EarthBox 2015 Recap — The Cucumbers And Zucchini

by A.J. Coltrane

2013 Cucumbers and Zucchini recap here. 2014 here.

The Tromboncino produced 26.0 pounds this year. The 2014 total was 20.5 pounds. A 27% improvement!

(For reference – the trellis squares are 8″ x 8″. The fruit is 28″ long.)

Being the closest container to the west side of the house, the Tromboncino have been getting 1-2 hours less sun per day than some of the other, more favorable locations on the patio. Next year we may move them to the northwest corner of patio (the photo below was taken facing west, the northwest corner is at the the top right of the picture – that’s where the late morning sun hits first each day). If we do move the box then we’d turn the trellis 90 degrees so that it would run along the north edge of the patio. The difference in sun might help both the yield and with powdery mildew.

We grew two boxes of cucumbers this year — 8 plants total. I don’t think they liked the unusually hot weather. The cucumbers peaked early and disintegrated rapidly after that. In addition, they all became blocky, instead of long and pretty and straight. Bummer.

EarthBox #1 contained four Marketmore 76 cucumbers — the same thing as each of the last two years:

2013 yield – 56.0 pounds

2014 yield – 44.4 pounds

2015 yield – 28.6 pounds

Hopefully in a “normal” year we’ll see 40-50 pounds or so. That seems reasonable, and it would still be about 15 pounds per square foot of growing medium. I won’t complain if that’s the case.

Interestingly, I didn’t think the Marketmores were very photogenic this year. The last photo happened on June 15:

EarthBox #2 hosted two varieties of pickling cucumber (Calypso and National Pickling), and two Lemon cucumber plants.

Mixing two types of pickling cucumbers with very different maturity sizes was a bad idea. It was basically impossible to tell if we were looking a small National Pickling cucumber (which grow to a 6″ maximum) or a full-sized Calypso (3″ maximum). Together they produced 10.6 pounds. Not great.

The Lemon cucumbers did much better — 20.0 pounds from the two plants. I wish they were a little easier to process after harvesting; it’s way easier to peel a regular cucumber, in contrast to a slippery orb:

All up, box #2 yielded 30.6 pounds. Between the two boxes we got 59.2 pounds of cucumbers(!) It’s too much, really. We’ll likely return to doing one box of cucumbers next year.

Now we just need to figure out what we’ll do with the “extra” box..

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Visit Dave at Ourhappyacres, host of Harvest Monday.

GNOIF: GNOIF Has The Power

by A.J. Coltrane

GNOIF #19 Recap — GNOIF: GNOIF Has The Power (Games about power and control. Political power. Military power. Electrical-type power.) This recap is well overdue, the game night was actually on the 12th of September. Life gets in the way sometimes.

Games That Got Played: Ascension, Avalon – Resistance, Bang!, Fluxx – Martian, Forbidden Desert

Games That Didn’t Get Played: Agricola, Black Rock City, Carcassonne, Fjords, Forbidden Island, Pandemic, Power Grid, Rocketville, Small World, Tiny Epic Kingdoms

A medium sized-crowd decided that they wanted to play, and replay a select few games. I played the then new-to-us Ascension with four players. With just 2 people it’s fairly deterministic, and it feels like maybe it’s too easy to plan ahead. I think it’s probably a better game with 3 or 4 people. It was created by the same designers responsible for Star Realms. To my mind Star Realms works best with two players, though really I think it’s just the better game overall.

Most of the other games we played can occupy a lot of players. Fluxx, Avalon – Resistance, and Bang! will all entertain a crowd, and that’s sort of how the evening went — multiple plays of “big” games.

As always, thanks to everyone who played!

EarthBox 2015 Recap — The Peppers

by A.J. Coltrane

2013 Peppers recap here. 2014 Peppers recap here. There’s a spreadsheet at the bottom of this post showing the total for all three years combined.

The 2013 harvest was 22.3 pounds from 11 plants — 2.0 pounds per plant.

The 2014 harvest was 31.0 pounds from 18 plants — 1.7 pounds per plant.

The 2015 harvest was 32.5 pounds from 18 plants — 1.8 pounds per plant. That comes out to 10.8 pounds per box, or 3.6 pounds per square foot of growing medium.

I think it’s pretty safe to say that in the future we can expect the yield to be 1.7-2.2 pounds on average per plant.

The 2015 lineup:

Anaheim College 64 — 1 plant. 1.0 pounds: That’s less than half of what we got from this variety each of the last two years. We’ll plant these again anyway, I think we just got an uncooperative plant.

Bullnose Bell — 2 plants. 2.3 pounds total. (1.15 pounds per plant): Basically a really squat bell pepper. Their shape made them relatively time consuming to break down. The yield wasn’t very good, and that’s before accounting for the pithy interior. Not a keeper for 2016.

NuMex — 1 plant. 2.6 pounds: The NuMex were long and straight and produced a good yield. Keeper.

Iko Iko — 2 plants. 4.5 pounds total. (2.25 pounds per plant): A bell type. These ripened well and were generally trouble-free. Keeper.

Early Jalapeno — 1 plant. 0.9 pounds: Another poor yield from a pepper that usually does well for us. Still, we’re not going to bail on Jalapenos due to one bad year. Keeper.

Carmen — 2 plants. 8.0 pounds. (4.0 pounds per plant): Outstanding yield. Super easy to handle and process — the seeds of each fruit were in a little pod right at the stem. A new favorite! Keeper.

King of the North — 6 plants. 9.1 pounds. (1.5 pounds per plant): Somewhat below average yield for what is basically a standard “bell pepper”. The bugs got to these a little bit. They usually do better for us. Keeper.

Lipstick — 2 plants. 2.5 pounds. (1.25 pounds per plant): We had one “good” plant, and one plant that made deformed fruit. The only other time we’ve grown Lipstick it produced 1.7 pounds. We’ll see if something else grabs us in 2016.

“Yellow Bell” — 1 plant. 1.5 pounds: Teeny tiny bell peppers that ripened to orange. The interiors were solid seeds — we used a spoon or a melon baller to empty them out. Not a keeper.

One thing we “discovered” this year is that long, straight peppers are far faster and easier to clean — when compared to the bell types. I can definitely see that characteristic being a tie-breaker when we choose what to grow next year.

Here’s the 2013-2015 spreadsheet, sorted by average weight per plant:

Variety	Count	Weight	Ave. Weight
Carmen	2	8.0	4.0
Tequila	1	3.3	3.3
Gypsy	3	7.9	2.6
NuMex	1	2.6	2.6
Iko Iko	2	4.5	2.3
Tequila Sunrise	1	2.2	2.2
Anaheim College 64	3	6.3	2.1
King of the North	12	24.3	2.0
Jalapeno	3	5.9	2.0
Pasilla Bajio	1	1.9	1.9
Karma	1	1.6	1.6
Cute Stuff	2	3.1	1.6
Yellow Bell	1	1.5	1.5
Lipstick	3	4.2	1.4
Gourmet	3	3.7	1.2
Bullnose Bell	2	2.3	1.2
Hungarian Hot Wax	1	0.9	0.9
Thai Hot	1	0.5	0.5
Alma Paprika	1	0.4	0.4
Banana	1	0.4	0.4
“Bell”	1	0.3	0.3
Total	46	85.8	1.9
2013	10	22.3	2.2
2014	18	31.0	1.7
2015	18	32.5	1.8

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Visit Dave at Ourhappyacres, host of Harvest Monday.

Container Garden Update — October 4, 2015

by A.J. Coltrane

Previous post here. October 4, 2014 post here. October 7, 2013 post here.

We harvested the last 9.8 pounds of tomatoes this week.

Monday saw us harvest everything except for the non-ripe cherry varieties:

Today we brought in the cherries. The girl cat is checking the sheet tray for potential deliciousness:

We removed the remaining tomato stems and cages today. Later this week we’ll plant Mache in those four boxes.

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This year we only weighed product from the EarthBoxes. We also didn’t count any overwintering veg, since the total was pretty paltry, and I was bummed out by the paltriness. Still, we harvested 282.5 pounds from the EarthBoxes — all of it between June 24 and October 4. That’s about 8.5% more veggies than in 2014.

2013 total weight: 228.0 pounds

2014 total weight: 269.4 pounds

2015 total weight: 282.5 pounds

For reference, 282.5 pounds comes out to just under 8 pounds of product (7.84) per square foot of growing medium. I’d guess that we’re getting close to the upper limit for our situation, short of swapping out the basil for something heavier — and that’s not going to happen.

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Each year I’ve done four garden Recap posts, looking at what worked, what didn’t, and what we think we might have learned. I’ll likely do the 2015 version of those posts over the next couple of weeks. As it gets colder I’ll also do updates on the progress of the new salad table and the status of the winter veg.

Wintertime also encourages turning on the oven again. I expect we’ll do more recipe and baking posts.

Looking forward to it.

Roasted Tomatillo-Pork Tacos

by A.J. Coltrane

I used this recipe (“Pork Stew in Green Salsa”) as a jumping off point for Roasted Tomatillo-Pork Tacos. The picture is of my variation, situated on a corn tortilla, topped with sour cream and frilly cilantro:

Ingredients

1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 tablespoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1.5 lb boneless pork shoulder roast, trimmed of excess fat and cut into 1-inch cubes
2 tablespoons olive oil, or more if needed
1/2 large onion, chopped
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups pureed roasted tomatillos
4 seeded minced green tomatoes (I used Romas)
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1/2 cup water
1 tablespoon Apple Cider Vinegar (pork loves apple)
Additional salt to taste

Directions

Stir together the flour, salt, pepper, and cumin in a large bowl. Place the cubed pork into the mixture, and stir well to coat the meat with the seasonings.
Heat the olive oil in a large, heavy pan or Dutch oven over medium-high heat until the oil shimmers. Working in batches if necessary, place the meat into the hot pan in a single layer. Pan-fry the pork until brown on all sides. Remove the pork to a bowl.
Cook and stir the onion in the hot pan over medium heat, adding more olive oil if necessary, until the onion is translucent. Return the meat to the pan and stir in the garlic, tomatillos, tomatoes, apple cider vinegar, and water. Cover and simmer over low heat, stirring occasionally, until the meat is tender, about 1 hour.
Stir in cilantro shortly before serving. Check for salt.

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The big changes from the original are:

Roasted tomatillos instead of fresh. I may try it with fresh at some point, but we currently have a freezer stocked with a lot of roasted tomatillos.

The addition of green tomatoes instead of green chiles. We have more than a few green tomatoes on the counter at the moment. (Gotta use everything up.)

More garlic (surprise!). More cumin. No majoram.

The addition of apple cider vinegar, which I think really helps. It brightens the dish and somewhat compensates for using roasted tomatillos rather than fresh.

Less liquid. The target was a taco filling rather than a stew.

Adding the cilantro very late in the cooking process. No point killing it by adding it early.

Half as much meat. It’s still plenty of food for four.

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[As an aside, the allrecipes picture uses mint as a garnish, which isn’t anywhere in the recipe. I guess they didn’t want a completely brown picture either. The inclusion of mint in the photo is “cheating” I think. They should have garnished with cilantro, which is actually in the recipe. /rant]

I really enjoyed this take on Roasted Tomatillo-Pork Tacos. It’s an easy one-pot preparation that doesn’t take all night. We’ll be making this one again for sure.

Container Garden Update — September 27, 2015

by A.J. Coltrane

Previous post here. September 29, 2014 post here. September 30, 2013 post here.

3.4 pounds this week (only counting the EarthBoxes). We harvested the first batch of radishes, and the tomato plants offered up this:

I removed the last of the annual flowers from the whiskey barrels. We’d interplanted scallions/bunch onions with the flowers, and a few of the largest scallions came inside.

The smaller scallions were replanted for harvest in the spring.

We’re still seeing days in the low-mid 60’s, and the tomatoes are *still* slowly ripening. I’m guessing we’ll harvest the rest of the tomatoes this week. Here’s a view from a 2nd-story window:

Today the whiskey barrels and empty EarthBoxes received the ~100 Guardsman scallion starts that had been growing next to the salad table in the front yard. We also planted seeds of Mache (a.k.a. vit/corn salad), Giants of Colmar carrots, Conservor shallots, Red Baron bunch onion/scallion, Five Color Silverbeet chard, and Dragon Hybrid radishes. In theory we should be able to harvest most of that through the winter.

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2013 total weight to date: 185.6 pounds

2014 total weight to date: 246.2 pounds

2015 total weight to date: 272.7 pounds

As a flat guess there are another 10-15 pounds of tomatoes in the EarthBoxes yet to be harvested.

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Visit Daphne’s Dandelions, host of Harvest Monday.

Container Garden Update — September 20, 2015

by A.J. Coltrane

Previous post here. September 21, 2014 post here. September 22, 2013 post here.

The forecast calls for more 50-or-60-degree days, clouds, and rain. I’m guessing that’s as good as it’s going to get until May. This weekend became “clean up and harvest everything that’s at least mostly ripe.”

17.1 pounds for the day. 22.8 pounds for the week. 269.3 pounds for the year (counting only the EarthBoxes). We’ve now surpassed last year’s EarthBox total of ~260 pounds.

Yesterday’s harvest (with boy cat):

We harvested all of the tomatoes that were showing signs of color.

Closeup 1. (L-R: Iko Iko peppers, NuMex peppers) The Iko Iko have been a pleasant surprise — they ripened well, and the yield was good.

Closeup 2. (Top Left – Bullnose Bell. Top Right – Lipstick & Yellow Bell peppers. Bottom Left – Anaheim. Bottom Right – Jalapeno.)

I thought the “finish” on this Jalapeno sort of reminded me of a race car or a rocket:

Closeup 3. (Top Left – Oregon Spring & not-ripe Taxi. Bottom Left – Cosmonaut Volkov. Top Right – Black Krim & Roma. Bottom Right – Tomatillos.)

Closeup 4. (L-R: King of the North, Carmen)

The boy cat trying out a sheet tray (prior to the harvest photo):

The Tuesday harvest:

Friday (Cosmonaut Volkov, Taxi, & cherry tomatoes):

We haven’t had the time to really maintain the tomato plants. (Or anything in the garden for that matter.) Yesterday the tomatoes finally got a giant haircut. The pepper and tomatillos plants were removed:

For reference, here’s last week:

Our “Final Summer Harvest” date in 2013 was on October 7. In 2014 it was September 28. I’d guess we’ll pull the remaining summer veg when the forecast indicates a spate of 40-degree nights on the horizon.

The garlic and radishes:

We trimmed the salad table today. It’s on casters, so we can tuck it in the corner next to the door, then roll it out for access. This picture is after the trim. (top L-R – Little Gem romaine, dill, spinach, Jericho romaine, frilly cilantro, arugula):

The 2nd tier houses spinach, romaine, and miner’s lettuce. The bottom has mache and miner’s lettuce. I think I over-planted. On the bright side, seeds aren’t expensive, and nothing bolted when it was warm.

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2013 total weight to date: 157.5 pounds

2014 total weight to date: 211.4 pounds

2015 total weight to date: 269.3 pounds

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Visit Daphne’s Dandelions, host of Harvest Monday.

Container Garden Update — September 13, 2015

by A.J. Coltrane

Previous post here. September 14, 2014 here (includes a 35 pound day). September 15, 2013 here.

Late in the week we had a couple of days approaching 80 degrees. This morning I harvested vegetables in a light drizzle, which is more normal for this time of year. The forecast for at least the next seven days calls for rain and highs in the mid-60’s. Likely we’ll see cloudy and mid-60’s for the remainder of the month.

19.9 pounds of produce for the week. 18.3 pounds of that was harvested this morning. (Note that I’m only weighing the produce from the EarthBoxes. Everything else is an easy bonus.)

Today’s harvest:

Closeup 1. The peppers — ( [L-R] from top left – Anaheim, deformed Lipstick, Yellow Bell. [L-R] from Bottom Left – Carmen, Iko Iko, NuMex, Jalapeno.)

Closeup 2. Tomatillos. The tomatillo plants are really winding down, so I pulled the “most ready” fruits — about half of the remaining total.

Closeup 3. Tomatoes — (L-R) Sun Gold, Sweet Million, Oregon Spring, Taxi, Black Krim, Tigerella

Closeup 4. More Tomatoes — Romas, Cosmonaut Volkov. It’s about time the Volkov did something.

An overview:

We planted garlic about two weeks ago:

Some of the radishes are ready for harvest (French Breakfast, Cherry Bell, Dragon):

The “2015 Tomato Race” totals. (One plant of each. 122 pounds total.)

Type	Weight (lbs)	Weight (g)
Taxi	21.7	9856
Black Krim	20.2	9175
Roma	17.1	7764
Oregon Spring	16.7	7571
Cos. Volkov	13.6	6185
Sun Gold	12.6	5717
Tigerella	12.2	5558
Sweet Million	7.9	3601

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2013 total weight to date: 138.1 pounds

2014 total weight to date: 164.1 pounds

2015 total weight to date: 246.5 pounds

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Visit Daphne’s Dandelions, host of Harvest Monday.

The Salad Table – One Month In

by A.J. Coltrane

We planted the new salad table in early August. Last night we harvested this:

The harvest barely put a dent in the plant mass (Top shelf, L-R: “Little Gem” romaine, dill, spinach, “Jericho” romaine, cilantro, arugula) Behind the greens are the stairs to the front door — the salad table couldn’t be more conveniently located:

It’s supposed to get into the low 80’s the next couple of days. The salad table only gets sun until about 1pm, but I’m still concerned that something may decide to bolt and destroy part of the “work” we’ve put in. I’m hoping that the shade cloth will help discourage that:

I used a couple of shade cloth pieces we had lying around. There are 2 x 2’s “attached” with cable ties to the front of the table. The shade cloth isn’t sitting directly on the greens, much. I’ll remove the shade cloth by the weekend — I’ve found I’m much less inclined to harvest greens if I have to fiddle with a cover. Easy and spontaneous is good.

One more picture — a quick weeknight pizza with roasted red pepper sauce (peppers from the garden), mozzarella, and arugula (from the salad table):

Good stuff.

Container Garden Update — September 6, 2015

by A.J. Coltrane

Previous post here. September 7, 2014 post here. September 8, 2013 post here.

This week the weather reverted to what most people think of as “Seattle weather” — Cloudy and wet, and not very warm. Still, we harvested 27.9 pounds of produce this week. Below is 27.2 pounds of it:

Closeup 1. Oregon Spring, Taxi, Tigerella, Sun Gold, Sweet Million:

Closeup 2. Romas (6.2 lbs):

Closeup 3. Peppers – Carmen, Iko Iko, Lipstick, Yellow Bell:

Closeup 4. Tomatillos (4.2 lbs):

Closeup 5. Cosmonaut Volkov, Black Krim (far right), King of the North peppers:

Outside, the tomatoes are winding down:

Sun Golds:

The radishes seem to enjoy the rain:

2013 total weight to date: 123.3 pounds

2014 total weight to date: 154.9 pounds

2015 total weight to date: 229.6 pounds

I’m not sure how much is left on the plants. We may come out really close to last year’s total of 269.4 pounds.

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The “2015 Tomato Race” standings (one plant of each):

Type	Weight (lbs)	Weight (g)
Taxi	20.4	9265
Black Krim	17.4	7893
Roma	15.7	7138
Oregon Spring	15.3	6930
Sun Gold	12.1	5498
Tigerella	11.4	5169
Cos. Volkov	8.1	3697
Sweet Million	7.7	3475

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Visit Daphne’s Dandelions, host of Harvest Monday.