Leaf Pulling & Dolmas

A good friend of mine is in school for viticulture, and while I was visiting her in Salem I ended up meeting a few of her classmates. One of them is focusing on vineyard management and had just come from a class on leaf pulling when we met. I know, right? Why didn't I go to school for that? 

Anyway, hanging out with a bunch of wine people I learned that right about now I should be pulling the leaves on my own grapevine. I'm a little embarrassed to post this pic, as my unruly grapevine is out of control. It was here when we moved in and has never been trained or seriously pruned as you can see. There are actually quite a few grapes hiding behind all those leaves.

Leaf pulling is important as it exposes the grapes to more sun. The plant also gets more air circulation so there's less risk for disease. I did more than pull leaves today because there was so much new growth on the vine, but even well trained grapevines benefit from leaf pulling. It's important not to pull too many as you need some leaves for photosynthesis, and you also need some to shade the grapes from intense summer sun. 

It's better to pull older leaves and base leaves. The base leaves aren't doing anything but taking up energy so definitely pull the first few at the base of each shoot. Right around now is the best time when the grapes are at about 50% of their full size and pollination had already occurred. Also, according to the experts, if your grapes grow N/S it's best to pull on the east side, and if they grow E/W pull from the north. 

Check out my newly exposed grapes. 

While I was pulling leaves I started thinking about dolmas. Hmmhmm...yum! So I saved some of the leaves, and took a stab at making my own. 

Young medium sized leaves are the best as they are still soft and haven't gotten too thick. Snap the stems off, blanch them, and toss them in an ice bath. 

They immediately turn the muted green I associate with dolmas. While the grape leaves are chillin' in an ice bath, you can make the stuffing, and go ahead and pre-heat your oven to 350. You can put all kinds of things in your dolmas, but this is what I had on hand. I think they'd be good with some mushrooms, too. 

DOLMA STUFFING

-1 medium onion

-2 cloves of garlic

-1 1/2 cups cooked rice

-1 cup cooked lentils

-1/3 cup sliced almonds or pine nuts

handful of currants

olive oil

lemon juice

fresh dill, parsley, and mint

Saute the onion and garlic in some olive oil. Add the nuts and currants and then mix in the rice and lentils. Add the fresh herbs and remove from heat. Then squeeze some lemon juice over the mix (1 small lemon) and allow the stuffing to cool so it's easy to handle. 

Spoon about a tablespoon of stuffing onto a leaf. 

Fold in the sides, then fold over the top, and roll down toward the pointy end. Squeeze it together, and put in a pan with the seam side facing down. 

Fill the pan with some more water to steam them, drizzle a little olive oil, and squeeze some more lemon juice over the dolmas. Bake them for 40 mins. You may also want to put a plate or pie pan on top of them to keep them immersed in the water. Most of the water should have evaporated when the dolmas are ready. If you prefer, you can also steam them in a pot for about an hour instead of using your oven.

Serve your dolmas at room temp with more lemon!

We ate these as a meal with a salad, and they were surprisingly easy to make. Drew was a big fan, so we'll definitely have more of these again soon while we've still got a ton of recently pulled grape leaves.

Nasturtiums: Super Garden Champions

So I left town for a short, spur of the moment, mid-week adventure, and spent today at the coast with this cutie.



When I got home I was happy to see that after a few days, the spider mites are finally losing strength. They're still there, but many of them have died.  My pressure washing and soap spray is working. Hooray! 

I plan to do another round of spraying tomorrow, but I need to borrow a ladder so I can get to the ones on the top. Any Portlanders with a ladder I can use??  

I've read mixed things about whether or not soap hurts beneficial bugs, so I was also happy to see that the beetles are still alive and well and eating their share of the remaining mites. 

So much happened in the two days I was away from the garden. The first tomatoes of the season arrived while I was gone. This is a new heirloom variety I'm trying out this year called Austin Red Pear. It has a pretty funny shape, which I like, and they're already much bigger than your average cherry/pear tomato.  The broccoli has doubled in size, and some of the beans I planted last week sprouted.

I also saw that the nasturtium seeds I planted sprouted, too. Nasturtiums are great plants for any gardener. They're especially easy to grow for beginners because they actually like crappy soil and prefer that you ignore them and don't fertilize them. They also require little water. The seeds can take a while to germinate, so I recommend soaking them in water overnight before you plant them.

You can eat your nasturtium flowers, leaves, and seeds if you want. They have a similar peppery taste to arugula.

nasturtium sprout near marigold 

Or you can keep them around as super garden champions which is how I'm using mine this year. They are great at attracting aphids away from other plants. Slugs and white cabbage moths seem to love them as well. So they're great companions for cabbage, broccoli, and other brassicas, beans, tomatoes and peppers. They also attract bees, hummingbirds, and butterflies! Basically they are super awesome.

This year I built a perimeter bed around my raised bed and lined it with these guys as well as marigolds which are also good bug deterrents and are usually planted near tomatoes or used for nematode control. During my initial spider mite freak-out I also learned that nasturtiums are good at attracting spider mites away from other plants, so I'll be relocating some of my older/more established plants near the hops as soon as possible.

full grown nasturtium plant started earlier this year

Watermelon Two Ways: Spicy Melon Salad & Watermelon Rind Chutney

Nothing says a graduation party like watermelon!

I finished my masters program last week (yay!) so we had some folks over for a bbq style potluck after the ceremony. My friends know how to do it up right, and without fail, we always have too much food. Between multiple melons and one Edible Arrangement, my fridge has been stocked full of fruit for days.

We've been mostly eating it on its own, but it didn't seem like it was going to last much longer so I blended half of the remaining watermelon and put it in the freezer. I'm thinking slushie watermelon cocktails once the weather really warms...

I used the remaining watermelon and cantaloupe to make this salad which is a slightly altered version of one my friend Erin recently made.

SPICY MELON SALAD

• Approximately 3 cups cubed melon 
• Handful of blanched snap peas
• 1/2 cup chopped unsalted dry roasted peanuts
• Chopped fresh mint, thai basil, cilantro, and cilantro flowers
• Juice of one lime
• Pinch of cayenne pepper

This recipe is easy-peasy, and super addictive. All you do is mix it up.

Also, did you know you can eat cilantro flowers?

I can't say that I'm big on edible flowers, but I threw a couple in there to try it out, and they're delicious! They have a strong almost concentrated cilantro taste. I recently saved a bolted cilantro plant so that I could harvest coriander seeds. Unfortunately, waiting for coriander seeds can take several weeks after the plant flowers (especially if it's not very hot). So, if you're growing impatient waiting on your coriander, you can add cilantro flowers to salads and salsas. Cilantro flowers also attract bees and other beneficial insects to your garden, so if you have the space, try letting one bolt this summer.


WATERMELON RIND CHUTNEY
I am a southerner, "born and bred" as they say, and I do love watermelon rind pickles. I like them because they're usually sweet and crunchy, and I also like the idea of using all of the watermelon. I wanted to make something different, so I started looking through the food preservation book my mom bought me the last time she was in town. Thanks, Mom!

I used the green tomato chutney recipe as a guide and came up with this version of watermelon rind chutney. It's kinda like a jam, kinda like a relish, and sweet and spicy at the same time.

1. Begin by removing both the skin and most of the red fruit from the white rind. Slice or chop the rind, cover with saltwater, and leave overnight in a bowl or jar. I had about 5 cups watermelon rind.


I had two varieties of watermelon and noticed that the rind was much thicker and crisper on one of the melons compared to the other. If you're growing your own watermelons and plan to do some pickling, you can read all you'd ever care to know about about various watermelon varieties and their rind circumferences here.

2. The next day, rinse your watermelon, and put it in a saucepan with:-


-1 1/2 cups apple cider vinegar
-1/2 cup water
-1 cup sugar
-2 tablespoons minced jalapeno
-2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger
-1 tsp black peppercorns
-1 tsp pickling spice
-1/2 tsp ground clove
-1/2 tsp ground allspice

3. Bring to a boil, and then simmer for a little under an hour, stirring occasionally, until the sauce has thickened. It really does turn a pretty jeweled color. This didn't make enough to justify formally processing and canning, so I plan to refrigerate one jar and give the other to a friend. This should keep in the fridge for a few weeks. 

Attack of the Spider Mites!

So the rains have let up a bit, and I decided to take advantage of the dry weather by mowing the lawn. I even told Drew this morning that there wasn't much to do in the garden today, but as I was putting the grass trimmings in the compost bin I caught a glimpse of our hops. It seems that possibly over night our beautiful hop plants have become infested with spider mites. :(

Spider mites yellow-green, and their larvae look like little tiny white/grey flecks. These guys are one of the most common pests for hops.

They really love to hide out on the underside of the leaves as this is where plants store their water and nutrients. Ewww...

Spider mites also like dry arid weather and sunny conditions, so I think the recent sunshine brought these guys on. They are especially scary because they seem to like ALL plants, and therefore can really devastate an entire garden. It's super important to isolate the plants that are infected from other plants as soon as you notice the spider mites. I quickly moved the nearby containers and sprayed the sides with cold water from the hose. The mites don't appear to have migrated to the peppers or eggplant (fingers crossed).

Spider mites don't like moist conditions so spraying the plants with water helps to dislodge them from the leaves, but also prevents them from being able to reproduce. I had Drew take over and spray down the tops of the plants that I couldn't reach.

Once the leaves dry I'll spray them using a homemade insecticidal soap.

Recipe: 1 gallon of water, 2 tablespoons of Dr. Bronner's soap, and 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil. The vegetable oil helps the soap stick to the bugs better.

I didn't spot any mite webbing on the plants, so hopefully we caught them early enough that this will work. If not, I may need to invest in some more lady bugs or other predatory mites. We don't have any cones on the plants yet, and spider mites do the most damage to the hop cones, so hopefully these little guys will be dead and gone before then.

We've been talking about starting a blog for a while, but now that I'm fun-der-employed, summer is slowly making its way to Portland, and veggies other than arugula are starting to grow, it seemed like the perfect time to get started.

We spent a long dog walk and a few additional hours at home coming up with a name. Highlights included 'Working on our Nightshades,' Gnome Mans Land,' (which I may still use as the title for a guerilla gardening blog) and 'Pistil Whipped.' It actually reminded me of all that time spent years ago coming up with my roller derby name in Nashville.

So before we get started, a few things you should know: I am not an expert gardener. Until a few years ago I never grew anything more than a few tomato and pepper plants I bought as starts at HomeDepot. Now I try to grow as much as possible from organic and heirloom seeds. I do occasionally buy starts when I get wooed at the garden store by interesting varieties like lemon cucumbers and thai eggplant. I bought a few more starts than usual this year as I missed my window of seed planting opportunity when I was busy studying for my graduate comprehensive exam. But all in all, the majority of what we grow has started from seed on a little tray on the side of our shed.

We don't use any pesticides, chemicals, or harmful sprays in our yard. I spend a lot of time trying to attract  ladybugs to my garden and making weird concoctions out of Dr. Bronners soap, vegetable oil, and garlic.

The majority of what I know about gardening I've read from books, blogs, and a lot of trial and error. I'd like to share what I've learned so far, as well as share all the delicious and fun things we cook (and brew) from our herbs and produce each year.

I intend to share my gardening failures as well celebrations, so we can all learn and make changes for next year. I've had a lot of luck so far, which may have more to do with the best Christmas present I received last year...my newest gnome--Papa Murphy!