high hopes gardens » Crops – Vegetables http://highhopesgardens.com/blog Can a creative, hard-working family make a living working with nature? Join us on the journey from idea to practice as we revive an Iowa farmstead Wed, 08 Feb 2012 02:29:52 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 January 4, 2012 – January Garden Harvest http://highhopesgardens.com/blog/2012/01/04/january-4-2012-january-garden-harvest/ http://highhopesgardens.com/blog/2012/01/04/january-4-2012-january-garden-harvest/#comments Thu, 05 Jan 2012 03:20:29 +0000 highhopesgardens http://highhopesgardens.com/blog/?p=7677 OK, the streak continues, now 12 consecutive months with a harvest!

On pizza earlier this week, springtime favorite spinach from the garden made it on the homemade pizza.

]]> http://highhopesgardens.com/blog/2012/01/04/january-4-2012-january-garden-harvest/feed/ 0 November 30, 2011 – December Lettuce! http://highhopesgardens.com/blog/2011/11/30/november-30-2011-december-lettuce/ http://highhopesgardens.com/blog/2011/11/30/november-30-2011-december-lettuce/#comments Thu, 01 Dec 2011 00:40:59 +0000 highhopesgardens http://highhopesgardens.com/blog/?p=7605 How’s this for wonderful – we’ll be eating fresh lettuce out of the garden into December!

We’ve picked a bunch for the fridge, to guarantee December lettuce.  Any day we could get that first day it’s in the low teens at night and not above freezing during the day to finally kill it off.

]]> http://highhopesgardens.com/blog/2011/11/30/november-30-2011-december-lettuce/feed/ 3 November 2, 2011 – The World’s Most Hated Vegetable? http://highhopesgardens.com/blog/2011/11/02/november-2-2011-the-worlds-most-hated-vegetable/ http://highhopesgardens.com/blog/2011/11/02/november-2-2011-the-worlds-most-hated-vegetable/#comments Thu, 03 Nov 2011 03:51:52 +0000 highhopesgardens http://highhopesgardens.com/blog/?p=7561 Could this be the world’s most hated vegetable? The lowly brussels sprouts?

Brussels sprouts are a great crop because they aren’t much good until after a hard frost, and are one of the last fresh crops out of the garden. Many people can’t stand them, in part, to the chemical that get released after overcooking in boiling water.

]]> http://highhopesgardens.com/blog/2011/11/02/november-2-2011-the-worlds-most-hated-vegetable/feed/ 1 October 17, 2011 – Tomatoes Won’t Stop http://highhopesgardens.com/blog/2011/10/17/october-17-2011-tomatoes-wont-stop/ http://highhopesgardens.com/blog/2011/10/17/october-17-2011-tomatoes-wont-stop/#comments Tue, 18 Oct 2011 02:44:20 +0000 highhopesgardens http://highhopesgardens.com/blog/?p=7487 OK, this is it. The final tomato harvest of the year – frost is forecast in the next few days.

The plants loved the dry late summer and fall. It was an epic tomato canning year – our final tally ended up to be 97 quarts and 37 pints canned – even for us, a lot! So, we are ready in case there is a crop failure next year – we’re good for a couple of years for chili, minestrone soup, red hot dish and whatever else we can use our summer canned in a jar.

one year ago…”In the News”

]]> http://highhopesgardens.com/blog/2011/10/17/october-17-2011-tomatoes-wont-stop/feed/ 1 October 12, 2011 – Potato Yield from 50 foot Row http://highhopesgardens.com/blog/2011/10/12/october-12-2011-potato-yield-from-50-foot-row/ http://highhopesgardens.com/blog/2011/10/12/october-12-2011-potato-yield-from-50-foot-row/#comments Thu, 13 Oct 2011 02:31:03 +0000 highhopesgardens http://highhopesgardens.com/blog/?p=7452 We had one more row of potatoes to dig up in the garden

It was a great row – here’s the yield from one 50 foot row! A rinse, dry and storage in the basement will give us potatoes well into winter.

one year ago…”Francis Thicke for Secretary of Agriculture”

]]> http://highhopesgardens.com/blog/2011/10/12/october-12-2011-potato-yield-from-50-foot-row/feed/ 0 October 10, 2011 – Seeds http://highhopesgardens.com/blog/2011/10/10/october-10-2011-seeds/ http://highhopesgardens.com/blog/2011/10/10/october-10-2011-seeds/#comments Tue, 11 Oct 2011 02:28:16 +0000 highhopesgardens http://highhopesgardens.com/blog/?p=7447 One benefit of not getting around to pick beans before the pods get too big is that later in the season, you’ve got some seeds for next year’s gardens.  These are Rattlesnake Master pole beans, a non-hybrid, so the seeds grow true.

It’s still amazing all the information stored in each of these – instructions about when to sprout, what to do, what parts to make, how to respond to weather, and how to make more beans!

one year ago…”Lovin the 48 inch Tiller”

]]> http://highhopesgardens.com/blog/2011/10/10/october-10-2011-seeds/feed/ 0 October 7, 2011 – Tomatoes for Salsa Project http://highhopesgardens.com/blog/2011/10/07/october-7-2011-tomatoes-for-salsa-project/ http://highhopesgardens.com/blog/2011/10/07/october-7-2011-tomatoes-for-salsa-project/#comments Sat, 08 Oct 2011 02:25:10 +0000 highhopesgardens http://highhopesgardens.com/blog/?p=7441 The Marshalltown School District has a sizable minority population (not to be the minority much later since over half the births in the local hospital are of Hispanic origin.) The school has started a local foods project to make salsa using local ingredients.

These tomatoes are destined to become salsa in the lunch room.

one year ago…”Thingamajig Thursday #228″

]]> http://highhopesgardens.com/blog/2011/10/07/october-7-2011-tomatoes-for-salsa-project/feed/ 0 September 28, 2011 – “Hot” http://highhopesgardens.com/blog/2011/09/28/september-28-2011-hot/ http://highhopesgardens.com/blog/2011/09/28/september-28-2011-hot/#comments Wed, 28 Sep 2011 23:45:17 +0000 highhopesgardens http://highhopesgardens.com/blog/?p=7392 Here’s Linda chopping up some hot peppers to warm up winter days.

Peppers like this are easy to preserve – they don’t need to be canned or blanched – just cut up.

Ready to spice up winter dishes!

one year ago…”Updates from U of MN”

]]> http://highhopesgardens.com/blog/2011/09/28/september-28-2011-hot/feed/ 0 September 26, 2011 – Fall Garden Goodies http://highhopesgardens.com/blog/2011/09/26/september-26-2011-fall-garden-goodies/ http://highhopesgardens.com/blog/2011/09/26/september-26-2011-fall-garden-goodies/#comments Mon, 26 Sep 2011 23:41:53 +0000 highhopesgardens http://highhopesgardens.com/blog/?p=7388 Some of the veggies we planted in the middle of the parched August for a fall garden are now coming to the table.

Nice to have fresh spinach. lettuce, and radishes out the door.

one year ago…”Garden Cleanup Begins”

]]> http://highhopesgardens.com/blog/2011/09/26/september-26-2011-fall-garden-goodies/feed/ 0 September 16, 2011 – Light Frost http://highhopesgardens.com/blog/2011/09/16/september-16-2011-light-frost/ http://highhopesgardens.com/blog/2011/09/16/september-16-2011-light-frost/#comments Fri, 16 Sep 2011 11:54:11 +0000 highhopesgardens http://highhopesgardens.com/blog/?p=7361 We were hit with a scattered frost. All the squash and cucumbers and beans are dead, but the basil and tomatoes were just lightly touched, if at all. The peppers were somewhere in between

But all in all, we’re happy the tomatoes were spared, since there are many more still on the vines.

one year ago…”Thingamajig Thursday #225″

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