February Frustrations

This is not a normal winter by any means. Case in point, the weather this past week.

"Normal" this time of year is highs around 60 and lows in the upper 30s. I should not have to worry about a hard freeze this time of year. Heck, 20 degrees is usually cause for concern in January. At least my kitchen water lines didn't freeze up this time.

Mid-February is generally when we can start direct sowing of spring (cold) crops like peas, lettuce, radishes, kohlrabi, etc. But even 20 degrees is too cold for a lot of these. In some situations, sitting in cold soil can cause some of the seeds to rot before they have a chance to sprout. So what does the impatient gardener do? Start seedlings indoors!

I started with sugar snap peas, lettuce, basil, and cilantro. I would really like to be planting radishes, beets, and carrots, but root crops need to be direct sown as the transplanting process will damage the root development.

Those two trays of seedlings have been living on top of my washing machine for the last week. Today the weather got up to 70, so I kicked them out on the front porch. There I can give them a good soaking without worrying about water all over the house.

The peas are in the back, and have just started breaking through the surface of the potting soil. The basil, cilantro, and lettuce are in the front. All three of those are old seed, and while I have kept the seed indoors I'm not sure how viable it is. I'm not sure if I'll see anything emerge, but I did use a finer growing medium designed specifically for seed starting to make it easier for these little seeds.

Fingers and toes crossed.

We have a few more nights this coming week with the lows in the upper 20's, so I guess I'm going to have seedling trays in the laundry room for a bit longer. That also means at least another week before I'm comfortable planting potatoes and spring shallots.

Taking out the Herbage

This is the time of year to be cleaning out the herb garden. Time to prune back the overgrowth. Figure out which ones have survived. Divide the ones that have spread beyond their zones. Plan for the next plantings.

It's a dirty job, but it smells wonderful! Especially when you start with the mints.

Yes, I said mints. Plural. I have five different types of mint plus catnip, which is in the mint family.

Back row: chocolate mint, grapefruit mint. Front row: orange mint, spearmint, peppermint

I keep my mint in pots. It tends to take over the world if you don't. And come summer time, like in the picture above, if I don't prune them back regularly some will send out runners which try to root in the ground around the pots.

So this is what they look like after a rough winter:

Scrawny, scraggly, sometimes bare stems. But if you look closely you can see new growth peeking out from the soil line. If new growth is coming through all of the old growth can go.

Pruning back

New growth peeking through

Because mint has a tendency to root, I usually prune it back in my washrack area and let the stems dry out before tossing them onto my compost pile. I also use this as a chance to remove any leaf debris that has collected in the crowns, pull out any weeds that are trying to get established, and top dress with fresh potting mix. Then they go back to their usual spot next to the raised bed herb garden.

The raised bed had different issues. Cool season weeds like henbit are trying to camouflage themselves. The sage is starting to get a little lanky. The lemon thyme, first planted last spring, is in a spot that makes it very happy. A little too happy.

L to R: lemon thyme, rosemary, German thyme, chives (in front of German thyme), sage, Greek oregano (in front of sage).

The plan for this bed is to initially cut back about half of the sage to stimulate growth of new stems from the crown, clip back the dead chives, prune the oregano, and get the lemon thyme down to something about 1/10th of the size of the current plant. I ended up with six little thyme plants and another four from dividing the oregano, all of which found new homes with my coworkers.

As I was cleaning up this bed I realized the front boards on the raised bed are pulling away from the braces, especially on the corners. I won't be able to add in new garden soil or apply the straw mulch until that is repaired, but that's for a later blog post.

Managing Unwanted Fungus

Humid environment, limited air flow, block of substrate ideal for growing a fungus - of course there will be undesirable molds showing up!

See that grayish area?

How about that shiny white spot?

I've been misting twice a day to help keep the surface damp and encourage growth of the shiitake. Before misting I always look for signs of mold. Once I spot it, I quickly try to stop it from growing further. After all, I don't want to wind up with some type of toxic fungus on my edible fungus.

How to get rid of it? Spot treat with vinegar. Remember back to high school chemistry and talking about acids and bases? Vinegar consists of acetic acid. Acid kills things. The same way organic gardeners and farmers may use vinegar to help control weeds (and you thought organic gardening didn't use chemicals - ha!).

A little vinegar, a little paper towel, and a little dab 'll do ya! Actually, you can see discoloration on the paper towel from when I was treating the white shiny spot - a normal block surface will not discolor the paper towel.

Here's another view. The blackish areas on the right were treated with vinegar the day before. The grayish spot was hidden by some broad mushrooms but now that they have been picked I know exactly where to treat. 

Here's the underside of the block. Remember, this area doesn't get much air flow and because it sits right above the drip tray it has constantly high humidity.

It might take a couple treatments with vinegar to kill all of this off. I don't want to re-soak the block and start another cycle if I have undesirable fungi growing there.

And... Done

First harvest started on Sunday and wrapped up today. Yup, three days for the first crop from start to finish. Here's how fast things moved:

Day 10

Day 10 - Veils are just starting to open

Day 11 - first ones ready to pick!

 Pick shiitakes soon after the veils have opened for the best flavor. The stems are tough and woody, so you need to snap them off at the level of the block. However, that can be a little tricky if there is a clump of mushrooms at different stages of development. You can see below the indentations where I just removed mature mushrooms, and the little bud as well as some younger mushrooms in the same vicinity.

Must pick very carefully to get the bottom ones without disturbing the others.

 Here's the very first harvest! I actually picked twice a day so that I could get them at the right time. Mushrooms need to be refrigerated after picking. There are several suggested methods ranging from paper bag to plastic veggie bags. I prefer a bowl loosely covered with plastic wrap. It leaves just enough air flow so things can breathe without drying out the mushrooms.

Up until now I've only been photographing one side of the block so that you can watch specific mushrooms as they develop. The backside of the block is also quite developed!

Day 11

Day 12 - "backside"

Day 12 - "front side"

Two days worth of mushrooms

 I took about half of this bowl and cooked it up for dinner that night. Clean the shiitakes, remove the stems, slice them up. Cook minced onion and garlic in olive oil and butter, add mushrooms and saute until browned, deglaze the pan with white wine. Add whipping cream and heat through. Toss with cooked fettuccine, top with grated Romano cheese and chopped thyme. Yum!!

Yes, I eat pasta on small dessert plates.

After two days, production has certainly slowed down. Well developed mushrooms continue to mature. I've been misting the block twice a day to help maintain moisture, but based on stem diameter and the lack of smaller mushrooms tells me the block is drying out.

Day 13

And that's it. On day 13 I picked the last of the mushrooms. Even the little ones (like on the upper right corner) have open veils. Now it's time to prep the block for the next soak so I can re-start the process.