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| Greens and Herbs Harvest |
November planting and sowing is very similar to October, only later and that is an important point when you choose vegetables for their maturity date. It is VERY important to get long maturity veggies like head cabbage and similar in the ground or sown asap so they have the full cool weather months to grow to harvest size and use. If these edibles are sown or transplanted later than best time, then you have them growing into the warming times which can stilt the growth or cause them to blast into flower before you get to harvest
them.
FREE SEED SHARE coming up November 3rd - details below, click on this link to read on facebook.
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| Garlic cloves going in! |
If it is still October when you read this get YOUR GARLIC cloves planted by October 31st for the same reason as the head vegetables -- they need ALL of the winter chill to develop beautiful heads in the late spring. Pictured planting on October 8th- I usually try for October 1st.
Successive sow all of your green leafy edibles along with cilantro, dill, chervil and parsley for a continuous harvest all winter and well into spring.
Don't forget to successive sow sugar peas!
Now that we have had some really nice rain this week, and cooler than normal temperatures, I am seriously hoping my belief and those of the weather folks will come true - a stronger El Nino and more rain and snow pack in the mountains this winter. AND while many folks including myself, don't enjoy real cold, a cooler-than-last-year winter will be good for the gardens, pushing back pest bugs and energizing many of the plants.
November PLANTING:
Anise
Asparagus
Bay, Greek (Sweet)
Beets
Bok Choy
Broccoli
Brussels Sprouts
Cabbage
Cabbage, Ornamental
Caraway
Carrots
Cauliflower
Celery
Chamomile
Chard
Chervil
Cilantro
Dill
Endive (and Chicory)
Fennel, Leaf
Fruit Trees
Garlic (only as green garlic)
Greens
Horseradish
Kale, Ornamental
Kale
Kohlrabi
Lavender
Lemon Verbena
Lettuce
Marjoram
Mints
Mustard
Myrtle
Onions, Green
Onions
Oregano, Greek
Oregano, Mexican
Parsley
Parsnip
Peas
Radishes
Rosemary
Sage
Savory
Spinach
Tarragon, Mexican
Tarragon, French
Thyme
Turnips
EDIBLE FLOWERS TO PLANT:
Calendula
Carnation (Dianthus)
Chamomile
Cornflower (Bachelor Buttons)
English Daisy
Hollyhock
Jasmine Sambac (Arabian)
Johnny-Jump Up
Marigolds, including Tangerine Scented (Tagetes Lemonii), Citrus Scented (Tagetes Nelsonii)
Nasturtiums
Pansies
Primrose
Scented Geraniums
Shungiku Chrysanthemum
Snapdragons
Stocks (Matthiola)
Sweet Alyssum
Sweet William (Dianthus)
Violet
Seed Share and Q&A With Catherine, The Herb Lady at Mesa Urban Garden
Saturday, November 3, 2018
1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.
Mesa Urban Garden (MUG)
212 E 1st Ave (NE Corner of Hibbert and 1st Avenue)
Mesa, AZ 85210
(602) 370-4459
QUESTION and ANSWERS Catherine will answer your questions on transition gardening with edibles and sowing in the cool garden.
When to sow
What is successive sowing and why
Maturity dates - what do they mean and why is it important
SEED SHARE -- FREE -- Pick up some seeds to get growing or expand your garden.
GARDEN TIPS for November
First frost date average is around November 17th.
Frost in the Valley at the 1100 or lower elevations is usually limited to ‘soft frost’ where simple cloth sheets or paper placed over sensitive plants (or moving potted plants beneath patios or trees) is sufficient to protect them. Never use plastic covers as the plastic transmits the cold to the plant tips.
For every 1000 feet over 1100 in elevation the first frost day is moved forward 10 days. The possibility of hard (killing) frosts starts to occur, although at 2000 feet or lower this is still a rare occurrence.
Frost pockets in the Valley can surprise gardeners. As a matter of practice, if the weather forecasters predict an overnight temperature of 40 F, I prepare for frost by protecting my sensitive plants with cloth or paper covers This is because heat retention by buildings and walls dissipates by early morning (4 or 4:30 a.m. to dawn the temperature can drop 8 degrees plus or minus).
Frost danger continues until about mid-February.
Cool weather annuals and biennials can be sown every 2-4 weeks (beginning in August) through the end of November for a continuous crop through next spring.
November through January can be a ‘rainy’ season for the desert. You can usually hold off on regular watering if you have received a half inch or more of rain within 2 days of normal watering days. Make good use of your water meter to determine soil moisture.
If rains are heavy this month, in addition to foregoing some water days, you may need to put down Ironite or green sand to compensate for mineral bonding (which makes iron unavailable to the plants) due to both the excess water and the cold soil.
FROST DAMAGE
The best way to think of frost damage on your edibles is the damaged plant material is now a partial protective cover to the underlying growth.
As mentioned in prior notes, frost damage in the lower desert gardens is usually limited to 'soft' frost which is controlled by simply putting cloth or paper covers over the plants at night, or if containers, moving them under evergreen trees or onto the patio.
IF, however we get hard or killing frosts, of extended periods or days, die-back will occur even on protected plants. The reason is the radiant heat retained by structures and even the soil dissipates completely, leaving the plants exposed to too-cold air.
Whether the frost damage is from soft or hard frosts if the plant is still alive DO-NOT-REMOVE-THE-DAMAGE. Doing so risks damaging the growth still alive under the top die-back. I don't remove even dead plants until spring. I have found basil seedlings coming up under a large dead basil plant killed off by a hard frost.
Obviously we like our gardens to look pretty most of the time, but selectively resisting the urge to pull something a little bedraggled gives you, the gardener, access to earlier production of the warm weather plants because of their larger root systems.
"The Essential Herbal" blog is a great site. Their newsletter today is all about recipes using nasturtiums. Give a look. One of my favorite recipes is making "Dolma" stuffed leaves which usually is grape leaves but the nasturtiums are great as a substitute. Check out my recipe here, and get your nasturtiums growing! (Sow the seeds covered, they germinate in the dark.)
Two great soups to use your garden bounty.
Herb Soup
From the book : “101+ Recipes From The Herb Lady” - by Catherine Crowley
A wonderful blend of herbs, lettuces, croutons and cheese. The beauty of this soup, besides its fabulous flavor, is the ability to vary the herbs, lettuces, croutons and cheeses for different flavors. I developed this recipe from Provencal soups.
While this soup is not pureed - it is an option as shown in the following, similar soup recipe.
1 shallot, finely chopped
2 tablespoons butter, unsalted
4 cups mixed fresh herbs, finely chopped (I used Thai basil, cilantro, parsley, see note below*)
1 package spring lettuce mix
1 teaspoon coarse salt
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
6 cups boiling water (can use broth - but try the water the first time)
6 cups croutons (any stale bread diced will work too - some day-old nice artisinal breads would be great for this)
3/4 cups Parmesan cheese
Set aside 1/2 cup each of herbs and lettuces for garnish. Divide croutons and cheese into 6 soup bowls.
Saute shallot in butter for 1 minute. Add herbs, salt, and lettuces all at once and cook—stirring for 5 minutes. Add boiling water, cover and simmer for 15 minutes—stirring occasionally. Ladle greens and broth into soup bowls. Add garnish of herbs and lettuces to each bowl. Serve and enjoy. Serves 6.
*Traditional recipes call for sorrel and chervil or any combination you like - the Thai Basil has a tarragon aspect to it which mimic the chervil with a kick and cilantro's citrus back-note mimic the sorrel.
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| Green Harvest Soup - a pureed soup |
I adapted this from a recipe I saw in Better Homes and Gardens magazine. Since I am not overly fond of cooked spinach (in reality after I developed this recipe - I discovered I'm slightly allergic to spinach and beets), I chose a sweet potato over a regular potato (as called for in the original recipe) to sweeten the soup — worked beautifully and the arugula adds just a nice amount of nutty bite.
Green Harvest Soup
1 large shallot, minced
1 medium onion, chopped
2 teaspoons - 1 tablespoon dried Herbes de Provence or Italian herb blend
1 teaspoon of extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon unsalted butter
2 cups de-fatted chicken stock - homemade is best - can substitute vegetable
1 large sweet potato, cleaned, peel left on, chopped
1 package (approx 4 cups) mixed greens or baby spinach, rinsed well and dried - set aside 1 cup, torn into bite size pieces
1 cup arugula, torn into bite size pieces
Parmesan cheese curls
edible flowers for garnish (I used pansies, calendula petals and sweet alyssum)
baguette slices
salt to taste
In a heavy pot, melt butter and olive, add shallot, onion and dried herbs and saute on medium heat for 5 minutes. Add the stock and sweet potato, bring to a boil, reduce to simmer and cook covered until the sweet potato is tender, about 10 minutes. Begin adding all the greens (except for the reserved 1 cup) a little at a time until incorporated and wilted. Remove from heat and let sit to cool for about 5 minutes.
I used an immersion (stick) blender, but you can use a regular blender or food processor to puree the soup. Careful! Don't burn yourself - I do love my immersion blender - once you get the hang of it you are not dirtying another container (blender)*.
Taste the pureed soup for salt - you should not need to add any or only a very little.
Ladle into soup bowls, top with a bit of reserved greens and arugula, edible flowers and cheese curls, and serve with baguette slices.
There are so many healthy benefits to these foods, it is almost a sin to not serve it whenever they are available from your local growers.
I hope you try one of these soups. If you do let me know and also how you may have changed it up to be "your" harvest/herb soup.
. . .
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Beginner's Southwest Gardening Book
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Publisher Direct
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Have a great day in the garden and kitchen with your bounty.
-- Catherine, The Herb Lady
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