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Friday, March 1, 2013

New Year, New Garden!


 
The snow has melted and the sun has come out which means only one thing…gardening time. 
Last year I participated in a community type garden which gave me 2 meter by 20 meter plot. This year I have decided to downsize a bit. I have moved into a new apartment where I have a 35 sq meter balcony and I plan on using 1/3 of it for vegetable gardening. I have bought some raised beds, pots, and planters.
I will start this weekend with building the beds and filling with dirt and compost. A couple weeks ago I started some seedlings inside and they are on track to be planted outside in a few more weeks if the weather keeps getting warmer. 
This year as I said I will be using a lot of planters, pots, and raised beds. I will also use the opportunity to plant what I want and how much I want. This will allow for maximum usage and overall better results, and because it is just right outside my door i will be able to spend more time caring for it all. I look forward to the coming weeks when the weather is warmer and I can really get out there to get things started. 
I will post some pictures after this weekend of the progress and wish you all happy gardening!

Sunday, September 30, 2012

It's Coming to an End!


 
So it’s the start of October now and the chill in the air has set in. That means the Fischbek Garten Projekt is ending soon. I wanted to a little re-cap of the season and a little look ahead.
For the most part the year was good, I got a lot of produce out of the this garden and sometimes more than what I knew what to do with. Mid-summer however, it turned bad quick. First the potato crop died because of too much rain, then the Peas, then the Broad Beans, tomatoes, then the Zucchini. All from mold and having too much water. The wirsing, red cabbage, and spitzkohl all had worm infestations which was not pleasant at all. The Eggplants didn’t produce any fruit but they did grow to a medium size plant. The melon plant I planted also died after receiving too much rain. It produced only one melon and not even to full growth. The green beans were eaten by slugs quickly and the onions we planted in the beginning of the season didn’t grow at all. The carrots next to them blocked their sun and they never even had a chance. 
Now I have some corn, paprika, carrots, broccoli, grünkohl, and swiss chard left to finish out the season. I am sure I will do this again as it was a lot of fun and worth every penny. I may not with Fischbek but that is still to be decided. Wherever I decide to do it I will take what I have learned this year and produce even better results next year. For instance I will not plant tomatoes in an open field as they need shelter and they are quite sensitive to water. I will only plant one cucumber plant because one plant really does produce enough for an army. Melon and Eggplant I will leave out all together as it is just not the right climate for them. I will plant more peppers, chilies, and herbs next year but less carrots. Though I really love the cabbages I will need to do more work on keeping those pesky worms away. I will also try planting different varieties of potatoes as well as salad. 
There will be more post to come but unfortunately less veggies! Till next time…

Thursday, August 2, 2012

More Tips & Ideas


 
I have received a lot of messages asking what can one do with over abundance of Cucumbers? Or Parsley? Or Beets? Sometimes you just want to know the best way to save your vegetables and what to do with those bugs eating your produce. Well I will try to answer some of these questions in this post, so lets get started. 
What do you do if you have too many Salatgurken, (Cucumbers) or Parsley or even Beets?
I have looked far and wide for a solution to  an over abundance of Salatgurken. You can only eat so much cucumber salad before you get sick. Unfortunately, Salatgurkens are not made for pickling. They will absorb all the liquid and get soggy not crunchy like you want your pickles. I will post some recipes in the coming days for Cucumbers and I hope that helps. 
For Parsley that is easy. This year I have a whole row of Parsley and it is just growing like crazy. I cut some off each time I am there but it just grows right back. Besides adding to dishes for some garnish or to your salad I love to make Pesto with it. That’s right, pesto! I found a great recipe for Parsley Pesto. It goes like this: Take your Parsley, Pine Nuts, Parmesan Cheese, Olive Oil and salt and throw it in the food processor. It’s that easy and you will love it. It taste fresh and is great with just about any kind of pasta. 
With Beets I have two solutions for you. The first is an easy fix. I take Beets, Apples, Cucumber, and if I have some Oranges I add all them to my Juicer. It makes a really great, healthy juice that will give you all the energy you need to get back out there in the garden. The other solution is a recipe I will post later ;-) but it is a Beet Ice Cream. You read that right. Beets are sweet and they make a great flavored Ice Cream. Trust me!
What do I do when I get home from the garden with bags of produce?
The obvious thing is to wash them of course. But I actually like to set up a whole station for this. I start by filling up my sink with cold water. I have a strainer next to my sink and moving on to the next “station” I have some towels laid out. The last station is where I have my freezer bags. I start by first washing any leafy produce since these tend to have the less amount of dirt. I put them in the strainer and then dry them with the towels or salad spinner. If I am not using it right away I wrap them in a paper towel and put them in a plastic baggie and directly into the fridge. I then move onto the Cucumbers, zucchinis, etc. I wash and dry them and put them into the fridge. The Zuckererbsen (Peas) and Green Beans I will wash and put them into a plastic baggie and put into the freezer. My root vegetables I wash really good and dry them. I then have a plastic tub that I have filled with sand and I place the root vegetables into this tub or box. The sand will keep your root vegetables for a long time and they wont go bad after a few days. It is a great little trick to make them last longer. Just make sure you are using sand and not dirt from your backyard. 
I hope I answered some of your questions. For Pest such as bugs and worms I am learning what to do with these as well and I am currently testing some methods so as soon as I know if they worked or not I will let all of you know. Remember you can view more info and even pictures at www.aaronscheuerman.com under the Garden section of the website. Until next time…

Monday, July 30, 2012

Spitzkohlpfanne (Spring Cabbage) with Indian Spiced Potato Wedges


If you are like me and have a mountain of vegetables you just don’t know what to do with then this recipe is for you. 
Ingredients:
1 Spitzkohl
1 Onion
4-5 Carrots
1-2 Zucchinis 
1 cup Peas
200 g Cherry Tomatoes
1 pkg Feta Cheese
Turmeric
Marsala
Cumin
Chicken or Vegetable Broth Seasoning
Salt & Pepper
Chicken Breast or Sausage (Optional)
Instructions:
Start by heating a large skillet with Olive Oil to Medium heat. Add Onions and cook till translucent. If adding meat then add it to the skillet with seasonings. Cook till the meat is just browned and remove from pan. Add carrots and spitzkohl with a bit of water in the pan to cook down the kohl. Cook until carrots are slightly tender and the spitzkohl has shrunk down. Add zucchini and cook till almost done and add the meat back into the skillet. Add the peas, tomatoes, and cheese. You can serve immediately or cook a bit longer till the cheese melts and creates a cream sauce. 
If you are not using meat you might want something with a bit more “bite” to it and I usually make the potato wedges to go with. They are also great to soak up the sauce. Here is the recipe for them:
Take some new potatoes and clean them but do not peel. Cut into wedges and add into a medium hot grill pan with Olive Oil. Add Turmeric, Cumin, Marsala, Garlic and salt & pepper. Cook until tender on the inside but crispy on the outside. Serve immediately. 
I love this recipe and it takes a lot of vegetables from the garden to make a great meal or two. Until next time…

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Willkommen! Welcome!


I wanted to take this time to re-introduce myself to you all. I have received several messages, comments, and had several chats with not only my loyal followers but new ones as well. I hope my blog has been able to help you, inform you, and encourge you to go out and garden! 
Ich wollte diese Zeit nehmen, um wieder einzuführen mich an euch alle. Ich habe mehrere Nachrichten, Kommentare, und hatte mehrere Chats mit nicht nur meine treuen Anhänger, sondern neue als auch empfangen werden. Ich hoffe, mein Blog war in der Lage, Ihnen zu helfen, informieren Sie, und encourge Ihnen hinauszugehen und Garten!
 I have updated my website to include a whole section on gardening. I cover everything from pest, to plans, to the community as a whole. I also have an extensive collection of photos from the garden. Though I am not completely fluent in German yet I do understand so if you happen to be one of my fellow gardeners in Fischbek please feel free to contact me and I will do my best to respond. 
Ich habe meine Website aktualisiert, um einen ganzen Abschnitt über die Gartenarbeit gehören. Ich decken alles ab Schädling, um die Pläne, für die Gemeinschaft als Ganzes. Ich habe auch eine umfangreiche Sammlung von Fotos aus dem Garten. Obwohl ich bin mir nicht ganz fließend Deutsch noch ich tue es verstehen, wenn Sie zu einem meiner Kollegen Gärtner in Fischbek sein wenden Sie sich bitte an mich wenden passieren und ich werde mein Bestes tun, um zu reagieren.

You can visit the new pages on my site by going to www.aaronscheuerman.com and clicking on the Garden link at the top. Until next time…

Sie können die neuen Seiten meiner Website, indem Sie auf www.aaronscheuerman.comund Klick auf den Garten-Link oben zu besichtigen. Bis zum nächsten Mal …

Thursday, July 19, 2012

Rainy Day Blues


The weather here in Hamburg lately has not been the best to say the least. It has been somewhat cool and very rainy. So what is one to do when the weather hasn’t been the most cooperative? Well one thing you can do is harvest. You’re probably thinking what kind of thing to do is that? If you have Zuckererbsen, Lettuce, Green Beans, Broad Beans or other vegetables that get rather large, you can ease the weight of the plants by harvesting its fruit. Besides taking off some of the weight it promotes new growth for the plant.
Another thing you can and should do is weed. Sure it’s going to get messy but the softened ground makes it easier for those stubborn weeds to come out. Keeping those weeds away will give all the grounds energy and resources to plants you want to get it the most.
Getting back to harvesting, I had my 2nd big harvest yesterday. A bag full of Zuckererbsen, a few Carrots, some Beets, Swiss Chard, Radishes and some Lettuce. Sometimes you will find yourself having more produce then you know what to do with. So here is a TIP: I like to take some the produce that I have so much of and run it through my juicer. Mixed with some apples and/or other fruits it makes a tasty drink. Start experimenting with different produce and drink combinations. The juice you produce has more nutrients in 1 glass then a whole box of vegetables. So if you find it overwhelming to cook loads of vegetables, juice them and enjoy the cool, refreshing drink. (I will post some of my favorite recipes soon).
Until next time, happy gardening…


Friday, July 13, 2012

The First Big Harvest

So I am now 2 1/2 months into the Fischbek Garden Project and I had my 1st big harvest this week. As you can see from the photo there was a lot to harvest not to mention it was extremely heavy carrying all this produce home. It had been a little longer than usual since my last visit about 4-5 days since actually, so I was pleasantly surprised to find I had 2 Cucumbers ready to harvest. I also had 3 Zucchinis. Speaking of Zucchini, if you remember I bought 2 “jungpflanze” Zucchini since the owners only planted about 1 per plot. Funny thing now is, the one they planted by seed is now 3x as big as the ones I bought and it has more fruit. Though the 2 I bought are doing ok I am still a bit disappointed how little they have grown. The Spitzkohl was ready to harvest the last time I visited, but I wasn’t ready to harvest just yet. This time however I wanted to harvest a couple. I noticed that it looked as if some bugs were eating the outer leaves so I decided to take those first. Also to my surprise I found some nasty worms at the core of a couple of them. I really hope the others will be ok but meanwhile I will look into some natural ways of making sure they destroy my next crop. The peas are coming along nicely and I was able to harvest some of those as well. We have had some pretty strong storms lately and unfortunately I think the storms did some damage to the Peas and Corn. Some of the Corn and Pea plants were toppled over. I added some poles to these for added strength and hopefully they will be ok now.
Everything else is growing just as fast. I am really hopping the Melon and Eggplant start producing some fruit soon as well as the Green Beans. I still have some free places in the garden and will be thinking of my next round. My last visit to Sannmann about a 2 weeks ago was ok, however they did not have much to choose from. The summer plants should already be planted and it’s about time to start planting the veggies you want for fall.
Well I’m off to the beaches of Denmark for a few days but the weather in Hamburg will have some rain and hopefully some warm temps so the plants should be ok till I get back. Until next time…