Garlic and carrots

carrots from the deep raised bed

My deep raised bed has actually produced some pretty big carrots, in spite of my fussing about not being able to grow good carrots.  These are big, and tasty, too, especially when cooked.

Apparently in the mountains, I can start sowing carrots for fall in mid-July.  I think I'll do that!  Maybe they'll be extra sweet after a bit of fall frost.

A quick trip down to the Piedmont meant harvesting a block of potatoes and a lot of green tomatoes (I didn't like the idea of leaving them for the resident woodchuck).

Hopefully the tomatoes will ripen and be decently tasty, for cooking at least.

fresh garlic ready to use

I've 'processed' plenty of garlic; it's all cleaned and ready to use.

I'll probably use it up more rapidly this year, as curing conditions weren't so good for long-term storage.

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Home gardening

I've seen a huge resurgence in vegetable gardening over the last 5 to 6 years.

When I first started offering classes about growing vegetables (at the botanical garden where I work), there was a tepid response at best.

But then master gardeners and others became interested in attractive edible landscapes, kitchen gardening, and lasagna gardening.

Then the 'Great Recession' hit and lots more folks were interested in 'growing their own' vegetables.

There have been numerous recent books about vegetable gardening rolled out (most of which are great) -- just get started, is my thought.

My friend and colleague, Bob Polomski, (author of Month by Month Gardening in the Carolinas) forwarded a link to this great graphic that documents our resurging interest in vegetable gardening, from the National Gardening Association.

I'm totally amazed (and excited) to see that a quarter of Americans, more or less, are growing vegetables.  How cool is that!  There's nothing more local than harvesting your own vegetables of whatever sort.

 

I'm not surprised that tomatoes are number one, in  terms of what folks are growing.  I'm always bemused by cucumbers (as they're among the few vegetables that I don't have much affinity with).  Sweet peppers (yeah!), carrots (difficult for us in the SE, unless we have very deep raised beds, summer squash, nice if we avoid squash vine borers (and I do hope the local woodchucks stay in grassy areas far from us)

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Growing your own food

To grow everything you eat (or drink) would be (and is) a formidable task, and we've got centuries of world trade routes to underscore the interest in tea, coffee, sugar, and spices for centuries, as well as the currently active shipping of produce, meat, seafood, and frozen goods around the world, in a global marketplace.

Not to mention bananas, the cheapest fruit available in my supermarket today, but certainly not local or necessarily sustainably grown. 

But, my gardening companion enjoys having a banana each morning with his cereal, and it's hard to think of a reason (in the grand scheme of things) why I shouldn't indulge his habit.  OK, maybe I shouldn't support the small-scale (or big scale companies) that produce bananas throughout the tropical world, but ...

I had a delightful time at a Locavore potluck yesterday evening, but was amazed at how few folks had homegrown veggies in their dishes -- for example, lettuce, greens, or peas (or early strawberries) to offer as their dish to share. 

There was quite a bit of asparagus, which I hope (mostly) came from backyard beds, but one dish was labeled Chinese asparagus.  Hmm.  What I've seen in the markets lately has been from Mexico, before that Peru.

And it was a bit disappointing to see contributions of cantaloupe and blueberries and an attractive pepper, onion, and tomato salad --NOT local, or regional around here at this time of the year.

My vegetable garden (and the gardens I monitor) are overflowing with lettuces, mature purple mustards, overwintered chard, spinach, arugula, sugar snap peas, snow peas, newly sown chard, etc. 

Geez, I'm in a greens glut currently.  It's a good thing that they're good for you, and stir-fried with onions and garlic, are quite delicious.  And good as leftovers for breakfast (with local eggs) and with lunch, too!

My message was to start growing more veggies!  They're easy, delicious, and good to eat.

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