PlanterTomato Vegetable Gardening

Wishing All A Happy 2012

With the new year fast approaching, I want to thank all my readers for your interest and comments in 2011. 

Below is a photo of some fresh eggs taken from our coop earlier this morning. We added some new chickens to the flock this summer and we are rewarded today with a New Years Eve treat..... some of the new girls are laying eggs with beautiful greenish-blue shells. So we ring in the new year with delicious, fresh eggs in an array of colors - white, cocoa, dark brown, and now, green.

I wish you all a happy and healthy 2012.  I look forward to sharing much with you in the new year.

Yuzu: Citrus Fruit For Harvest in Winter

A citrus fruit that can be grown in temperate climates and harvested in Winter for holiday recipes.

Yuzu is a citrus fruit that is very popular in Japan.  The fruit looks similar to a tangerine, but is more yellow and the skin is bumpy.   Similar in flavor to a lemon but more delicate, Yuzu was introduced into Japan from China during the Nara period (710-794 AD) and is now a staple in Japanese cooking; Japanese food lovers and cooks will be most familiar with Yuzu as it is the primary ingredient in Ponzu sauce.

Tolerant to 10 Degrees Fahrenheit

Yuzu is unique among citrus fruits because of its extreme cold tolerance.  Unlike other citrus fruits, Yuzu can tolerate cold temperatures as low as ten degrees Fahrenheit.  This means that gardeners in temperate climates (USDA Hardiness Zone 5 and higher) can successfully grow it their garden if they would like to do so.  Yuzu can also be purchased as a dwarf tree and grown in a pot indoors by anyone.  In the garden or inside, Yuzu can be enjoyed year-round:

• Beautiful green foliage 12 months of the year.
• Fragrant flowers in May or June.
• Ripe fruit in December or January.

Growing Yuzu

Depending on where you live, you may be able to purchase Yuzu from your local nursery.  If not, Yuzu can be ordered from FourWinds Citrus Growers and several other suppliers.  One thing to note when searching, the current taxonomic name for this citrus is Citrus ichangensis x C. reticulata but the plant is often sold under it's old taxonomic name Citrus junos.  

As with other citrus, you should grow Yuzu in well drained soil.  In my area, the soil is a miserable clay, so I grow my Yuzu in a SmartPot (a fabric growing bag) that provides great drainage and air circulation to the roots.  Here are basic care instructions:

• Plant in well drained soil.
• Keep soil moist but don't allow the roots to get waterlogged.  The best approach is to provide one deep watering per week (versus many shallow waterings).
• Fertilize with a nitrogen weighted fertilizer -- more "N" in the formula than Phosphorus (P) or Potassium (K).  Apply fertilizer are rates per the manufacturers recommendation.
• Plant or place pot in full sun.  If you use a pot, you can move your tree indoors or to a greenhouse during the Winter to provide additional protection.  This is the only option for gardeners who live in Hardiness Zones 1-4 and is probably also a good option for those living in Zone 5 (the lowest zone where Yuzu can be successfully grown outdoors)

 Yuzu Recipes

If you decide to grow Yuzu, here are some potential uses:

• Candied Yuzu Peel - prepare the same way you would make candied orange peel, but substitute Yuzu.  Since Yuzu is harvested in December/January, this might make a nice treat for the holidays.
• Yuzu Marmalade - just substitute yuzu for orange in Alton Brown's recipe.
• Yuzu Liquor - this is traditionally made by steeping the peel in liquor and then adding back juice at a later point.  The traditional recipe for "Yuzushu" uses 35% alcohol Shochu (Japanese rice liquor) and requires that the liquor be aged for one year.  I have not tried this method of method yet, but I think a faster way to make Yuzu flavored liquor would be to substitute yuzu for lemons in the recipe for Limoncello (made with vodka rather than shochu).  See my prior posting on how to make limoncello for details. 
• Ponzu - A traditional Japanese dipping sauce.

Chicken Lovers Eggnog Recipe

This recipe for "Baltimore Eggnog" comes courtesy of House and Garden Magazine from the 1970's.  It's made better if you are able to include fresh eggs from your own chickens, so I call it Chicken Lovers Eggnog.

This recipe serves 30, so cut down appropriately.

Ingredients:

• 1 dozen fresh eggs (from your own hens is even more special!)
  
• 1 pint brandy
• 1/2 pint light rum
• 1/2 pint peach brandy
• 3 pints milk
• 1 pint heavy cream
• 2 cups superfine sugar (this is sugar that is more fine than regular, but less than confectioners) If you can't find it, use what you can have on hand)
• Nutmeg (will be grated on top of eggnog)
  

Recipe:

1. Beat the egg yolks and sugar together until they thickened.
2. Set aside the egg white which you will whip just prior to serving.
3. Slowly, add all the remaining ingredients to the egg  yolk/sugar mixture.  Refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
4. When ready to serve, whip the egg whites until they are stiff (like meringue).  Mix into the rest of the ingredients.
5. Serve in punch glasses and top with grated nutmeg.

Happy Holidays to All From PlanterTomato!

Four Reasons Why You Can't Really Use Homegrown Ingredients to Make Beer

I've been experimenting with growing grain in my suburban backyard.  It's fun to think of growing grain and then converting it to beer. In this posting, I provide information about the ingredients in beer and the four reasons why growing your own ingredients isn't practical.

Basic Beer Brewing

Beer is made from just four basic ingredients: water, yeast, barley and hops.  The later two ingredients can be grown by gardeners and this raises the tantalizing possibility of not only brewing ones own beer, but doing so from home grown ingredients.  Let's look in greater detail at barley and hops....

Hops

In beer production hops are used as a preservative and a flavoring agent, giving beer its classic bitter taste and aroma.  The female flower cluster of the plant humulus lupulus (hops) is harvested and dried.  These flowers are then added to the beer during the brewing process where they release alpha and beta acids.  The alpha acids give beer it's bitter flavor, while the beta acids add aroma.

As a plant, hops are a perennial vine that grow 12-15 feet high.  They are extremely cold hardy and can be successfully grown in zone 3 through 8.   Hops are fast growers and will wrap themselves around trees, telephone poles and anything else in your garden.  So successful are hops that many consider the plant to be invasive. Hops seeds and rhizomes can be purchased from both seed companies such as Jungs Seeds, Raintree Nursery and a number of stores that cater to home-brewers.

I've never grow hops, but fellow gardeners and home brewers who have, often report that while easy to grow, hops are not easy to grow in a way that makes their alpha and beta acids consistent from plant-to-plant or year-to-year.  Herein lies the first problem.

Reason #1 - To make good beer, home brewer needs hops that are consistent with regard to their  alpha and beta acid levels.  This is hard to achieve in a home garden.

I've been referring to hops as if there were only one type of this plant in the world.  The truth is that there are dozens of varieties and each of these differs dramatically in their bitterness and in the aroma that they impart to the beer.  (See the Wikipedia for a list of some common varieties) This highlights the second issue for those interested in growing hops for home brewing...

Reason #2 - Most beer recipes require two or more different varieties of hops.  If you want to drink several types of beers, this means a home grower will need to successfully and consistently grow many hops varieties.  For example, a recipe that simulate Sam Adams Boston Lager requires the addition of Hallertauer and Pearle hops.  A recipe that I have for Bear Republic Racer #5, a craft brew, calls for five different types of hops - Chinook, Cascade, Centennial, Columbus and Amarillo. 

 Barley:

The second major ingredient in beer is barley. Barley provides the sugars that are fermented by yeast into alcohol.  As grain, barley does not possess these sugars and the grain needs to first be malted for use in beer.  In this process, the barley seed is soaked in water so that it begins to germinate and starches within the grain are thereby converted to ferment-able sugar.  Germination is then suspended by air drying so the barley can be used by brewers.  In some cases, the grain is then further processed by roasting.  This malting and roasting the grain contributes importantly to the final color, taste and mouth-feel of the beer.  The longer the grain is roasted, the darker it's color and the stronger it's flavor.  For example, home-brew versions of Guinness Stout use British Crystal Malt (provides a reddish color and carmel sweetness to the beer), Black Patent Malt (has a very sharp flavor and is used to make Porter and Stout style beers) as well as English Pale Malt and in some recipes wheat.

It's certainly possible for gardeners to grow barley.  The issue is really that that beer recipes generally require more than one variety and more than one malting style.

To begin with, there are three major categories of barley  based on the number of seeds at the top of the stalk (two-row, four-row and six-row barley). Two and six row barley are the ones that are most frequently used in brewing.  They differ in the amount of protein they contain and therefore in the taste and mouth-feel of the beers they produce.  European beers are generally made with 2-row barley while American brewers tend to use six-row.  Within these broad groups, there are many different varieties and these differ in their flavor characteristics as well as the ease of which they can be germinated for malting.  Most professional malting companies will use several varieties of barley to try to keep their products uniform.  These grain and malting variations form a highly complex palette from which a brewer can choose to formulate a beer recipe.

Reason #3 - As with hops, if you want to grow your own barley for brewing you'll probably need to grow several varieties, not just one. 

Reason #4 - These grains need to be malted (a complex enough process to begin with) and most beer recipes require between 2 and eight types of malted grain; malting this many styles is probably beyond the scope of what any home gardener/brewer has the capability and time to do.  For perspective, Austin Homebrew, is a company that sells malt grains to home-brewerssells over 56 different varieties of malted grains on their web site.

The Bottom Line

There's a difference between creating a beverage that would be recognized as beer and one that would be enjoyable and worth the effort.  You can grow one type of barley and roast it, and one type of hops and dry it.  From these ingredients it is possible to create beer.

However, to make a beer that would be as good as commercially available beer, you'll need several varieties of malt (barley) and hops.  This is very really just beyond the scope of what can be produced from the home garden and processed at home.

Best Vegetables for Beginner Gardeners - The Top Ten

Beginner vegetable gardeners always ask what they should be growing.  In this posting, I provide guidance on the best choices for beginners.

Naturally, there is no perfect list because the "right" vegetables to grow depends on individual taste preference and the climate where the garden is located.  That notwithstanding, I believe it is possible to come up with a list that will work for most people.  My selections are based on the following criteria:

• Popular - I've focused my list on vegetables that I know are widely enjoyed and can be eaten in quantities that make it worth the effort to grow them.  This meant excluding some veggies that have otherwise desirable characteristics.  For example, radishes are very easy to grow and mature in under 25 days.  They are often recommended for new gardeners, but in all honesty, I think they are a poor selection.  Most people eat radishes in sparing quantities and they are not particularly good for families since most kids find them too bitter.
• Hardy- I've selected vegetables that can successfully be grown by most gardeners.  These are veggies that are temperature and water tolerant and relatively resistant to diseases and pests. They provide easy "wins" for new gardeners and for those that really don't want to spend lots of time in the garden.  
• Worth the Effort -  I've tried to select vegetables where the homegrown version is worth the extra effort versus purchasing them at a farmers market or supermarket.  Let me be clear... almost everything you grow in your garden will be better than store-bought because it will be fresher. However, there's a very big difference between a homegrown tomato and a store-bought one, and the same can't really be said of vegetables like celery or onions.  Likewise, there are some varieties of vegetables that are just not sold in the supermarket -- you're only choice is to grow them for yourself.  In all cases, I've tried to choose particularly interesting varieties within a class of vegetable to maximize the value of growing it at home.
• Quick - I've tried to selected vegetables that mature relatively quickly.  For example, Winter Squash are not on the list because they generally take over 100 days to mature. Again, the idea is to give new gardeners quick results.
• Low Maintenance and space requirements - I've tried to select veggies or varieties that don't require pruning and staking so they are low maintenance.   When possible, I've chosen varieties that also can be grown in containers.
• Heirlooms/Hybrids - Heirloom vegetables are the rage these days, but they are often lower yielding, and less pest/disease resistant than hybrids.  For certain vegetables, hybrids are probably better choices for new gardeners.  My list of recommendations specifies whether the variety is a hybrid or an heirloom.  If you're heart is set on growing only heirlooms, just check the seed catalogs and substitute a variety that's more to your liking for any of the hybrids on the list.

Top Ten Vegetables for New Gardeners (In ranked order):

1. Salad Greens- Lettuces and other salad greens are easy-to-grow, quick maturing and can be planted throughout the Spring, Summer and Fall.  They also provide some of the highest yields per square foot of anything you can grow in your garden.  Most folks like salads and home grown lettuce is high value add versus store-purchased because salad greens are highly perishable. (Store-purchased lettuce, even that sold in nitrogen-flushed bags, loses its nutritional value quickly.)  The easiest way to get a diverse selection of greens is to purchase a mesculin mix.  Companies like Burpee and Johnny's sell various blends of greens with different flavor profiles.  If you want to select individual lettuce varieties consider the following Spring and Fall varieties: Forellenschluss, an heirloom Austrian variety that is particularly cold tolerant, Brune D'hiver a French heirloom that also does well in cool weather.  During the heat of summer, lettuces generally do poorly, so switch to heat tolerant varieties such as Jericho, a hybrid Romaine-style lettuce and Buttercrunch a hybrid butter-head-style lettuce.  Lettuces require full sun.  If you only have partial sun, consider growing Miners Lettuce instead of traditional salad greens.  Miners Lettuce comes from the Pacific Northwest and is crunchy and mild.  It is a favorite in our family with both adults and kids.
   
   
   
2. Tomatoes - Tomatoes are probably the vegetable that are hardest to grow on this list.  I'm ranking them second because they are universally loved and offer the the highest returns on the gardeners effort versus of any vegetable that can be grown.  Determinate tomatoes require the least staking so they are the only ones on this list.  My recommendations include: Stupice a small, red, fast-producing heirloom tomato, Sungold, an orange, hybrid cherry tomato, Rutgers, a small dark red heirloom tomato that good both as a fresh tomato or for canning, and Grushovka an heirloom plum-shaped pink tomato that has excellent flavor. These varieties can be grown in 5 gallon containers and seeds are readily available at garden stores and on the Internet.  Determinate tomatoes produce a crop of tomatoes that ripen all at the same time.  To ensure a continuous harvest, plant every three to four weeks from April through June.  Tomatoes require a minimum of 6 hours direct sunlight.  Plant only if you have a place in your garden that gets full sun.
   
   
   Cucumbers - I like cucumbers for fresh eating and because they are the easiest of all vegetables to preserve (pickles).  My favorite fresh eating cuke is an heirloom variety called Beit Alpha.  The skin on this variety is so thin you don't need to peel it plus it's burp-less and has a good shelf life.  For pickling cucumbers, I like an heirloom German variety called Delikatesse.  Both these cucumbers need to be trellised.  If you don't want the bother of staking, try Picklebush, a hybrid pickling cucumber from Burpee or Bush Slicer a hybrid from Renee's Seeds.         
      
   

1. Potatoes - potatoes are so universally popular, versatile and easy to grow, that I think they should be in everyone's garden.  While shelf life can vary dramatically depending on the variety, most potatoes will easily keep for several months which means that they can be put away for enjoyment at a later date.  Potatoes are a cool season crop that can be grown prior to before other favorites like tomatoes or peppers and potatoes grow very well in pots.  An excellent all purpose potato for frying, mashing and baking is Maris Piper.  This variety from England is the potato that is traditionally used to make fish & chips.  It is not common in the U.S., but it can be purchased mail order from Ronniger Farms.  If you are a baked potato lover, try Russet or Russet Burbank.        
   
   
2. Carrots - Carrots can be planted from early Spring through mid-July and then again in the late summer for a Fall harvest.  I'm particularly fond of an heirloom variety called Red Core Chantenay.  This variety has a fine flavor and grows a root that's 5 to 7 inches in length.  Carrots can also be grown in pots if you choose a stubby, round variety like Atlas or Parisian.  Both of these smaller carrots are heirlooms.      
   
   
   
3. Peppers - Choose hot, sweet or a mix of the two.  Hot peppers are all fairly easy to grow so the choice of variety is really driven more by how hot you want your peppers.  For a mild hot pepper consider Ancho or Poblano.  For a medium hot pepper, I like Serrano peppers and for a burn your mouth off experience go for Habanero. For sweet peppers, I like Costa Rican Sweet, a hybrid variety from Burpee.  Peppers like rich, well drained soil and need warm days and nights to do well.  If you grow hot peppers, these can easily be dried in the sun, your oven or a food dehydrator.     
   
   
   
4. Broccoli - A cool season crop for planting in the Spring or Fall, broccoli is one of America's favorite vegetables.  It occupies a position that's fairly low on my list primarily because it to subject to a wide variety of pests such as caterpillars, grasshoppers, aphids, cabbage root maggot, and slugs.  The best way to control for pests is to place hoops with protective netting over them.  Otherwise, you need to consider some kind of pesticide.  Safer Products makes a variety of pesticides that are low impact on the environment.  If you decide you want to give broccoli a try, a good heirloom variety is Di Cicco. This variety produces a 4 inch main head and a large number of side shoots that will grow more intensely once the main head is harvested.  There are many varieties of hybrid broccoli and the best approach may be to buy them as plants from your local garden center as these will be appropriate for your area.  Alternatively, Belstar is a very adaptable hybrid variety.  You can find seeds for it at Johnny's Selected Seeds or Territorial Seed.   
   
   
5. Fresh Herbs - Fresh herbs really improve the flavor of food and are much less expensive to grow than to purchase from the grocery store.  Herbs are easy to grow and lend themselves well to pots and flower boxes.  The most important consideration when planting herbs in pots is to group herbs with similar sunlight requirements so that you can place your pot in an appropriate location. Full sun herbs include: Anise, Basil, Calendula, Catnip, Cilantro, Dill, Fennel, Lavender, Oregano, Rosemary, Sage, Savory, Tarragon, and Thyme.  Partial sun herbs include: Chamomile, Chervil, Chives, Garlic, Lemon Balm, Marjoram, Mint, and Parsley.     
   
   
6. Summer Squash - Summer squash are can be both prolific and sweet.  The biggest challenge  growing summer squash is that most varieties are susceptible to disease, particularly Powdery Mildew and Mosaic Virus.  Golden Glory from Johnny's Selected seed is a disease resistant yellow squash but needs to be trellised.  If the above mentioned diseases are not a serious problem in your area (ask at your local garden center) choose a more compact variety that doesn't require staking such as Sunburst, a yellow patty-pan, or Raven a compact green zucchini.     
   
7. Green Beans - green beans are also very good producers.  To keep the workload to a minimum, I recommend growing bush varieties since these do not need to be trellised.  Burpee Tenderpod is a good choice as is Blue Lake Bush an heirloom variety.    
   

The Big One That Didn't Make the List and Why

1. Sweet Corn - I don't know a single person that doesn't love fresh sweet corn.  In fact, I would say it's ranks just behind tomatoes in popularity and for reason; when good, it is superbly delicious.  Unfortunately, a number of factors make it a poor crop for beginner gardeners.  The sad truth is that corn has a relatively low yield per square foot compared to other items that can be grown in the garden, so it's a bad investment if the gardener has limited space.  Additionally, corn must be grown in a minimum quantity in order to ensure proper pollination.  Generally speaking, a gardener needs to devote at least 16 square feet of of garden space to corn to ensure that the ears have fully formed kernels.  The problem is that all this corn will reach maturity at exactly the same time.  And corn deteriorates rapidly from superbly sweet to tasteless as sugars within the kernels convert quickly to starch once the ears have reached maturity.  To preserve corn's sweetness, home gardeners need to harvest the corn that can't be eaten by the family in a few days, shuck it, remove the kernels from the cobb, and then blanche and freeze them for future consumption. That's a lot of work. Couple this with the fact that good sweetcorn can now be found at most farmers markets and even the grocery store, and ratio of work required to produce it relative to what can be purchased isn't that great.  Sweet corn is a true delight, but I only recommend growing it to gardeners with some experience under their belts.     
   
   

Honey Bees In Winter

A few fun facts about how bees survive the Winter.

No doubt, you've noticed that there aren't many bees flying around in the Winter.  Most people assume that the bees hibernate over the Winter months and this accounts for their disappearance.  Actually, this is not what's happening. 

Technically, hibernation is a state of inactivity characterized by lower metabolic rate -- slower breathing, lower body temperature etc.  Bees do not undergo hibernation in Winter.  They remain active inside the hive and keep warm by clustering together in a tight ball and vibrating their wing muscles to produce heat.  This keeps the temperature of the bee cluster above 45 degrees Fahrenheit, with the center of the cluster remaining warmest (85 degrees). 

During the cold months, bees feed off of the honey and pollen they've stored during the warm season and this food provides them with the energy needed to keep the hive warm during the cold days of Winter.  During this period, the queen stops laying eggs and the population of the hive drops, leaving a skeleton crew of bees to take care of the queen and form the core of the bee colony in the Spring.

Where Bees Go In Winter:

During these colder months, bees are not visible to us because they are trapped inside the hive. In order to fly, bees need to maintain a relatively high body temperature.  When the air temperature drops below 50 degrees Fahrenheit, they are not able to maintain a sufficient body temperature to fly and are, therefore, confined to the hive and not visible to people.

The below photos taken yesterday (December 2, 2011) illustrates that when the temperature is right, bees will emerge from the hive, even during the dead of Winter.  The temperature in Northern California rose into the mid-60's and this allowed the bees to leave the hive and forage for food.  I'm not sure what's in bloom at this time of the year, but the bees were able to bring back pollen which I could see on their back legs.

Here are some fun facts about Winter bees:

• Temperature when the Winter cluster forms: 57 degrees
• Temperature when worker bess can't fly: 50 degrees
• Temperature when a bee cluster dies: minus 40 degrees
• Amount of stored honey required to keep a hive alive in Winter -40 to 60 pounds depending on the length of the Winter in your area.
• Lifespan of a worker bee in Winter: 140 to 320 days (versus just 15-38 days during the summer when they are active)
• Population of bee colony during the Winter: 20,000-30,000 bees versus a Summer population of 50,000-80,000.