Coaching for January

So, who's stoked for the spring garden season to begin? If you're frantically waving your hand around, you're in luck because it has begun!

No, really.

And if you're planning to grow crops like tomatoes, peppers, eggplant or anything from seed that says "Sow indoors" on the packet, your time is here to get your seeds ordered and your indoor space set up for seed starting.

Each type of vegetable has its own set of rules for getting growing and some of them have a bit more wiggle room with those rules. Here's a list of the most popular homegrown vegetables and how to start them from seed so that you actually end up with the vegetables that you want. 

FYI: We're using the last frost date of March 1 to determine when to start the seeds in NorCal.

A list of equipment for starting seeds indoors is at the end, so just keep a readin'. 

Basil
How to sow: Direct in the garden soil lightly covered with soil or start indoors 3-4 weeks prior to transplanting outdoors by surface sowing (don't cover) and keeping mo-ist

When to start: 2/1 indoors, after 3/1 outdoors 

What to expect: Germination in 5-10 days

Beans (Pole)    How to sow: Direct in the garden soil, 1" deep, 3 seeds per pole

When to start: End of February or after soil temps have exceeded 60 degrees, so after it's been 60 degrees during the day for a week or more 

What to expect: Germination in 3-7 days. Climbing the trellis within a month of germination.

  

Beets 

How to sow: Direct in the garden soil, 1/2" deep, 3-4 seeds/inch, no need to thin

When to start: After soil temps have exceeded 45 degrees. So, like, whenever you want in NorCal.

What to expect: Germination 7 days, young greens in 2 weeks

  

Carrots

How to sow: Direct in the garden soil, lightly covered with soil, 30 seeds/ft, DO NOT LET SEEDS DRY OUT

When to start: End of February or after soil temps have exceeded 60 degrees, so after it's been 60 degrees during the day for a week or more 

What to expect: If moisture is kept consistent and temperatures warm, germination within 1-3 weeks (yes, they take forever to germinate)

Corn

How to sow: Direct in the garden soil, 1" deep, 1 seed/hole, in blocks of 4 rows (for pollination to occur)

When to start: End of March or after soil temps have exceeded 65 degrees, so after it's been 65 degrees during the day for a week or more 

What to expect: Germination in 7-14 days

Cucumbers

How to sow: Direct in the garden soil, 1" deep, 4-6 seeds per mounded hill

When to start: End of February or after soil temps have exceeded 60 degrees, so after it's been 60 degrees during the day for a week or more  

What to expect: Germination in 7-14 days

Eggplant

How to sow: Start indoors with bottom heat and supplemental light to 12 hours/day, 1/4" deep, 1 seed/cell

When to start: 1/11 or 8-10 weeks before last frost

What to expect: Germination in 10-21 days

Kale

How to sow: Direct in the garden, lightly covered with soil to 1/4"

When to start: Early spring for a spring/summer crop

What to expect: Germination in 10-21 days

Lettuce

How to sow: Direct in the garden, lightly covered with soil to 1/4" according to the depth indicated on the package

When to start: After February 1, while temperatures are still cool

What to expect: Germination in 7-10 days

Melons

How to sow: Direct in the garden soil, 1/2" deep, 4-6 seeds per mounded hill

When to start: End of February or after soil temps have exceeded 60 degrees, so after it's been 60 degrees during the day for a week or more 

What to expect: Germination in 7-10 days

Peas

How to sow: Direct in the garden soil, 2" deep, 6" apart

When to start: Early spring for a spring/summer crop

What to expect: Germination in 7-14 days

Peppers

How to sow: Start indoors with bottom heat and supplemental light to 12 hours/day, 1/4" deep, 1 seed/cell

When to start: 1/11 or 8-10 weeks before last frost

What to expect: Germination in 10-21 days

Squash

How to sow: Direct in the garden soil, 1/2" deep, 1-2 seeds every 3'

When to start: End of February or after soil temps have exceeded 60 degrees, so after it's been 60 degrees during the day for a week or more 

What to expect: Germination in 10-14 days

Tomatoes 

How to sow: Start indoors with bottom heat and supplemental light to 12 hours/day, 1/4" deep, 1-2 seeds/cell

When to start: 1/25 or 8-10 weeks before last frost

What to expect: Germination in 7-10 days

  

Seed starting equipment for indoor growing

Bottom heat: Heat mats

Trays: 11x22 tray

Domes: Fits 11x22 trays

Flats: 72 cell flat

Grow lights: 4' fixture

Fan: Oscillating fan

Soilless mix: Seed starter mix

Eat your summer

You ready to knock back that encroaching garden for dinner tonight?

Good. Here we go.

Go out to that garden/farmers' market/neighbor's yard/whathaveyou with a big basket or bucket (shallow and wide is better than tall and deep) and gather up:

A handful of tomatoes
A few zucchini, crookneck or other summer squash that desperately needs a talking to
A bunch of basil
Some oregano

Return to your kitchen with yellowish green fingernails and a better lease on life to rinse your vegetables and get on with this whole dinner thing.

Before you start chopping away, gather up the other non-vegetable gardeny things like GOOD olive oil, Parmesan cheese (finely shredded), mozzarella (sliced into rounds) and some good salt. I'll let you decide what constitutes "good" salt in your house, but I like grey salt, sea salt, pink salt, black lava salt - even kosher salt. Pretty much anything that's not just straight table salt because, well, I don't have that in my house.

My poor table.

Anyway - let's make dinner.

Slice the tomatoes into 1/2" rounds, the squash into long 1/2" thin strips, pluck the basil leaves from their stems and strip the oregano from its stem and finely chop. Ooh la la!

Happiest cutting board in the west.

Go grab a nice oven safe dish. Glass works nicely, but whatever you've got will do fine. Crank that oven to 400 degrees and set up your dish to start loading in the summer garden.

First, give the bottom of the dish a good dose of olive oil and a bit of salt. This will keep the whole glorious thing from sticking to the bottom, which is a total drag.

Then start the layering just like you would lasagna, but instead of noodles, you have squash strips. I'm sure you've seen/done this before, so it's not like I'm telling you anything new here BUT OH every time I make this from the crazy busty garden I feel like a hero.

Mostly because I no longer have a weight advantage over the zucchini and it scares me so this is my way of reminding it who's boss, but still. Whatever it takes to feel like a hero, am I right?

Anyway, layer thusly:

Olive oil > Zucchini strips > Tomato rounds > Basil leaves bottoms up

Then some Parmesan. See how the basil holds on to the cheese in its upturned cups? Yeah. You see.

Cupping!

Then add your sliced mozzarella right on there.

The cupping is still in effect

Then give it all a splash of the olive oil, salt and the Ooh la la stripped oregano.

Then do the layering all over again, finishing with a shingled basil layer, tops up this time.

Mmm...basil shingles. That's gooooooooooooood shingling.

And don't forget the rest of the cheese and whatever oregano's still lying around for the tippy top.

That's a tower of I WIN right there.

Cover with foil and bake the whole deal in your 400 degree oven for about 30 minutes or until the juices are abubblin' (this is where it helps to use a glass dish, so you can just look in there and see the abubblin' without having to take off the foil and maybe burn your face/hand off - just saying) and then remove the foil altogether and let it bake for another 10 minutes or until the cheese is browned a bit on top.

Let it cool for a few minutes if you can and then slice into it and serve it with a fresh basil leaf on top because that just screams FRESH GARDEN GOODNESS right in your face, does it not?

IN THE FACE

A garden take down never tasted so good.

Love on those mustard greens

For those of you who planted mustard seed this winter, good on you. And good on your garden.

It's good, is what I'm saying.

While it's busy fumigating the soil (really, it does this), you can eat it and imagine it fumigating your innards, too.

Does that sound bad? It's not. It's actually good. Mustard greens have cancer-fighting and cholesterol-lowering properties.

See - that sounds good. No one likes cancer anyway. It's a total jerk.

But do mustard greens taste good? We're not in the business of eating stuff *just* for our health, here.

Thankfully, it's quite good. And flexible - eat mustard greens as spicy sprouts, fresh salad greens or sauteed with ham steak and winter squash.

In case that last one got a raised eyebrow, here's a recipe we cook up often over the winter in order to keep the mustard cover in check and, you know, accompany a nice bottle of chilled Chardonnay.

Ham Steaks with Winter Vegetables

Serves 2
Ingredients
2 ham steaks, trimmed and cubed
1 Delicata squash, peeled, cored and sliced into 1" rings
1 bunch of mustard greens, rinsed and roughly chopped
2 T olive oil
Sea salt, pepper

To make
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

Cover a rimmed baking sheet with foil and add a bit of olive oil. Distribute your squash rings on the oiled foil (you know that rhymes, right?) and coat with a bit more olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt. Roast in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes, until the squash is lightly browned and soft.

In a large skillet, brown your ham steak cubes over medium-high heat until brown on all sides. Your house will start to smell reminiscent of bacon and this is just a side benefit to making this meal. Enjoy that.

When your ham steak cubes are browned on all sides, add the mustard greens and saute with the ham until wilted.

Serve the ham and mustard saute with the squash and, of course, that chilled wine we were talking about before.

Let the fumigation begin.

 

Zucchini cheddar biscuits

If you're looking for something else to do with squash aside from stuff it or saute it or bury it in every sauce and pasta dish to hit our table, I'm here to tell you that you can bake it.

And not like bake a stuffed squash or something, but actually bake it into biscuits which are really tasty and lovely to serve with dinner. 

And then when you're all drunk with the power of baking squash into things, you can make this for dessert.

I'm just saying that I know what happens when you're drunk with the power of baking vegetables into things and I want to support that.

Anyway, this recipe from Garden Fresh Vegetable Cookbook, which I love and adore, is Zucchini Cheddar Breakfast Biscuits and transforms a giant squash into 2 cups of perfect matchsticks that get turned into 1 cup (after draining and squishing) of binding goop perfect for biscuits. And don't be deterred by the "breakfast" in the title, there. I served these with dinner and no one put up a fight.

Wouldn't you like to make these biscuits with all of the squash moving into your guest room? I bet you might.

 Zucchini Cheddar Biscuits

Adapted from Andrea Chessman's recipe in Garden-Fresh Vegetable Cookbook
My changes in bold

Ingredients
2 cups of julienned summer squash
1 tsp salt
3 cups whole wheat flour1 Tbsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp fresh ground mixed peppercorns
4 Tbsp cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes
1 cup grated cheddar
1/4 cup buttermilk
*I omitted the bacon called for in the recipe because we didn't have any on hand, but I'm SURE it would be delicious to include. Obviously.

Toss the squash and salt into a colander and let it hang out for half hour. At that point you can squeeze the water out of it and end up with a nice 1 cup wad of squash goop.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda and pepper into a bowl and cut in the butter until you have a coarse crumb texture going on. Then mix in the cheese and squash with a fork and then add the buttermilk. Stir it around with your fork until it forms a nice stiff dough.

Flour your counter or a board and turn the dough out onto it for a brief kneading session where some of it will get stuck to your fingers, but that's OK. Just flour your hands more. Roll the dough out and use a random glass from the cupboard to cut biscuits into the dough. I found our highball glasses worked nicely, but if you want to get all technical you could use a 3 inch round cutter.

Put your biscuits on a baking sheet and toss them in the oven for about 15 minutes.

Go to town with these at whatever meal suits you. I don't judge.

Zucchini cupcakes

I've found the best way to get rid of loads of squash (zucchini, crookneck, whathaveyou) is to shred it and put it into chocolate cake.

Because everyone loves chocolate cake and since they don't know that there's evil squash inside, they eat it all up like WOO CHOCOLATE CAKE and I go WOO THE SQUASH IS GONE and then WOO MY PANTS FEEL TIGHT because I love chocolate cake, too. Whoopsy.

But the satisfaction I get from stowing two or three huge squash in something that will be readily disposed of is extreme, and so I carry on. Let's hope my jeans make it through squash season. 

Wow. That's something I've never said before. 

 

Moving on...

If you want to hide all your squash in a cake (and let's face it, who doesn't? It's very fun.) try this recipe from my favorite use-all-your-garden-vegetables cookbook, Serving up the Harvest by Andrea Chessman.

Dark Chocolate Zucchini Cupcakes
Adapted from the Dark Chocolate Zucchini Bundt Cake recipe

in Serving up the Harvest, Andrea Chesman

Ingredients

2 1/2 C flour

3/4 C unsweetened cocoa powder

2 t baking powder

1 t baking soda

1 t salt

1/2 t ground cinnamon

2 C brown sugar (make sure you have this before you make the whole recipe)

1/2 C butter

2 eggs

2 oz baking chocolate, melted + cooled

1 t vanilla extract

1 C coffee

3 C grated squash (WOO!)

 

 

To make

Preheat oven to 350.

Grease your cupcake tins (this made almost 2 dozen) in whatever fashion suits you.

Sift the flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in a bowl. And really sift it using a sifter or something because it mixes it nice and gets rid of lumps. No one wants to eat a lump of baking powder, y'all. That's nasty.

 

No lumps. That's all I ask.

Beat together the brown sugar and butter in a mixer and add the eggs one at a time until they're combined. Add in the chocolate and vanilla until combined and then switch off adding the coffee and flour mixture until it's all in there. Scrape down the bowl and then mix in the squash. 

Pour the whole mess into the cupcake tin and bake for approximately 30 minutes or until the toothpick does the Coming Out Clean thing. 

Allow to cool and watch for Cupcake Monsters that do this:

 

Cupcake monsters are the worst kind of monsters.

And then, once they're cooled and you want to impress people, add some powdered sugar to the top to be fancy. If you want, you can use the fancy method I learned while standing in line at the store.

See, as I was buying the brown sugar I thought I had but didn't and was soothing my aggravated soul with a free sample reading of Real Simple, I came across this month's New Uses for Old Things that was to use a tea ball to shake powdered sugar over things. 

I do believe I said aloud to myself: YES. I WILL DO THIS. 

And then I did. See below.

 

Works like a charm.

But, if you're just going to be shoving all the cupcakes into a zippy bag and taking them to work to pawn off on your coworkers who still fit in their jeans, feel free to ditch the fancy sugar and just leave them plain. They're still real good. Promise. I even ate one in the car to prove it - so there.

Now go love on your zucchini. GO.