Pear Bread

This recipe is a great way to used dehydrated pears.  

Soak 1 cup of chopped dried pears in 1 cup to water for 30 minutes.  When you drain the liquid off reserve 1/4 cup of liquid.

Cream:
3 Tbs of softened butter
1 cup of sugar
1 egg

Add:
1/2 cup orange juice
1/4 cup of water used in re-hydrating the pears

In a separate bowl:
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt

Gradually add the creamed mixture to the dry ingredients.  Stir in the re-hydrated pears and 1/2 cup of chopped nuts.

Pour into a greased bread pan.  Bake at 350 degrees for 35- 45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Cool for 10 minutes and then remove from pan.  Make the glaze and pour over bread.

Glaze:
2 Tbs melted butter
2 Tbs lemon juice
2 Tbs apricot nectar or orange juice
1 tsp powdered dried orange peel
1 cup of powdered sugar

Rotate, Rotate For Healthy Soil

 

 Cultural practices are important to successful organic gardening.  Sometimes we are our own worst enemy, creating both pest and disease problems because of bad cultural practices.  We may not even be aware we are the source of the problem.  If you plant the same crop in the same spot in the garden every year you are asking for trouble.  Crop rotation will not only reduce the risk of pests and disease but will result in healthy soil and better harvests.

Crop rotation deals with rotational plans that encourage healthy soil.  Just as weeds and plants in nature follow a natural succession it is wise to rotate the planting of your crops instead of planting the same crop in the same garden spot each year. 

Benefits of Crop Rotation

• Maintains and improves soil fertility
• Prevents build up of soil borne diseases that have a narrow host range and overwinter in soil.  Crop rotation can decrease the inoculum build up in the soil.  By introducing a crop that is not a host it cannot reproduce, gradually dies, and over time inoculum levels are reduced.
• Prevents build up of pests that are relatively immobile,  feed on one crop, and overwinter in the soil.  Insects it helps to manage are wire worm, cutworms, corn root worms and white grubs.
• Improves the physical, chemical, and biological composition of the soil.  Alternating plants with taproots and those with fibers roots will improve soil structure especially in a no till system. 
• Helps establish diverse soil microbes  and soil tilth

With so many benefits it is essential to develop and rotation plan for your garden.  There are a couple of options you can consider when rotating crops.

Feeding Habits
This sequence divides garden crops according to feeding habits or nutritional needs.  Heavy feeders require  fresh compost and plenty of nitrogen. At the other end of the spectrum light feeders are satisfied with a mature compost and don't need extra fertilizing.
  

Heavy Feeders:  cauliflower, broccoli cabbage, lettuce, Swiss chard, spinach, celery leeks, corn, cucumber, squash, tomatoes, eggplant, and peppers. Includes leaf crops and nightshades.

Soil Builders:  Includes nitrogen fixing legumes of peas and beans.  If the roots of these crops are left in the soil they add organic matter and some nitrogen.

Light Feeders:  Mostly root crops like carrots, beets. parsnips, rutabaga, turnips, onions.

This method involves a 3 stage rotation that can be completed in 3 years or done within one growing season as you go from cool to warm season crops.  

Stage I:  Heavy feeders are planted in beds freshly fertilized with a compost.

Stage II:  After they are harvested, follow with soil building legumes.  Legumes build soil structure and add some nitrogen back to the soil.

Stage III:  Following this light feeders are planted with a very mature compost added.  

Add A Cover Crop Rotation: A fourth stage or cover crops can be planted in late summer or early fall which will winter kill and be incorporated into the soil to add organic matter.

Rotate According to Plant Families 
A different approach would be to begin with leaf crops which are heavy feeders, followed by seed and fruit crops include legumes in this, and finally root crops.  This rotation is nice in my area because the leaf crops do well in early spring and are replaced by warm season seed and fruit crops and then finally fall root crops are planted.

Rules To Consider:
Do not plant or follow planting with members of the same family.  For example if you plant potatoes do not follow them with tomatoes.  Both are in the night shade family.  Plants in the same family have the same nutritional needs, pest, and disease issues.  

Families of Vegetable Crops

Monocots

Grasses include all grain staples and corn

This is a flour corn Bloody Butcher

Burgundy Amaranth

The lily family includes onions, garlic, leeks, chives, and asparagus.  Leeks and asparagus are heavy feeders.  This family can take cold weather.

Dicots

Mustard or Cross Bearers (Cruciferae)
     
Named because the petals are arranged in a cross.  They are cold hardy, heavy feeders, and require plenty of moisture.
     
Cabbage, kale, collards, cauliflower, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, kohlrabi, turnips, and rutabagas or swedes are in this family.  Asian greens are also in this family including pac choi, mizuna, and mustards.

Savoy Cabbage

Lacinato Kale

Peas or the Butterfly-flower Family (leguminasae)

Includes all beans, peas, lentils, peanuts, chickpeas, and vetch which is used as a cover crop

The Carrot Family (umxbelliferae)

These plants possess slender hollow stems with lacy leaves and branching flowers or umbels.

 Plants in this family includes carrots, parsnips, parsley, celeriac or celery root, turnip, fennel, dill, celery, chervil, coriander, anise, caraway, and angelica.  

Celery

The Goosefoot Family (Chenopodiacea)

This family provides both leaf and root crops including beets, Swiss chard, sugar beets, spinach, and orach.

Fordhook Chard

Cardinal Swiss Chard

The Nightshade Family (Solanaceae)

Includes warm loving crops like tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, ground cherries, tomatillos, and potatoes.  They are heavy feeders.

The Gourd family (cucurbitaceae) 

Plants in this family prefer warmth, moisture, and rich soil.  Gourds, melons, cucumbers, pumpkins, and watermelon are in this family.

The Composite Family or Sunflower family

This family includes food, flowers, and medicines. Lettuces, endive, sunflowers, dahlias, Jerusalem artichoke, artichoke, cardoon, chamomile, yarrow, tarragon, wormwood, marigold and many others.

    

 

How Well Do You Implement Organic Gardening Practices?

When my local country radio station introduces a new song it allows its audience to rate it. They call it smash or trash. So how did the garden do this year was it a smash or trash?

No matter how many years you garden, there are always successes and failures.  Perhaps after looking at a disaster you've said,  "Well, I am not doing that again!" (Hopefully you don't say that about gardening as a whole.)  Yet when the planting season rolls around, we usually forget both our successes and failures.

Perhaps before you forget you should write down successes and failures you experienced in the growing season. Keeping a garden journal is a great way to document the happenings in your garden. Not only recoding successes and failure but dates when certain pests arrive, unusual weather patterns,  and a map of your garden are all extremely beneficial and will be helpful for the next growing season.

Keeping a Garden Journal

Sometimes our failures are due to our own cultural practices or maybe lack of good organic gardening practices.  Here's a short checklist to evaluate how you are doing. 

Checklist of Organic Gardening Practices:

____ I incorporate organic matter into the garden as a soil amendment.  Best Organic Gardening Tip to Build Healthy Soil

____ I limit any tilling to only new areas or poorly producing areas  Choosing a Site, Building Raised Beds, & Preparing Your Soil

____ I do not walk on my soil causing compaction

____ My plants had protection from harsh winds.  I have some kind of wind break.  Hedgerows, Shelterbelts, and Windbreaks

____ My garden's watering system provides even moisture and I monitor it to be sure all areas are sufficiently covered.  Organic Principles: The Living Soil

____ I know what type of soil I have and water accordingly.  Sandy soils require short frequent waterings and clay soils need water applied at a slow rate and less frequently.

____ I apply fertilizers at the proper time.  Preparing the Soil & Fertilizing

____ I mulched after seedlings were up

____ I know what pests are a problem in my area and monitor for them.  Summer Garden Pests  Tips for Controlling Slugs  Controlling Squash Bugs

____ I have an integrated pest management program IPM to deal with common pests in my garden

____ I use good quality, disease free seed.  Sow Many Seeds

____ I know how deep to plant a seed.

____ I weeded regularly

____ I trellised plants that need to climb or provided cages for crops such as tomatoes

____ I harvested regularly

____ I spend time in and enjoy my garden.  I monitor the condition of my plants.

____ I use organic pest control and avoid broad spectrum pesticides that kill native pollinators.  Native Pollinators

____ Which crops were high producers?

____ Which crops gave a disappointing harvest?

____ Which crops had the best taste?  D0 you think it was the variety or due to your cultural practices?

____Which crops did not taste good?

____ Which crops were both high producers and good tasting healthy crops?

 ____ I planted crops in the proper season.  Cool season crops in early spring, warm season crops in summer, and another round of cool season crops for fall and winter.  Seed Planting Schedule

____ I have ways to protect spring crops from a late frost.  Row Covers  Low Tunnels

____ I do some companion planting

____ I do staggered plantings of the same crop to have a continual harvest.  How To Have Continual Harvests

____ I cleaned out my garden for the winter and destroyed diseased plants.  Preparing the Homestead for Winter

____  I use cover crops or add a layer of mulch to avoid leaving the soil bare through the winter.

____ I rotate the planting location of my crops.   Rotate, Rotate For Healthy Soil

So how did you do?  We all have room for improvement.  I find that most people neglect their soil and water inconsistently.  Both of those practices stress plants effecting not only the size of your harvest but the quality.

So that you do NOT get discouraged remember mistakes are proof that you are trying.  So congratulations!  

"Garden" is a verb as well as a noun. It does require consistent dedicated effort.  Enjoy the experience and opportunity you have to garden.  Make the best use of the time and resources available to you.  You have the winter to forget about your failures and the promise of a new growing season and a new opportunity to reap what you sow.

Ground Covers or Living Mulches

Ground covers are both practical and beautiful in the landscape.  Ground cover plants will fill in to form a dense planting, a living carpet.  This is not only aesthetically pleasing but it serves many purposes.  Living mulches discourage weeds, hold in moisture, prevent erosion and are easy to care for.  Ground covers are perennials and spread easily on their own.  

There are ground covers to fill every need from shade, part shade, to hot spots in the garden.  While this is by no means a complete list, here are some of my favorites.

Wooly Thyme (Thymus pseudolanuginosus)

Wooly thyme is one of those gotta touch plants.  It creates a carpet of silver gray, fuzzy softness that when trod on emits that wonderful thyme scent.  This perennial has medicinal, culinary, and landscape benefits.  It tolerates sunny, dry locations, and can be used between pavers, rocks, and stones. It grows well in containers cascading over the side.  It is also a good living mulch in the herb garden growing between taller herbs. It is a slower spreader but worth it.

Care is minimal once established.  You can trim back edges to encourage it to grow thicker.  The clippings can be used in cooking, potpourris, or in the bath. 

Wooly thyme is a favorite of pollinators.  Bees will love this addition to the landscape.  Hardy herbs like thyme and creeping thyme are a wonderful option for the beginning gardener.  

Stonecrop, Sedum

Creeping sedums are a large group of plant with long narrow stems that grow along the ground and form mats of colorful succulent foliage.  Sedums are wonderful fillers softening the edges of containers and rock gardens and walls.  They are not specifically grown for flowers they do produce short sprays of flowers.

Most sedums are fairly drought tolerant when established and can be grown in full sun to part shade.  There is a wide variety of leaf color, variegated leaves, and shapes.

These are easy to propagate.  Pull up some of the stems and lay or shallowly cover them in a gritty potting mix.

Bishop's Weed or Goutweed Aegopodioum Podgraria

This ground cover comes with a warning it spreads through the rootstocks and can get out of control if not managed.  I love this ground cover with its variegated white and green leaves and lacy white flowers.  Bishop's weed grows about a foot tall and the small flower stalks can grow up to 20 inches.  It looks great in a shaded rock garden or among taller perennials such as foxglove or delphinium.  If Bishop's weed is planted in full sun, the leaf edges may burn.  To prevent leaf scorch and encourage it to spread rapidly plant in rich moist soil.

Bishop's Weed

This is a variegated cultivar you can see bulbs mixed in.

Bugleweed Ajuga Reptans

This ground cover has it all beautiful textured foliage and spikes of lavender flowers.  It hugs the ground and spreads rapidly.

The flowers bloom late spring and are 4 -8 inches tall.  There are many varieties of bugleweed.  My favorites are those with variegated leaves and  burgundy leaves.  

Bugleweed likes partial light to full shade.  It needs fertile and even moisture.  

Sweet Woodruff

Sweet Woodruff Gallium Oboratum

Bright green foliage and white starlike flowers make this ground cover a perfect combination with spring bulbs.  The leaf pattern is what I like about sweet woodruff.   It has narrow leaves that whorl around the stem and petite white flowers.   It grows 6-8 inches.  It spreads by underground runners.  

This is a good choice for shade gardens with a woodland feel. Sweet woodruff is beautiful with hostas, ferns, and astilbes.  In warm climates, it may even hang onto its leaves through the winter.  Once again choose a site with light to dense shade and keep the soil moist.

Fragaria "Lipstick" Ornamental Strawberry

This little charmer produces lipstick pink flowers in spring and fall.  It will produce some berries but it is best to remove the berries to encourage flowering.  Like strawberries it can be divided and has runners.  It is a cross between a garden strawberry and marsh cinquefoil.  It grows well in containers, hanging baskets, or as a ground cover.

Snow in the Summer Cerastium Silver Carpet 

This profusely blooming evergreen perennial has dainty white flowers on mounded silver grey foliage that resembles a pile of snow in the summer.  This ground cover is a member of the carnation family and will bloom early summer.  It can be started from seed in the late spring or divisions can be taken from existing plants in the fall.  It loves full sum or partial shade and an added bonus is that the deer will leave it alone.

Lamb's Ear

For a taller perennial that will cover the ground lamb's ear is a good choice.  It produces beautiful spikes of lavender flowers that bees love.  The foliage is velvety soft and fuzzy and a beautiful silver grey color.  If you allow this hardy perennial to go to seed it will self seed everywhere.  To control it cut the flower stocks before they go to seed.  It can also be propagated by division in the fall.  This ground cover is very drought tolerant and deer resistant.

Dead Nettle Lamium

This ground cover has serrated, silver grey leaves.  The lovely small flower spikes are similar in appearance to snapdragons.  This grows well in containers as well as in the garden.  It looks gorgeous among hostas.  It spreads by rooting and is both drought and deer resistant.  The name is interesting.  The leaves resemble stinging nettle which is a weed but the "stingers" on this Lamium are harmless or "dead."  It is actually in the mint family.

Creeping Phlox

This perennial forms mounds of dense flowers in early spring.  There are a variety of colors making the ground cover a bold addition to your garden.  It is a spring bloomer.  After blooming you can divide creeping phlox or  cut it down to encourage denser foliage for the summer.  The foliage is not as attractive as other ground covers so keep that in mind when finding a spot for it.  It prefers full sun.

Living mulches or ground covers have endless possibilities and potential.  They are a functional and beautiful and should have a place in every garden.