Summer Spiral Slaw

Second crop of Seascape Strawberries

Hot summer days just scream fresh salads! The temperature in our house is bearable with the cross breeze from the ocean, but most evenings I really don't want to turn on the stove or oven. Right now the garden is producing lots of summer squash (multi-colored patty pans and several varieties of zucchini), cucumbers (Mercury and Diva in the greenhouse and Corentine in the garden for fermented dill pickles), early cabbage (Taiwan and Tiara), huge 'Easter Egg' radishes (that are surprisingly mild and not fibrous), scallions, 3 colors of bush beans, broccoli, figs (Desert King), fresh herbs (lovage, dillweed, oregano, rosemary), red romaine lettuce, Uncle Robert's purple potatoes, the end of the snap peas and the second crop of Seascape strawberries are starting. The garlic is cured, cleaned and cut with seed set aside for October planting. A busy time!

Garlic ~ cured, cleaned and trimmed

Taiwan Early Cabbage

I've given away a few of the fresh, early cabbage heads and one friend commented... "cabbage was on my shopping list, coleslaw is my favorite salad." Hmmm, that got me thinking because coleslaw is not a favorite of mine... BUT ...the early cabbage I grow is so sweet, delicate and tender that I snack on it while cutting or preparing it... so why not try a slaw with a twist (sorry, couldn't resist the pun!) 

Summer Spiral Slaw

With my favorite little spiralizer machine I 'zoodled' some yellow patty pans that got a bit big, a big radish, a seedless cucumber and a few carrots for texture and more color. I broke the vegetable noodles into  4-6" long pieces, tossed in some thinly sliced scallions and thinly sliced Taiwan early cabbage. 
Put the vegetable mixture into a bowl and poured over a recipe of my 'Paleo Vegetable Salad Marinade' posted last December. Let it sit for a few days and OMG, delicious!! Great as a side dish but I also drained some and used it instead of relish on a turkey burger, outstanding!! 
Instead of getting bored with the same old marinated vegetables, I gave this salad a summer twist with cabbage instead of cauliflower and spiralized all the other vegetables  that would have normally gone into the marinade (carrots, zucchini, cucumber, plus the addition of radish). Voila! ...a fun summer make over!

Until next time... Bon Appétit and have fun reinventing your salads!
Please stay healthy, be safe, wear a face mask and take good care...

Photos by Sally Rae
Recipes by Sally Rae 

July Garden Update

Full view of my Denman Island 'garden in the forest'

Yikes!! It's the end of July already!
I've been so busy with the early, warm spring and summer; planting, shading newly emerged winter crops and watering, that I've had little time to sit at the computer these days. I've taken a few weeks off from the salon for my annual summer staycation. Don't get too excited about that, it's 2 weeks I take every summer to 'catch up' on weeding, defrosting freezers, removing thistle seed heads on the property, pruning back Grandma's lilac so clients can get through the gate, cleaning the salon and if I have time ... making some freezer meals and soups for when I'm back at work. And that's the short list!!

Winter carrots and beets under remay

I took some photos in the garden on July 18th and this morning (10 days later) while watering, realized the winter carrots and beets have almost doubled in size, so it's time to get a July update happening! 

Garlic Harvest - 2 varieties July 18th, 2019

I pulled the garlic between rain showers a week earlier than last year. I was worried it would get too wet and a test pull of 2 heads proved there were 5 skin wrappers left, proof it was ready to be pulled and dried. Because the roots were a little more damp that I wanted, I cleaned the heads and removed most of the stalks to hopefully speed drying time. A few years ago I set up some old window screens and a fan system in the garage for drying. It is easy to manage and no threat from the weather.

2019 garlic drying

Most crops for winter harvest on the West Coast need to be in by July 1st. 
I have not grown winter carrots for about 4 years because of the damage from the carrot rust fly. To avoid this pest, the carrot beds need to be covered with remay or an insect mesh until at least October. Remay is great in that it provides extra heat, so the seeds germinate well and grow quickly, but it is a challenge in that it must be elevated by supports to allow the carrot tops room to grow and lifted off the bed to water properly.

Carrot bed #1 covered with remay

I'm so excited for winter carrots that I've put in 2 beds. A small bed first then a second bed including some beets with the Lennox cabbage, a 120 day variety. 

Winter garden bed - carrots, beets (remay) and cabbage       

 

Carrot bed #1 uncovered for watering

  











 
 The beets and carrots will be heavily mulched in the fall and we will use them starting in December and through the winter till March. The Lennox cabbage will be harvested in January. 

I've noticed lower than normal pollination this year. Although I've planted more flowers, including marigolds and nasturtiums between the vegetables, I have been hand pollinating the tomatoes, Mercury cucumbers in the greenhouse and winter squash. 

Sunshine and Butternut winter squash

Next year I will plant more pollinator flowers both in the garden and up near the house and greenhouse.

The second crop of Seascape Strawberries are just starting. A few huge, red berries every few days with stems heavy with fruit to come. The Desert King Fig is almost finished ripening. A crafty squirrel has discovered the figs this year and damaged/eaten quite a few of the fruits. 

Seascape Strawberries and Desert King Fig

For the past 2 years I've been pruning the fig tree into a structure that will produce a high breba crop. Breba is the first crop and this method is best suited to the Desert King that I grow and is in the photo. Because of the heavy pruning each spring, my fig crops have been very small ... and that darn squirrel hasn't helped the harvest this summer! 

Until next time... Happy Gardening and Bon Appétit!

Photos by Sally Rae