Potato Rösti
In case you missed it the first time I'm republishing my Potato Rosti recipe. This time I used King Harry potatoes from the garden and Gruyere Swiss cheese. When doing a little research on what type of potato to use (I use what I have) apparently a waxy type of...
Lotsa Leaves
I’m ahead of the game! At least for the moment. All my open beds are weeded and shaped up, and I’ve put them to bed for the winter with the thickest leaf covering they have ever enjoyed. I reap huge benefits by covering the garden with leaves. The soil...
Fall Garden Cleanup
Fall Garden Cleanup Putting the garden to bed for the winter requires a little work. If things went perfectly all the beds would get cleaned of weeds and spent plants, compost would get worked in, the beds reworked and reshaped as necessary, and the whole garden...
Galeux d’Eysines Squash
Galeux d'Eysines a.k.a. peanut pumpkin (pronounced Gal-oh d'zeen), is a French heirloom squash. Our seeds came from the Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company. They are also available from Johnny's Selected Seeds and several other seed companies. Peanut Squash Galeux...
Mushrooms, Mushrooms and More Mushrooms
We have about two acres of woods on our property and each year we seem to find new things. They were probably there all along but went unnoticed by us. Actually this year didn't start out great for mushrooms. The morel harvest was hit and miss mostly due...
Buried Treasure
Potato Bed. Cold and soggy weather deterred gardening for nearly a week. It’s warmer now and drying up, a good time to finish digging up a potato bed that was already mostly harvested. Digging Potatoes. About a third of the bed was left to dig. Harvesting...
Caramelized Onions and Summer Squash
When you have a garden you pretty much have to go with the flow. When the corn is ready you eat corn, after the raccoons have had more than their fair share. When the tomatoes are ready you eat tomato sandwiches every day, make salsa, spaghetti...
Growing Up
This small bed has 5 wire grate trellises. It’s planted with cucumbers, smaller squashes, small melons, and tomatillos. The wire mesh is a concrete reinforcing insert which is readily available and not expensive. Like the T-posts to which they are attached,...
July Garden Tour
Our vegetable garden is divided into south and north areas. The south area is geometric consisting of 18 open raised beds. The North garden is more fragmented and contains a large and no longer maintained asparagus bed, five smaller beds in...
Sesame Blistered Pea Pods
Pea season is just about over for us here in Wisconsin. Pea pods and snow peas are great served raw for snacking or in a salad. They also make a tasty appetizer or side dish when blistered in a cast iron frying pan. Recipe: 1 T. Oil - I use olive oil...
Potato Trenches in Open Raised Beds
I plant my potatoes in trenches which I make with my old five-tined cultivating hoe. I loosen the soil with the cultivator and scoop it out of the trench with a flat spade. Potato Trenches It doesn’t take long to make trenches about eight inches deep and eight...
Hoop Tunnel 2020
I set up a hoop tunnel on April 30th and began moving plants into it the next day. Double Hoop on Tunnel Ends This year, I made the ends double, using two pieces of PVC tubing at each end instead of one. This provided a lot more rigidity to the whole structure...
Nettle Spanakopita
I have had some filo dough in the freezer for a while with the intention of making a spanakopita with spinach. But it's spring and I have been doing a little experimenting with nettles. Nettles are frequently compared to spinach, though they definitely...
Planting Peas
Here are Anneliese and Andy planting peas. Andy previously had set T- posts 36 inches apart across the width of the beds and 24 inches apart along the outside edges of the bed to give us 10 trellises spaced two feet apart to work with. Lacing in the Trellis. 24”...
Never Too Many Sweet Potatoes
I plant 17 or 18 sweet potatoes plants every year. For the past quite a few years I’ve started my sweet potatoes using sprouts from 2-year-old roots purposely allowed to sprout in the basement. This year, I had a request from our son Geoff, who is in New Haven,...
Tomato Pasta Sauce with Shredded Sweet Potato
I'm guessing you already have a favorite pasta sauce but if you're looking to step it up a little bit, try adding a cup or two of shredded sweet potato. The shreds practically melt into the sauce and add a touch of sweetness. I don't usually add any sugar...
Horseradish Heaven
Horseradish is easy to grow. It prefers northern climates and does not do well in areas without hard freezes. It is nearly impossible to grow in subtropical and warmer climates. Wisconsin is not tropical and horseradish loves it here. It is grown as a commercial crop....
Go! Go! Grow Lights!
Starting seeds is critical to my vegetable garden. Buying live plants is cost-prohibitive and only by starting seeds can I grow exactly what I want. The flats above are bottom heated with a heat mat. A sheet of plywood between the mat and the flats mitigates and...
Dutch Oven No-Knead Bread
Several months ago I found myself housebound due to illness. I started feeling better after a while, but I still wasn't really feeling up for leaving the house. I needed something to do with my time. Maybe baking? I'd heard about no-knead bread years ago, but I truly...
Instant Pot Sweet Potato, Tomato and Peanut Soup
This recipe was adapted from the cook book 'Vegetarian Planet' by Didi Emmons. The spices and peanut butter work really well and give it a nice flavor. A lot of times my homemade soups lack depth and I add veggie broth to give them a little umami but this...