Posts from — May 2007

In the category of “plants that ask so little and give so much”, I would place horseradish. We ordered and then planted the horseradish roots about 6 or 7 years ago in a 3X3 section of a bed near the back door. The horseradish is still thriving in that spot which gets only late afternoon sun. I don’t think that “partly shady” is necessarily horseradish’s preferred MO; I get the feeling it’s the kind of plant that would try hard anywhere. Horseradish comes back full force every spring, regardless of how we treat it. It’s here to stay.

You should keep that in mind when planting horseradish. A plant with such determination needs a permanent spot in a garden. If you should decide to move your horseradish bed once you’ve started it– well, good luck to you.

The two things I appreciate most about horseradish are its appearance and its uses. Horseradish plants are lovely and varied during the various stages of their development. I must admit that I was really surprised by this. As a small plant, horseradish has delicate shoots; then a single long stem comes from the middle and flowers, of all things. Later in the summer, the plants’ leaves become huge enough that you might imagine being able to roof a grass hut with them– or maybe that’s just me. Over time, horseradish will spread.

Horseradish doesn’t require much tending. One fall, we experimented with lifting all the roots and replanting just the smaller ones. That worked swell. Another fall, we didn’t get around to that process and the horseradish really didn’t seem to mind much. A few times, we’ve harvested just a few of the older plants and left all the rest alone. They came back fine as well. After picking, we tried freezing (a failure) and drying (a stinky failure). The best plan is to harvest, clean and grate the horseradish, in fairly short order, and then refrigerate in jars with vinegar covering the roots. This procedure will clear your sinuses like nothing else!

At the holidays, your guests will be dazzled and amazed by your home-grown, home-made horseradish sauce. You can use it straight from the jar or mix with a little sour cream for a creamier and less pungent sauce. A sparklingly memorable relish can be quickly assembled by combining a can of whole cranberries, a small can of crushed pineapple, and about 4 ounces of horseradish.

It should be easy enough to find some small space in your garden to plant horseradish. Make it just a little bit welcome, and you’ll benefit beyond your expectations.

We’ve never had a brand new power lawn mower before but we have one now. The old one we got from a neighbor on his moving day was diagnosed as being “beyond repair” late last fall. We had all winter to mourn its passing.

We shopped for the new lawn mower one evening after work. First we headed to the neighborhood mower shop but they didn’t have anything in our price range and little in our size range anyway. Imagine having enough land that you’d need to ride your mower! We soon found ourselves in the familiar aisle ways of our local department store, comparing the shiny new models, talking to the salesman, and picking up a big box to take home with us.

I took the new mower out for a spin this weekend. I’m pretty good at following the new appliance instructions so I went step by step in the unpacking, assembling, oil-adding, gas-filling directions.

And, voila! It started on the first tug.

I hesitate to state this too enthusiastically: brand new beats hand-me-down in the mower department. I didn’t strain my shoulder or wrist trying to start it. I didn’t need earplugs while cutting the lawn. My teeth didn’t rattle nor did my hands go strangely numb from the vibrations. It was an entirely new lawn cutting experience.

Still, the biggest thrill was the bagging attachment. The first time that the bag was full (which didn’t take long for the first cut of the season!), I had the realization that I wasn’t cutting grass as much as I was efficiently harvesting green mulch! We have long used grass clippings to mulch between plants and keep down the weeds. Now we can gather the green mulch more easily than ever, bag after bag, it turns out, even with our modest lawn. That is why, in addition to not aching so badly, I’m in lawn mower heaven.

And so it begins, the suburban arms race. Just last week, the couple across the street was struggling away with their rotary push mower and now, I hear the growl of a gas-powered monster from their yard. And part of what I’m feeling is that sense of remorse that my lawn will no longer be the only cut and vacuumed one on the block. Yup, we live on a block where the status quo, more or less, has been ragged lawns, hacked by hand-powered mowers. I’d be surprised to learn that many folks use weed and feed. I’m certain only few use an edger. It sounds quaint, like a little cul de sac of the 1940’s. Did I contribute to it’s destruction? What a weird variety of buyer’s remorse.

Regardless, the lawn needed cutting again today. And I am particularly glad to tell you that Jan did it! It really should count as several days worth of work: maybe 20 minutes for the front yard, 20 minutes for the lady next door’s yard and 15 or so for the back yard. But then again the time spent doing the yard next door might not really “count.”

The harvest of clippings was less that last week, but I was able to mulch all the planted beds with them.

And the yard looks just spectacular. Magazine cover good!

Today I discovered how simple and perfect solar cooking is for reheating already cooked rice. We consume an enormous amount of rice in our household. We cook a good-sized pot of it for a meal and then store the left-overs in the refrigerator so there’s usually cold rice in there. We’re fairly skillful at reheating it in the microwave but I thought I’d give the solar cooker the job today and it performed marvelously.

I put 3 cups of rice in the pan and added 1/3 cup of water. The lid went on and the pot went into the solar cooker. Five hours later, when a rare treat– venison steaks– were coming off the grill, the tender, fluffy rice was ready to accompany our meal. Again, minimal effort with wonderful results– all while saving energy.

For today’s 20 minutes, I planted and mulched a “wedge” of jalapeño peppers and a “wedge” of “Ichiban” eggplant.

All I needed to do to prepare the beds was to rake off the brown and shriveled vines from last year. Usually we collect all that material for a compost at the end of the season but the barn builders came too quickly so we didn’t have a chance to put our garden to bed. And seeing how easy it was to rake the dead vines out of the way now, I think we might just skip some of the end-of-season rituals that we used to think were so important.

I used the edge my hoe to dig four holes in a diamond formation. Then I poured a little water in each hole and let it sink in. The peppers and the eggplant both went in the same. When I was finished I took a few handfuls of fresh grass clippings and mulched around all the plants. A good thick layer of mulch is import because part of it’s job is to discourage weeds.

We usually plant two kinds of eggplant. The “Italian” style with its plump round body and dark purple skin which is great for Eggplant Parmesan and Babaganooj. But we also love the slender, lighter purple fruits of the “Asian” style eggplant. Jan has a recipe for stir-fried eggplant with a slightly sweet sauce (of soy sauce, rice wine vinegar and mirin) that we VERY much enjoy over helpings of rice.

The little tags for these seedlings say the the jalapeños will mature in 72 days and that the “ichiban” eggplant will mature in 50 - 60 days.

We frequently put cloches over the eggplants until they develop a few extra leaves. They don’t seem to need protection from the cold as much as from these tiny little mites that will eat their leaves to lace. The mites aren’t enough of a problem to investigate poison but we don’t want to stunt the growth of the eggplant when they’re so small.