A Seed Saver's Garden

digitS' · Oct 22, 2025

heirloomgal said:
it's 'kale' which usually causes the person to get a blank look, lol.

Our even dozen kale plants look quite a bit different right now because of continuous harvesting. I didn't think to do that before DW came along. But then, I was not a kale fan in any of that time and only grew them once, that I remember. That year, the huge plants were allowed to grow unharvested until Winter.

DW picked some more leaves off the current scrawny plants, yesterday. They do become more tender with frost. What does dehydrating do to the leaves? I can imagine two results: #1 they become like shoe leather, or #2 they are crispy things like potato chips.

Steve

heirloomgal · Oct 22, 2025

digitS' said:
Our even dozen kale plants look quite a bit different right now because of continuous harvesting. I didn't think to do that before DW came along. But then, I was not a kale fan in any of that time and only grew them once, that I remember. That year, the huge plants were allowed to grow unharvested until Winter.

DW picked some more leaves off the current scrawny plants, yesterday. They do become more tender with frost. What does dehydrating do to the leaves? I can imagine two results: #1 they become like shoe leather, or #2 they are crispy things like potato chips.

Steve

Apparently, #2. She said she eats them like potato chips. Personally, I think I'd like kale chips but hard to imagine them without a bit of oil and salt, I don't think you could do it like that in a dehydrator though. That method is probably oven only.

I grew too many kale for sure. So far I've mostly harvested only from the backyard plants and even some of them remain huge. I do like that you can continue to harvest with a foot of snow on the ground, so there's that. Just something about a big ole kale plant jutting out of the snow warms my heart. And last winter I developed a wierd addiction to eating the tiny crown bits with little icicles embedded in them while standing outside. The mix of ice and greens hits just right. But I have a bit of pagophagia.

digitS' · Oct 23, 2025

A new word.

Be careful not to chip a tooth!

That harvesting after snowfall was a real problem during my first adventure growing kale. I had the plants at such a distance from the kitchen of my, then, country home — that I had to shovel all the way to the end of the garden to reach them.

Steve

heirloomgal · Oct 23, 2025

Waiting for the nice weather next week to get some tulips in the ground. Last year I got red with white edges, this year I did a 50/50 split of midnight purple and bright yellow varieties. I really dislike digging in freezing cold soil so that little blip of warmth will get taken advantage of.

So close to being done shelling the beans and peas. Filled 2+ leaf bags so far, total will probably be 3 when I'm done. It's a lot of shells that's for sure. I feel like I'm behind on everything, especially taking pictures of the beans. I did wait a bit extra this year to be ensure dryness but I'm a bit worried now I won't have enough sunny days to get pics. I hope it works out.

Peppers are nearly done being processed for seeds. The spaghetti sauce made with an enormous amount of roasted peppers turned out extra delicious. They did shrink with roasting, that helped a lot. We had leftovers today which were even better. The only thing that may have improved my sauce was peeling all the peppers before pulsing it with the hand blender. Tiny bit of texture was left in, but that was too many peppers to peel.

Here's my easy veggie spaghetti sauce. I like to make it in the oven since it's less work, but stovetop works too. Just more stirring.

At least a dozen bell peppers, 2 dozen is better
10 garden tomatoes, or a tall bottle of passata
4 celery stalks, chopped rough
1 big onion, chopped rough
6+ garlic cloves, same
1/2 cup olive oil
Salt, lots of dried basil & oregano

Roast the peppers in a tray/pan first. If they get dark, you gotta peel 'em because that'll add a bitter flavor. Then add everything else. Cover. Roast at 350 for hours, adding water as needed. Adjust salt to taste, an extra pat of butter can help or a teaspoon of sugar to get the flavor ratios right. Pulse somewhat with a hand held blender for a better texture when done. Finish with grated parmesan and/or mozzarella, finely chopped parsley and ground peppercorns.

heirloomgal · Saturday at 5:59 PM

I am beyond thrilled with this carrot, 'Kyoto Red'. The dropping temperatures are causing them to darken and the transformation is pretty fab. And they are still SUPER juicy, and still have those fruity notes. I agree with Baker Creek, these may just be the best carrot ever. I need to buy like 4 packs next year!

I dug up the Hamburg parsley today, I like the size of the roots!

They're actually bigger than the celeriac roots! And they smell heavenly too. I cannot wait to cook some of these up in a soup! So glad I finally tried this vegetable!

Alasgun · Saturday at 6:25 PM

Did you plant the Parsley root from seed you started then transplanted out?
I ask because a lot of my Parsnips looked like that until i just direct seeded them. Knowing my Parsnips were 120 day roots and being concerned they would not do well in a much shorter season was my reasoning to transplant. Several years ago i just direct seeded them and have done so every year since!

Mike

heirloomgal · Saturday at 8:09 PM

Alasgun said:
Did you plant the Parsley root from seed you started then transplanted out?
I ask because a lot of my Parsnips looked like that until i just direct seeded them. Knowing my Parsnips were 120 day roots and being concerned they would not do well in a much shorter season was my reasoning to transplant. Several years ago i just direct seeded them and have done so every year since!

Mike

Well this is interesting @Alasgun, until you posted I had no idea that parsley roots were not supposed to look like that! :lol:

I honestly thought this was the correct to form, I guess because I've never grown them before. Wow, I can see from google images that they are supposed to look like white carrots! My gosh, I have no clue what made them turn out like this! Yes, I did start them from seed quite a a few months in advance because they need so long a season. But maybe I should try direct seeding them seeing how gnarled they are.

This revelation is actually pretty hilarious.

Well....at least they're big. I can work with them.

Alasgun · Sunday at 12:24 AM

For me with Parsnips another portion of my reasoning is that Parsnips take 3 or more weeks to germinate coupled with our short season left me with the same impression you had! I’d start those things in #35’s in groups of 10 or so per pot and nurse them along till i could get them in the ground mid April. When you grow 3-500 Parsnips a year thats a lot of fooling with, and i remember the nightmare of separating them and gently setting them out. In this infant stage they are not single rooted like the finished product and i had to use a single hand dibble to have any semblance of uniformity. Even with all that effort it was impossible to get the roots to grow straight which was compounded on the harvest end because now i had to deal with all those mis-shapen roots!

That’s all behind me now and i use the same multi-dibble board for carrots, Parsnips and beets and end up with very few de-forms. I still get just a few but nothing serious.

Bear in mind a big Parsnip for me is 2 1/2 inches across the top, i cant get those fist size roots but im content with these, especially in our season etc.

Hope this is considered helpful stuff?
Mike

Some of this years Parsnips on the top shelf.

digitS' · Sunday at 8:02 AM

Parsnips are a worthwhile crop to grow. Their flavor is unique and Winter storage quality is excellent. One other reason is that they are difficult to find at the soopermarkets.

A long-term crop, parsnips were relegated to the distant gardens and the better soil here at home was allocated to quicker plants that needed more attention. The problem with that was my minimum cultivation depth "rule of thumb" of 8 inches in the rocky soil, was not enough. Double digging easily fell short of what those roots found to explore. Parsnips were often challenging to dig out with a spading fork, down there in the compacted soil. Worth it! And, it would be worth getting back to them here at home, especially as these new beds gain some depths of improvement.

Steve

ducks4you · Sunday at 9:26 AM

D

heirloomgal said:
Waiting for the nice weather next week to get some tulips in the ground. Last year I got red with white edges, this year I did a 50/50 split of midnight purple and bright yellow varieties. I really dislike digging in freezing cold soil so that little blip of warmth will get taken advantage of.

So close to being done shelling the beans and peas. Filled 2+ leaf bags so far, total will probably be 3 when I'm done. It's a lot of shells that's for sure. I feel like I'm behind on everything, especially taking pictures of the beans. I did wait a bit extra this year to be ensure dryness but I'm a bit worried now I won't have enough sunny days to get pics. I hope it works out.

Peppers are nearly done being processed for seeds. The spaghetti sauce made with an enormous amount of roasted peppers turned out extra delicious. They did shrink with roasting, that helped a lot. We had leftovers today which were even better. The only thing that may have improved my sauce was peeling all the peppers before pulsing it with the hand blender. Tiny bit of texture was left in, but that was too many peppers to peel.

Here's my easy veggie spaghetti sauce. I like to make it in the oven since it's less work, but stovetop works too. Just more stirring.

At least a dozen bell peppers, 2 dozen is better
10 garden tomatoes, or a tall bottle of passata
4 celery stalks, chopped rough
1 big onion, chopped rough
6+ garlic cloves, same
1/2 cup olive oil
Salt, lots of dried basil & oregano

Roast the peppers in a tray/pan first. If they get dark, you gotta peel 'em because that'll add a bitter flavor. Then add everything else. Cover. Roast at 350 for hours, adding water as needed. Adjust salt to taste, an extra pat of butter can help or a teaspoon of sugar to get the flavor ratios right. Pulse somewhat with a hand held blender for a better texture when done. Finish with grated parmesan and/or mozzarella, finely chopped parsley and ground peppercorns.

Middle DD is experimenting with using tomatoes and the dried tomatoes I gave her to make pasta and pizza sauce--she makes a Mean pizza!
I await her results...

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