Grow your own windowsill edibles

General care
Chances are that your windowsill garden isn't going to stay alive forever, even indoors. To keep plants happy for the longest time possible, be sure they are getting good drainage, ample water, and as much light as possible. Water when the soil has gone from damp like a sponge to slightly dry within an inch of the top. How often you need to water depends on the location, because pots set on a hot and sunny window situated above an electric baseboard heater are likely to dry quickly, whereas those set in a north-facing window with a draft may retain moisture for up to a week. Always sample the soil moisture an inch or so below the surface with your finger before pouring on more water.

Increase the humidity around the leaves during the dry months by setting pots on top of a tray of pebbles or spritzing the air with a water bottle.

Pest prevention and maintenance
Hold back on fertilizers during the slow-growing winter months. With short days and little sun, plants will grow leggy and fragile. Cut your plants back regularly to encourage stocky, bushy growth.

Choosing plants
When growing in a mixed pot or window box, choose plants with similar needs. Mediterranean herbs such as oregano, marjoram, sage, and thyme that love lots of sun and good drainage are a guaranteed mix. Lettuce greens also grow well together, but it's best to give hot peppers their own pot.

For indoor growing, most herbs are easiest and fastest if started from transplants. Basil, calendula, violas, pansies, and coriander are the exception, growing to an edible size quickly from seed. When it comes to leafy greens and lettuce, seeds are the only way to go.

Choosing containers
Window boxes are the obvious choice because their thin, boxy shape is tailor-made for windowsills. However, there are all kinds of fashionable options these days, including individual square pots like the one depicted. Window boxes and pots should be a minimum of 5" deep with drainage holes and water-catching trays that fit neatly underneath. The deeper the pot, the better your bet for keeping the plants healthy over the long term. Containers without holes can be adjusted with the addition of an inch or two of gravel or broken pot shards placed at the bottom as a water reservoir. This method will work over the short term but requires some restraint when watering to avoid drowning the plants.

You will need
• Window box or pot with drainage holes
• Pot shards or rocks (optional)
• Potting soil
• Seeds, transplants (small plants), or root cuttings

In super sunny windows grow:
• Thyme
• Oregano
• Sage
• Marjoram
• Chili peppers (try super tiny ‘Chinese Ornamental' or vigorous ‘Red Rocoto')
• Basil (try compact varieties like ‘Purple Bush')
• Parsley
• Cress
• Calendula

In slightly shady windows grow:
• Mint
• Chives
• Lettuce
• Spinach
• Parsley
• Thyme
• Mizuna
• Miner's lettuce, aka Claytonia

Fill your container or window box with moistened potting soil to within about 3" of the top.

If planting transplants or cuttings, make a hole for each plant by pushing some soil off to the sides.

Remove transplants from their current pots and place them in position in the new container or window box. Try to leave some space between plants for roots to spread and grow. In general, no more than three plants should go in a 12" × 6" window box.

Once placed, fill in the spaces around the plants, making sure that the crown (where the roots meet the stem) is not buried underneath the soil surface. An inch or two of space should be left between the soil surface and the top of the container to allow for watering. Water everything in until the soil is wet right through to the bottom of the pot.

By Asian Food Bazzar

Source: http://www.canadiangardening.com/

Raising rhubarb

Planting and rhubarb care
Plant in full sun in fertile, well-drained, slightly acidic soil. Plants can grow more than three feet (90 centimetres) tall with a spread of four to five feet (120 to 150 centimetres) take this into account when deciding where to place them.

• Dig a hole 11 inches to two feet (45 to 60 centimetres) deep and two feet in diameter.
• Add six inches (15 centimetres) of compost or well-rotted manure.
• Fill with a mixture of soil and compost, leaving a depression for the crown.
• Set the crown in the hole, and cover the buds with one inch (2.5 centimetres) of soil.
• Water well; mulch with a mixture of compost and straw, hay or shredded leaves to a depth of six inches (15 centimetres), leaving a space in the centre so the crown is uncovered.
• Keep the soil moist but not soggy.
• Feed midsummer with a layer of compost around the crowns, or a granular organic fertilizer. If your soil is poor, feed every two or three weeks with compost tea (made by soaking a bag of compost in a pail of water overnight).

Seasonal care

• Remove flower stalks as they appear. In fall, remove dead leaves, fluff up the mulch and lay an inch of new mulch over the crown; use six to eight inches (15 to 20 centimetres) in extremely cold climates.
• In spring, draw back the mulch, dig in compost or well-rotted manure and granular organic fertilizer, and replace the mulch, avoiding the crown.
• Don't harvest stalks the first year, plants need to devote their energy to developing a good root system. During the second year, harvest only a few stalks during the first two weeks of the season. In subsequent years, harvesting can continue for eight to 10 weeks.
• Rhubarb leaves can be composted but should never be eaten they contain high amounts of oxalic acid.
• To prevent disease, keep your garden well weeded and do a good fall clean-up. Remove leaves that wilt, turn yellow or have watery spots on them. If the entire plant shows signs of wilting or disease, remove and destroy. Plant new crowns in another location.

Harvesting
Choose stalks that are at least a foot (30 centimetres) long. Grasp the stalk in your hand, slide your thumb down the inner groove as far as it will go, then twist the stalk while pulling up. Take fewer than half the stalks per plant in each picking.

Dividing
After five to 10 years earlier if the plant starts producing small, tough stalks instead of large, juicy ones the crown needs dividing. Divide in early spring before the shoots emerge. Dig up the crown and cut off large side roots. Using a spade, divide the crown into pieces, making sure each piece has roots and at least two buds. Replant as you would a new crown.

By Asian Food Bazzar

Source: http://www.canadiangardening.com/

Growing ground cherries

How to grow 
If you’ve had success with tomatillos, you’ll have a good idea of how to grow ground cherries; they’re cultivated much the same way. You can start ground cherries from plants, but they’re not often easy to find in greenhouses. Starting from seed may be your best bet, but give your plants a good head start: Veseys’ growing guide suggests planting seeds indoors eight weeks prior to transplanting. Give your ground cherries plenty of room to grow by spacing seedlings 24 to 36 inches apart after all risk of frost has passed.

Where to grow
Ground cherries can be grown in containers, but Mellish says they prefer to be right in the ground. Beware when planting in your garden, though: ground cherries will reseed themselves and can be hard to eliminate if you decide you no longer want to grow them. If you’re short on space, a big pot on your deck will do, as long as the soil drains well and you keep your plant moist, fertilized and in a sunny location. Mellish says although ground cherry plants will grow to the size of a tomato bush, they don’t need to be staked because they have strong stalks. Expect plants to grow to about 90 cm tall and have a wide spread.

Ground cherry care
Ground cherries get their namesake from the way they ripen: you’ll know they’re ready to eat when they drop their fruit to the ground. Whether you’re growing in containers or directly in the ground, Mellish suggests mulching around the bottom of plants to protect ripe fruit from falling onto moist soil and rotting. As soon as ground cherries fall off the plant, they are ready to eat and should be collected as soon as possible so they’re not sitting on the ground for too long. Alternatively, you can use a plastic groundcover at the base of plants to stifle weeds and to provide a clean surface for ripe ground cherries.

Pests and diseases
The husks on ground cherries protect the fruit, so they’re not particularly susceptible to problems. Mellish says they may attract flea beetles early in the season, but this shouldn’t be a big concern.

Harvesting and using ground cherries
When your ground cherries are ripe (about 60 to 65 days after transplanting) their husks will turn brown and they’ll drop from their plant. You’ll likely find yourself harvesting them handfuls at a time until the first frost.

One plant can produce about 100 ground cherries a season. In their paper husks, the fruit can be stored for up to a month. During that time, experiment with the tart and sweet taste of ground cherries in a variety of dishes. They’re most commonly found in bright, orange sweet jams and in pies, but they also work well over ice cream, dipped in chocolate, in pancakes or in a crumble.

The best way to enjoy your ground cherries, though, is raw. Just peel back the wrapper, rinse and enjoy!

By Asian Food Bazzar

Source: http://www.canadiangardening.com/

How to grow butternut squash

Squash vines are big boisterous plants that sprawl for metres in all directions. 

Starting from seed
Wait a week after spring’s frost-free date before sowing five or six butternut squash seeds in each hill, with a view to removing all but the strongest two or three. Alternately, start seeds in 10- to 15-centimetre pots two seeds per pot, thinning to one plant in your sunniest window about three weeks before transplanting (on the same schedule as seeding above).

Protecting young vines

If yellow and black cucumber beetles threaten, protect young vines with a floating row cover until the big yellow flowers appear, then remove the cover to allow for pollination. If bees are few in your area, or simply to ensure that fruit will form, hand-pollinate by carefully transferring pollen from male flowers (those on thin stems) to female blossoms showing the squash-in-miniature just behind them. 

Harvesting

For the best sweet taste, leave 
butternut squash on the vine as late as possible, cutting them just before a killing frost is predicted. The tan, hard-skinned fruit will keep for many weeks in a cool dry place.

By Asian Food Bazzar

Source: http://www.canadiangardening.com/

Caring for Raspberry Canes

Raspberries are forgiving crops; once they're planted, you can leave them alone and probably still get fruit. But you can increase the number and quality of berries by following a few easy steps: pruning canes, and mulching and staking plants. Fall is a good time to prune, because you remove pests that otherwise overwinter and attack new growth in spring.

Pruning
In its first year, a cane produces only leaves; in its second year, it also develops fruit. Once the fruit matures, the cane dies, and it should be cut down to the ground. To get the best quality of fruit from your raspberries, you need to prune annually. Some people are intimidated by the idea of pruning, so it helps to understand how the plant grows. A raspberry is essentially a root system that sends up shoots'or canes. The first year, each cane produces only leaves, and it feeds the roots. In the second year, the cane produces leaves and fruit. Once the fruit matures, the cane dies. Cut the canes that have produced fruit right back to ground level each fall or early spring. After the first few years, thin out some of the one-year canes as well'this provides more food and light to the remaining canes, and your fruit will be larger and less susceptible to disease. A general rule is to allow each cane (pick the most vigorous) its own six- by six-inch (15- by 15-centimetre) space.

Mulching
A four-inch (10 cm) layer of mulch keeps weeds down and preserves moisture. By far the biggest problem in maintaining a raspberry patch is weeds. Perennial grasses and other uninvited plants compete with raspberries for water and nutrients. Although raspberries do a good job of shading the ground underneath, some weeds always survive. Mulching aids immensely in your battle with weeds. A four-inch (10-centimetre) layer of clean straw, rotted sawdust, screened bark or similar organic mulch helps to retain moisture and reduces the need for weeding. Remember, however, that the more woody your mulch, the more nitrogen will be used by the soil bacteria to break it down nitrogen your raspberries need. A good nitrogen source such as fish meal, bloodmeal or alfalfa meal applied to the soil before mulching helps to offset this loss. Reapply the fertilizer once a year in fall or early spring, and cover with a one- to two-inch (three- to five-centimetre) layer of fresh mulch.

Staking
Heavy-duty wires strung from T-shaped stakes help contain canes. Tie second-year canes to wires to ease harvest. Different systems of posts and wires are used to keep plants upright, which makes picking easier, and means walking between the rows is easier, too. The most common system is heavy, galvanized wire strung on T-shaped stakes. Sink a five- or six-foot (1.5- to two-metre) post two to three feet (.5 to one metre) deep in the ground, below the frost line. Fasten a three-foot (one-metre) crossbar to the top of the post; attach heavy eyebolts to the ends of the crossbar to hold the wire. Place the T-shape stakes at 20-foot (six-metre) intervals in the centre of each row. In spring, tie the second-year canes to the wires; the berries will be on the edge of the row, which makes harvesting them more efficient. Also, this leaves space in the middle for the new canes to get ample sun and air.

Buying plants
When buying plants, be sure to get them from a reputable nursery. It's important that the canes are free from viruses and insects, and that you buy varieties suitable for your area. In the Atlantic region, 'Nova' is a good choice—it produces large, disease-resistant berries with excellent flavour. 'Boyne' is a hardy, productive variety popular across the country, especially on the Prairies. Gardeners in southern British Columbia can grow many high-quality berries; new varieties worth watching for there are 'Tulameen' and 'Qualicum' they're large, sweet and prolific.

Raspberry beds
Prepare your bed at least a year in advance. I have known too many gardeners who thought a quick tilling or plowing was enough preparation. The results are raspberries that struggle in a sea of perennial weeds by the end of the year.We prepare our beds by first plowing or tilling, then seeding with buckwheat, which is a broad-leafed plant that allows very little light to reach the soil. When the buckwheat begins to flower, we till it under and plant a crop of fall rye. The next spring, the rye is tilled under and the ground is ready to plant. As well as shading out weeds, these cover crops enrich the soil with humus, and are toxic to quackgrass.

Choosing the best soil
Raspberries are tolerant of many soils, but the best growth occurs in deep loam soils that are neither too wet nor too dry. If your soil is sandy or gravelly, the addition of rotted manure or compost helps retain moisture and provides nutrients. It's best to avoid heavy clay soils, but if you don't have a choice, work coarse organic materials into the top four inches (10 centimetres) to create a well-aerated top layer where the roots can run freely. Plant your canes in this amended top layer, then apply mulch.

Raspberries prefer a slightly acidic soil; pH of 6.0 to 6.5 is ideal. Add sulphur or lime to adjust.

Spacing plants
The distance between plants is a matter of debate among experts. My personal preference is to plant them 30 inches (75 centimetres) apart in the row, the rows approximately 50 inches (125 centimetres) apart. In the end, raspberries will fill whatever space you allot them.

By Asian Food Bazzar

Source: http://www.canadiangardening.com/

Growing garlic

Planting tips
Garlic is best planted in full sun, in a bed about a metre wide. The soil should be well drained, and dug to a depth of at least 20 centimetres, then raked to a smooth, level surface. Draw out furrows of about four to six centimetres deep across the bed with the corner of a hoe. Leave 20 centimetres between the rows. Push single cloves into the furrows, about 15 centimetres apart, until the tips are barely visible, then draw in the ridges of soil from the furrows over the planted cloves to a depth of five centimetres. Planted early, garlic may show a few points of green growth the same fall. In regions where snow cover comes and goes, mulch the garlic bed just before the first hard freeze. A layer of dry leaves (10 centimetres) is enough to keep the earth from freezing and thawing repeatedly. Very early the following spring, garlic's broad blue-green leaves begin to grow solidly and by the end of May will reach a surprising height. (One visitor, looking at our garlic patch in May, wondered how we'd managed to get the "corn" so far along.) Insects aren't interested in garlic plants, and spring rains are often enough to see them through to maturity. 

A double yield: Garlic scapes in June
In mid-June, curly green pigtails emerge from the centre of each plant. These are the scapes, hard stalks topped with tiny bulbils. All experts agree that it's best to nip garlic in the bud, as it were, snapping off the scapes after they have made a loop or two, to send more energy to the developing bulbs. The scapes' tender tops (as opposed to the hard fibrous bottom portion) are loaded with flavour. Peel and thinly slice them and add to a pesto, stew or frittata. 

Havesting bulbs
Careless harvesting can ruin a fine crop of garlic, however, and timing is all-important. Left in the ground, the bulbs grow overly large, and can split their papery casing. Garlic is harvest-ready usually sometime in July or early August, when the lowest three or four leaves have died back; that is, when the plant is about half green, and the rest is withered and brown. Loosen the earth with a trowel or spade to release the plants. 

Storing garlic
Careful drying means good long-term storage. An hour or two in the sun does no harm, but after that lay the bulbs (tops and all) in a single layer a propped-up window screen works well here in a dry, shaded spot, such as an airy garden shed, carport or barn; it's best if the bulbs don't get wet. In 10 to 14 days, they should be completely dry. Then, using secateurs, trim tops back a few centimetres from the bulbs, and gently rub the bulbs to remove dirt and loose skin. Store the bulbs at room temperature or lower, somewhere not too humid (and not in the fridge). Homegrown garlic is good stuff, miles away from pallid imports, and you'll be reaching for it often for both flavour and health.

Garlic cultivars
Although one specialty catalogue offers more than 40 garlic cultivars, each a little different in size, colour and taste, it is more typical to find a couple of varieties. They're all good, so plant what you can get.

·         'Music':a favourite with both commercial growers and gardeners, for dependable yield and good flavour.

·         'Persian Star': an old standard.

·         Northern Québec' and 'Alberta Hardy': two of many regional cultivars adapted to colder areas.

·         'Leningrad': Strong hot flavour; said to store very well.

By Asian Food Bazzar

    Source: http://www.canadiangardening.com/

Asian Chicken Stock Recipe

Chicken stock is incredibly versatile. You can use it as a base for soups and sauces, a cooking liquid for rice or risotto, for braising poultry or vegetables, and so on. A few tips:

• The neck, back, ribs and wings are excellent for making chicken stock. Best of all, however, are the feet.
• Always start with cold water. This helps extract more collagen, giving the stock more body.
• Don't let the stock boil. It should stay at a gentlesimmer.
• Don't stir the stock as it simmers! All you need to do while it simmers is skim the scum off the top, and add water if it drops too low.

Ten Ways to Use Chicken Stock

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 4 hours

Total Time: 4 hours, 15 minutes

Ingredients:

• 2-3 lbs chicken bones (or the carcass from a roasted chicken)
• 1 medium onion, peeled and chopped
• 1 medium rib celery, chopped
• 1 medium carrot, peeled and chopped
• 1 bay leaf
• ½ tsp dried thyme
• 3-4 fresh parsley stems
• 3-4 whole black peppercorns
• 1 whole clove

Preparation:

1. Make a sachet d'epices by tying the thyme, peppercorns, clove, parsley stems and bay leaf into a piece of cheesecloth.


2. Rinse chicken bones in cold water and transfer to a heavy-bottomed stockpot.


3. Add enough cold water to the pot to completely cover the bones — about 5 quarts.


4. Bring pot to a boil, then immediately drain and rinse bones.


5. Return the blanched bones to the pot and again cover with fresh, cold water.


6. Bring pot to a boil, then lower the heat to a simmer.


7. Skim off the scum that rises to the surface.


8. Add chopped carrots, celery and onion, (also called mirepoix) to the pot along with the sachet; tie the sachet string to the stockpot handle for easy retrieval later.


9. Simmer for about 4 hours, continuing to skim the impurities that rise to the surface. Liquid will evaporate, so make sure there's always enough water to cover the bones.


10. After 4 hours, remove from the heat and strain the stock through a sieve lined with a few layers of cheesecloth. Cool the stock quickly, using an ice bath if necessary, and then refrigerate or freeze.

By Asian Food Bazzar