Recipe: Sauteed Swiss Chard

This fall, I've been using this recipe to quickly add a green vegetable to our dinners, especially when we need a break from salads. To extend our harvest, I left the swiss chard plants in the ground and included them in the low tunnel. For a variety suggestion, I've had success with 'Bright Lights' and haven't trialed any other varieties.

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Ingredients:

A bunch of eight to ten stalks of chard

1-2 tablespoons (15-30 mL) of olive oil

1/4 cup (50 g) finely minced onion

salt

pepper

lemon slices

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Recipe:

Remove the leaf material from the stems and place in a bowl of cool water. Meanwhile, chop the stems in 1/4 inch (0.75 cm) pieces. Combine the olive oil, chard stems, and onion in a large saute pan over medium high heat. Saute for about 5 minutes until the stems are tender.

Drain the leaves and remove most of the water. I suggest using a salad spinner. Add the leaves to the pan and cover.

After about 2.5 minutes, toss the swiss chard and cover again until thoroughly wilted, usually another 2.5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

Serve immediately with a lemon wedge. The lemon juice adds a nice acidic citrus flavor to the chard but will turn the rich green color into a muted brown if left to sit before serving.

Winter Low-Tunnel Timeline

Here is a timeline using photographs of the 2011-2012 winter garden. The beets, spinach, mache, and lettuce were seeded in late September. The garlic was planted in October. The carrots were seeded in late March.

Low-tunnels are easily constructed and require minimal investment compared to other winter growing options. Finally, part of the solution to eating locally year-round. The hoops are half inch diameter electrical conduit bent with a tool purchased from Johnny's Seeds. Electrical conduit is readily available at any local hardware or building supply store. The row cover (white fabric) is Agribon 19 and the plastic is Tufflite, both available at Johnny's Seeds. Typically, row cover will last two years. We've successfully re-used our row cover from last year for the current winter season. The manufacturer states that Tufflite greenhouse plastic will last five to seven years.

Key advice for setting-up the low-tunnels:

1. Have at least 3 ft of extra material at both ends. This allows one to ensure that the row cover and plastic are as taut as possible. If the row cover or plastic is sagging then rain and snow can collapse the low-tunnel. Pull the material into a pony-tail, twist, and secure with a sand bag. From the opposite end, repeat the same set of tasks with the addition of tightly pulling the row cover.

2. Find sturdy bags to fill with sand. Don't use zippered plastic bags. I had difficulty locating the feed bags that were recommended and resorted to using plastic storage bags. Those bags eventually split, even after careful handling.

September 28, 2011: Setting up the low tunnels.

January 6, 2012: Row cover and greenhouse plastic.

November 13, 2011: 'Tyee' and 'Bloomsdale' spinach seedlings.

Carrots

May 2, 2012: Carrot seedlings.

June 2, 2012: A snack from thinning the carrot patch.

July 10, 2012: Final carrot harvest.

Beets

March 11, 2012: The beet seedlings have survived the winter.

May 2, 2012: Transplanting of seedlings was successful!

June 2, 2012: Harvest of some luscious beets and beautiful beet greens

Garlic

March 11, 2012: 'Musik' and 'Chesnok Red' Garlic Varieties.

May 2, 2012: Still growing, by June 13th scapes were harvested from all of the plants.

Mighty Mache: the Champion of Winter Salad Greens

December 11, 2011: Seedlings!

January 6, 2012: Still growing, far right corner.

March 11, 2012: Ready to harvest.

Tips for a successful community garden plot

Two words: water and weeds.

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Depending on your community garden's set-up, watering your plants can be a time consuming and never-ending battle. In my experience, mulching deeply with 6-12 inches of straw will conserve a tremendous amount of water and reduce watering frequency.

If watering is not an issue, then weeds will likely take up most of your gardening time. Contrary to other gardeners with a loathing of weed pulling, I enjoy removing weeds but it takes time away from thinking about succession planting schedules, harvest plans, etc. Mulching at the aforementioned depth will also do a good job of suppressing weed seed germination.

Avoid underestimating the gardening time black hole of weedy pathways. There is nothing more frustrating then spending valuable time weeding the paths. The list of path weed control is almost endless: newspapers (not a fabulous solution), carpet remnants (These will work in my experience but eventually a determined weed will overcome the barrier), and straw. In regards to wood chips, check your garden bylaws because many gardens prohibit the use of wood chips. Landscape fabric is another viable option but do not cheap out, you will regret it later in the season.

If you decide not to mulch, the key to keeping weeds manageable is to remove weeds at the seedling stage. To cleanly remove the unwanted seedlings, slice the weeds just below the soil surface. This is important because many weed seeds occupy the first three inches of the soil stratum. Hoeing too deeply will bring these weed seeds closer to the surface where they can germinate and create havoc in your neatly tended garden beds.

Don't fall off the winter wagon- start seeding now for this winter

Extend your season and seed winter hardy vegetables now. Johnny's Selected Seeds has released their recommendations for varieties that are superior at overwintering. For instance, 'Nelson' carrots and 'Winter Density' lettuce were the best in their trials with unheated low tunnels. For more information, go here.

Last winter was the first year of my season extension experiment in Wisconsin. I will post results from last year very soon. Quick recommendations for superior winter greens crops would include mache, spinach, and arugula. If you've never heard of or tasted mache, it's time to try. Mache is an incredible winter green with a sweet flavor and buttery texture. However, be careful when Spring rolls around with 70F and above days. If you have warm days, harvest it immediately. But in the meantime, here are the crops and varieties that I will be growing this winter season.

Johnny's Seeds has some great, free low tunnel articles. For a more in-depth resource, I thoroughly enjoyed Eliot Coleman's new book, "The Winter Harvest Handbook", by Chelsea Green Publishing. It's available in print and as a kindle edition on Amazon.

The week of July 21

Carrots, 'Mokum', Fedco Seeds

Carrots, 'Red-Cored Chantenay', Fedco Seeds

Carrots, 'Shin Kuroda', Fedco Seeds

The week of August 7:

Yokatta-Na, Fedco Seeds

Kale, 'Red Russian', Seeds of Change

Dill, 'Fernleaf', Fedco Seeds

Cucumber, 'Poona Kheera', Fedco Seeds

Cucumber, 'Calypso', Fedco Seeds

Cucumber, 'Super Zagross', Fedco Seeds

Calendula, 'Resina', Fedco Seeds

Lettuce, 'Jericho', Fedco Seeds

The week of September 10:

Arugula (Rouqette), Fedco Seeds

Parsley, 'Krausa', Fedco Seeds

Mache, 'Verte de Cambrai', Fedco Seeds

Kale, 'Beedy's Camden', Fedco Seeds

Minutina, 'Erba Stella O', Fedco Seeds

The week of September 17:

It's the first day of the winter lettuce trial. All lettuce varieties are from Fedco Seeds in Waterville, ME.

'Winter Marvel'

'Red Salad Bowl'

'Salad Bowl'

'Cardinale Batavian'

'Jericho'

'Winter Wonderland'

'Lollo Rossa Cutting'

'North Pole'

'New Red Fire'

'Lingua Da Canarino'

'Red Tinged Winter'

Pest: The Birds

Birds can be helpful to a garden by eating insects. However, in my experience, birds will do more harm than good. I've lost an entire set of transplants to some hungry birds. Anytime the garden has seedlings, either from a direct sowing or transplanting, I use wire hoops and wildlife netting to protect the plants. I will leave this netting in place until the plants reach the height of the netting. Usually, once the seedlings reach an adequate size, the birds will no longer clip leaves. This year is a bit different. My neighbor has a wonderful garden with lots of bird feeders. I truly appreciate all of the wildlife, however, several species have an affection for my small Swiss chard planting. I took these pictures to document my Swiss chard bird feeder. As the chard leaves increase in size, the stem gracefully arcs and provides an ideal perch for their snacking.

Community Gardens, ooh la la

What is a community garden?

Community gardens are run by organizations, groups,or individuals who have access to publicly or privately owned tracts of land. The land is divided into small plots, typically between 300 to 500 square ft, that is leased for a season to individuals or families in the community. Most community gardens have one or more volunteer committees that help to organize and maintain the garden. Usually, volunteer service hours are expected or required to maintain the pathways, tool sheds, and watering areas.

What to consider when joining a community garden:

How close is the garden to your house or workplace?

What facilities are provided? e.g. water source, tool shed

Are any gardening supplies included? e.g. compost delivery on-site, seed or plant donations

Is there a work requirement?

What is the cost for a season and is there a deposit?

How large is the plot? Will it be adequate for the crops that you want to grow?

Are there any planting restrictions? For instance, many community gardens prohibit planting of perennials because of high turn-over of plots and aggressive plants such as bronze fennel, mint, etc.

Benefits of Joining a Community Garden

It's about COMMUNITY. If you've just moved into the area, joining a community garden is a great way to meet other gardeners, learn what grows well, and hear about pest issues specific to the garden.

The joys and tribulations of growing your own food.

Preserving the harvest for the winter.

Donating extra produce and every gardener has a bumper crop of at least one vegetable.

And most of all, if you don't have access to land, this is your ticket to gardening.

Technique: Harvesting salad greens that stay fresh longer

Materials: sharp knife, plastic container, cool water, salad spinner, storage container or bag.

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How to harvest salad greens: 1. Use a sharp knife or scissors. I prefer a sharpened knife. Scissors can have a tendency to crush the leaf tissue, which can hasten rot. If harvesting head lettuce, cut at the soil level and remove yellowed or dead leaves. If harvesting salad mix, cut a few inches above the soil. 2. Put the harvested greens directly into a bowl, tub, or bucket of cool water. This cools the leaf tissue and prevents wilting. Also, this step allows slugs, sand, and dirt to fall to the bottom while insects and spiders to rise to the top. 3. Use a salad spinner to remove the excess water. 4. Store in a plastic bag or plastic ware. If using a plastic bag, be careful not to crush the greens in the bag.

What not to do: clench or crush greens in a bundle, this will bruise the leaf blades or midribs and will significantly shorten the shelf-life.