Garden Detective

When is it safe to plant vegetables outdoors?

From now until the end of the month, it's prime time for planting most vegetables on Long Island. Conventional wisdom says it's safe to start planting on May 15, when the danger of frost is considered past. But personal experience has taught me to wait it out until Memorial Day. It can still get pretty chilly overnight.

Ditto for annuals. I once did in an entire flat of impatiens planted the day before Mother's Day. A couple of frosty nights and it was all over. I work too hard for my money, so I've learned to be patient.

Here are some tips to consider before you get those veggies in the ground:

• Select a location that gets at least six hours of full sunlight daily.

• Test your soil. The ideal pH range for most vegetables is 6.2 to 6.8.

• Look for varieties labeled as resistant to powdery mildew, rust and diseases.

• Incorporate lime if indicated by your pH test, slow-release fertilizer (5-10-5 or 10-10-10) and a lot of compost to the top 6 to 8 inches of soil. Work it in well.

• To protect against shock, choose a cloudy day to transplant outdoors. Place plants exactly as deep as they were in their original pots. Only tomatoes can be planted deeper, as they'll actually send out roots from underground stems. If planting in pots, tall containers are preferable to shallow ones.

• Plant in rows to allow access to all plants without compacting soil around roots.

• If support will be necessary, insert stakes into the ground when planting. Stakes installed after plants have become established might damage plant roots.

• Apply mulch to keep the soil warm, inhibit weeds and retain water.

• In the morning throughout the season, water deeply, allowing it to penetrate 5 to 6 inches into the ground. It's much better to water thoroughly less often than to water insufficiently more often.

Unless you've been living under a pile of mulch this past year, you've surely heard the term locavore tossed about like a chopped salad. I've seen it in print articles and online, on a sign outside a local restaurant and in the produce department of one of my neighborhood groceries.

When I first heard the term, it was spelled localvore, which was a bit more intuitive. Next, it was popping up as "locovore," which I thought was more fun because it conjured up images of crazy people speaking Spanish. Alas, according to Google search results, locavore appears to be winning out, with 173,000 search results, versus 27,000 for localvore and a mere 2,200 for locovore. Last year, the New Oxford American Dictionary chose locavore as its 2007 Word of the Year.

Whether you say tomato or tomahto isn't really relative. It's where that round red fruit was grown that matters most.

So what, exactly, is a locavore? According to Wikipedia, the term locavore "was coined by Jessica Prentice from the San Francisco Bay Area on the occasion of World Environment Day 2005 to describe and promote the practice of eating a diet consisting of food harvested from within an area most commonly bound by a 100 mile radius."

A few years ago, I caught wind of Alisa Smith and James MacKinnon, a couple of Canadians who, after learning that much of the food they ate had traveled an average of 1,500 miles before landing on their plates, decided to conduct an experiment whereby they would only eat food that originated within 100 miles of their Vancouver apartment. Soon, they were documenting their endeavor -- more challenging than you'd imagine -- in a blog on an online magazine site called The Tyee.

They even turned their story into a book, published by Random House, titled Plenty: One Man, One Woman, and a Raucaus Year of Eating Locally.

It's not as easy as you might think. Do you like imported cheeses? Out. Tropical Fruits? Ixnay. And you can pretty much forget chocolate altogether. In fact, Smith and MacKinnon detailed their frustrations as well as their joys. Among them, they said, they ate a lot of potatoes.

The main drive behind the movement is ecological in nature. Eating local foods uses less "embodied energy," defined (courtesy of my husband, John, a green buildings proponent) as the sum of all energy used to grow, extract and manufacture produce, including the amount of energy needed to transport it.

So if you're eating tomatoes grown at a local farm -- or even better, in your own backyard -- think of the gasoline, truck emissions and packaging that you're saving. Less pollution in the air and in landfills.

Plus the food is fresher and probably tastier, as produce that needs to survive a long journey often is picked before it's fully ripe, never quite tasting the way it would if allowed to remain on the plant until ripe. Think about mealy winter tomatoes from the grocery store. Blech.

Interested in giving it a try? One very easy way to start is to plant a vegetable garden this spring. If you've never grown edibles, don't be intimidated, it's very easy. Get details on starting seeds and other vegetable growing information.

Another good option is shop at local farm stands (just make sure they don't ship their produce in from elsewhere. Believe it or not, some do). Or you could join a food co-op or buy a share in a Community Supported Agriculture farm. Here's a list of CSA farms on Long Island.

And some Long Island farm stands.

Read Sylvia Carter's recent column on a meal prepared will all local ingredients, A Locavore's Dinner on Long Island.

Learn more about locavoring from the Locavores website.

Happy spring, everybody! I always feel like a Peanut on the vernal equinox -- the first day of spring -- when the day and night are equally long. In fact, I'm so excited, I'm posting this 10 hours early. From tomorrow at 1:48 a.m. until the first day of summer -- June 21 -- the days will grow longer and longer.

I feel so blah from November through the winter. I find the darkness and the cold mentally and physically zapping. But thoughts of tulips and tomato plants and leaving the house without a jacket turn me into a blubbering idiot come March 20. At the risk of sending you all into diabetic shock with my uncharacteristic sappiness, I'm so happy it's spring I could dance like Snoopy!

When I was a kid, we marked the day by trying to stand eggs on their ends. I can't remember whether it worked, but I'm going to try tomorrow. I'll report back -- with photos if I'm successful.

If you haven't already, start seeds of annuals indoors, and plant cool-season crops like lettuce and spinich outdoors.

It's prime time to seed your lawn, too. if yours looks anything like mine -- trashed by a dog or otherwise sabotaged -- seed once a week and water twice a day until it fills in. But don't fertilize until Memorial Day.

I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts parsley still thriving in the backyard. Ordinarily, I would treat it the same way I do all my herbs: Snip, rinse and air dry overnight in a single layer on a paper towel, then store it in a plastic bag in the freezer.

The single-layer drying method is crucial because it allows each leaf to freeze independently so that when I need to use it, I simply pull out as many individual leaves as I need. If I were to rinse it and place it directly in the freezer, a big green ice cube would result. Trust me, I've done it. It isn't pretty.

When I was turning over my vegetable and herb border last week, I left the parsley and mint behind because they were still doing well. Now I'm thinking about drying some of them, crushing the leaves and storing them in jars for a different, stronger accent. Here are some pointers in case you want to give it a whirl as well.

Check out the tomato prep techniques and recipes from Newsday's Sylvia Carter here:
http://www.newsday.com/features/food/ny-food-fdcov0815,0,5471690.story

And Marge Perry has 3 Simple suggestions. Check 'em out and learn how to make Pasta with Salsa Cruda, Tomato and Olive Bruschetta, and Gazpacho.

If you can't beat 'em, eat 'em!

With weeding season in full swing, lots of folks -- myself included -- will be spending at least part of the holiday weekend cleaning out their garden beds. Instead of ditching those weeds, why not consider the activity a harvest and put those good-for-you greens to good use?

If you want to forage through your weeds for edibles, there are plenty of safe, nutritious greens growing in your backyard. Just be very careful about identifying them; mistaking lily of the valley for bear's garlic, for instance, could be lethal. Be sure to follow "Jessica's Rules for Consumption," below, and rinse all vegetation before indulging.

Last week, I pulled up some tender, young dandelion leaves from the backyard, gave 'em a good rinse and constructed a salad with them, adding sliced hard boiled eggs, olive oil, salt and pepper, just like Mama used to. So yummy!

Bon Appetit!

Click photo to enlarge	Weed (Latin name)	Edible part(s)	Uses
	Burdock (Arctium minus)	Roots, leaves	Add to soups and stews; Cooking with baking soda helps break down tough fibers
	Chickweed (stellaria media)	Leaves	Harvest before seeds form, add to salads
	Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale)	Leaves and flowers	Add to salads, steam or sauté. Young flowers can be battered and fried.
	Lambs quarters (Chenopodium album)	Leaves and young shoots	Add to salads, cooked in place of spinach
	Plantain (Plantago major)	Young, tender leaves	Blanche, sauté
	Purslane (Portulaca olearacea)	Leaves, stems	Add to salads, Blanche, sauté
	Shepherd's purse (Capsella Bursa-pastoris)	Leaves	Peppery flavor. Blanche, sauté
	Wild violet (Viola papilionacea)	Leaves, flowers	Add to salads, dip in egg whites and coat with fine sugar

Jessica's Code of Consumption

• If you can't be absolutely certain you are correctly identifying the weed, pass it up. Better to have a smaller salad than to visit the emergency room - or worse.

• Never eat any part of a plant unless you are sure that the specific part is edible. Many plants, even some commonly consumed ones, have only one edible part. For instance, did you know tomato leaves are toxic?

• Unless specifically noted for use in salads, be sure to cook weeds.

• Avoid picking weeds that grow in an area where animal droppings are found.

• Do not eat weeds found growing in areas that have been treated with pesticides or herbicides.

• Don't pick weeds from the side of the road, where exhaust fumes from cars are readily absorbed into nearby plants.

• Unless you are a weed scientist, don't rely on yourself. Bring an illustrated reference book - like "Handbook of Edible Weeds," by James A. Duke (2000, CRC Press) on your hunt.

All photos are courtesy of Andy Senesac Ph.D., Weed Science Specialist,
Cornell University Cooperative Extension of Suffolk Co.

It's time to start seeds indoors for springtime planting. (Interested in swapping? click here.) Before getting to work, though, you should consider past successes and failures. Experts at the Cornell Cooperative Extension of Nassau County say the only way to control certain diseases, like wilt in tomatoes and mosaic virus on cucumbers, is to stick to resistant varieties.

Vegetable specialists from Cornell University have prepared a list of suggested varieties for 2007 that perform well on Long Island. Recommendations for early tomatoes include Cascade, Sunrise, Early girl or Lemon Boy. For cucumbers, try Marketmore 76, Burpless Hypbrid ll, Orient Express, Spacemaster or Sweet Slice.

For the complete list of suggested vegetable varieties and heirlooms, consult the Nassau County CCE's Home Grounds fact sheet.

I just ordered a composter for the backyard. After reading reviews of several products, I settled on a Tumbleweed Compost Tumbler, an Australian product that:

1. Doesn't require any manual labor
2. Got high marks from consumers, and
3. Is recommended by the National Home Gardening Club

I've never made compost before, so this will be quite an adventure. I like the idea of transforming garbage into free mulch and fertilizer, and I'm excited about adding eggshells, coffee grinds and weeds to my pile. What's more, I recently read that paper (even if there's ink on it!) can be safely composted. I'm targeting all the junk mail I get, especially those unsolicited pre-approved credit card offers that require diligent shredding. Now, I'll just rip them into strips, give them a shot of the hose and toss 'em in with my banana peels, fully assured that identity thieves won't get their grubby little paws on them.

Aside from paper, a lot of surprising items can be added to the compost pile, among them, human hair. For a rundown of what can and can't be composted, visit The NYC Compost Project website.

Compost ingredients fall into two categories: Browns and Greens. Brown materials are rich in carbon and many, though not all, are in fact brown. They include dried, spent perennials, autumn leaves, leather, twigs and hay. Paper also falls into the Browns category. Green materials are rich in nitrogen, and likewise, are mostly green, or at least fresher than browns. Greens include grass clippings, fruit and veggie scraps and freshly picked weeds. Cornstarch packing peanuts and coffee grinds, though not green, also are rich in nitrogen. So even though they defy the color-coding principles set forth here, they are Greens.

Greens help speed the decomposition of your rotting garbage (a good thing,) while browns keep the heap from becoming an olfactory nightmare (a very good thing.) A fifty-fifty mix is ideal, though you can always go heavier on the Browns.

You should never include fats (meat or fish table scraps. dairy products, oils, etc.,) diseased plants or materials that don't decompose, such as plastic or glass, in your pile.

Apparently, bird and rabbit droppings, and horse manure are ok, but kitty litter and dog poop are no-nos. However, Florida's online composting center maintains that under certain circumstances, dog waste can be composted. Read the rules here and proceed at your own risk. For the record, I'm going to continue bagging mine up.

Do you have any composting advice for me? Leave a comment or shoot me an email.

It's pumpkin-picking time, and as reported in Garden Detective: The Column, reader Valerie Grant of Roosevelt has picked herself a doozy! Back in the Spring, Ms. Grant planted a few "curry pumpkin" seeds, just as she’d done in the past. But this year, her gourds have grown beyond her expectations. The largest measured 31 inches in length and 54 inches across, and weighed in at 70 pounds.

“I got a beach towel, laid it on the lawn and rolled the pumpkin onto it,” Grant explained when asked how she managed to harvest the giant. “My friend came over and helped me take it inside the house.”

Grant plans to make pumpkin soup on Sunday for the congregation at Memorial Presbyterian Church in Roosevelt.

Pumpkins are technically fruits, as are tomatoes, but for our purposes, we'll call them vegetables because that's how most people view them. They're also among the most unappreciated grown foods in our area. Most Long Islanders purchase pumpkins along with other gourds and chrysanthemums to add a touch of autumn to their decor. Not many actually eat them.

I grew up in an Italian household, where pretty much everything was edible so long as it was fried up with some peppers. Pumpkin actually is very good that way, and I always save some of the innards of my jack-o-lantern for just such a side dish. The rest I slice (or scoop) and store in the freezer. When the urge for pumpkin pie strikes, I bake it at 375 degrees for a half hour and then puree it in a blender with brown sugar, nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger and a pinch of cloves. I pour in a can of evaporated milk and a couple of eggs, mix thoroughly and pour into a prepared pie crust. I toss it in a 375-degree preheated oven for about 45 minutes, until the center is firm.

Here's a recipe for Peppery Pumpkin Risotto.

More pumpkin recipes from Newsday.

Share your recipes here.

HEAVIEST PUMPKIN

Larry Checkon holds the Guinness World Record for growing the heaviest pumpkin. It weighed 1,469 pounds when he entered it in the Pennsylvania Giant Pumpkin Growers Association Weigh-off, on October 1, 2005. Later, Scott Cully carved the world's largest Jack-o-lantern from it.

If you grew pumpkins this year, tell us about them. If not, you can still pick your own at one of Long Island's u-pick farms.

More Pumpkin World Records

Stephen Clarke holds the Guinness World Record for being the fastest to carve a face into a pumpkin, completing the creative task in just 24.03 seconds. Read more about Clarke here.

Planning a pumpkin party for the kids? Check out the ideas at Family Fun.

Creepy Stuff

Since we're on a pumpkin/Halloween roll, check out these actual, unedited photos of the Planting Fields Arboretum ghost. My daughter Justine visited with some friends last year and took some photos while she was there. We all swear we saw a ghost-like shadow in the background of one of them, but she accidentally deleted the shot a few days later. Some might say that was no accident.

Don't chuck those unripe tomatoes -- bring them in before they freeze and fry 'em up.

It's beginning to feel a lot like autumn. I slept with my socks on last night, a sure sign it's time to bring in the last of the tomatoes and harvest the basil. But so many of the tomatoes are still green.

Not to worry. I have a great, yet very simple recipe for fried green tomatoes. A southern delicacy introduced to most of us Yankees in the 1991 film of the same name, that was created, I'd imagine, to use up the last of the season's bounty.

Look at the size of that baby! My basil "tree" measured in at 4 feet tall.

What you'll need:

4 large green tomatoes
Salt and pepper
1 cup milk
1 cup all-purpose flour
3 eggs, beaten
2 cups breadcrumbs mixed with garlic power, salt and pepper to taste
Vegetable or olive oil for frying (south of the Mason-Dixon line, folks prefer using bacon grease, which is yummy, to be sure. Use whatever you like -- or whatever you think your arteries will tolerate.)

1. Heat the oil in a frying pan.

2. Slice the tomatoes into ½ inch rounds. Sprinkle both sides of each slice with salt and pepper.

3. Dip each slice in milk and dredge in flour, then dip in beaten eggs and coat with breadcrumb mixture.

4. Fry about 4 minutes each side, until golden brown.

If you try this recipe, let me know what you think.