The summer garden's top 3 OH NOs and their solutions

About this time of year, we start getting frantic OH NO emails from clients whose gardens are doing crazy things and, in some cases, nothing at all.

There's a lot of OH NOing and WHAT THE HELL DO I DOing and general freaking out and that is AOK.

We're on the case.

Here are the top 3 summer garden OH NOs and what you can do to sort them out. Without freaking out. Or...with minimal freaking out.

Seeds don't germinate

This is our woe this summer, again, because sometimes we can't learn from our previous season's mistakes. Specifically, that we can't keep the hot San Jose soil mo-ist enough long enough for forever-taking seeds like carrots to germinate.

Um...carrots? Helloooo?

Some measures you can take to make sure you have good germination rates for direct sown crops (where you put the seed right in your garden soil rather than starting it indoors first) is to know the crop's ideal sowing and germination conditions (in the case of carrots it's 1/4" seed depth, soil temps of 55-80 degrees, even water, consistent moisture, loamy soil with limited soil crusting) and follow them to the letter.

These tiny carrot seeds are the forever-takingest (20 days to germinate) of the direct sown seeds.

You can find this information on your seed packets and it's mightily helpful in getting a good stand (full germination of your crop in the garden) and final product.

If you have poor germination rate or none at all (like our poor carrots), you can adjust your conditions to suit the crop and resow, choose another crop to grow in the conditions that you DO have or, like we'll be doing, just let your nearby crops take over (AKA - Do nothing).

We'll try this again in the fall.

Blossoms fall off

When the temps spike, I start to get a lot of emails and pings from Indie Farmers worried about the blossoms falling off of their tomatoes.

In this case, some set fruit and some dropped off.

I get the same emails and pings when we have a super windy spell or it suddenly gets cold or a black cat crosses under a ladder nearby.

And that's all because of stress. When tomatoes get stressed - by temperatures that move outside of their ideal range (70-85 degrees), wind tossing around their leaves and branches, air pollution, lack of nutrients, pest attack, etc - they go into survival mode, just like all plants do.

And survival mode in plants looks like blossoms dropping, slowing of growth, fruit that doesn't ripen - that kind of thing. Because the plant is conserving energy to survive and the creation of flowers, setting of fruit on those flowers and ripening of fruit are the most energy consuming of the plant's activities.

So, the key to YOU surviving the plant's survival mode is to help the plant along. Look at the conditions the plant is experiencing and help it out.

If it's been really windy, put up a wind break around your plants, stake their branches so they don't break in the wind, or (if it's in a pot) move it to an area that's more protected.

The staking and protected space keeps this wee tomato plant from getting wrecked.

If it's been really hot, give your plant some afternoon shade with shade cloth, make sure you're watering deeply in the cool morning hours and limit the time you spend working the plants to the cooler morning hours.

Once conditions return to those that the plant likes best, it will go back to setting flowers and fruit and ripening that fruit. Healthy plants also fight off pests much more effectively and don't attract pests like sickly plants do.

Everything bolts super fast

When conditions move outside the range that your plants prefer (in the case of summer, it gets HOT), you'll notice your crops like lettuce, basil, cilantro and broccoli will start to send up tall stalks that eventually flower and set seed.

Look familiar? Oh, cilantro.

This is, again, your crop's way of surviving by producing the next generation (AKA - seed) and the heat is also a signal to cool season crops that it's time to procreate and survive.

Some crops like basil can be pinched to prevent bolting, but other crops like lettuce and cilantro will become bitter and tough even if you do prune off their flowering stalks.

Pinch me! Pinch me! Naughty.

For the cooler crops that you do want to grow during the hot summer months, try moving them to an area that gets afternoon shade or GIVE them afternoon shade where they're growing already, sow seed on a tighter schedule (every week rather than every other week) and harvest regularly to keep them in production mode.

Lettuce might like to grow in the shade of your bean tipi. Just sayin'.

Fastest pickles in the west. Or anywhere for that matter.

Um, are your cucumbers suddenly all, "HI! We're here! And we brought all of our friends!"?

Because ours are. BOY HOWDY are they.

But, since we've long run out of pickles from last year's crop of cucumbers, we're OK with it. In the sense that we're totally thrilled.

You can't tell from this photo, but we're doing handstands and cheers and stuff.

And since we haven't had homemade pickles since some time over the winter when our cupboard ran empty, we want this year's pickles NOW.

But canning pickles takes sooooooooooooooo long, right? Then they have to sit in the cupboard and cure for a while before they're really good.

Thankfully, there's the mighty refrigerator pickle.

Oh, refrigerator pickles - they are our spring time savior. Just when we can't wait any longer for the first crunch of pickle season, refrigerator pickles fill the bill like total pros. And you don't even have to have that many cucumbers to fill this recipe. Seriously, all it takes is about 3-4 cucumbers and a pint jar and you're good to go.

Or 12. We're not picky.

And - hey if you happen to have lemons coming in this time of year and a bit of dill growing in your garden somewhere, you're about to be pretty pleased with this recipe.

Indie Farms' Favorite Fridge Pickles 

Makes 1 pint
Ingredients
3-4 smallish pickling cucumbers (we like National Pickling, Homemade Pickles, Solly Beiler and Boothby's Blonds a lot for this)
4 garlic cloves, peeled
1 lemon, sliced horizontally
1 sprig of fresh dill
3/4 cup vinegar (white vinegar is fine, apple cider vinegar is good, too)
3/4 cup water
1 T whole peppercorns
2 t kosher or sea salt (just don't use table salt)

To make

1. Wash those cucumbers and slice off the tips (this keeps them from bittering up - ew)
2. Boil some water in a small pot and give those cukes a quick dunk (10 seconds is plenty). This will improve the flavor of your pickles. Promise.
3. Combine vinegar, water and salt in a small pot and bring to a boil
4. Add a couple of the lemon slices, the peppercorns and the garlic to the jar. Then pack in your cucumbers and dill sprig and top with another lemon slice.
5. Pour the brine over the cucumbers and fill the jar to 1/4" from the rim 
6. Screw on the lid and put your pickles in the fridge for a day
7. 24 hours later - EAT PICKLES WOO!

See, wasn't that easy? It was. And in a day you're going to be crunching your face off with pickle glory. So, you know, enjoy that.

The deal with fertilizing

You know what's the #1 thing I see people do with their vegetable gardens that keeps them from having a badass harvest?

They don't feed their plants.

Me so hungry

Sure - they may add some compost or something when they put the plants in the ground in the spring time and you KNOW they're watering the ever loving hell out of that garden for oh a month or so anyway, but I hardly see anyone go back to feed their plants with even a general purpose fertilizer.

Feeding - or fertilizing - is a crucial element in the Growing Your Own Food process. Without feeding your plants, they're not going to have enough nutrients available through simply foraging in the soil with their root systems to produce the kind of big belly filling harvests that I know you want.

Now THAT is a harvest

Right? Don't we all put our vegetable plants in the ground expecting to be able to return with a big ol' basket to fill to the brim?

Yes. Yes we do. I can see you nodding your heads.

Let me put it to you the way that it was put to me:

Plants need food to make food. 

This harvest was not produced on water alone

Oh. Right.

Just like you wouldn't just give a kid glass after glass of water and expect them to grow up big and strong, your vegetable plants need more than just water to produce food for you to eat.

Not that I'm insinuating that you feed your kids so that you can eat them or anything - that's just weird - but I think you see what I'm getting at.

If you were a tomato plant, you'd be drooling at this compost tea right now

Fertilizing is important. It's how our hard working vegetable plants go from simply surviving to thriving and producing.

But how do you fertilize different vegetable plants? Do they all like the same things? Do they take their meals three times a day? How much time are we really talking about here? And, come on, does it really make that big of a difference?

I'm glad you asked.

How to fertilize different vegetable plants
So, you are totally right to wonder whether different plants want different fertilizers - they do. In some part.

I'll have my dressing on the side, please.

See, all vegetable plants need the same 16-18 macro and micro nutrients to carry out their biological processes. Some of these are macro nutrients, which they need more of (hence the "macro") for the more fundamental of processes like building cells and photosynthesis and some are micro nutrients, which they need trace amounts of to carry out more specialized processes like production of fruit and seeds and protection from stress.

A good way to go about feeding your plants what they need throughout the growing season, beyond your usual soil building and composting regimen, is to side dress (or apply to the soil around your plants) with a balanced organic vegetable-specific fertilizer, fertilizer tea or compost tea on a regular basis throughout the growing season in amounts based on the growth stage of your plants.

If you don't have access to worm castings to make tea, you can also make a fertilizer tea from a good organic vegetable fertilizer like Gardner & Bloome's Tomato, Vegetable & Herb fertilizer.

A bonus of using a good balanced and organic fertilizer is that it'll usually also have added beneficial soil microbes and mycorrhizae that will boost productivity of the root systems, fend off soil pathogens and other good science-y stuff that I won't weigh you down with right now.

Just know - you're probably not getting all this goodness with the synthetic stuff. It's the fast food cheeseburger of plant foods and it's not doing your garden any favors.

When to fertilize your vegetable plants
We like to side dress all of our vegetables, fruits and herbs with worm casting tea on a monthly basis throughout the growing season, starting with the first flower set or, in the case of vining plants, when the vines start to run.

Can you hear the dinner bell? Because we can.

Depending on the vegetable fertilizer you use, you may only fertilize once every 4-6 weeks. Take a read of the package instructions.

The crucial feeding times are when your plants are performing the most energy-sucking activities like producing flowers, sending out vines and setting fruit, so these are also a good reminders that it's time to feed.

Once you have the general purpose vegetable fertilizer going, you can focus on providing the specific nutrients that your individual crops need.

For instance, broccoli needs a little extra boron to form solid stems and tomatoes need calcium to avoid blossom end rot.

What kind of results you can expect
Fertilizing isn't a miracle or a cure all or any other kind of mystical magic silver bullet for your vegetable garden, but it is the difference between a so-so harvest and an awesome one.  It's also the difference between vegetables that look good but taste sorta bland and ones that knock you back in your chair with WHY DOESN'T ALL FOOD TASTE LIKE THIS?! flavor. It can also be the difference between plants that are attacked by pests and plants that are healthy and vigorous.

When you combine a feeding plan with soil building, companion planting, crop rotation and appropriate watering, your harvests will boom, your pest problems won't be so severe and your garden will thrive like it means business.

And business is gooooooooooooooood

Broccoli noodle salad

Broccoli Noodle Salad

Recipe by moi

Ingredients

Broccoli, 1 head cut into florets

1 large carrot, shredded

1 handful of string beans, halved, tips removed (optional)

1 serving of rice vermicelli noodles

4 t fish sauce
2 T fresh lime juice
1 clove garlic, minced
2 T sugar
1/2 t garlic chili sauce

Noodle salad

Prepare vermicelli according to package directions and don't forget to rinse with cold water and set aside to drain well.

 

Steam broccoli, carrots and beans for 5-7 minutes or until tender crisp and not limp. Rinse in cold water and set aside.

Sauce
Whisk together fish sauce, lime juice, garlic, sugar and chili sauce in a large bowl. Then dump in noodles and steamed vegetables. Toss until noodles and vegs are completely coated with the sauce and allow to stand briefly for the flavors to get all mingley.

Eat with chopsticks if you're feeling exotic or with your feet if you're feeling grody yet coordinated.

Enjoy.

Asian coleslaw

I don't know about you guys, but I'm not a big fan of mayo. 

Sure, spread it LIGHTLY on some toasted bread for a tomato sandwich, but I'm not stirring a giant wad of it into the shredded beauty of fresh cabbage and carrots. 

I'm just not doing it.

But I do love coleslaw. If only because it's a really good way to use up a lot of beautiful cabbage.

This coleslaw recipe employs none of the mayo craziness that your typical coleslaw calls for and I find it to be an awesome accompaniment to Asian dishes of all kinds. Or just boring dishes that need a fancy sidekick to give it some direction.

You know, like frozen pot stickers from Trader Joe's. 

Seriously - I do that. There's no shame in frozen pot stickers, sorry GYOZA, from Trader Joe's.

Enjoy your mayo-free coleslaw.

Asian coleslaw

Ingredients

1/2 head green (or red! be wild like that!) cabbage, shredded

2 carrots, julienned

2 green onions, julienned

A few sprigs of cilantro

1 lime, juiced

4 T soy sauce

2 T sesame oil

Salt/pepper to your taste

 

In a medium sized bowl, whisk together soy sauce, sesame oil, lime juice, salt and pepper. Then throw in the cabbage, carrots, cilantro and onions. Toss it all together and set it aside.

 

This actually tastes best when it's been allowed to sit around and get tossed every once in a while. 

 

Just don't let it sit around too long. The cabbage will get limp and start to smell...strange. Give it about 10 minutes and then have at it.

 

Good eating. 

Fresh Veg Spring Rolls with dipping sauces

Fresh Veg Spring Rolls with Dipping Sauces & Asian Coleslaw

 

Serves 2

Ingredients

Spring rolls

8 rice wrappers  

1 serving of rice vermicelli

3 small carrots, julienned

3 green onions, julienned

Bunch of cilantro, rinsed

Bunch of mint leaves, rinsed

8 Lettuce leaves, rinsed

Dipping sauce

4 t fish sauce

2 T fresh lime juice

1 clove garlic, minced

2 T sugar

1/2 t garlic chili sauce

3 T hoisin sauce

1 t finely chopped peanuts

To make

Spring rolls

Prepare vermicelli according to package directions and don't forget to rinse with cold water and set aside to drain well.

Fill a large shallow bowl with warm water. Dip one wrapper into the hot water for a second to soften. Lay it flat, add a lettuce leaf and then fill with a few strips each of carrots and onion, some vermicelli, a spring of cilantro and a few mint leaves leaving about 2 inches of open space on either side of your veg pile. Fold uncovered sides inward, then tightly roll the wrapper. You don't have to tuck in the ends. That's a dirty, dirty rumor.

Do all this over and over until you run out of stuff. You'll have about 8 rolls. 

Dipping sauce

Mix everything except the peanuts and hoisin together in one bowl. Then mix the hoisin and peanuts in another bowl. DONE!

Carrot juice

This isn't much of a recipe, but rather more of a way to encourage you to juice your carrots because HOLY MACKEREL is it delicious.

To the point where, if I squint my eyes and don't think too much about it, fresh cold carrot juice almost tastes like chocolate milk to me.

Does that make me strange?

It might.

No matter, juice your carrots and you decide what it tastes like.

Pretty sure that you'll at least think it's delightful.

Carrot juice

Makes 12 ounces
Ingredients
2 pounds of carrots, washed and trimmed


To make
Flip on your juicer and start shoving carrots in there through the shoving hole using the supplied shover rather than your hands so that you can hold your glass of juice with all 10 of your fingers.

Once all of your carrots have met their end in the juicer, pour the resulting frothy juice through a fine mesh strainer into a glass. Strain it again. Seriously, don't doubt me on this one, you want that juice as strained as possible.

It may strain you, all the straining, but just do it and don't sass me.

Then chill the resulting glass of juice in the refrigerator for at least an hour.

Good drinking, all. See if you can imagine that it's actually chocolate milk.