March in my garden

grey skies and golden poppies

I'm relishing the cold weather.

I can't remember if San Diego has ever had a winter like this one before.  With consistently cold temps and steady rain for the past few months, many wild flowers, weeds, and volunteers have grown tall and green.  Almost nothing is in bloom yet, except the native poppies.

That's not quite true: my lavender blooms year-round – much to the bees' delight – with aggressive dead-heading, the sour grass and arugula have both been flowering for weeks, and several plants are just starting to bloom: the purple splash climbing rose, nasturtiums, blackberries, and calla lilies.  After no citrus this winter, the tangerines, calamansi, orange, and lemons are in blossom – the smell of neroli is heavenly.

The mulberry just started leafing out and our always-late loquats are thankfully growing little green fruits.

Plan

I've bought my seeds and I've been collecting materials to build supports for my tomatoes.

I'm researching companion planting, especially for tomatoes (marigolds, calendula, green onion, chive, garlic, basil, carrots...) and chiles (basil, chives, carrots, leeks, oregano, parsley, marigolds...).

Prep

I'm prepping beds for tomatoes and corn.  I'm harvesting the mulch and bedding from the chicken coop and yard for mulching the garden beds.

Weed

Now is the time - don't wait!  The ground is soft and moist, making it easy to pull them and you probably want to pull them before they go to seed.  Do it! Do it now!

Plant

Started many tomato seeds last month from Baker's Creek but the seedlings are still too small to plant.  Not to worry, as Tomatomania is this month.  Not only did they have the Gardener's Delight cherry tomato that did so well for us a couple years ago, but I got a few other new varieties to try:

• Spoon currant (a teeny tiny tomato)
• San Marzano Lungo paste (cuz I like to make the sauce)
• Madame Marmande beefsteak (I generally only plant heirlooms but I overheard a few people waxing poetic about this hybrid)

I also got a few peppers: poblano, anaheim, and corno di toro.

Actually, I probably went a little nuts with the seeds I bought, which is why I didn't buy too much at Tomatomania.  Here's what I'm growing from seed:

• Chestnut Chocolate Tomato
• Lucid Gem Tomato
• Lucky Tiger Tomato
• Cour Di Bue Tomato
• Brad's Atomic Grape tomato
• Dark Galaxy tomato
• heirloom poblano
• heirloom anaheim
• purple jalapeño
• Paradicsom Alaku Sarga Szentes
• Chinese Pink Celery
• Hyssop - Korean

These I've started indoors and will transplant sometime this or next month.  The rest will be planted directly in the ground, mostly this month:

• Queen Sophia Marigold
• Cosmo - Black Magic
• Red Skin Mix Dahlia
• Zinnia - Scabiosa
• Goldfinger Mexican Sunflower
• Hopi Turquoise Corn
• Ojo De Tigre Bean
• Tommy Apple Melon
• Blacktail Mountain Watermelon
• Valerian
• Basil - Thai Sweet
• Basil - Lemon
• Basil - Blue Spice
• Hopi Red Dye Amaranth

I'm continuing to work on a circular series of beds of mostly perennial herbs, but I'll also plant the peppers and the 3 sisters (corn, beans, squash/melon + amaranth & cosmos).

Also good to plant this month: radish, beets, broccoli, cabbage, lettuce, potatoes, greens, turnip, cucumber, squash, citrus, avocado, macadamia, dill, marjoram, mint, oregano, parsley, rosemary, sage, thyme, and the last chance this year for natives.

Feed

Fertilize citrus, avo, orchids, 3# on passionfruit, everything (except natives and drought tolerant) in the waning moon.

Water

I'm grateful for continued rain!
Water deep in the morning every 10-14 days if it doesn't rain, more often for new seedlings. I'm blasting my fruit trees (that aren't flowering) with water a couple times this month to help control ants, aphids, white fly & scale.

Prune

I'm pinching off new growth on the grape vines below the trellis to concentrate the energy into the growth to cover the top of the trellis.

Here's what I'm harvesting...

eggs, arugula, nasturtiums, parsley, cilantro, thyme, garlic chives, lavender, lemon grass, rose geranium, lemon verbena, passion fruit

Here's my post from March last year.

Herbal Bliss Tea

Based on Jyoti-Bihanga's Nirvana tea, I had to recreate it with my own spin for at-home permagrin.  This tea is for calming and relaxation, to help with stress, anxiety, and insomnia.

If you can use fresh herbs, awesome!  I'll be planting more perennial herbs this winter now that we finally got some rain to loosen the soil.  In the meantime, I'll be using dried herbs from the co-op's bulk herbs section.  (Some of these are potent herbs so make sure they are safe for you)

1/2 cup spearmint
1/2 cup peppermint
3 tablespoons lemon balm
2 tablespoons skullcap
1 tablespoon passionflower (passiflora incarnata)
1 tablespoon damiana
1 tablespoon valerian root - this one is stinky!

Mix well and store in an air-tight glass jar in a cool, dark place.  To make tea, pour 1 cup boiling spring water over 2 tablespoons of the mix and allow to steep for 10-30 minutes.  Serve hot or iced.

Pickled Purple Jalapeño and Hot Carrots

My purple jalapeño plant is so productive! I've made hot sauce twice and now I need to come up with more recipes. I like my hot carrots a little on the sweet side but if you don't you can eliminate the honey. And use any vinegar and onions that you prefer.

2 small bunches small carrots from Schaner Farms at the farmers market

4 small jalapeños from my garden, sliced into rings
1/4 white onion, thinly sliced
3 large garlic cloves, peeled and lightly smashed

3 sprigs fresh Mexican oregano from my garden
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup spring water
3 tablespoons local honey
1 tablespoon sea salt

Stuff the herbs, veggies, & salt in a pint-sized jar. In a small sauce pan, bring the water, vinegar, & honey to a boil. Pour into jar to the top. Screw the lid on tight and allow to cool. Store in the refrigerator for a couple days before eating.

Elderflower cordial

There are lots of flowering umbels on my native elderberry bush and my lemon tree is bearing lots of fruit so it's the perfect time to make cordial/syrup. [Update: I've found I can rub the flowers off the umbels into my measuring cup so I don't need to cut the elder or snip each tiny flower from the umbel.]:

3 cups spring water
3 cups evaporated cane sugar

3/4 teaspoon citric acid (I found mine in the bulk section of the natural foods store, you could omit it if you will use up the syrup in the next few days)
2 cups fresh elderflowers, destemmed, remove any bugs or debris
juice and zest of 2 small lemons

Heat water, sugar, and citric acid, stirring, until just dissolved. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

In a quart jar, place flowers. juice and zest. Fill jar with syrup and let steep in fridge for 3 days, giving it a gentle shake to stir once a day, then strain out the flowers and zest.

Keep refrigerated. This can also be canned to be shelf stable for up to a year.

Serve with sparkling water over ice or to sweeten iced tea or lemonade.

Purple Jalapeño Hot Sauce

I've been meaning to pick these beautiful, dark purple jalapeños for a while but it's serendipitous that I didn't because now this hot sauce is flavorful with dissipating heat and a natural sweetness from purple jalapeños that ripened into red.

7 small-medium jalapeños, stemmed
2 scallions, rough chopped, also from the garden
1 huge garlic clove, peeled, from Schaner Farm
1/2 cup vinegar (I used champagne vinegar cuz that's what I had on hand)
juice of 1 small lime, from Good Taste Farm
1 teaspoon sea salt

Combine all ingredients in a blender and puree a few minutes until smooth.

Marinated artichoke hearts from the garden

With more artichokes than I know what to do with...

I can make my own marinated artichoke hearts!

I love to eat them straight out of the jar but they can be a bit pricey and hard to find them organic. The hardest (well, time-consuming) part was prepping the artichokes down to the soft, completely edible part.  I would do well to pick them earlier and much smaller next time.

I was pretty unsatisfied with the recipes I found online so here's what I came up with:

artichokes (the younger the better)
juice if a lemon
water

Half fill a pot with water and add the lemon juice. Working with 1 artichoke at a time, snap off the outer leaves until you reach the tender inner leaves. Cut off tough or bottom sharp parts of leaves, trim and peel the stem, and trim any dark green or tough skin from the base. Cut the artichoke into quarters or eights (depending on size), cut away any visible choke and place in the lemon water.

Set over high heat, cover and bring to a boil. Lower heat to simmer for about 10 minutes, until the artichokes are barely tender.

For each 1 1/2 cups of processed artichokes:

1/4 cup good quality extra virgin olive oil

3 large garlic cloves, sliced 

a pinch or 2 of red chile pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1 sprig fresh thyme leaves
1 sprig fresh oregano
1/8 teaspoon peppercorns

a bay leaf

long curl of lemon zest

juice of a lemon

1/4 cup white wine or champagne vinegar

water

In a small saucepan, heat a tablespoon of olive oil over medium-low heat and add garlic and red pepper flakes and cook for about 10 minutes. Add the rest of the oil, along with the salt, herbs, zest and vinegar. Cook for about 10 minutes.

Remove all the herbs and spices and transfer them to a 12-ounce jar. Stuff jar with the artichoke pieces and pour on the rest of the oil & vinegar mixture. Add just enough water to cover. Top with a tightly fitting lid, let cool and refrigerate. Let them cure for at least a day, turning occasionally to mix the flavors. Remove from fridge and allow to come to room temp before serving.

Discovering my Ancestral Roots Chili

I feel like such a curandera, with all my spices and backyard herbs, using mostly indigenous ingredients, channeling my tartara abuelita, stirring an aromatic pot of thick, bubbling beany pot liquor. I'm glad I can grow harder-to-find herbs like mexican oregano.

Here's a chili half-way between my black bean chili and chicana power chili beans from Decolonize your Diet:

1 cup dried beans (black, tiger, mayocoba...), sorted, rinsed, and soaked in spring water overnight
2 teaspoons olive oil
½ medium onion, chopped (from Schaner Farm via the Little Italy Farmers Market)
1-2 mild chiles (such anaheim, pasilla, or poblano - or maybe a jalapeño if you like it spicy), chopped
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon dried (preferably mexican) oregano or a couple teaspoons fresh from the herb spiral
cayenne to taste (start with a pinch, if you're wimpy; up to 1/4 teaspoon if you like it spicy)

1½ teaspoon smoked paprika

1/2 teaspoon ancho chile powder
3 large cloves garlic, minced (from Schaner or Sage Mt Farm)
¾ cup tomato, fresh chopped or crushed canned in glass
juice of a small orange from mom's backyard

sea salt (about 1 teaspoon)

Sauté the onion, chile, and spices in the oil in a medium pot on medium-low heat until soft, about 10 minutes, stirring (do not brown). Add garlic and tomato and cook for 5 minutes, stirring. Add orange juice and beans (drained well) and cover with spring water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat for a low simmer and cook covered until soft, about 2 hours. Salt to taste. Serve with skillet cornbread.

Garnish Options: jack cheese (from Spring Hill), avocado, cilantro, green onions

Variations: add in sautéd zucchini, kale, corn, baked tempeh chunks...