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…

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…

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…

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 …

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…



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…

Vegetarian Burgers

So I am not a Vegetarian but since I started the Fischbek Garden Project I have been eating more and more of them. I have lost a little over 5 kilo so far and that I believe is due to the fact of me eating more veggies, less sugar, less meat and more psychical activity. Another side “effect” of the garden is sometimes having more vegetable then what you know to do with. I have been coming up with different ideas and I wanted to share this recipe with you. It is my take on a Vegetarian Burger


Ingredients:
5 Carrots
2 Sweet Potatoes
1 Potato
2 Leeks
1 Fennel Bulb
2 Zucchinis
3/4 cup Bread Crumbs
2 tbsp Paprika
2 tbsp Kurkuma
2 tbsp Ground Coriander
2 eggs
Salt
Pepper


Instructions:
Start by peeling the Carrots, Sweet Potatoes, and Potato. After you peel you vegetables put the shredding attachment onto your food processor. (If you don’t have one then you will have to grate everything by hand). Start shredding your Carrots, Sweet Potatoes, Potato and Zucchinis. The Fennel and Leeks you will probably have to shred by hand since they are not as firm as the other vegetables they can clog the food processor and not shred properly. Once you have your veggies shredded you will need to drain all the liquid out of the bowl. The best way to do this is take a fine mesh strainer and place the veggies inside and squeeze the juice out. TIP: you can save this liquid for vegetable stock if you’d like. Once drained place back in bowl and add the remaining ingredients. Depending on how big your vegetables were you may need a little less or a little more bread crumbs or egg. After mixed and everything holds together you can start to form your patties. In a grill pan place about 2 tbsp of Olive Oil and turn the heat to medium. Once warm place your patties and cook until golden brown on both sides.


Serving Suggestions:
You can eat them as is or you can do what I do and place a bit of sour cream on top and wrap in a lettuce leaf instead of bread. It is a light, warm, hearty meal for anytime. They store great in the fridge or freezer as well.

I hope this inspired you to go out and try your own!

How Fast They Grow

 

It’s amazing how fast the plants in the garden grow. The weather has been pretty good so that helps. The right amount warmth with the right amount of rainfall. The new Radishes that were planted a couple weeks ago are almost ready to harvest. The new Beets, Lettuce, and Fennel that I planted at the same time by seed have sprouted and growing well. The eggplants that I thought were pretty much dead have started to grow a bit and I even have some blooms on them which mean fruit is not far behind. The Broad Beans are waist high now but no fruit just yet. All the Kopfsalat has been harvested and the new ones are about halfway through their cycle before harvesting. However, the Peas have tons of pods all over. The Spitzkohl is ready for harvesting but I will leave them for as long as I can. The Green Beans are pretty small but they already have blooms, I am hoping they grow bigger. Everything else is coming along just great. The Zucchini and Cucumbers are producing fruit.
To continue on the Garden Plan I posted before, here is the next batch:
Broad Beans
These have grown really fast and as I said before are waist high. They have has some problems with aphids but luckily with a few squirts of organic bug spray they seem to have gone away. I am not a huge fan of Broad Beans but I am excited to try some new recipes with them and hopefully acquire a new taste for these fast growing vegetables.
Swiss Chard
Another vegetable that I am not a big fan of but if I don’t like the taste of them I can always juice them which I absolutely love. These too have had some problems with aphids but unlike the Broad Beans they don’t seem to be going away. They have grown quite large in recent weeks and look beautiful.
Spitzkohl
I am not quite sure what it is comparable to in English. Online it says pointed Cabbage but I have not heard of that before. Either way, it’s a white Cabbage and actually taste quite good. I use this vegetable in soups and stews. The Spitzkohl is ready for harvesting but as I stated before, I will wait a bit longer to do so.
Rotkohl
Red Cabbage is what Rotkohl is translated to. Pretty much everyone knows this vegetable. It has grown to a very large size, however there doesn’t seem to be a center developing yet. Which is ok considering this is a cold season vegetable.
Broccoli & Cauliflower
I planted both with seeds and those are growing nicely though rather small so far. I have purchased 7 jungpflanze of Broccoli and they are rather large. Like the Rotkohl these have not developed any centers yet and I don’t expect them to for quite some time. Very easy to maintain though.
Wirsing
This is another one I have not heard of in America but its Savoy Cabbage. In Germany it’s quite popular and they Roulade with it. They make a hamburger mix and roll it up in a leaf and steam it. The Wirsing has also grown rather large and the centers have developed a bit. Not too much care needed here either.
Kohlrabi
Yet another vegetable I have not seen or heard of in America. Kohlrabi is actually one of my favorites however. It reminds me a bit like an Apple because of the texture but the taste is indescribable. You peel them, cut them up and steam them or put in soup. You don’t want them to too big or they become woody and don’t taste good. They need plenty of room to grow and you can also use the smaller inner leaves for flavoring soups and stews. The larger outer leaves you will want to throw away as they are also woody and won’t taste good.
Kopfsalat
A tip I gave in one of my post awhile back is that you can harvest the outer leaves before harvesting the whole plant. This will prolong the vegetable. However, as soon as the salat has reached its peak you need to harvest the plant soon. It will start to sprout upwards and it will start to decay. 

Lettuce, Lettuce, and more Lettuce!

 

If you are like me you have more Lettuce in your Garden then you know what to do with. They seem to all be ready for harvest all at once. If you remember back to one of my previous post about how to prolong the plant, you will remember that if you harvest the outer leaves first it will encourage the plant to keep growing and you will still have enough Lettuce for a tasty salad. Well, you can only do that for so long before you HAVE to harvest the whole plant. Now I am not a vegetarian but I do love salads and since I have started gardening I have been eating salads almost everyday. However, that just doesn’t seem to be enough. I have loads of Lettuce left and if you are don’t use it quick enough it will go bad and all that hard work has gone out with the garbage. 

I would like to pass on a little tip that I hope will help you keep your Lettuce a little bit longer while keeping it as fresh as the day you picked it. So here goes:

1. Fill you sink up with cold water.

2. Place your Lettuce in the sink and swish it around a bit to get rid of all the loose dirt.

3. Let it sit for a few minutes. (this will also bring back to life some of those limp leaves).

4. Drain the water.

5. With the faucet on low rinse the Lettuce once more and place in salad spinner.

6. Once the spinner is full but not packed, close it with the lid. 

7. Spin the Lettuce until dry.

8. Place a couple paper towels on the counter and lay your Lettuce on top.

9. Roll up the Lettuce in the paper towels, not too tight though.

10. Place in ziplock plastic baggie and put in your fridge.

That’s it! You will be able to go to your fridge and take out the Lettuce and have it be as crisp and fresh as the day you picked it. Now of course the one tool you will need here is the salad spinner. If you are a gardener you will need to invest in one of these. They are pretty cheap and a must have. 

So with that being said, until next time. Happy gardening….

Radish & Potato Salad

Potato & Radish Salad

Ingredients

• 2 kg waxy new potatoes. Cut in half.
• 5-6 radishes cut thinly
• 2-3 spring onions diced
• 1 handful mustard cress

For the Dressing

• 2 tbsp horseradish minced
• 1/2 lemon juiced
• 4 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp mayo

Instructions

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Cook potatoes till tender.
2. Mix dressing ingredients and Radishes in a large bowl.
3. Add potatoes and mix well.

Enjoy!



June Harvest

 

It’s mid-June and the first harvest is on its way. The radishes have been plucked and eaten. Now it’s the salads turn. The kopfsalat has come in fast and green. It screams, “eat me”! A lot of people when harvesting salad would simply pull the whole plant or cut the head off. Though this is ok there are ways to prolong the plant so you can enjoy its riches longer. If you have a few heads of salad like I do you can go to each plant and pick off a few of the outer leafs. By doing this to all the plants you get enough to make your salad and the plants continue to grow. Now you obviously can only do this for so long before you need to just take the whole plant but it’s a good tip to prolong that harvest.

June is also a good time to start some new plants. I have planted more Radishes, salad, fenschel, corn, green beans and because the spinach went to seed quick this season I have planted more spinach. The other plants in the garden are coming along well. The peas and broad beans are blooming. The melon is also blooming and fruit should start to appear soon. The cucumber and zucchini is off to a slow start but with a lot of love it is growing as well. The assortment of cabbages are growing to huge sizes and kohlrabi has been harvested and more planted. On expereient is not going very well, eggplant. The plants have kind of just stopped growing and are not doing much of anything. On the other hand, the tomatoes and peppers are producing big fruits.
Every time I get out to the garden there is something new happening. It’s always fun and I can’t wait to see what has happened the next time I get out there. Another quick tip for you: neighbors! If you are like me and are in a community garden, it is important and a must to make sure you know your neighbors and trust them. I am extremely luck to have 2 of the best! Aaron and Bianca are not only good company to have a conversation with but you can trust them to look after everything when you are not there and vise versa. They too have a great blog documenting their journey. They have some great recipes to try out, (German language). Remember if you want to check out pictures just check them out here. 

In The Beginning

 

When I started this garden project back in May I knew it would entail a lot of work but I had no idea just how much. I am now a month into it and I can say it has been one of the most labor intensive projects I have done in a long time. It has also shown my age and though I am just pushing 30, I am not 20 anymore. The back gets sore quicker, the legs and knees are weaker, and lets be honest the beer belly I have doesn’t help. In fact that was one of the reason I wanted to do this whole project. Not only to garden but to change the way I lived my life. A month in and I have not only been able to keep up with all the weed pulling but I have lost 5 kilos. My soda intake is now non existent and my vegetable and fruit intake is higher.
This blog is not just about what I am growing in the field but how I am growing. It is going to be a long process but one I am very much looking forward to. I will of course be sharing my garden experiences and even some recipes along the way but more importantly it is a journal for this journey I am now taking.
A month in and most if not all of the plants have at least sprouted. The radishes have just about finished their lifespan while others such as the herbs, carrots, beans, onions and more are just getting started. It is extremely rewarding each time I go out there. With every weed I pull, every drop of water I give, and every vegetable I harvest it feels as if I have really “made” my food.
I hope you will take this ride with me and read along as well as send feedback. I am not out to change anyones mind on this way of living or to even garden but I do hope by reading along with my journey it inspires you to do something different with your life.