Seed Starting: Heirloom vs. Hybrid vs. Wacky

"I don't have time!" I said to myself. "I have too much other shit to do!" I declared. "I'll just have to buy actual plants this year." Decision made.

But then I found myself again at Home Depot for a bag of dirt. Sixty dollars later I am carrying out an infant, a bag of dirt, and a pile of seeds. (Note: infants not for sale at Home Depot)

First, a lesson in seed terminology. Second, my list of seeds started this week including an explanation of the bizarro ones.

Heirloom vs. Hybrid Seeds
The above terms used for plants and seeds describe how a plant has come into the world. Heirloom plants are older varieties whose seeds have been saved and passed down over time. The plants are "open pollinated" and seeds from an heirloom vegetable will produce plants that have the same properties as the parent. In the case of tomatoes, heirloom plants also might be "determinate" which means that they grow to only a certain height and their fruits ripen all at once. "Indeterminate" varieties grow more like vines, and the fruits ripen in succession and produce all season long. All the heirlooms I grow are indeterminate, which means we have a fabulous time ever year figuring out the best way to support them while they grow. But more on our trellising adventures later in the season.

On the other hand, hybrid plants are intentionally produced by cross pollinating two different varieties of plants in hopes of developing a version with specific qualities of both parent plants. Seeds from a hybrid plant will not produce the same exact plant as the original. Hybrid plants are often bred for convenience (small plant sizes, disease resistance, fruits that package well and don't bruise) rather than flavor, which is why I usually go heavy on the heirlooms. However, I do think that a hybrid home grown tomato is better than what you can get in the store, so my "Beaverlodge" tomato variety is an early hybrid that I can usually get to produce in early July.

My Heirlooms:

• Pepper - Corno di Toro
• Tomato - Polish Linguisa
• Tomato - Great White
• Tomato - Purple Calabash
• Tomato - Yellow Perfection
• Tomato - San Marzano
• Tomato - Sugar Snack

My Hybrids:

• Tomato - Beaverlodge
• Eggplant - Little Prince

My Wacky Stuff (Another note: "wacky" is not a seed type. I just don't know what these things are and am figuring that you don't either):

• Root Parsley "Hamburg" and Celeriac/Root Celery - We're big fans of root vegetables here. Big. And there are way more interesting root vegetables than carrots. These two are delicious, and add a fun twist to mashed potatoes or a roasted veggie platter. They both taste like their edible foliage, but are milder. In these varieties, the roots are the stars.  
• Tomatillo - Fundamental to salsa verde, tomatillos are a Mexican food staple and a member of the same plant family as tomatoes. One plant produces like crazy, but I can never stop myself from planting two of them.
• Broccoli "Romanesco" - I suck at growing broccoli so I don't have high hopes for this. I might grow it in the greenhouse to try to avoid the inevitable cabbageworm attack. If it does actually grow, it will produce a whole head of lime green, pointy florets that look similar to Madonna's cone bra in her Blonde Ambition tour.
• Shiso, Green - I've never grown this and am not sure I've even seen it in real life. Shiso is a traditional Japanese cooking herb with aromatic cinnamon-flavored leaves. Also comes in purple. If it works, we might see some fancy new recipes coming from Tommy-San.
• Malabar Spinach "Red Stem" - Another newcomer to my garden. This is a tropical vine that grows in the heat of summer, and is described as spinach-like. I love the idea of a spinachish plant for summer, so we're trying this.
• Epazote - Herb native to South America and used in Mexican food, especially bean dishes. This has the potential to be a rotten weed in these parts, so grow in a pot and watch for volunteer baby plants in your garden beds. I haven't had a chance to cook with this, but it's supposed to help bean related digestive problems. Here's to hoping.
• Cavolo Broccolo Spigariello, called "leaf broccoli" - I got these seeds in the Christmas Tree Shop of all places. It attracted me because the whole rack of seed was all in Italian and I couldn't identify the plant in the picture. Google tells me that this has little broccoli heads but is really grown for the leaf and harvests like kale. It's a cut and come again plant that will grow all season. Let's see if it works.
• Fennel, Bulbing "Trieste" - Tom is totally obsessed with fennel bulbs for cooking and insists we grow as much of this as possible. We never use all that we grow. I used to think that was fine because the plant would flower and go to seed, but seeds never seemed to appear. It turned out that some fennel varieties are grown for seed and others for the bulb, but there are no varieties that do both. If you know of one, dear reader, please inform me! In the meantime, we will be growing the "Trieste" variety for seed, and also the ......
• Fennel, Seed "Bea" - ..... and this one for seed. I named it "Bea" after a sweet gal named Bea Kunz, owner of Sage Hill Farms, who graciously sent me this seed. I can't wait to grow it and harvest my own! If I get a good enough crop, maybe I will take a page from the book of Bea, and share my harvest.
• Mystery Seed - This is thanks to my excellent labeling skills. What is it? Who knows. It could be a kind of basil. Or maybe columbine. As of now, it is planted, and we will just see what develops.

Thanks for reading, and we'll see you next week!

Laura

It's the Year Of the Heirloom Grain!

What has two thumbs, crazy eyes, and an unrealistic sense of time restrictions ? This gal! It's nearly spring again, and I'm nearly out of my mind with excitement for garden prep. And just like every year, I begin with a burst of high enthusiasm and enormous destined-to-fail plans. This year's grand schemes are listed numerically below. Commentary by the lunatic that takes over my logic and reasoning abilities every spring follows.

1.) I will blog every week, even if it's just a paragraph to log what I've done. [This one is totally doable because I have so much spare time! I'm sure my disabled 9 year old and newborn infant will magically become completely self-sufficient every Sunday evening at the exact moment I sit down at my computer! No problem! And I'll even still find time to shower!!]

2.) I will fertilize all vegetables and perennials according to their individual specifications and requirement. [I don't know anything about fertilizing beyond randomly throwing compost on plants when I remember to. As long as you put a plant in dirt, it should grow - right?  But this year I'm going to be totally organized! I'm going to N-P-K the shit out of this place, and these plants won't know what hit them! They will be happy and healthy and wildly productive, and I will be the best gardener ever. EVER!!!]

3.) I will plant and grow my own heirloom wheat and make homemade bread out of it. [OK! Even my enthusiastic looney-toon self knows that this is just batshit crazy. But why not? Why shouldn't I try? I'm almost forty, and not getting any younger. The time to do weird shit is now, and I believe this goal qualifies.]

Go ahead, laugh. I certainly am. I, too, observe myself with a detached bemusement, having seen myself pull this stunt time and time again. But I fully embrace the silliness and hope of March while preemptively forgiving myself for not following through. I'm sure someone/everyone has said this better, but if we don't have hope, what do we have? And who knows - one of these years, I just might go ahead and kick some ass, just as I intended. Better stay tuned to see if 2013 is that year.

And so to fulfill goal #1 for the week -

Accomplished this week:

• Started herb seeds in the greenhouse in Earth Boxes. Box #1, all basils: Genovese, Sweet, Lemon, Greek, Lime & Dark Opal. Box #2: Cilantro, Chervil, Summer Savory, Watercress.
• Cut back grapes.
• Ordered specialty seeds: Lacinato Kale, Imperial Star Artichoke, Red Garnet Amaranth, Red Head Quinoa.

To-do:

• Start indoor seeds, especially tomatoes and peppers.
• Prune roses
• Finish garden and perennial bed clean up.
• Fertilize asparagus, blueberries & hydrangea.
• Rebuild collapsed raised beds (hear that, Tommy?)

Goals number two and three require more research so more on those later. I would include a picture of the current state of disrepair of the vegetable beds but the baby is crying. Yep, this is totally going to work just fine!

Laura

Real Sicilian-Style Pizza

Written and Photographed by Tom DiGangi, Jr. 

My grandmother lived with my family when I was a boy.  And, I learned a lot about food because of it.  She was born and raised in the small hill town of St Anna on the southern coast of Sicily before she settled in Philadelphia after an eventful emigration from the old country.  As I have been told, the journey involved a gun, a stowaway, and oddly enough, a donkey.  But, that is a story for another day.

Grandma used to make a pan pizza that I still dream about.  It bore no resemblance to the uber-cheesy, topping heavy, beasts that Pizza Hut, Pizzeria Uno, or any of the other unfortunately Italianesque chains perpetrate on diners in shopping centers and food courts around the US and the globe. 

No.  Bernadina Abruzzo’s pizza was sublime.  A medium crust - not to thin, not to thick, crispy to bite, yet airy to chew - was the foundation for it all.  The rest was incredibly simple.  A base-coat of fine olive oil.  A sparing amount of homemade tomato sauce, lightly flavored with garlic and basil, topped the crust.  An even more sparing dusting of parmigano, or more often then not, pecorino, cheese finished the pie.  After all, she was from Sicily, where sheep milk and its resulting pecorino cheese still reigns supreme. 

  

Simple as it was, I cannot imitate it and have given up.  Instead, I have taken to improvising on her theme of simple, high-quality ingredients used in shockingly small proportions.  The following recipe is one of those attempts.  It elicited a “this is absolutely delicious” response from Laura who rarely expresses praise above “good.”  What can I say?  She is part German, so as long as the food is on time, it’s usually o.k. by her.  With that context, “delicious” is high praise.

Pan Pizza with fennel sausage, mushrooms and arugula

Ingredients

4 Cups Pizza Dough – see recipe

4 Oz. Sweet Pork Sausage with Fennel

1 1/2 Cups Tomato Sauce, homemade – see recipe

4 Sun-dried Tomatoes, finely diced

2 T Dry Vermouth

2 Cups Hen of the Woods Mushrooms (A.K.A. Maitake), roughly chopped

(substitute with crimini or button mushrooms)

2 Cups Arugula, roughly chopped

1 Cup grated Caciocavalo Cheese

1 Cup grated Parmigano Reggiano Cheese

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Salt & Pepper to taste

Procedure

To make the pizza dough…

Laura makes great (and easy) bread dough every week that we leave in the fridge.  Check out Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day for the recipe and procedure.  When we want to make bread, we pull out a handful of the dough, form it into the desired shape and let it rise for an hour while the oven is heating-up.  To convert this bread dough into pizza dough, we add a few tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil and kneed it in.  Then, let it rise in an oiled bowl on the countertop for a couple of hours, but it could sit there all day and would only get better.  The longer the dough is left to rise, the lighter the pizza crust.  You could always use store-bought dough, but you wouldn’t, would you?

To make the tomato sauce…

Sauté a few cloves of crushed garlic in a few tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil until lightly browned.  As you may infer, precise measurements are not critical here.  Add a small can (about 20 oz) of high-quality whole plum tomatoes that you crush with you hands or a masher.  Bring to a boil, and reduce to a simmer.  Season with salt, add about a dozen leaves of whole basil and simmer for 10 minutes.  Done!

To assemble the pizza…

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

In a sauté pan, heat a tablespoon of olive oil and add the sausage, crumbling it into small pieces.  Cook over medium heat until brown.  Add the sun-dried tomatoes, tomato sauce and two tablespoons of dry vermouth.  Scrap the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon to release any good stuff stuck to the pan.  Simmer for a few minutes and set aside.

Coat a half sheet pan with a liberal amount of extra-virgin olive oil.  It should be thick enough so that you can write your name in the oil in the pan with your finger.  Stretch the dough with your hands to roughly the size of the pan without breaking the dough.  Do not use a rolling pin, as this will break the edges and release the air from the dough.  Your goal is to keep as much of the developed air (or rise) from escaping from the dough.  Press the dough into the pan, leaving at least a half-inch edge to develop the perfect crust handle.  If the dough is too elastic and pulls away from the sides, let it rest a few minutes, then finish the job.

Remember, it is all about the dough, so add the toppings sparingly!  Start with the tomato sauce and sausage, then the mushrooms and cheeses.  Reserve the arugula.

Place the pizza-in-a-pan on the center rack in a 400-degree oven for 10 minutes.  Then rotate the pan and cook for another 10 minutes.  Add the arugula and return to the oven for three to five minutes.  Total cooking time is approximately 25 minutes.  Remove the pan from the oven and let rest for at least five minutes before serving. 

Accompaniment

I dreamed-up and indulged in a cocktail while making this dish, and named it the British Virgin Islander, because it incorporates the English favorite, gin, with the Caribbean staple, rum.  But, there is nothing virgin about it.  If someone else has already created this drink or used this name, please accept my apologies.  I am aware of neither.

In a shaker, mix plenty of ice with 1 part gin, 1 part white rum, ¼ part dry vermouth, juice of ½ of a lemon, and juice of ½ an orange.  Mix and strain into a chilled martini glass.  Finish with a rim garnish of a wedge of orange and a wedge of lemon. 

I can’t promise you’ll love it, or that it goes best with the pizza, but it felt right to me. Enjoy!

Secrets to a Great Fall Harvest

Written By: Tom DiGangi, Jr.

Photos By: Laura Knott & Tom DiGangi, Jr.

Each autumn, friends and family respond with quizzical looks and surprised comment when we report on the garden’s output in October, November and – yes, sometimes – December.  When most folks are raking leaves and tossing rotting jack-o-lanterns, we are harvesting greens, peppers, root vegetables, and an assortment of herbs.

What then is the secret to a great fall harvest, you may ask?  Actually, it’s at least three secrets.

First, the gardener must be lazy or preoccupied, and fail to harvest in summer.  See previous blog posts, such as this post , which shall serve as testimony to the truism about us being lazy or preoccupied.  This year, we simply didn’t harvest our fennel bulbs when they were ready in July – preoccupied I suppose.  Maybe we were too busy watching the Philadelphia Phillies magical 102 win regular season.  Then nature took its course. The large stalks began to die in the heat of summer, and all hope was lost for a harvest.  Yet we let the dying plants just stay in place – lazy I suppose.  Don’t repeat this to the kids, but our inaction was ultimately rewarded.  Now, young bright green fennel plants are emerging around the brown and brittle stalks.

Unfortunately, this is not metaphor for the Phillies season, as they failed to sprout anew in the playoffs, instead just dying-off after the regular season.  But, at least I have fennel for football season.  Sunday football will feature whey-fed pork sausage sandwiches (from our friends at Bobolink farm) with sautéed fennel.  I can taste it already.  That sandwich could benefit from some peppers.  But, peppers - you say - are summer fruits.  They can’t join the party.  This brings us to secret number two.

Invest in a fabric “greenhouse” or plastic “coldframe” to keep your summer plants going into winter.  The theory is that a transparent cover over your planting beds allows sunlight in to warm the soil during the day and traps warm air throughout the night.  If the greenhouse is too great an investment, then pick-up some cheap cloth row covers that you use to literally cover your crops (i.e., a sleeping bag for plants).  You can remove them in the morning to allow direct sunlight and replace them in the evening to keep off the frost.  They won’t work too long into the cold months, but will definitely extend the growing season.  With row covers on, chances are the pepper plants, like the Giant Marconi seen here,

will last longer than my beloved Philadelphia Eagles will remain in the NFL playoff hunt.  However, defeat in sports is much easier to digest when followed by a sausage, fennel and pepper sandwich.

Let’s say that you don’t have the patience for row cover management, or you're just not that into peppers.  Then, focus on secret number three... next year.

Plant a garden that produces more than just summer season favorites like tomatoes, eggplant or cucumbers.  Add in cool weather crops like celery root, fennel, horseradish, leeks, peppers, pumpkins, spinach, swiss chard and turnips.  In our garden, these are all still going strong this fall.  Some of these crops can be planted in spring for an early summer harvest, and may produce a second harvest in the fall.  The fennel and swiss chard did just that for us this year.  The multi-season life of chard is evident in this photo.

New crisp leaves appear from the tops of the roots, now revealed from the snipping of leaves from those roots all year long. 

Come to think of it, that swiss chard sautéed in a bit of garlic and olive oil would go really well with the sausage, fennel and peppers.  Now, if we could figure out how to grow beer, then we would really have something to make us feel better about Philadelphia sports this autumn.