Friday's Featured Food: Dragon's Eggs

D is for Dragon's Eggs... cucumbers, that is. Dragon's Eggs Cucumbers are one of the funnest novelty heirloom crops we grow. They taste like a mild cucumber but look like little white eggs.  This vegetable originates in Croatia and has a thin, white rind and a great crisp, fresh flavor, great for salads. But more than anything, they are attention-getters and great for practical jokes. Imagine giving your mom or neighbor a dozen of these in an egg carton and see what happens.

So, recipes...hmm. Much like cauliflower, cucumbers are usually just wash, sliced and eaten raw in our house. We love the flavor so much, there isn't any need to add to it. Cucumber salads are also a standard. For a sour salad, mix sliced cucumbers, sliced onions, and a bit of garlic. Add one part water to 3 parts vinegar. Let set for a few hours before serving. For a mild salad, just pour ranch dressing over sliced cucumbers and sweet onions. Let set for a few hours and enjoy!

But, if you feel the need to get creative, you could always make some pickles. Pickles means another D ... Dill. We are blest to have dill seed from my Grandma Albers' garden, true heirloom seed brought over from Germany by my great-grandparents and grown every since. Last year we relied on our heritage and made sweet pickles with my grandma's dill and Jay's grandmother Clara's recipe. It's definitely one will be repeating this year, may times over.

SWEET DILL PICKLES

1 gallon sliced cucumbers

3 c. vinegar

3 c. sugar

2 T. mustard seed

2 T. salt

2 tsp. dill

1 tsp. celery seed

Boil the syrup and add the cucumbers. Simmer 15 minutes. Seal in jars.  

Yield:  4 1/2-5 pints

Friday's Featured Food: Dragon's Eggs

Soil from Scratch

I've made a lot of things in my life and followed a lot of recipes, but this was the first time I made dirt. Well, technically it's potting soil and technically Jay made it and technically it's the third year that he followed this recipe, but, well, you get the picture.

Why make dirt? It's not for mud pies, I'll tell you that! We are planning to grow and offer for sale about 100 hanging baskets of cherry tomatoes. We also are selling hundred of tomato, pepper, and cucumber seedlings. That takes a lot of soil. And, I don't know if you've noticed, but bags of potting soil can get pretty expensive...well, expensive for dirt, anyway.

So, my always inquisitive husband searched and researched online and found a recipe for potting soil. Just like most cooking, it's a lot cheaper to make this from scratch than it is to buy it premade. It also lets us control the soil type a bit, adjusting the ingredients to increase the water absorption and decrease the watering frequency.

So how do you make dirt? I'm not sure how many of his secrets Jay wants posted here, but it looks something like this (photos by K):

Which then turns into this:

Soil from Scratch

Hanging Tomatoes

As with any business endeavor, it's important to find a niche and fulfill the needs of your customers. The same holds true for our gardening.

There are a lot of what I like to call "displaced farmers" in our community, couples who are retired from farming and have moved into town, to smaller "more manageable" properties. Many displaced farmers not only miss their crops and equipment, but they also miss that little garden patch in the backyard. They miss walking outside and picking the produce for supper. They miss watching a plant grow and succeed. And so they start a "city garden" or container garden or grow something, anything.

And that is why we sell hanging baskets of tomatoes. It's one thing to come to the Farmers Market and get fresh picked tomatoes. It's something else completely to grow your own in your back yard. Last year was our first year selling hanging baskets and potted tomatoes. Not only did they sell well, but they produced well, too. We loved hearing the weekly reports from our customers, telling how many tomatoes they got off their basket that week.




Each of our hanging baskets contains two cherry tomato plants, one producing red cherry tomatoes and the other producing yellow tomatoes.

We hardened the plants before selling, to make sure they were strong. We made the potting soil ourselves, to save money but also to make sure it would hold moisture. That way, if someone forgot to water their plant for a day or two, it would still survive. And we kept a few ourselves, to monitor the successes or failures.

The picture below was taken in December.

Yes, it was still producing cherry tomatoes through the winter. That same basket is also the high basket in the picture below. If that plant can produce from August to December hanging in our basement, imagine what one of the hanging baskets could do in the spring/summer?

Hanging Tomatoes

Transplanting Cucumbers and Zucchini

Sunday was a busy day transplanting cucumbers and zucchini. These crops went into the second position of the movable tunnels. While cucumbers and zucchini are easy to start by seed in warm soil, transplanting them allows us to get a good jump on the growing season, especially in a high tunnel. If all goes as planned, I will be picking zucchini and cucumbers by the end of May... if not before.



The problem with transplanting these crops is that they don't like their roots disturbed; you need to give their root systems extra TLC. I planted a little heavy (more dense, less spacing) but I am guessing I will lose a few. Ideally, you should transplant these crops 2-3 weeks after seeding. I seeded these on April 10 and planted them out on the 25th of April.



If you purchase squash or cucumber plants to transplant, be careful what you buy. Buy some of the smallest plants with the fewest true leaves. Sometimes, in nurseries I see huge squash plants with blooms. These plants are stressed and will never produce as well. They also may not transplant very well.

The varieties I selected to grow in the high tunnels are parthenocopic, meaning they do not need to be pollinated. They also are almost seedless. That means I don't have to worry about insects getting in the buildings to pollinate, and the resulting produce is easier to consume by people with diverticulitis. These varieties do have their downside, though. The seed for these plants are very expensive, running 60 cents to over $1.00 per seed, depending on variety.

Zucchini Varieties:
Sultan -New this year.
Perfect Pick
Caveli- This is one of my favorites to eat.



Cucumber Varieties:
Socrates -New this year
Diva -Grown in the past
H-19 Little Leaf- very popular last year



Very soon I will need to add a trellis for the cucumbers to grow up, as the plants will start to take off and grow rapidly. You won't believe their growth in just a matter of days.

Transplanting Cucumbers and Zucchini

Learn how to Garden

Linda and I were blessed to have parents who enjoy gardening. My grandparents always had a big garden and I guess it kinda stuck. That generated the interest and some of the know-how. However, I have also spent countless hours at conferences, reading books, or searching the internet.

While many of the skills are second nature to us, I understand that it may not be that way for everyone. I always seem to forget about that. Many people in today's world have never planted or cared for a plant, let alone a garden. It always surprises me the number of questions that I get each week at the markets. I'm always more than happy to listen and answer if I can. If I can't, I will suggest resources or even try to find out myself. I guess that's the teacher in me, wanting to help others.

It hasn't always been this way, where so many people don't know how to grow their own food. Back during World War II, there use to be lots of time and money spend on teaching and informing the public on how to grow their own food. The more food people grew, the more it helped out with the war effort. Another gardener online posted this video on her website and I thought it was great. (Thanks, Barb!)



So I guess my challenge for you is this: While I know that gardening is not for everyone due to health reasons, housing restrictions, time factors or physical abilities. But don't let "I don't know how" be your excuse. There are lots of resources out there and people willing to help. Just tell them you know nothing and that you want to learn. Most gardener I know will love to "talk shop" and will spend the time to help you out. They may even share a few secrets! You can also check out your local Extension service or Master Gardeners programs in your area.

If this still isn't possible, try to buy produce from local producers. This will help support the local economy and help keep our dollars at home. In today's economy, we all could use a little help.

Learn how to Garden