get eaten will go to flower to attract pollinators and...
Asparagus Mushroom Tofu Scramble
A couple of days ago Noel brought in shiitake mushrooms from our logs at the side of the woods. I had a handful of fresh picked asparagus, some tofu leftover from a stir fry and a few cremini mushrooms in the fridge. Here's what I came up with for a very satisfying...
Comfrey Mulch
Comfrey (Symphytum officinale L.) reminds me a lot of tobacco, which is grown as a cash crop by farmers here in Cambridge, Wisconsin. I’ve read that comfrey can be smoked as a tobacco, but I have no interest. I grow it as a compost crop and for that purpose, its value...
Low Hoop Tunnels for Easier Vegetable Starts
Inexpensive and easy to erect low hoop tunnels can save the home gardener a lot of work in getting seed starts into the garden. For the past several years I’ve nearly eliminated the tedious chores of carting flats of vegetables outdoors and back inside daily to harden...
Sweet Potatoes Planted With Black Plastic Mulch
It’s May 23rd here near Madison, Wisconsin. This morning, I planted 17 sweet potato slips into a raised bed covered with a sheet of black polyethylene. Memorial Day weekend has always been my target planting date for sweet potatoes, and this year I’m right on time. I...