Spitfires soldier on

It's the last official Spitfire check in, which makes me a little sad. This was a wonderful project that connected me with a lot of people I'd never have had occasion to speak with, literally or virtually, otherwise. It helped me as a gardener to see what sorts of failures and triumphs others had, and how this planting thing connects us all.

The plant itself was a giant "meh" for me-- I'm not sold on the concept that a nasturtium can "climb." This one needed to be trained to grow up; it really wanted to trail, and while the color was a big plus for some people, I'm not that fond of it. My search for a deep purple, black, or mahogany nasturtium continues.

These plants were rather schizophrenic-- they hated the heat, but craved the sun, wouldn't climb but too spindly to trail nicely. They grew well in my conditions from all methods--wintersown, direct, and indoor starts, and I ended up with 6 healthy plants. The foliage really finally took off in September and they doubled in size in just the last 5 weeks or so, so in the end I'm getting nice fall color out of them.
Anyway, this plant was so-so, but the project was great. Let's do it again next year! (Or what about a houseplant, started now, and nurtured through the winter....)

So last time: I'm growing Spitfire Nasturtiums for the Seed Grow Project. Thanks to Renee's Garden for the seeds, and a big thank you to Mr. Brown Thumb for setting it up and getting me involved.

Still spitting fire in September

I'm growing spitfire nasturtiums for the Seed Grow Project.
Thanks to Renee's Garden for the seeds!

How are your spitfires doing?

Spitfires, and their cousins

I'm growing Nasturtium Spitfires for the Seed GROW project. Thanks to Renee's Garden for the seeds!

Once I got over the idea that nasturtiums will climb on their own, and actually trained and tied them to the various trellises, they started doing what I wanted them to do. Palm to forehead for not doing this all along, because I think they would be gorgeous now if I had.

I set quite a high bar for these guys, since all the trellis areas I wanted to use are in dappled shade. But now that they're tied for height, they're getting a little more sun and showing a continuous bloom and nice lush greenery.




Here's the other nasturtiums still growing in my yard:

Cherries Jubilee

Two volunteers from a mix planted back in the mists of time. The ones on the left might actually BE spitfires; they look identical, but they're a volunteer from a prior year's planting.

Nasturtiums are not just for salads

I’m growing Nasturtium 'Spitfire' for the Garden Bloggers Grow Project. (Thanks to Renee's Garden for the seeds.)

I had thought to grow them up my trellis, but you have to train them since they aren't really climbers--they need to be tied, and the stems keep breaking, because they want to trail. Fortunately, I also planted some along the high edge of one of my vegetable beds, so I'll let them just trail there, and maybe tie a few up the smaller plant stand that they are under.

The ones on the gate and back by my fence are small-too shady for these, but the latest planted-under a plant stand- seem to be thriving.

Nasturtiums, of course, are not just a beautiful flower. They are also a garden beneficial, attracting aphids away from more desirable plants like tomatoes, and are also edible. I often pop a nasturtium flower in my mouth when I'm working outside, for the quick delicious peppery taste, and for a little water.

Recently,the getinthegarden.com blog came up with the wonderful idea of nasturtium dolma. My leaves were not quite large enough (you need palm-sized leaves to be able to roll them), but I made this layered casserole.

Nasturtium Dolma
1 1/2 cups cooked pearl barley
1 small summer squash, diced
1/4 cup pine nuts
small onion, diced
mushroom (any type), diced
cardamom, garam masala, sea salt, black pepper to taste

Stir fry the vegetables and nuts in a little sesame oil; add the spices and continue to saute until the veggies are coated with the oil and spices. Add the cooked barley and saute another 5 minutes or so, until it's all hot and mixed.

Lay out several nasturtium leaves and lay a spoonful of filling on each, then fold and place them side by side in a loaf pan so that the edges of the leaves hold each other up like little envelopes. You don't need to brine or pre-cook the leaves; laying the hot filling on them cooks them slightly, making them a little easier to handle.

Bake at 300F/145C for 20 minutes. Serve with yogurt-cucumber sauce.

(Warning- they fall apart, but are delicious)

Spitfires in June

The spitfire nasturtiums are doing their nasturtium thing, namely, growing wherever you put them. A volunteer snuck in at the Narnia gate, so there's a butter yellow one from last year's mix, and the spitfire (which, by the way, bloomed).

The original transplants were planted out quite early and cloched; these are now big enough to start training up the cyclone fence (left). They get almost no sun, but don't seem to care. The largest has leaves the size of saucers. I have to keep cutting back the lilies to give them air and light, but they're going to take off, unless the evil furfaces find them.

I also direct seeded some around a plant stand in one of the vegetable beds, and will train those up the legs. I planted them May 14, and they were sprouting by the 20th.

And speaking of completely random recipes that have nothing to do with nasturtiums, here's some cornbread.

Update: gardengirl came through in the comments with this local Illinois source of cornmeal.

I'm growing Nasturtium "Spitfire" for the GROW project. Thanks to Renee's Garden for the seeds.

Cornbread

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup yellow cornmeal
1/2 cup honey
1 teaspoon salt
3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder (I made my own using the recipe at Not Dabbling in Normal)
1 egg
1 cup milk
1/3 cup vegetable oil

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Spray or lightly grease a 9 inch round cake pan.

In a large bowl, combine flour, cornmeal, salt and baking powder. In a separate bowl (for instance a 2 cup pyrex measuring cup) whisk together the honey, egg, milk and vegetable oil. Beat into dry ingredients until well combined. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake in preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean.

Allow to cool completely before removing from the pan. Learn from my mistakes. (Oh well, still tastes good.)

Spitfires and walnuts, hipsters and uncles

My garden, long a private refuge, has become a community. It's rather a pocket metaphor for how one's life changes with time. In the past I've only brought people into the garden once a year or so, for a garden party we give each year at "peak," around mid to late July. This year, I've got friends helping me with tasks through my Hipster Supported Agriculture project, and a huge online community of mentors and friends that is growing and developing daily.

One of these communities is the GROW Project. I got involved in this through the blog that helped me find the online gardening community, MrBrownThumb. Renee's Garden sent free seeds to several dozen gardeners all over the country; we're planting them in various ways and conditions. I'm planting mine in stages; the newest event is planting the wintersowns at my stick trellis, the "Narnia Gate" on April 26 (left, you can see the spitfires at the base of each branch). These are thriving; I did not cloche these at all, and they lived through two hard frosts, one quite heavy. (Full progress in small type at the bottom of the post).


Left: along the fence. Right: Narnia Gate. The gate is dappled shade; the fence will be full sun, but right now the seedlings are shaded by the lilies.

I still have a good handful of seeds, which will be planted direct in about a week in various other spots in the garden, both for climbing and for trailing.

My recipe today also comes from my growing community. My uncle-in-law lives on a farm in Hungary. When he visits, he brings us food he's grown. This time we got several pounds of walnuts and a quart of apricot compote. While I come up with a recipe that combines the two (yes, a walnut apricot bread is in our future), I made walnut butter to give away with the Hipster Supported Agriculture project, another community project inspired by Kinder Gardens, yes, yet another community project.

Walnut butter
2 quarts walnuts
2-3 tablespoons walnut oil or light flavorless oil like safflower, canola or corn
1 tablespoon sea salt

Add all the ingredients into a food processor. Start grind at a low speed if you have the option, gradually increasing to high. Blend for about 60 seconds; do not blend too long because you do not want to overheat the walnut butter to preserve the enzymes. Check for taste, add salt if desired. I did it about 1 1/2 cups of walnuts at a time, since I have only a 3 cup processor. Two quarts of walnuts made 1 quart of butter.



Prior events: I'm growing Nasturtium "Spitfire" for the GROW project. Thanks, to Renee's Garden for the seeds. I planted 6 seeds in Ferry-Morse organic seed starting medium on March 8, and got 5 seedlings. These were cloched for 6 weeks, but not for the past week or so. One of them didn't make it, but the others are thriving, and are getting big enough to start weaving through the cyclone fence. There are also 9 seeds planted in a wintersown container, in plain soil mixed with perlite. These poked their heads out of the dirt on April 3 and were planted out in the shade on April 26.