Harvest Monday - 6/20/2016

Summer has burst into the North Texas areas now. Temperatures are soaring during the day and nights are getting pretty warm too. It is typically an expected occurrence here and temperatures are already at the 98 / 99 F range with the worst of the summer yet to come.
Although I had sowed my seeds well in advance and prepared my beds by working in compost, the big mistake I made was not getting protection in place for my tiny gardening space. The rabbit population has increased drastically in my neighborhood and they need to get sustenance from somewhere! My unprotected raised beds are, therefore,  fair game. My okra plants have been all but decimated, only small twigs remaining in place of lush leaves. The green bean plants have been trampled over and several are broken. Its nobody's fault but mine! Lesson learned the hard way, that is all!
I do still have several growing plants in the beds, so all is not lost!

                                                                      Green amaranth

I harvested another big bunch of amaranth leaves and shared them with a neighbor.

I also pulled up two of my garlic plants. Having planted them in November last year, I was very curious to see what was going on underground. I have never grown garlic before and as an experiment, planted 12 cloves of ordinary store bought garlic. The only amendment I added to the soil was compost and I watered the plants with liquid sea weed once in a while.
I am very excited about the results. Granted, they are not huge bulbs, but I have seen bulbs this size in grocery stores and considering what I started with, I think its a fair harvest!!  I still have about 8 more bulbs in the ground and I am planning to let them stay there for a tad longer before taking them out.
 

                                                             Raw horsegram beans  - image courtesy Wikipedia

I also made sprouts last week. I am not sure if they are considered typical harvests. Instead of the usual green mung beans that I use, I sprouted horsegram (Macrotyloma uniflorum) beans.  Horsegram beans are legumes of the tropics and the subtropics and are known by several different names . Wikipedia tells me that these legumes were primarily grown as cattle feed, but they are very commonly consumed as sprouts in several regions of India. Like other beans, these little gems are high in protein and fiber and are also an excellent source of iron. This is a very drought tolerant vine. It can withstand prolonged duration of drought. The stems and leaves are used extensively as cattle fodder and once the crop is harvested, the plants are worked back into the soil to improve the  soil quality. 

sprouted horsegram  

I soaked a cup of these beans overnight and then let them sprout in a sunny corner of my kitchen for about 3 days, rinsing them periodically. Even after sprouting, these beans are pretty chewy. They can be easily cooked on the stove top or in a pressure cooker to make them softer. I used them to make a curry to go with rice and also used them as sprouts for a simple sprout salad with cucumbers and tomatoes. If you would like to try these, a quick trip to the nearest Indian grocery store should suffice! You can find some more information about these beans here.

Simple sprout salad with horsegram sprouts, chopped cucumbers, tomatoes and red bell pepper dressed with lemon juice, salt and cayenne pepper. Since this will be consumed for lunch at work tomorrow, I didn't add onion, else a little chopped onion would add more flavor.

For bounteous harvests from other gardeners around the world, visit the Harvest Monday roundup at Our Happy Acres.

Harvest Monday - 06/14/2016

I am a day late again for this week's Harvest Monday. It wasn't a very fruitful week!! I harvested a big bunch of amaranth greens and shared them with a friend. A big bunch of  lemongrass stems also went along for company. My friend said that last year she had taken the lemongrass stems that I had shared, sliced the bulbs up thinly and dried them until all the moisture was gone. She had then powdered it and used it in her tea. I think I shall have a go at that and see if I can get some homemade lemongrass powder.
I also used up a few sorrel leaves and some spring onion greens from the garden. No pictures, however. But I am excited about a new purchase! I am now the proud parent of a Moringa plant!

I am not sure which kind of Moringa plant it is, the tag doesnt say. If you haven't heard of it before, then you can read all about this wonder plant here. Suffice it to say that the leaves of this plant are highly nutritious and the fruits or pods are edible as well. This is a very well known tree in India. Its known colloquially as drumstick and is relished as a seasonal specialty. I remember my father getting the long pods from the market. The leaves are used in stir fries and the pods are used in lentil stews. Recently, it has been hailed as a miracle plant and the western world is slowly discovering the benefits of this tree, which is native to the tropical and subtropical areas of the world. India is the largest producer of moringa. The leaves are the most nutritious part with high protein, Vit. A and Vit. C content. 
It is a very fast growing tree and since I am not sure if it will survive the winters here, I will keep it as a container plant. All information suggests that keeping the plant in the container and pruning it off regularly will keep it at manageable heights. There is already new growth at the tips and I will probably move it to a bigger container soon. I am wary about transplant shock and am wondering if I should let the plant remain in this container until the stem has thickened a little bit more. Any advice?
For more productive gardens this week, do visit the Harvest Monday roundup at OurHappyAcres.

 

Harvest Monday - 06/06/2016

I have been following the Harvest Monday posts for quite some time now, marveling at the wonderful harvests, drooling over the pictures of dishes using said harvests, appreciating the hard work that these gardeners have put into their gardens and widening my eyes over the beautiful green spaces being maintained!
Compared to these bounties, my gardening space is tiny and my harvests are very small. But they are gratifying and exciting nonetheless! I didn't plan at all for any spring harvests and my summer garden is just beginning to grow. But I have taken some offerings from my raised beds in the past couple of weeks.

Green leaved amaranth is one plant that is self sown in my patch. The first and last time that I sowed it was probably about 3 years ago. Since then, it comes up regularly like clockwork every spring and sometimes in the most unlikeliest of spaces! But you will hear no complaints from me because I love my amaranth greens. I saute them with garlic and red chillies for a simple side dish or I add chopped leaves and tender stems to lentils to make a hearty Indian daal to go with rice.                                     

This year I am also growing Roselle (Hibiscus Sabdariffa or sorrel). Many Indian dishes use the tangy leaves extensively for chutneys and such, but the rest of the world apparently also uses the dark red calyces for syrups! 

 

A few overgrown spring onions and a lone garlic. The spring onion bulbs were still edible and the garlic was pulled out because the resident pest stamped all over it and bent the stalk. Plus I was very curious to see how much it had grown; this being the first time that I planted garlic!  

I also pulled out several stalks off my lemongrass bush. It had surprised me considerably in the spring by not only surviving the winter but also thriving splendidly!  The clump of bushes is providing a hiding nook for the rabbits who are viewing my little vulnerable patch like a 24/7 buffet. I cut away the outer leaves, trimmed each stalk to a manageable length. The picture above shows the stalks with the roots still attached, but I removed those and washed them clean before putting them in a ziploc and stowing them in the freezer. I still have about 2/3 of the bush to harvest. I am planning to use them in teas and lemonades, to flavor rice and also in curries. Since a little lemongrass goes a long way, I should have a nice supply for the coming months.

The above picture shows several seedlings of my holy basil. A traditional house in India is never without a holy basil plant. It is considered sacred there, being heavily used in religious ceremonies. It is also cultivated for its medicinal use.  The leaves are highly prized for their use in respiratory disorders, fevers and stress. A few months ago, it looked like I wouldn't have this wonder herb in my backyard for the first time in a decade.  But thankfully that was not to be. I plan to get a bigger container for these plants and nurture them into a big bush that I can move into the house during colder temperatures.

That's it for this week! 

For other amazing harvests, visit the Harvest Monday roundup at Our Happy Acres.

Embracing the gardening bug!

For the past couple of years, I have noticed a recurring theme in my behavior when the beginning of the year comes around. I seem to get bitten badly, by the gardening bug..I mean! I dream of seeds, regular and exotic. I surf gardening blogs like they are going to become extinct. I make notes (in my head, of course) of all the different types of vegetables that can be easily grown in the home garden. It doesn't help that there are gardeners out there, with exceptional blogs, who showcase such beautiful harvests that are definitely drool-worthy. I await warmer temperatures with a fervor that only a fellow gardening enthusiast can understand!!!
By no means do I consider myself an expert, an amateur at the most, with some small success in growing certain vegetables. I don't have self sufficiency in home grown vegetables, meaning I definitely have to spend my money at the grocery store. But that does not mean that I cant dream about it :D

Things that are currently growing at home:

My curry leaf plant that has been babied and cosseted and pampered and is rewarding me by growing steadily :) I am going to prune the tops off in the spring to encourage more branching. 



The lemon grass experiment: I bought some healthy looking firm stalks from the Indian grocery store and rooted them in water. Then, I stuck them in the ground and watered them when they looked dry and pretty much ignored them after that. When winter was about to set in last year, I harvested the outer most thick stalks and gave them away to friends. Surprisingly, they survived the winter and seem to be holding steady!

My lemongrass bush has also survived the winter here and was recently given a haircut. I still need to trim it a little bit more and make it look neater. I love the lemony clean scent of its leaves. What I don't like is the Resident Rabbit who seems to think hiding behind my bush makes him invisible {grrr}

My chili seeds (Baker Creek Thai Green) and tomato seeds (Roma tomatoes from Home Depot) have already germinated. The reason I am starting the tomatoes so soon is because peak summer brings really soaring temperatures here in the North Dallas area and the poor tomato plants cannot bear any fruits then. So they need to get a flying start even before they are transplanted into the ground.

Some for me and some to be shared with friends.

Gardening is hard work. What (and how you sow), so shall you reap! (This was most probably coined by a gardener and then was used as an allegory to life!). Planning, organization, preparing the beds, sowing seeds, removing weeds, watering consistently, fertilizing if required, checking and dealing with pests - these are all required tasks to do in the garden and in order to harvest anything worthwhile, one must certainly be prepared to put in time, effort and last but not the least, patience!!!
But having said that, I can also say that gardening - in all its wonderful forms is almost cathartic. Working systematically and methodically in the garden, paying attention to the soil running in between your hands, inhaling the intoxicating fragrance of wet soil, tending to the seedlings and plants and the utter joy in getting the (literal) fruits of your efforts is enthralling. The best stress buster that I can think of, that also lets you get a healthy dose of air and sunshine.

Coming back to my little patch, I didn't plan for any spring harvests, but a few green onions that I had planted last fall have overwintered and to my utter surprise have also divided into more plants!
Considering that they started as root ends of store bought green onions that I stuck in the ground, that looks like a great return on investment for basically sticking them in and then forgetting all about them!

I have used up the tops of these spring onions several times as garnishes on my potatoes. I will pull them up as and when I need them so that I can make space for fresh ones soon.



Another experiment: I selected about 12 - 14 firm cloves of garlic and planted them out in a corner of my vegetable bed in the fall. They seem to be growing well. I mulched them with some shredded leaves and watered them occasionally. I havent fertilized them.


There is a serious dearth of flowers in my garden now and I want to rectify that. To that end, I have started some asters and zinnias also. Hopefully I can grow some nice flowers this year.

I still have some prepare my beds before I can start sowing directly in the ground. But I am really looking forward to the growing season. For inspiration and visual treats, do check out http://ourhappyacres.com/
Every Monday, gardeners from all over showcase their vegetable beds and harvests and their low of gardening and self sufficiency is truly amazing.

I hope to be more regular with my posts here, so wish me luck.
Until then - May the grass always be greener on your side of the fence :)