cover crops

Yesterday I went to Portland Nursery www.portlandnursery.com to attend a seminar on cover crops.

Cover crops are the unsung heroes of the garden – supplying multiple benefits for a minimum of labor! Eric will highlight the different types of cover crops and their benefits. You will also learn how to plant and dig in cover crops.

Cover crops are annual crops that are planted in bare areas of the garden (annual flower bed; newly-tilled bed that won’t be planted until spring; vegetable bed that is empty over the winter), and tilled into the soil in early spring, before planting time, while the cover crop plants are still small, long before they can flower and go to seed.

There is a cover crop for every situation, and can give a vital boost to the overall health and vitality to the garden!

This is buckwheat

I always thought it would look like a regular grain - some sort of grass. It is kind of pretty.

Fava Bean

It is not really a bean, but a member of the pea family. It is an excellent nitrogen fixer with a deep taproot to loosen hard soils.

Crimson Clover

It will form a dense carpet by winter. It also fixes nitrogen. I planted crimson clover last year.

Rye grass

This will just provide organic matter to till into the soil

Austrian peas

This is a legume and will provide lots of organic matter to till into the soil. It likes something to grow/climb up on. In my case it will climb up the rye grass.

Common vetch

Vetch is also a legumes and great for providing nitrogen.

Wheat

This year i purchased a mix instead of using just the clover. The mix contains
45% Rye
25% Austrian Peas
20% Yamhill Wheat
5% Common Vetch
5% Crimson Clover

I think i will add some fava beans to the mix because they look so pretty and some additional clover. As soon as beds become available i will start putting down the seed.

Busy in the kitchen

The produce is starting to come in.
I picked a bunch of tomatoes and tomatillos to make some sauces.
This will be my second batch of tomatillo enchilada sauce and my first batch of spaghetti sauce.
The tomatoes on the top right are Cherokee purples. they are so ugly and crinkly looking. but so very tasty.

Here is the

Tomatillo Sauce
· 1 1/4 pounds small tomatillos (about 30)
· 1 medium onion, chopped
· 1 tablespoon olive oil
· 4 teaspoons minced garlic
· 1 cup chicken stock
· 1 jalapeno pepper, minced
· 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
· 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
· 1 teaspoon salt
·
Preparation
1. Remove husks from tomatillos; wash thoroughly.
2. Saute onion in hot olive oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat 5 minutes or until softened. Add garlic, and saute 1 minute. Stir in tomatillos, 1 cup broth, and jalapeno; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium; cover and simmer, stirring occasionally, 10 to 12 minutes or until tomatillos are softened. Remove from heat; cool slightly.
3. Process tomatillo mixture, cilantro, lime juice, and salt in a food processor.


I just freeze it until i am ready to use it. Scott loves it poured onto burritos. but it could be used instead of salsa.

Cool blog

I was looking for a parsley pesto recipe when i came across this blog
http://sidewalkshoes.blogspot.com/

sidewalk shoes
A blog about food, and a little about reading,

she has cool recipes, book reviews, and other interesting stuff. I am jealous, she has lots of followers. My blog looks sad in comparison.

I did make her recipe, but i used 1 cup pine nuts and 1/2 cup walnuts, and only about 1/2 cup of olive oil. One batch of this recipe fills one ice cube tray.

I did sample it, and it was soooooooo nummy.

here is her recipe for parsley pesto

Parsley Pesto

1 1/2 cups toasted walnuts

4 cups packed, fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves

2 garlic cloves, peeled

3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest

3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

coarse sea salt

Using your metal blade of your food processor, grind the walnuts to a fine meal.Add the parsley, garlic, lemon juice, and lemon zest. Slowly pour int oil and process until the mixture is smooth. Mix in about 1 teaspoon of salt and taste, adjust if necessary.You can freeze it like I did, or store it in your refrigerator for up to 2 weeks after covering it with olive oil and sealing it tightly.