On Growing Basil

Basil
Originally uploaded by tpl108.

Basil is easy to grow and just about the only plant that's been nice enough to give me a real sense of accomplishment.

We've grown basil from seed, tended to a neighbor's established plant, and transplanted a plant from the supermarket. Although difficult to control for differences in soil, the plants grown from seed are the strongest. Pictured here, these plants are hearty and grow like weeds. Growing from seeds allows you to select the strongest plants through successive thinning.

Lacking a good basil taste, the plant from the grocery store is a disappointment. It grows slowly and often looks anemic. Given how easy it is to grow from seed, we'll likely sow all of our basil next year.

Basil likes, nay, loves hot weather. It also likes to be on the dry side. Be sure not to over water it and grow it in well-drained soil. Our best basil grows in a small, plastic planter box that can't be more than 6 or 8 inches deep. Paired with fresh tomato and a little olive oil, it's absolutely wonderful.

Finally, pinch off any buds that pop up. Once seeds have formed the plant will stop producing new growth, thinking that it's accomplished its reproductive mission.

Fun With Invasive Plants: Hops

Hops
Originally uploaded by tpl108.

Well, isn't this a treat! A neighbor of mine -- the one with a dog the size of a Shetland Pony -- is growing hops and they've jumped the border into the Grange. With open arms, we welcome you, Hops, and are proud to call you our comrades in arms.

Back in day, before stores would lawfully sell me beer, I dabbled with home brewing, which is fun but a ton of work. Milling your own flour could be a lot of fun, too, but, then again, why fire up the ol' grist mill when you could have a bag for a dollar?

Neat fact: "Wild hops are also relished by cows, horses, goats, sheep, and pigs." Looks like someone just figured out why that dang dog next door is the size of small Volkswagen. Interestingly enough, despite the dog's demonic physical proportions, he's surprisingly well-behaved, which figures because "dried female buds have a high methylbutenol content, which has a mild sedative effect on the central nervous system; it is used in the treatment for insomnia, tensions and anxiety." Quotes courtesy of Wikipedia.

Garden Update, Late August

Marigold
Originally uploaded by tpl108.

This past week revealed the first hint of changing seasons as overnight temperatures bottomed out in the high 50s, a number probably not seen since June. The sun isn't as high in the sky anymore and it tends to cast more shade on the garden.

Nevertheless, the plants look pretty good. Tomatoes keep putting out lots of fruit. The basil looks wonderful and has really taken off with the drier weather. All of the Marigolds filled out, but the petunias and zinnias haven't fared quite as well.

Phlox

Phlox
Originally uploaded by tpl108.

About two-and-a-half feet tall and in bloom for the past few weeks, these flowers look and smell wonderful. They actually smell like Flonase, if that's a useful reference point for you. While I wish I could take credit for these plants, my landlady planted these some years ago and faithfully tends to them. From me they merely get some water and the occasional nod.

Cooking on the Grange: Grilled Pizza

Finished Pizza
Originally uploaded by tpl108.

Here's the finished product. It's incredibly tasty and fairly simple to make, especially if using supermarket dough. This is a great recipe for using up all of those garden-grown tomatoes and basil.

Cooking on the Grange: Grilled Pizza; Toppings

Ingredients
Originally uploaded by tpl108.

Light toppings seem to work best on grilled pizza. Instead of tomato sauce, cherry tomatoes seem to work well. Asiago cheese is a better choice than mozzarella, which tends to be overpowered by smokiness of the grill.

Once assembled, cook the pizza for another 5 to 10 minutes or until the cheese is melted and the crust is nicely browned.

Cooking on the Grange: Grilled Pizza; Cooking the Dough

Pizza Dough Stage 1
Originally uploaded by tpl108.

Dust the stone with some cornmeal and lightly drape the dough on the pizza stone. Place the cover on the grill and bake for about 5 minutes or so. Check the dough after a few minutes in case in case it has to be defalated. Cooking the dough before adding any toppings will help keep it crispy.

Cooking on the Grange: Grilled Pizza; Setting Up the Grill

Pizza Stone
Originally uploaded by tpl108.

Arrange your charcoal using an indirect set-up. This means putting your charcoal off to the sides so that the grill functions more like an oven.

Once the charcoal ashes over *gently* place a pizza stone on top of the grate and let it heat up for 20 minutes or so. Using a stone buys you a lot of time. Instead of frantically flipping doughs and sliding them around every 30 seconds, the even and measured heat of the stone buys you a lot of time. The crust comes out nicely browned and crispy.

Cooking on the Grange: Grilled Pizza; Making the Dough

Pizza Dough
Originally uploaded by tpl108.

The following series of posts detail a novel way for making grilled pizza.

Grilled pizza seems to be as popular as all get out, but after attempting it several times my pizzas always ended up burned. The conventional way calls for making it directly over a bed of coals, which means that you've got about a 20 second window between undercooked and charred.

To start, you need some good dough. Supermarkets sell raw dough for a buck or two and it'll render a pretty good pizza. Or you can make your own using,

1 C Water
2-2.5 C Bread Flour
1 tbsp. Olive Oil
1.5 tsp. Kosher Salt
2.25 tsp. active dry yeast

This seems to be a good starting point for pizza dough. Everything is approximate. Making dough is often more art than science. The goal is to create a fairly hydrated "wet" dough that'll be easy to stretch into thin pizzas. It's too hard to acurately describe what the perfect consistency is, but if you are a beginner, it'll probably be "wetter" than you think it should be. A rolling pin is quite useful in rolling out a super thin crust. The recipe above should easily be enough for four to five personal pizzas, provided that they are all quite thin.

Spinach Seedlings, Day 11

Spinach Seedlings
Originally uploaded by tpl108.

Planted a week-and-a-half-ago, these seedlings took five days to germinate. To help things along the container was placed in the basement where the temperature is more or less constant. Of the eight seeds sown, four sprouted and three are alive today. By mid-September the first of the spinach should be ready for harvest.

It's Tomatoes All the Way Down

Supersweet 100s, Day 79
Originally uploaded by tpl108.

Right on time. Three weeks deep into the season and the granger is just starting to get sick of these little guys. Even the wounded plants put out tomatoes like they were going out of style. (see photo at right.)

Fun with Backyard Insects: Tomato Hornworm

The tomato hornworm, which blossoms into the ever so lovely five-spotted hawk moth, is the largest caterpillar found in these here parts. If this thing got any bigger I'd have to throw a leash on it and toss it a Frisbee.

Some people love these critters so much they'll even eat them for dinner. Remember folks, "[take] care not to rupture the cuticles of each insect under high heat." Doing so just might uncork a whole mess of tasty odors. See more photos here.

Fun with Backyard Insects: Bee

Even though the backyard grange is in a predominantly urban setting, bees abound and help pollinate our tomatoes, squash and flowers.

There are over 16,000 described species, and possibly around 30,000 species in total. Bees carry an electrostatic charge, which aids in gathering pollen. More information on bees can be found here.

Squash Plant Dies, Age 76 Days

Just when things were looking up, beetles appear to have attacked the very base of the plant, choking off life for this once grand plant. Godspeed, squash plant.

We get very little feedback here, so when any comments do come in, it's a banner day. Here's a moving elegy of sorts from an inspired reader...

Squash is the color of yellow mustard.
The kind I like on my boiled hotdogs.
The beetles have gotten Ted flustered,
the squash are thought of while writing this blog.

Container Garden - Second Week of August

Container Garden - 8/8/2005
Originally uploaded by tpl108.

Damage from Friday's storm is readily apparent in this picture. The plant on the far right as well as the plant on the far left collapsed. They were pruned back heavily and restaked. Despite almost snapping in two, these plants seem to be doing okay now and continue to send up suckers.

Although difficult to see in the picture, the rearmost plant survived intact and is doing very well. Using bungee cords and fastening four stakes to the outside of the bucket, we've been able to fashion a makeshift cage, which provides plenty of structural support.

Boston's First Freeze Date Calculated

November Snowfall
Originally uploaded by tpl108.

Twenty years of climate data from the National Weather Service shows that the grange typically gets hits with its first freeze on or about November 9th. Since 1985, the earliest freeze came on October 23 while the latest didn't get here until November 23, however, by that time surely the lack of light and near-freezing temperatures had all but closed the growing season.

Trouble on the Grange: Buffeted by Winds, Some Plants Break From Supports, Two Feared Dead

Fallen Tomatoes
Originally uploaded by tpl108.

High winds today got the better of two tomato plants, both of the Supersweet 100 variety. Gusting to over 20 mph, the winds proved to be too much for the stakes, which broke on two plants causing them to topple over. Within an hour a rescue plan was underway. Consisting of yards upon yards of yarn and new, sturdier plastic stakes instead of the bamboo which had cracked, the plants were carefully restaked and radically pruned.

"Pruning these majestic plants was heartbreaking," said a spokesperson. He continued to say that the fallen plants were severely cut back in an effort to preserve the integrity of the mainline stems. "We hope that by removing some vegetation, the plants will have less weight to support. With any luck, this will save the season."

Preventative measures were taken with two other plans even though they had not fallen down. Given how far off center they were leaning, it made sense to aggressively prune them back. "It's akin to amputating a limb to save a life," the spokesman explained.

Currently, the plants are in rough shape but are expected to rebound. Estimates of tomato production have fallen greatly, but it remains too soon to tell just how severe the impact will be.

One plant, another supersweet 100, however, withstood the winds quite well and was not pruned. Instead, it received several more supports. The next few days will be critical. Cooler temperatures and light winds should make recovery easier.

After Being Lead Astray, Summer Squash Returns to the Flock (and Resumes Bountiful Ways)

Summer Squash - Day 70
Originally uploaded by tpl108.

The veritable Clydesdale of the gardening world, the squash keeps plugging along, faithful as ever. Whether it was the shot of penicillin in its butt or discovering Jesus, the plant appears to have finally overcome a rather persnickety bout of rot.

Went to the equivalent of an organic 7-11 today (think: tofurkey instead of slim jim) and saw some pitiful looking squash being sold for a $1.50 a pop. Yowsa! The store was a big yawn in that everything was overpriced and the clerks had more angst than a 1000 misunderstood teens at a Korn concert.

Container Garden - 1st Week of August

Container Garden - 1st Week of August
Originally uploaded by tpl108.

Much like this blog, nothing too exciting has happened this week. The tomato plants keep putting out more and more fruit but still have yet to hit their stride. Within a week or two, there should be a tsunami of tomatoes.

Although the basil was growing quite well, I killed a bunch of it. It's survival of the fittest and it looked like the planter box was too crowded. Don't push me, basil, because I'm close to the edge.

Tips on growing container tomatoes.