Garden Filling In! 5-18-15

Finally, after 23 days with no measurable rain here in Connecticut, we got about .33 inches of rain on Saturday morning. Not a lot but enough to give my garden a boost. Add in some sunshine and warm temps on Sunday and my garden is starting to fill in nicely! 

I love the way my garden looks! 

Radishes all lined up! 

Turnip getting bigger! 

Kale is getting big!!! 

The vegetable garden isn't the only area doing well. My blackberry plant is taking off as well! 

Even the flower buds are forming, which will eventually turn into delicious blackberries! 

First Harvest of 2015: Kale

I'm happy to announce that on the afternoon of May 13th 2015 I was able to harvest the first crop out of my vegetable garden! This crop being a few (6) Kale leaves! 

Kale is a cool weather crop and can handle colder temperatures, so I planted them in early April this year to try it out. Even after such a terribly cold winter, April and May have turned out to be pretty mild, allowing my garden to take off! 

Radishes, kale, Swiss chard and turnip are all growing in my garden right now! 

I planted some kale by seed and a few kale plants I bought at the garden center. The larger kale plants are from the garden center and are the ones I harvested from. 

In all, I cut six kale leaves from four plants. I didn't want to cut too many because I would like to try sustainable harvesting, which means I cut a few leaves here and there to prolong the harvest and increase the yield! 

I ended up putting the kale leaves in a bean salad like dish! It's delicious! 

Kale is growing!

The kale plants and seed that I planted in my square foot garden two weeks ago are beginning to take off. Although Kale is suppose to do fairly well in cool temps, I wasn't sure if I planted it too early or not. Here in southern Connecticut, we usually don't plant anything before May 15th. However, even after a very cold winter, we've gotten lucky with a fairly descent April. The result is progress in my garden! 

Check out my beautiful kale plants in the morning sun! 

And the kale seeds I planted are now sprouting! 

I Got a Juicer!!

As of last Friday, the first week of 2013, I now own a Juicer.  With some Christmas money I received I bought a Breville JE98XL Juice Fountain Plus 850-Watt Juice Extractor!  Yeah it sounds complicated but I spent days researching which juicer I should buy.  I ended up paying a little more than I budgeted for but so far I'm thrilled with my decision!  The Breville juicer I bought is about $150, a medium cost juicer, the cheaper ones go for around $50, while the more expensive ones can cost you up to $500 or more!!

What sold me on this Juicer was its good reviews, apparent easy clean up process and the fact that it had a high speed and a low speed! The reason why the two speeds became a deciding factor is because all juicers in my price point, $150 and below, aren't great at juicing leafy greens, however with the lower speed it's possible with this juicer (not the most efficient, but better than nothing).  So far I've been very happy with the Juicer and surprised myself because I really enjoy the tastes of the juices I have made!

So what does a Juicer have to do with Gardening? 

 It has a lot to do with gardening!  The best fruits and vegetables to put through a juicer are organic produce and what's better than organic produce from your own backyard garden!!!  Plus some of the best vegetables to juice include leafy greens (kale and spinach) and harder vegetables like carrots and cucumbers.  Although a backyard garden might not supply the daily needs of a juicer it will surely supplement and offset some of the prices of vegetables in the summer months!!!  It also gives me another reason to grow Swiss Chard and Kale next year!!! To add to the benefits, all the pulp which is leftover after the juice is extracted is great for my compost bin!  Although there are some neat recipes to use the leftover pulp as well.  In addition I have to admit I had a number of cucumbers, peppers, and tomatoes last summer that met a tragic end rotting on the shelf from mold rather than processing through my stomach.  This summer any extra produce which I can't consume whole can now be juiced!!!   So I think it's a great addition to any gardeners kitchen and a great way to fulfill some of those 2013 New Year Resolutions!!

Below are some photos I took throughout the process of juicing!  

Kale Chips Recipe

I finally got around to making Kale Chips for the first time ever!  Go figure it would be in the middle of winter.  I first discovered recipes for Kale Chips this past summer and was very curious to how they would taste.  However I wasn't growing any and never got around to grabbing a bunch at the grocery store.  Now that I have my new Juicer I needed to make a healthy green juice, so I bought some red curly kale and some Swiss chard at Whole Foods.  Well, I've been juicing with both of them all week and they make an excellent green juice, then it dawned on me to try making Kale Chips!

Kale Chips are just torn up pieces of kale baked in the oven to make a crispy treat similar to potato chips but so much more healthy!  Curly kale is the best variety to use for kale chips because it won't lay flat on the baking sheet.  Besides being an healthy alternative to potato chips, it was a very easy and simple recipe.  And just imagine how simple it would be if you are growing Kale in your own backyard (which hopefully I will be doing this coming summer!).

Kale Chips Ingredients-

You only need three ingredients: 

Kale 

Salt (Sea Salt is the best) 

Olive Oil (although coconut oil would work and might give an interesting taste!)

Kale Chips Prep: 

10 minutes: 

• Wash and dry Kale leaves (wash good if not organic) 
• Cut leaves away from stem (Save stem for juicing or place in compost bin) 
• Tear leaves into small pieces the size of potato chips 
• Grab your salt and olive oil
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees 

Kale Chips Directions: 

1. Place dried, torn up Kale leaves in a bowl
2. Drizzle olive oil (a little more than a tablespoon) on to the leaves
3. Toss leaves with hands to coat all in oil 
4. Sprinkle salt on leaves (as much as you desire but be careful too much salt isn't healthy!) 
5. Toss leaves again to get salt on all leaves 
6. Lay leaves individually and spaced out evenly on a baking pan (non stick)  
7. Place baking sheet in oven for 10-15 mins depending on how moist the leaves are 
8. When leaves begin to brown on edges, remove from pan and scoop onto a plate or bowl for cooling 
9. Enjoy the delicious and crispy Kale Chips!!