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

Beet & Orange Salad with Cress & Quinoa

Beet and Orange Salad with Cress and Quinoa

original recipe by Miss Jolie Ann

This salad got RAVE reviews at the February 2nd Friday Suppers at Jolie's recipe tasting! Everyone loved it. I found the red onions to be a little much--I think I got a larger slice that was very strong. No one else seemed to mind. My friends licked the serving dish clean on this one! The quinoa adds nice substance to a light salad and provides a great source of vegan protein. Enjoy!

In Health,

Miss Jolie Ann

Beet & Orange Salad with Cress & Quinoa

Serves about 4 as main dish, 8 as side dish

5 medium sized beets

1 cup quinoa

2 medium oranges, peeled and segmented

2 bunches cress, washed & dried

1/2 small red onion, thinly sliced

5 radishes, thinly sliced

1/2 cup chopped walnuts, toasted

Dressing:

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

1/4 tsp prepared mustard

pinch each of: dried cumin, dried thyme, dried tarragon, sea salt, black pepper

1. Cook the beets. I have cooked them several ways including: peel them and thinly slice, place in a baking dish with a little water and cover, then bake on 375 degrees for about 1 hour. Or you can boil them by leaving them unpeeled, bring pot to a boil, lower to medium heat and simmer for about 30 minutes, remove from water and pull of the skins.

2. While beets are cooking prepare the quinoa by rinsing and placing in a saucepan with 2 cups water. Cover and bring to a boil. Once boiling, lower the heat to medium low and simmer covered for about 20-30 minutes until the water is absorbed and quinoa is light and fluffy. Turn off heat, leave pan covered on burner for 5 minutes. Remove from stove and fluff with a fork. Set aside.

3. Mix dressing ingredients by combining in a small mason jar, cover and shake. Once beets are done cooking, add dressing to them and place in the refrigerator to marinate for approximately 1 hour or more if you have the time.

4. When you are ready to serve, assemble your ingredients in layers on a large serving dish in this order: cress, quinoa, oranges, red onions, beets with dressing marinade, radishes and walnuts. Let come to room temperature and serve.

Sorrel and Radish Salad

Sorrel and Radish Salad
Recipe from Sunset Magazine April 2008

If you've been paying attention to my gardening ramblings you will know that my spring garden has a few things ready to harvest and they happen to be sorrel and radishes. I was super excited to find this simple salad recipe in Sunset magazine. Make sure that the radish quantity outnumbers the sorrel leaves. If there is more sorrel, it's lemony flavor can really overwhelm everything else.

You can of course purchase sorrel and radishes for this recipe. Though I also really encourage you to include both these crops in your home garden. Radishes are ridiculously easy to grow from seed, they are a quick few weeks to harvest, and they can tolerate cold and warm weather. I started french sorrel from seed last summer. I had a nice harvest last year, it overwintered with a modest harvest during the coldest months when nothing else was in my garden, and at the beginning of spring it took off again with a vengeance.

Happy Eating & Happy Planting!
Miss Jolie Ann

RECIPE:

Trim, rinse, and dry 3 bunches radishes (30 to 36 radishes). Slice radishes very thinly and put in a bowl. Add 1 tbsp rice vinegar, 1/2 tsp grated ginger, and 1/4 tsp salt. Toss to combine. Lay 10 to 12 sorrel leaves (about 1 box or small bunch) in a stack and slice them crosswise into think ribbons. Toss sorrel with radishes. Add additional salt to taste. Serve immediately.

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