The Backyard Homestead

by Carleen Madigan

  Harvesting and Cleaning Seeds

  1. When seeds are thoroughly dry and seem about to scatter, cut off the seed heads with shears.

  2. Lay them out on a light-colored surface in a warm, dry place for a week or so, or place them upside down in a bag and tie the bag shut until the seeds have released themselves. Leave a few small air holes in the bag.

  3. When the seed heads are dry, separate out the individual seeds and remove any plant debris or chaff, especially green leaves and stems. The debris may be big enough to pick out by hand, or you can sift it. For small seeds, use a kitchen strainer.

  4. When the seeds are clean, spread them out indoors to continue drying for a week or so before being stored. (Seeds with beards or tufts should not be given this extra drying time.) Pick out and discard seeds that are lighter than the rest. These have usually lost viability.

  Drying Seeds with Silica

  Another way to dry seeds is to seal them in a jar with a packet of silica (available at camera stores), which absorbs excess moisture. Silica gel packets can be reused after being dried in a 250°F (120°C) oven for 20 minutes.

  Moisture may be an even more important factor. Since seeds begin to germinate when they absorb water, moisture is the death of seeds in storage. Always dry seeds thoroughly before placing them in storage containers. Make sure the containers themselves have no trace of moisture inside and that no moisture can enter them.

  The refrigerator, or any other place that stays just above freezing, is ideal for storing most seeds

  Don’t forget to label everything throughout the seed-collecting process. You don’t want to confuse your cherry tomatoes with your beefsteaks. Mark each batch of seeds with the variety name and date collected, and any other information you want to include.

  Store seeds in a variety of small containers: screw-top glass jars, such as baby-food jars; paper or glassine envelopes, labeled and sealed inside glass jars; plastic or metal film containers; prescription medicine containers; and cans with metal lids. The container shouldn’t be airtight (this would prevent gas exchange), but it should be closed securely to keep out moisture and pests.

  Characteristics of Common Vegetables Saved for Seed

  Vegetables A to Z

  Now for the best part of all — choosing your plants! Have fun, grow well, and eat heartily.

  Asparagus

  Asparagus is a perennial that can be grown from seed but is usually started with one-year-old crowns planted in late spring. From first planting to harvest, asparagus takes about three years to mature. You can also purchase two-year-old crowns or roots. These are more expensive, but they save you a year of waiting.

  Planting. If you live in a cold region, set out asparagus roots in early spring. In warm regions, set them out in the fall when temperatures begin to cool. Asparagus grows in most types of soil, but it does best in soil with good drainage.

  Dig a trench 12 to 18 inches deep and add 6 to 7 inches of aged manure or compost or a little peat moss.

  Sprinkle on a dusting of 10-10-10 fertilizer, add 1 to 2 inches of soil dug from beside the trench, and mix everything together.

  Create mounds at the bottom of the trench about 12 inches apart.

  Set each crown, roots down, on top of a mound and drape its roots down around the mound. Place the crowns at least 4 inches below the soil surface (step 1).

  Fill up the trench to cover the crowns with a couple of inches of soil. The soil level will be a little below the rest of the garden. When the shoots grow up, fill in the trench with a little more soil to give the stalks support (step 2).

  Harvesting Asparagus

  1. Set one-year-old asparagus roots in a deep trench on a mound of enriched soil.

  2. Fill the trench with soil as stalks develop.

  3. Cut spears with a knife, just below soil level.

  Care. In the first year, mulch small spears after they emerge. Let plants grow through the summer and fall without cutting shoots or ferns. Let tops die down in late fall. Simply put, let them be.

  In spring of the second year, cut and clear out old ferns. Remove mulch and fertilize with a capful of 10-10-10 for each 3 feet of row. Don’t harvest, just mulch, weed, and wait.

  In the third year, cut away the old ferns, pull back mulch, and fertilize. When spears reach 6 to 8 inches or as thick as your finger, harvest. If they’re skinny, let them grow to ferns.

  Harvest. Carefully cut spears a hair below the soil surface (step 3) with a knife. As they get older and stronger, you’ll be able to harvest for five to eight weeks each spring before letting the remaining stalks grow ferns. After the last harvest each spring, pull weeds, fertilize, and mulch.

  Beans

  Beans are warm-weather vegetables. Plant seeds directly into soil when the danger of frost is past and the soil is warm. They will grow in any soil (except very wet ones) and don’t require much fertilizer. Beans can be divided into three types:

  Green and yellow snap beans. These come in bush and pole varieties. Harvest them when pods are young and tender — when they “snap.”

  Shell beans. Lima beans, southern peas, and horticultural beans are the best examples. To harvest, open the pods or shells and collect the beans.

  Dry beans. These beans come from plants that have completed their growth and have produced hard, dry seeds inside pods. When mature, they are packed with protein. To harvest, separate the beans from their hulls and store.

  Growing Dry Beans for Storage

  Dried beans are very high in protein, making it well worth devoting space in the garden to them. There are also hundreds of bean types to try, from Jacob’s Cattle to Kentucky Wonder. Plan an average of 10 to 20 plants per person when planting in the spring. Keep in mind that cold, wet weather fosters disease and that most dried beans, whether bush or semi-vining, require a long growing season (as long as 100 days).

  To direct-sow beans, layer grass mulch 4 to 6 inches deep on the bed in fall. This will decompose to about 2 inches by spring, will keep the soil warm 6 inches deep, and won’t pull nitrogen out of the soil, enabling you to plant earlier in the spring. Plant beans 1 inch deep and allow 2 to 6 inches between plants and 12 to 30 inches between rows, depending on which variety you’re planting.

  Dry beans are easy to grow and are packed with protein.

  Some gardeners recommend soaking seeds before planting, but research indicates that pre-soaked seeds absorb water too quickly, causing the outer coats to spill out essential nutrients, which encourages damping-off seed rot. Yields can increase by 50 to 100 percent if you inoculate with Rhizobium bacteria (simply roll seeds in the powder).

  Because beans are nitrogen fixers (and inoculating them enhances this characteristic), they require little fertilizer throughout the growing season. Even watering is important, as is trellising or other support for climbing varieties.

  Harvest. Many beans can be harvested young and eaten green or left to mature and harvested as dried beans. For the latter, wait until a plant’s leaves have fallen in autumn to pick dry pods or to pull the entire plant. Harvest before the first frost. Soybeans and limas, however, should be picked when any split pods are spotted because beans often drop from the shells as they dry. Cure them for several weeks in a well-ventilated area, piling them on screens or slatted shelves. Beans are dry and ready to thresh when they don’t dent when bitten.

  Following are four methods for threshing:

  Thrash the plants back and forth inside a clean trash can.

  Place the plants in a large burlap bag and flail.

  Put plants in a cone-shaped bag, tie the bottom, and walk or jump on the bag.

  Put the beans into a bag with a hole in the bottom; tie the bottom closed. Hang the bag from a tree and beat well, then place a container below and untie the hole. With the help of a good wind, the chaff will blow away and the beans will fall into the container.

  Storage. Remove all bad beans (those with holes or insect damage). Place beans on shallow trays and heat at 170
to 180°F (77 to 82°C) for 10 to 15 minutes. Cool thoroughly, and store fully dried beans in airtight jars in a cool, dry place.

  A Primer on Preserving

  There are many methods of storing and preserving foods. Common storage, or “root cellaring,” is the simplest method. If you live in an area with a cool or cold climate, you can store many vegetables for several months in a cold cellar or any space with the appropriate atmosphere. This method requires no preparation and can be used for onions, carrots, beets, potatoes, winter squash, pumpkins, cabbage, and fruits such as apples. Dried seeds, such as beans and split peas, and grains require only darkness and a cool, dry spot protected from the three Ms — mold, moisture, and mice.

  Other methods are freezing, canning, pickling, fermenting, drying, and making jams and jellies. Freezing is the easiest and can be used for almost any fruit or vegetable. Fewer nutrients are lost compared with other methods, but it does involve the most expensive equipment and the continuing use of electricity. Canning by boiling-water bath is the tried-and-true method to preserve high-acid foods like fruits and pickled vegetables; pressure canning is necessary for other vegetables, such as beans, peas, corn, and beets, which are “low acid.” Low-acid foods can also be preserved by freezing, drying, fermenting, or pickling. Choosing a preserving technique will depend on the equipment you have available or can afford to buy. Equipment such as jars, freezer containers, and a pressure canner should be purchased well in advance of the season while they are still plentiful. It can be downright discouraging in August to be faced with a bushel of tomatoes rotting on the porch because the stores have run out of canning-jar lids. And though you may be able to acquire supplies through mail-order or Internet purchasing, your produce will lose its peak quality while you wait for the items to be delivered.

  Unless they are kept cold and moist, vegetables will lose taste and nutrients within a few hours once picked. If you buy or pick vegetables in bulk and then find that you are unable to process them right away, wash them quickly in cold water, drain them, put them in large plastic bags, and keep them in the refrigerator. Do not cut or peel them, as this hastens the loss of nutrients. Stored in this manner, they should be good for one or two days, and in the case of root crops and cabbage considerably longer. But for good quality, preserve vegetables as soon after picking as possible.

  Most fruits will keep for a while, but if they are ripe, they should be kept cold until you can use them. Raspberries and other soft fruits that deteriorate rapidly must be handled gently and briefly and preserved immediately.

  Food preserving actually starts in early January with the arrival of seed catalogs. Study them carefully. Many new hybrids are designated as especially good for canning or freezing. You may want to choose a few new varieties each year. Sometimes you will hit on a family favorite, or at least increase your knowledge for next year. But be realistic. Take into account your family’s likes and dislikes. It is easy to get carried away by the glossy pictures. If your family will not eat a certain vegetable, you will have wasted your time and garden space by planting it. Save your garden plan from year to year. If you also record the varieties and how well each did, you will be spared from making the same mistakes and be at least partially assured of repeated successes.

  Some good vegetable combinations that you might want to grow and preserve together are tiny peas and onions, corn and limas (succotash), tomatoes and celery, and zucchini and eggplant. For bread-and-butter pickles, you will need onions and cucumbers; for relishes, red and green peppers and onions are needed together. Sweet red peppers are mature green peppers; in order to have red and green at the same time, allow all the peppers on a few of your plants to mature to the red stage while picking green peppers as needed from other plants.

  Beets

  Beets are cool-weather vegetables. Plant in spring about two weeks before the last frost, sowing them in succession every two weeks until June. Make a large planting about 90 days before the first fall frost.

  Sow about 2 inches apart in square-foot blocks, about ½ inch deep. Seedlings sprout in two weeks if soil temperature is below 50°F (10°C), or in one week at 75°F (24°C). Thin the beets to 3 to 4 inches apart, then mulch with clean straw. Keep steady moisture levels to avoid fibrous roots. Mulch lightly to retain moisture and retard weed growth. Beets like a pH of 6.5 to 8.0. Sweeten the soil with about a pound of lime for each square yard of bed before planting.

  Golf-ball-sized beets are the tastiest (unless they’re long-season beets). Storage beets can be pulled when a frost threatens in fall, preferably after a dry spell. In mild-winter areas, store the roots right in the ground under 8 to 12 inches of straw. Otherwise, pull them out and allow them to cure in the sun for a few hours. Trim the foliage, leaving half of the stem above the crowns, and pack the beets in moist sand.

  Beets taste best when they are the size of a golf ball.

  Broccoli

  Broccoli is a cool-weather vegetable. In hot weather, or if deprived of water, it will attempt to send up flowers and make seed. The center head must be cut out before it blossoms, even if it’s on the small side. When the head is young, its individual buds are packed very tightly. As long as the buds stay tight, let the head grow. When they loosen up and spread out, they are about to produce yellow flowers. After you cut the center head, smaller heads or side shoots will form; though small, they can be eaten, so keep them picked.

  Cut the center head of broccoli before it flowers.

  Brussels Sprouts

  The sprouts form where a leaf grows out of the thick stalk, starting at the bottom. To encourage early sprouts to grow big, break off all the branches, starting from the lowest and continuing up 6 to 8 inches, as soon as you see tiny sprouts begin to form. Stripping the stalk stimulates the plant to grow taller and directs energy to the tiny sprouts at the bottom of the stalk. These are ready for picking five to seven days later. As you harvest, snap off more branches higher up on the stalk.

  Encourage bigger Brussels sprouts by removing all leaves

  To encourage early sprouts to grow big, break off all the branches as soon as you see tiny sprouts begin to form.

  Making Sauerkraut

  1. Remove outer leaves from firm, mature heads of cabbage. Wash and drain. Remove core and shred cabbage with a knife or shredder.

  2. Carefully weigh 5 pounds to ensure correct cabbage-to-salt proportions.

  3. Measure 3 tablespoons kosher salt and sprinkle over 5 pounds prepared cabbage. Mix well with spoon or hands. Allow 15 to 20 minutes for cabbage to wilt slightly.

  4. Pack cabbage into a 1-gallon jar. Press firmly with hands or a wooden spoon until juice is drawn out to cover shredded cabbage.

  5. Put a heavy-duty plastic bag on cabbage and fill with water until it sits firmly, allowing no air to reach the cabbage. Ferment for five to six weeks. Gas bubbles indicate that fermentation is occurring. Temperatures between 68 and 72°F (20 and 22°C) are ideal for fermentation.

  Cabbage

  For a continual harvest of cabbages, set out the plants in wide rows three to four weeks before the last spring frost date. Sow more cabbage seeds in early summer, some in the garden and some in flats in partial shade outdoors. In midsummer, set the seedlings in the garden; these will produce heads big enough to eat from late summer until the ground freezes.

  If cabbage heads start to crack, they are probably growing too fast in the center (often caused by heavy-handed fertilizing). If you see a cracked head, hold it and twist the whole plant halfway around, like turning a faucet. This breaks off some of the roots and slows the inner top growth of the plant. Give the plant another quarter turn in a few days if the cracking continues.

  Stagger cabbage plants in wide rows.

  Curing with Brine

  Salting, an ancient method of preserving, was based on the discovery that large amounts of salt will inhibit spoilage. However, using a great deal of salt means that the food is not fit to eat until it has been desalted and freshened by being soaked in
several changes of water, resulting in the loss of many nutrients.

  When small amounts of salt are used, however, fermentation occurs. The bacteria change the sugars of the vegetables to lactic acid, and the acid (with the salt) prevents other spoilage organisms from growing. This lactic-acid fermentation is the method used in making sauerkraut and other “sour” vegetables. Since the salting is so mild, the consumption of both vegetable and juice can be enjoyed, and nearly all the nutrients are preserved.

  The Chinese may have been the first to preserve food by the fermentation process. The present-day yen tsai—meaning “vegetables preserved in brine” — is prepared with mixtures of various vegetables that have been available since ancient times. Turnips, radishes, cabbages, and other vegetables are used in these preparations, and salt is added if available.

  Some of the vegetables that can be fermented in the home with success are cabbages, Chinese cabbage, turnips, rutabagas, lettuce, green tomatoes, and snap beans. Cucumbers are also fermented when brined the long way for pickles.

  When properly prepared, all of these foods will be crisp but tender. They are pleasantly acid and salty in flavor, and they are good in salads (except for sauerkraut) or served whole on the relish tray, without freshening. They are also good cooked with meat.

  Chinese cabbage

  Carrots

  Carrots are cool-weather plants that need a stone-free, deeply worked soil that drains well. The plant’s taproot must meet no resistance in the soil if it is to grow straight.

  Carrots produce best in a raised bed of tilled soil at least 8 inches deep. They like compost but no manure unless it’s well rotted. For potassium, till wood ashes into the top 4 inches. Start sowing carrots two weeks before the last spring frost. Make successive plantings every three weeks until July. Space ¾-inch-deep furrows about 4 inches apart. When sowing the seeds, try to place them ½ inch apart — not an easy task. Because carrots are slow to germinate, gardeners often mix radish seeds with carrot seeds to mark the rows.