Thursday, September 15, 2011

Harvest time!





First haul: a handful of container carrots and some tomatoes with BER.
I thought it was high time to chew the fat about gardens. I'm a gardening nut. I'm surprised I don't have a gardening blog. I'm going to submit a proposal to have a gardening panel for the 2013 Vida Vegan Con with hopes of spreading the gardening gospel. I also was connected with a fellow vegan and gardening geek Snarky Vegan.

I want this to inspire you to do some of your own gardening. There is no better way to stick it to the man than to grow your own food. You're reducing your footprint, you know how it is being grown, and you're not abusing labor laws producing it. If you have any questions about gardening, visit The Greenhouse section at the Post Punk Kitchen, or you can always e-mail me since I work in the industry.


What keeps you from growing your own food? Have you considered starting small and working up? Try herbs and lettuces. They are the easiest to grow.

I had serious doubts about my garden this Summer. I put most of it in containers because my spidey sense told me we would sell the house. I was right! My co-workers helped me move it over to my friend Victoria's house, and it took a couple of trips. I had quite a bit left in the ground at the old house. The buyer said he didn't like vegetables. Whuuuut? He told me I could harvest them and I donated about eight pounds of greens to the food pantry.

Would the plants make it? It was a crazy hot Summer and I had to fight with some blossom end rot, but I think I did okay:
I honestly have no idea why this photo is defying gravity. It looks normal in my photo folder. Chard, kale, peppers, and lots of tomatoes. The Superbush variety is hands down the best for container gardening. (((giggling at my self))) I typed "Superbush." I'm such a 14 year old boy.

My favorite this year has been the speckled Roma. Huge fruit. HUGE! From the tip of my middle finger to near my wrist. These were great for roasting, making paste, and oven drying.



Third haul: look at those speckled Romas! Some of them had really funky shapes. Note the hotdog roma way on top and the paisley shaped one on the lower right.
Most recent haul: a couple more speckled Romas, a Brandywine, and a couple of peppers. This was used to make chili.

I believe I have a couple more harvests left. I've already planted my fall garden of beets, onions, greens, and carrots in containers at the new house. I plan on planting some garlic bulbs in the next week or so for a Spring harvest.

4 comments:

Vegan Yack Attack! said...

I love you and we've only just met! I wish my garden was as productive as yours! Damn fungus...

Erin said...

Nice lookin' tomatoes!

Nikki said...

I've never had a garden, but I'm feeling the inspiration this year looking at everyone's bounty. Your tomatoes are no exception. They're fabulous!

Anonymous said...

If you need help with that proposal, lemme know. I really want to make this happen. Spoke to a lot of folks at the first VVC who are gardening and interested in veganic gardening methods. There are a few of us in the Illinois Master Gardening program who are the lone wolves, so to speak. We need to band together and make this happen.