Spring Equinox Eve Garden Update

Hi friends!

Tomorrow is the "official" first day of Spring, the Spring Equinox. Spring is always wacky in Portland. Last night I drove home from my speaking gig at 9pm and it was still 60 degrees and I had the sunroof down. Last week we had night temps in the upper 20s and I was wearing long johns. Remember, our average last frost date in Portland is April 15th. Last year we still had frosts up until the end of May!!!

My indoor seed starting has progressed nicely. Here's a photo one week after I planted the seeds. Everything has germinated except the herbs: parsley, chives & savory. I especially love the 'Magenta Sunset' Chard. It is a magenta ribbed plant and you can already see the tint in this tiny one week old seedling. I love it! You can also see all the seedlings are titleto the left which is the direction of the sunny kitchen window!

My peas have finally germinated. I sowed snow and sugar snap peas directly into the garden almost exactly one month ago and they have been total slow pokes! But, here's the proof they have finally germinated. YAY! The strawberry crowns I planted the same day along with arugula and radish seeds are all lookin lovely.

Here are 2 winter veggies I'm very proud of. This is 'green wave' mustard greens and some Italian kale I planted back in late September. Both of these plants weathered the big snow storm and when the 2 feet melted off them they were alive and kicking. They are both starting to leaf out again.

This is a photo of 2 cover crops I planted in late September--fava bean and crimson clover. They had both germinated and were pretty young when the Christmas snow storm hit. Once it melted they both looked slimy and dead. Within another month they had bounced back and look how luscious they are now!

That's is all the gardening news for this week. I didn't do any new planting this week because I'm recovering from the flu. I was happy today to get into the garden for a while to take these photos, assess progress, turn the compost pile, and pull a few weeds. There's a major project in the works for this weekend clearing away the plum tree wreckage that is covering nearly half my backyard.

Well, happy Spring Equinox eve and many blessings on you and your gardens!

In Health,

Miss Jolie Ann

P.S. If the format of my postings has been looking very bad, I am having a very difficult time editing lately. The more photos I've been adding change the layout and I haven't found any easy way to adjust the way the postings look. I know the print is coming out weird on the actual blog and that's never they way it looks in my posting previews. It's not accepting my line spacing and slamming everything together and then in the next post adding it's own double spacing making the posting REALLY long with stupid spacing. So, I do apologize if it's been hard to read my blog. I'm doing the best I can. I will see what I can figure out. Sorry! Miss Jolie Ann

Indian Curry of Potatoes, Garbanzo's & Green Peas

Indian Curry of Potatoes, Garbanzo's & Green Peas
Original Recipe by Miss Jolie Ann

I like to serve this one over long grain brown basmti rice. This recipe fills that craving for potatoes while still being healthy and the Indian spices are fragrant and amazing. I've also adapted this one for the crockpot, let me know if you are interested and I'd be happy to pass the details to you. Enjoy!

In Health,
Miss Jolie Ann

Indian Curry with Potatoes, Garbanzo's & Green Peas

Yields about 6 servings

5 tbsp salted butter

1 tbsp cumin

1 tbsp turmeric

1 tsp coriander

1 tsp garam masala

1 tsp hot curry powder

1 tsp whole mustard seeds

6 medium yukon gold potatoes, chopped with skins on

1 cup cooked garbanzo beans

About 2-3 cups water

1 cup frozen green peas, thawed

1/2 cup plain nonfat yogurt

sea salt

1. Heat the butter in a stockpot over medium heat

2. Once the butter is melted add the spices and cook for about 5 minutes until bubbling and toasty. Enjoy the delicious fragrance that is released.

3. Add the potatoes and continue to cook over medium heat for about 10 minutes. The potatoes will just start to brown.

4. Add the garbanzo beans and about 2-3 cups water. You want just enough water to cover the potatoes and garbanzo's.

5. Put on a lid and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce the heat to a simmer at about medium heat. Let cook for about 30 minutes. Occasionally stir to make sure the potatoes are not sticking.

6. Check the texture after 30 minutes, you want the potatoes to be nice and soft and becoming somewhat mushy.

7. Add the green peas and the yogurt. Let cook for about 5 more minutes just until everything is warmed up and combined. You want the peas to remain a nice bright green color and not overcooked.

8. Check the flavor. Add salt to taste and adjust the spices to your liking.

9. Serve warm over long grain brown basmati rice.

Pea Planting-Update

A few weeks ago I posted that I got started with my late winter garden seed planting-snow peas, snap peas, and 2 varities of radishes. Following my planting, this last week we had beautiful weather in Portland-sunny & high's around 55-60 degrees. It was incredible. This morning I noticed that my radish seeds had finally shot up little seedlings. Portland weather is unpredictable and to my dismay this afternoon's rain turned into a 20 minute heavy hail storm. Yikes! My raised garden beds were completely covered in a layer of white icy hail. I thought for sure my tiny new radish seedlings were goners. But, now it's 3 hours later and all the hail is melted. Radish seedlings are still standing. Fingers crossed they will continue to grow and thrive because I can't wait for home grown radishes and peas in another month!

Wishes for Beautiful Health,
Miss Jolie Ann

Pea Planting!

Hooray for the sunny weather, even if it is still cold. We have a brief respite from the rain and I am loving getting some work done in my garden. It's President's Day Weekend and the old saying is "Peas in by President's Day." I feel super blessed by the sunshine visiting in abundance the very weekend I wanted to get planting. Thanks again Mother Nature for your cooperation.


Tanya turned the compost bins and we harvested the first compost since we began 9 months ago. It was gorgeous rich black-brown. I've been composting for several years and it still amazes me every time I see the finished product. I spread lots of this fresh compost in my raised beds, particularly the bed that was plagued with pests and disease which completely destroyed my Autumn brassica crops.


I prepared two of my raised beds with a generous helping of Whitney Farm's Life Link Tomato & Vegetable Food. While preparing my beds for planting seeds I was careful not to disturb my overwintering red onions, yellow onions and garlic. Quite by surprise I discovered some overwintering carrots whose leafy tops were gone. I pulled 4 beautiful big carrots and ate them raw in a salad that same night. They were so sweet and quite an unexpected surprise!


This year I planted 2 varieties of Peas from Territorial Seed Company: Cascadia (snap) and Oregon Giant (snow). Check out Territorial Seed Company at: http://www.territorialseed.com/ This is the 2nd year I'm planting Cascadia, and Oregon Giant is something new for me. I coated my pea seeds well with an inoculant. Inoculant is supposed to enhance the nitrogen-fixing bacterial nodes on the plant roots (all in-line with the soil food workshop I recently attended!) I gave both pea plantings support by constructing bamboo & tree branch structures to climb. Along with my peas I planted radish seeds: Cherry Belle and Easter Egg.


Since planting 5 days ago we've had ample sunshine and a little bit of rain here and there. I'll expect to see radish seedlings poking up in another week, and peas the week after that. But for now I am ecstatic to gaze upon my minimal garden soaked in sunshine practically every day.

In Health,
Miss Jolie Ann