I Say Raab, You Say Rabe

When I planted those lacinato kale seeds in the garden last spring, I figured I'd get some good eating from their greens later in the summer. Indeed, that did happen until they became infested with aphids and the dusty grey bugs and their residue couldn't be washed off the leaves. At that point I thought they were pretty much done and it was time to pull them out.

Then Anthony Boutard mentioned that he prefers these greens in the winter, when the cold weather causes the plants to produce sugar as a kind of anti-freeze. So I left them in, pulling off the leaves for salads, soups and sides and discovering, by golly, that Anthony wasn't pulling my leg. There was a definite sweetness that crept in as the winter progressed.

As the plant grew, looking like a Dr. Suess illustration of a tiny palm tree, the leaves became smaller and smaller, and again I thought about pulling them up. About then I noticed that little heads were forming with buds that looked like the raab I love at the spring farmers' markets. I picked one off and tasted it…nutty, green, sweet…woohoo!

So about the time the raab runs out it'll be time to plant new seeds and get a whole new year's worth of eating. Who knew?

For more, read Jim Dixon's rant about the "immature flower buds from various cabbage relatives."

Speaking of the Harvest…

Is it any wonder that late summer is one of our very favorite times of the year? This is the haul I just made from our garden, and it doesn't even include the carrots, collards and lacinato that is waiting for me to get back out there, or the tomatoes I took to the neighbors. Fabulous eatin' awaits!

Garden 2011: First Cut

Firsts are always worth noting, and this morning was the initial harvest of early arugula and radishes from our raised bed. Yes, there'd been some thinning and a "tasting" of an early radish or two, but today those seeds I sowed had grown to the point I could actually pull some plants out of the ground to have for dinner. Woo hoo!

It was almost exactly one month ago, in a very-late-for-Portland mid-June, I finally planted our garden with tomatoes, collards, lacinato kale, arugula, carrots, radishes, beans, cukes, a couple of squash and a smattering of herbs. Tomatoes are growing (slowly) and starting to flower, I've lost a three or four of the dozen or so lacinato kale plants—still leaving plenty—and the carrots have pretty much stubbornly refused to germinate (I blame bad seeds) and I've resowed them.

The basket of arugula and radishes (top photo) makes me happy just looking at them, and I plan to use the arugula for a salad tonight and maybe try my hand at radish fritters, using the greens to make an aioli.

What, you didn't know radish greens were edible? They're a great braising green in soups and stews or sautéed with bacon and garlic for pasta, and they'd be awesome in my friend Sophie's recipe for Indian Poriyal. The leaves have teeny stiff hairs all over them and are a bit prickly but don't seem to sting like nettles. Plus the hairs are completely unnoticeable once they're cooked.

All in all a very promising (and hopeful) start!

Garden 2011: Exercising My Options

It's been said before, but to me a garden is an exercise in hope. Especially this year, with the cool temperatures and wet weather making this the latest I've ever planted tomatoes. Though this year I didn't need the Walls o' Water to protect them from the premature planting urge that usually overtakes my better judgement in early May.

Holding off also gave me a little more time to plan, if that term can be applied to the whirlpool of vegetable-themed desire that swirled in my head, resulting in a scouting trip to the nursery to look at what was available and grab my few required starts and soil amendments, with a return trip or two to fill in.

Trip one was for tomatoes (Sungold, Cherokee Purple, a black cherry and Green Zebra), peppers (ancho and Jimmy Nardello), lacinato kale and collards, which went in our parking strip bed. Trip two was for seeds (arugula, French radish) and herb starts (French tarragon, savory). I also had the brilliant idea to grow vegetables up the chain link fence behind our raised beds both for space considerations and also to screen our outdoor dining area on the other side. For that task I chose Kentucky Wonder green beans and a green cucumber. Again, hope is the operative word here.

Then trip three was for carrot seeds to fill in some space left in the second raised bed, a mix of red Nantes and a packet labeled Carnival Blend guaranteed to grow "red, purple, white and yellow" carrots, and which claims "Kids love them!" in cheery italics. I also picked up a few squash plants to grow down the slope in front of the beds, a trick I tried last year but one that yielded miserable results for some reason I've never figured out.

I'll be posting occasional photos of the progress of this yearly experiment in optimism. Oh, and for those keeping track, Dave's 20-year raised beds are in hale and hearty shape in their fifth season. Only fifteen to go!

Download the plans for Dave's raised beds.