Goodbye winter crops. Hello compost.

Morrison Victory Garden - bare and in transition

Today was warm and sunny. I took full advantage of the 70 degree weather and began uprooting the winter crops and covering the garden in compost. Spring is coming soon and the MVG needs to be in prime condition for the plants and seeds.

brussel sprouts are ready for a steam bath

I harvested the last head of cabbage, an extra large cauliflower, a basket full of brussel sprouts, 10 pok choi, a handful of radish, and large pile of mustard greens.

final winter harvest

onions are slow but growing

The only items left in the MVG are onions, kale, and bitter melon vines. The onions will be ready in a few months and the kale is still growing well in both cold and warm weather. I plan to uproot all onions and kale once the summer crops are ready to plant. I am keeping the bitter melon vines up just in case there are any Mantodea egg sacks attached to the vines. I will keep the brown vines up until late April. I hope this gives any nymphs time to hatch, dry out, and feed.

largest cauliflower of the season (9" diameter)

I spread our homemade compost across the entire row crop area. We are expecting showers and rain in the next few weeks. I plan to mix in the compost with the rototiller once the rain has subsided.

adding homemade compost

RIC - I chopped up all uprooted vegetables and have placed them into the compost bins. Until next year winter veggies, you have made the MVG lush with color all winter long.

Rest In Compost winter greens

November starts with a mound of greens

The victory garden is still enjoying the cool fall rain and warm rays of sunshine. The frost has not hit yet. This means the bitter melon is loving the sun and grown into a large curtain of green leaves. We are harvesting as much bitter melon as possible. We hope that the sun will stick around so that the thumb-sized fruit can mature into bitterlicious lumpy green 6-inch or longer fruit. Once the frost hits, the entire plant will wilt and die within a week.

a green curtain of bitter melon leaves

The greens are doing very well. Our recent harvest produced a mound of southern giant and giant red mustard greens with a small bouquet of Russian and dinosaur kale on the side. The greens will be put to good use. My mother loves to stir-fry the greens with pork and steam a small batch to eat as a side dish. I personally like to stir-fry the greens with chili oil, garlic, mushrooms, eggplant, and any other veggies from the garden.

variety of eggplant and peppers

The warm fall weather has kept the eggplants producing purple and white fruit in all shapes and sizes. The pepper plants are still pushing out green bell peppers, jalapenos, and habaneros which add a certain zing to any stir-fry or soup dish. I hope to harvest a few more eggplants and peppers before retiring the plants to the compost piles.

habanero pepper... spicy goodness

While working in the garden, I was greeted by a mantodeas elder. The mantodeas are plentiful and I have seen over twenty mantodeas when peaking behind the bitter melon curtain. The biggest mantodeas are living in the herb garden. They are roughly 4-5 inches in size. I still remember when they were the size of my pinky finger nail. They must be keeping the herb garden and bitter melon bug free.

However, we still have a few causalities from time to time. We laid the swiss chard to rest in the compost last week. We had a terrible aphid infestation that would not go away. I saw many mantodeas elders fighting the good fight but the chard was too weak to survive. I have taken additional precaution and will be using an organic bug killer (Captain Jack's Deadbug Brew) to help keep the evil invaders away during the colder winter months. Once the frost hits, most of the mantodeas warriors will retreat, lay egg sacs, and die. Without the warriors to protect the garden many of the greens, cabbage, and brussel sprouts will not survive the winter. Rest in compost sweet and delicious swiss chard. You will be missed in our winter soups and stir-frys.

We see cauliflower!

Radish, mustard greens, and jam for winter

Mustard greens

The victory garden had an usually dry and warm winter season.   The warm sun and the dry weather did not stop the mustard greens.  The cool air helped keep the mustard greens tall and lush while keeping the ground moist.  I did not water the winter crops this season.  I wanted to test the winter rains and soil.  The greens loved the solitude and kept on growing.  We could not eat them fast enough and we still have more to harvest.  These greens are great in soup, hot pot, and stir-fry.  I plan on planting many more winter greens next season.

Long crispy Minowase radish

The Monowase radishes grew well too.  I started with seeds and like magic the longest radish reached 17 inches. Most of the time you never know the length of the radish.  In addition the green leafy tops can also be misleading.  Only harvest your radishes when the tops of the radish stick out of the ground and are roughly 1/2 - 1 inch in diameter.  You can then gently pull the radish from the ground and enjoy the crunchy texture and spicy nutty flavor.  Once the radishes in the my victory garden reach a size my family likes, we picked, cleaned, and chopped each one.

marinated radish

My family enjoys marinated vegetables. Dried radishes are fantastic sponges and great for soaking up flavorful marinades.  Here is how my mother and I make this tasty and crunchy side dish.  After 24-48 hours in the dehydrator, radish dry very fast, you will take all of the dry bits and place them into jars/containers.  My mom uses old plastic containers but canning jars will work too.  Fill each container half-way.  This will allow the radish to expand.  Remember radish are like sponges and will expand while soaking up the marinade.  The sauce is what makes the dish.  I suggest trying out a few types of sauces in smaller batches if this is your first experience with marinated radishes.  You can find recipes online or in a variety of cookbooks too.  My family's recipe consists of water, soy sauce, fish sauce, and sugar.  My vegetarian version uses water, soy sauce, rice vinegar, sesame oil and brown sugar.  Depending on the taste you want you can add a more or less of each ingredient.  The goal with the marinade is to fill the jar.  You want to give the radish every opportunity to soak up the flavors of the marinade.  Cover the jar and place the filled jar into the fridge.  Within 24 hours you will have a tasty side dish for any breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Thai Dragon Chili Pepper Jelly

Pepper jelly was the favorite item in my holiday bags this year.  I decide to make this batch of pepper jelly using the Thai Dragon Chili peppers from the victory garden.  I have friends and a mother who loves HOT HOT HOT food.  This was my special treat for each of them.  I followed a previously discussed Pepper Jelly recipe but canned the jelly in smaller decorative 6 oz. jars. My previous batches were made in pint and recycled jars.  The small red and white jars were a hit and many of neighbors were pleased with the spicy sweet flavor.

Rest in Compost (RIC): There are always casualties in any garden and the odd winter weather brought a few.  The only item that did not prosper and grow was the Brussels sprouts.  They need lots of water and there was little to no rain this season.  The carrots loved the cold weather too but did not fair well in the dry winter soil.  The lack of water gave the carrots a rubbery texture.  RIC dear Brussels sprouts and carrots, until we meet again.