30 August 2007 Preparing Garden Area for 2008 Season.

http://www.durgan.org/ShortURL/?CMIQR 30 September 2007 Cover crop of doulbe cut red annual clover. Growth is a bit slow due to lack of rain, but there is still time for it to get much larger before a major frost.


http://www.durgan.org/ShortURL/?HUCMM 30 August 2007 Preparing Garden for the 2008 season. Conditioning the soil, by adding fiber.

Partially composted wood chips are available from a city park The chips are transported in a box of half a yard in my van. Three cubic yards were spread on the garden area, then rototilled into the underlying soil. The are of the garden is 1000 square feet.

The area was raked smooth and planted with double cut annual red clover as a cover crop. In the Spring of 2008 the clover will be weed-wacked and rototilled into the soil. This preparation makes the soil more friable and fixes nitrogen for plant use.

Crops remaining at this time are brussel sprouts, root parsley, turnip, carrots, okra, artichokes, and peppers.. I simply worked around these plants, since the area involved is small.

http://www.durgan.org/ShortURL/?WTPFD 21 October 2007 Update indicating the growth of the Annual Double-cut Red Clover winter cover crop.

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27 August 2007 Preparing Horseradish condiment.

http://maiwe.notlong.com/ 27 August 2007 Preparing Horseradish condiment. There are two large horseradish plants. I dug up one plant and will prepare the other later in the season. These plants are difficult to dig up, and much effort is required to get the desired product - the roots.

http://xaere.notlong.com/ 6 Octgober 2007 Processing another plant of horseradish.


I treat the plant as an annual, and save a piece of root for next years growth. This plant can be invasive, and every small piece of root left in the ground will sprout. To prevent this I rototill extensively, and remove all remnants of root. The small seed root is put in a pot and allowed to grow until about August, then I put in in the ground to overwinter. Usually two plants are sufficient for the home garden. If treated as a perennial I find the roots are sometime too tough and fibrous.

The smaller roots tend to have less fibre and beat up better in the blender. I simply cut the roots into small pieces and blend with vinegar in the blender. The excess vinegar is then drained away in a colender. The finished product is put into small 125 ml jars. If the product is in larger jars the flavour is reduced and the colour changes with each opening to air. A few roots produce a lot of product. From this plant I obtained twelve 125 ml jars.

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26 August 2007 Potato Harvest

http://zofie.notlong.com/ 26 August 2007 Potato Harvest.

This is the produce from 25 plants. Grown were Superior and Pontiac. The Superior were used all summer as required for the table.

The potaotes were lightly washed to remove dirt, dried in the sun for about 2 hours to harden the skin, graded for size, then placed in paper bags. They will be stored in the dark cold room in the basement with the bags left open for air.

The quality is excellent.
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