Subterranean

The vegetables that are left to harvest in the deep fall (or pre-winter days of November) are all subterranean.

Subterranean means existing underground.

Have you ever thought about how hostile the environment must be where the carrots thrive.

Let's think about that for a minute.

Distressed

Have you ever heard someone say that their peppers were way hotter than normal this year because we were in a drought, or the beets were way more beetier because the gophers took a bite out of them.

I can't prove it analytically, but...

A Beet Energy Drink

Lisa and I have been trying this beet based energy drink for breakfast for the last several weeks. It is a good way to consume beets and other healthy vegetables and fruit.

You will need a sturdy blender like a Vitamix or Blendtech. We have a vitamix

Here is the recipe...

Compelling Reasons to Eat Beets

Continuing our series of articles on beets . Let's look at the compelling reasons to eat these storehouses of powerful nutrients.

Reasons to eat Beets...

Beets

Beets as a food go way back to the beginning of recorded history. They grew naturally along the coasts of the Mediterranian. The beet greens were the first part of the plant that people would consume. The beet root was not cultivated until the ancient Romans.

In the 1800's the natural sweetness of the beets was cultivated and eventually was used as a sugar source. Napoleon was one of the first to use beets for sugar after the British restricted sugar cane availability. This started a love affair with beets as primary source of sugar. Unfortunately many sugar beets are now genetically modified.

The beets we are going to consider are neither GMOs or used for sugar. They are...

Turning Hostile in to Habitat

Spring in Minnesota can be wild and unpredictable. You won't be able to do any serious tillage until middle to end of April. So what do you do if you want to get a jump on the growing season and get things planted as early as possible?

Last Night I Planted Spinach, Swiss Chard and Beets

As an example of a summer planting for fall, last night I planted Spinach, Swiss Chard and Beets. Each has its own characteristics for successful germination.

What seeds can I plant for a fall garden?

Along about the first of July the garden centers box up all their remaining seeds and send them back to the seed companies. But you know as a educated and well informed gardener that the season is far from over. In fact some of the best vegetables come from the fall garden.

I just got my fall seed order from Johnny's seeds in Maine. Let's talk about what you can plant from seed that will thrive in the fall.  Here is my top 10 list.

How To Get the Absolute Earliest Salad Greens of the Season

Getting the earliest salad greens of the season starts the fall of the year before. You need to prepare the bed where you want to plant the greens the fall before. If it is a raised bed covered with two or three inches of compost it will drain well and warm up quickly once the snow melts.

We try to plant the day the frost goes out or the day the snow melts off. The seed won't germinate until the conditions are right so don't worry if it seems too cold or wet. When the soil conditions are favorable the seeds will germinate and take care of themselves. They are basically on auto pilot at that point and know what to do. If you were to plant these same seeds the fall before the seeds would likely rot or have very poor germination. But planting them in the spring works every time.

I have done this for years and it works great.

On the rare occasion that the season warms up and then turns very cold again you might loose some of the baby plants if  the temps fall below 20 degrees. Planting this early is a bit of a roll of the dice but about 80-90 percent of the time it, this approach is a real winner. If you do get frozen out, just replant quickly. The seed lost is typically only a few pennies worth.

The types of plants that this works for are all frost hardy. Spinach, lettuce, radishes, cilantro, beets, and peas.

Good luck and have fun.