Saturday, September 22, 2012

So, Autumn Begins

No complaints here about summer being over and autumn beginning. Since mid August, we've started to pay more attention to what needs doing if we want to extend our season. There's still lots to be done in the next few weeks, mostly though, the veg beds are growing along. To catch you up on what we are eating...most especially, a lot of beans...cold, hot, sautéed, steamed, you name it. One of my favourite ways to serve furry Scarlet Runner beans is to French them with my handy dandy Bean Slicer and Stringer. It cost five dollars at the Paderno Store in Halifax, and has made me a big fan. Each bean is pushed through the opening and pulled out the other side.
It takes seconds, meanwhile the stings are trimmed off either side, and the beans are evenly cut which makes good sense for cooking. Here is a bowl already sliced.
After that, they go into boiling salted water. When the water comes back to boil, I time them for two minutes, then drain and serve. I call them my green bean noodles, served with a sprinkling of toasted sesame seeds, a drop or five of toasted sesame oil and splash of tamari. Simple yet delicious, hot or cold.
The salad greens that were planted out in the raised bed, have taken off. We put the cold frame cover over them two days ago, as we have had some very heavy rains and they were getting flattened and dirty. They are looking much happier now. We hope not to have frost for a number of weeks yet, but one never knows so it was time anyway, to put the cover on.
Lastly, we refreshed the kitchen garden winter bed with compost, and some hardy seeds were scattered in a few spots hopefully germinating as I write. *yes, radish are up! The bed still contains beets, carrots, kale, maturing lettuce and well picked over chard.
Here is a sampling of some of the seeds planted out in the raised bed with cold frame cover and the kitchen garden bed under the row cover.
Fingers crossed, the weather holds for awhile yet. We have semi-dwarf Westlandse kale in both beds. It has been fantastic, so soft and delicious...from William Dam Seeds Ltd. I would like to recommend it not only for it's manageable size but it's tender silvery green leaves. The packet says it prefers sandy loam..that's us!! We will see how hardy it is through the winter but I expect just as hardy as most kales in our area zone 5-6 here in Nova Scotia on the South Shore.

21 comments:

  1. Brenda, you just made me wish I had more beans to eat. Those look delicious (and I'm not even a big fan of beans!). I am still so impressed with your growing schedule, I am closing up beds here and you're just getting started all over again.

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    1. Thanks for commenting Marguerite and your encouragement. The beans have been a good crop this year.

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  2. Me encanta tu huerta!!!el invernadero es una idea buenisima y buena cosecha de judias, enhorabuena! conminusculas.blogspot.com

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    1. Gracias Monica! He visitado su blog y me encantan tus canteros. Volveremos a visitar más!

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  3. Thank you for sharing your method of bean prep. We have a bumper crop and I think I may be cooking them a titch too long.

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    1. If they are Frenched like this,they cook quickly. They should just be going limp when you pick them up with tongs..not totally limp..at least I don't like them that far gone but some do. It's all a matter of taste I guess. I only french cut the runnerbeans, as others I grow do not have strings on either side that are noticeable like the runners are.

      Thanks Erin for your kind comment, you are welcome.

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  4. LUCKY YOU WITH (OOPS!) the beans- I had none this year- slugged plants on top of bad germination. Most other people have had thin growth and low crops it has been so wet windy and cold.
    I'm back in S.Wales for a bit. We visit Birmingham on the way past! We'll be in Manchester for a week or so then Scotland for nearly two weeks before NZ for over 5 months!! THen I'll be back in Scotland at last.

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    1. Wow..NZ for five months..wonderful!
      Sorry your bean crop was not good this year..I know the UK had so much rain..a challenge that can be.
      Enjoy your travels and stay in touch.

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  5. Our garden here in Norfolk in England is now retiring slowly for winter. Green manure seeds are being sown, plants that are past their best are being dug up and composted. Though there is still colour from marigolds, pinks, masses of snapdragons, lime green nicotiana, cranesbill, French Lavender, and the peonies are going a delicious shade of redcurrant jelly. And there are still two varieties of tomato ripening on the vine, making the most of the warm sunshine... when it deigns to appear!
    Love your beans.... mine didn't do well at all this year, though the dwarf ones did well as usual.

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    1. Thank you so much for sharing what your garden is growing in Norfolk this time of year...a comment written in such a painterly way I can see it! Wanted to grow lime green nicotiana this year but settled on the tall white which just shines in the evening off the deck. Such a beautiful scent heh!

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  6. How does your gismo deal with beans of differing sizes/widths, Bren?

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    1. There is a spring on the gismo..it adjusts to the varying bean sizes. It will not take huge beans, and you will know, if they can't fit the gizmo, they really should be just saved for seed. It is a charm and it has been put through it's paces, and has stood up well for all that. Love it!! I usually only use it on runner beans though, as the other pole beans and bush beans are tender enough and small enough, they don't need frenching generally.

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  7. Good old, generally reliable beans! That's what I've got still coming in. I would love to have a gadget like you have for frenching them, it makes your beans look so elegant! You are doing a great job extending your season! I have some late lettuce coming up but don't know if it'll get very big before the frost comes.

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    1. You know, when a girlfriend told me about this gadget a few years ago..I was..no kidding!!

      Elegant.. pshaw..well trying to be don't you know ))))) They do look nice though.

      Thank you re extending the season. Just throw a sheet over your lettuce and you will be surprised how long you can pick without the frost ruining them. Some lettuce are very frost hardy I have discovered.

      Thanks Nutmeg

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  8. Your beans look delicious! I was so impressed with your fancy little bean cutter I thought I would look for one online. (the only local Paderno store closed last spring) Unfortunately, the website was not as user friendly as I would like and I was getting nowhere fast. I would love to get one, so next time I am in a speciality cooking store, I will ask if they have one. In the meantime, I think I will try your simple recipe.
    Your salad greens look impressive. I am hoping to transform one of my raised beds into a cold frame. I must dig out Niki's book and start plotting my transformation. I hope to keep my herbs going and maybe even grow a few other things (depending on the timing of the frame's completion).

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  9. Thank you Jennifer. It is a fancy little bean cutter!!! so checked the Paderno Store here and luckily they had two left. Sent you an email.

    I too hope you can transform one of your raised beds into a cold frame. Niki's book will have all the information you need that is for sure. A bed with full sun all winter is your best choice over one that gets a bit of shade. Best of luck, I will look forward to hearing about your progress.

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  10. Found your blog off GZ's site. Wonderful! As a zone 6 gardener I look forward to reading about your beautiful gardens. Fall is in the here in Ohio! Freezer is full though.

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  11. I'm beginning to regret not sowing some kale for our winter salads :o

    Thanks for linking into Salad Days - I'm amending it so that people get to the URL of this post, rather than to your blog, otherwise we won't get here once you've posted something else.

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  12. Your beans and bean dish look really yummy! And your greens look so nice as well. How is your weather this week? I hope is holds out nicely for you.

    ~Michele

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  13. MMMm looks lovely and very different flavours to the ones I normally cook with. I think I have that gadget somewhere, need to find it.

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    1. I think Shaheen..it would be so easy to adjust the flavours to ones you would be comfortable with. Hope you try it.

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