Right now gardeners everywhere are wondering what in the heck they can do with the wheelbarrow full of zucchini piled on the kitchen counter. Having completely mastered the task of getting their plants to produce, they are now overwhelmed. People cringe when gardeners are carrying brown paper bags; friends hide when they see them coming. This is a sad state of affairs. What you are eating instead of zucchini is likely adding pounds to your middle. Give them a chance. Learn some new culinary tricks for this low calorie food and your middle will thank you.
Zucchini, and other summer squash are actually very diet friendly, nutritious, and versatile in the kitchen. Summer squash, including zucchini, only has 20 calories per cup. It is low in carbohydrates and fats, so you can eat lots and not gain a pound. It is a good source of vitamin C, riboflavin, B-6, potassium, and manganese. All things the body needs. The web site The Worlds Healthiest Foods http://www.whfoods.com/index.html claims that summer squash, including zucchini, have anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory properties. They are supposed to be especially good for the prostate gland and for folks with “conditions like asthma, osteoarthritis, and rheumatoid arthritis.” With just a few tips you can probably use all the summer squash your vines and bushes will produce. And your health may be all the better because of it.
Grate that zucchini:
Back when I was a mere pup, I worked at The Chef – a natural food restaurant in Carmichael, CA. Every morning at 6 AM I could be found grating mountains of fresh zucchini, yellow squash, and carrots. These were mixed together, equal parts zucchini and yellow squash, to about ¼ part grated carrots. This mix was stored in a big clear plastic garbage bag in the walk in cooler. It was completely gone by the following morning. We used this mix in nearly every omelet, order of scrambled eggs, and sandwich we served. It was used as a garnish for every salad, entree, and bowl of soup. It was part of The Chef’s signature. And not a bad idea to use at home. You can add zing by adding other grated fresh veggies, pressed garlic, or slivered onions. You can toss the mix with your favorite fresh or dried herbs, mixed seasonings, olive oil, or salad dressing. Dress it up with a sprinkling of pine nuts; sunflower, pumpkin, or sesame seeds. Serve it up on some lettuce or kale leaves, add a few slices of tomato and / or cucumber, a scoop of tuna salad - and call it dinner!
A cup of fresh grated zucchini or other summer squash can be added to bread and cake recipes. The squash will increase the moisture level of the baked goods, allowing you to cut the oil, butter, or fat called for in the recipe by half. Match the color of your squash to the color of your recipe. Yellow squash goes perfect with yellow cake or corn bread. Peeled, any light fleshed squash is perfect in white cakes or breads. Zucchini hides nicely in chocolate cake and whole wheat bread. The texture, flavor, and health benefits of your baked goods are improved!
Grated squash makes an easy frittata for a quick dinner or a company brunch. 1&1/2 cups grated squash and other veggies can be placed in a small pie pan with an unbaked pie shell, or skip the pie shell and simply oil the pan. Optional: add ½ cup grated cheese of your choice. Beat 5 eggs adding 2 tablespoons of flour and ¼ cup milk.. Pour over veggies and bake at 350 for 30 – 45 minutes. It is done when it quits jiggling in the middle and a tooth pick inserted comes out with no under-cooked egg mix clinging to it. Serve with salsa, and salad for dinner, or sliced fruit for brunch. Dress it up with a dollop of sour cream, unsweetened yogurt, or fresh chopped herbs if desired.
Grated zucchini or summer squash can be added to ground meat. Use about ¼ grated squash to ¾ meat. Cook as you normally would. This is great for meat loaf, hamburgers, patty sausage, and meat balls. It will add moisture, flavor, and reduce calories, fat, and cholesterol.
Dice it up:
Diced squash is good in salad, soup, beans, casseroles, and stir fry. Dice it tiny and add it to salsa and chutney, or pour leftover pickle juice over it and keep refrigerated and call it relish. Dice it chunky and steam for a simple side dish. Mix it with diced potatoes and peppers and fry it up to go with breakfast or as a dinner side dish. Marinate it in olive oil and balsamic vinegar and poke a tooth pick in each piece and call it a hors d’oeuvre. Pierce it with a skewer alternately with other veggies and shrimp, chunks of albacore, or beef, grill until done - and you have shish-kabob.
Whiz it:
Use a food processor to puree your squash. One cup pureed squash can be added to pancake and waffle batter. When adding to pancake batter you can reduce the fat, butter, or oil in the recipe by half. Be careful when experimenting with reducing fat in waffle batter, because a certain amount is necessary to keep the waffles from sticking to the waffle iron. Small lightly browned pancakes ad waffles can be frozen in zip-lock bags to make your own quick microwave or toaster oven breakfasts. Pureed squash also makes a good base for the cool summer soup called gazpacho. If you think you want your soup supper smooth - use small young squash. If you don’t mind a little more fiber, you can use medium sized squash that have immature seeds inside. Just grind them up smooth with some garden greens if available. Dice up some tomatoes and peppers and fresh herbs and stir them in and chill. You can serve as is or with a dollop of sour cream or plain yogurt and some chopped chives or basil. The grated squash -carrot blend also makes a nice garnish! Young pealed squash puree can be used in place of a portion of the fruit in recipes for things like apple-sauce cake, smoothies, and jam. I recently made a batch of jam with 2 cups fig puree, 2 cups squash puree, 2 cups blackberries, 2 cups sugar, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, and ½ teaspoon each nutmeg and cloves. I let it cook down on low in the crock-pot with the lid slightly ajar for most of an afternoon, then I added 1 package no-sugar pectin, brought it to a boil, packed in sterilized jars and water bath processed it. Tastes great!
Keep it for later:
Diced, grated, or whizzed zucchini can be frozen in zip lock bags for up to 6 months for use in cooked dishes. If you have a food dehydrator, zucchini and other summer squash can be sliced fairly thin, dipped in lemon juice if desired and dried until crisp. (Some references say to store right away – some say to leave the veggies out to “condition.” I don’t have a dehydrator - Store in an air tight container They make great low calorie chips as is, or they can be added to soup or casseroles.
Tougher more mature zucchini can be canned or pickled. To can dice the squash in bite size sections leaving the skin on. (But remove the seeds.) Pack raw into quart jars leaving ½ headroom. Boil enough water or broth to fill jars. Salt and herbs are optional but nice. Vinegar or lemon juice can also be added to taste – and it improves color retention. Pour over squash, dry jar rims, cover with new lids, install rings – but do not tighten. Process at 10 pounds for 30 minutes in a pressure canner. Vent canner and as soon as it is cool enough to be safe, promptly remove jars and tighten lids.
Best results for pickles are also obtained with about half mature squash. Wash and remove seeds but not the rind. Boil jars, rings, and pour boiling water over the lids. While jars are boiling cut squash wedges to fit the jars, leaving about ½ inch head room. Boil equal parts vinegar of your choice and water, adding 1/3 cup salt for every 6 cups liquid. Pack squash wedges in jars, adding your choice of garlic cloves, onion wedges, dill, mustard, and/ or celery seed, peppercorns, hot peppers, etc.. Pour boiling pickle solution into packed jars to within ½ inch of top. Dry rims, cover with lids, loosely install rings, process in a boiling water bath for 15 minutes, promptly remove jars and tighten lids.
No zucchini?
Start seeds right now for a fall crop! Last year I picked summer squash from my garden here in Hoopa until the middle of December when we finally got a hard killing frost. Zucchini can take more cold than many summer veggies – so it is not too late. And you don’t need to till a whole garden plot to grow a few plants. Tuck them into an empty spot along a fence or in your flower border. Give them a little water when you can and they are likely to take right off.
Stay tuned – next time we will be taking a look at broccoli and its close relatives.. They can be started now and again in mid October for fall and winter crops! Until then, you can probably find me out in the garden, Digging the Dirt.
Copyright 2006 Harvest McCampbell, from my column "Digging the Dirt," published in The Hoopa Valley People Newspaper, August 15, 2006. Posted here with permission.
Friday, September 08, 2006
Saturday, September 02, 2006
Knobby Kohlrabi
Kohlrabi is tasty, nutritious, and easy to grow, but it is definitely an odd member of the vegetable kingdom. For most vegetables we eat the leaves (lettuce, spinach, and kale), the flower buds (artichokes, broccoli, cauliflower), the fruit (squash, tomatoes, eggplant), or the roots (carrots, turnips, beets). Not so with Kohlrabi. Those crisp, sweet, knobby kohlrabies only resemble roots. They are really swollen above ground stems, and that makes them fairly unique among the vegetables we eat.
This versatile vegetable is delicious grated into coleslaw or salad, cut into sticks for dipping in ranch, cubed in soups and casseroles, or simple quartered and steamed. Its taste resembles a mild, sweet, crisp cabbage. It is interesting enough to serve on its own, and subtle enough to mix with other bold or quiet vegetables. While the swollen stems –are the part most often eaten, the leaves are also tasty in soups or stir fries.
Kohlrabi is great news for dieters. Low in carbs, high in fiber, and no fat or cholesterol gives it a place in almost any diet you could possibly be on. It is also a good source of Thiamin, Folate, Magnesium and Phosphorus, and a very good source for Vitamin C, Vitamin B6, Potassium, Copper, and Manganese. And a full cup only has 36 calories! Nutritious, tasty, and safe for most diets, who wouldn’t want to grow some of this unusual vegetable for themselves?
This Northern European vegetable was hand selected back in the 1600’s from a certain strain of cabbage that had swollen stems. It is still very popular in Germany, Hungary, and Russia, but around here the response is most commonly, “What’s that?” When you get some going in your garden you simply say: “It is the best kept weight loss secret to come along in four centuries. If you help me weed I just might have a few to share with you.”
Kohlrabi is easy to grow, and will produce nice “bulbs” (or swollen stems) from seed planted either in spring or fall. For a fall crop seeds can be started in six packs right now, as long as you keep them in a cool bright window, or on a shady porch. Young seedlings need protection from the scorching heat. But once they are big enough to plant out in the garden they should do fine, as long as they can get watered regularly. You can also wait and plant Kohlrabi out doors directly in the garden once the weather cools down. It normally takes about 3 months from seed until you can start pulling plants for the table. But winter grown Kohlrabi often takes longer to mature. Once you have Golf ball sized “bulbs” you will want to start harvesting. Except for the varieties that are bred to be gigantic, those over hard ball size will need to be peeled. And once that skin starts toughening up, the peeling is not so easy.
Beauty is only skin deep, they say, and that may be true for Kohlrabi too. You can order seeds for green, white, and purple varieties, in addition to the gigantic ones already mentioned. But the color affects the skin only. All kohlrabi is light ivory-green, crisp, sweet, and delicious on the inside. However, the variety in skin color does liven up the salad and the garden.
Kohlrabi suffers from the same pests as its close relatives, cabbage, broccoli, and cauliflower. Those being our very favorites - cabbage worms and aphids. The best part about growing kohlrabi in the winter, is that once the weather cools down and the storms set in, the pest damage comes to a screeching halt. (Except for the dang slugs. But if you catch them snacking on your plants you can easily catch them and trap them in a zip lock bag. We will have more on slugs in a future column.) Mean while you can hand pick those green cabbage worms whenever you see that they have been munching holes in your kohlrabi leaves.
Kohlrabi does not need any special care, and will thrive in most ordinary garden soil. The only real trick to fall gardening is to choose or create a space that is not too hot during the initial growing period, but that will get plenty of sun (if we get any) over the winter. A spot shaded by deciduous trees for at least part of the day is ideal. However, use of row covers and shade cloth also works well. Not only do the row covers and shade cloth cool your plantings down, they also help eliminate pests, so that is a bonus. Another consideration for fall and winter gardens is drainage. My soil resembles a wet squishy sponge during the winter. If yours does too, a raised bed is ideal. In a raised bed you can hand build your soil, provide drainage, and protection from gophers too. Not that gophers have ever bothered my kohlrabi, but they might want yours.
Whether you plant in raised beds or in the ground, don’t forget to mulch. Mulch reduces soil temperature, helps the soil retain moisture and nutrients and feeds those oh so important earthworms and soil micro-organisms. All these factors will help your kohlrabi to get established and thrive. Once the weather cools and the rains begin the mulch isn’t nearly as important. But late summer and early fall mulch will give your plants a good start. Believe me, along about December or January you might just be grateful that the best kept weight loss secret in four centuries is growing right out in your garden, especially since it taste so good.
If you can’t find seeds at your local nursery or in your favorite catalog, here’s a great spot to order on-line or by mail. Reimer Seeds, PO Box 236, Mount Holly, NC 28120-0236, Fax: 704-644-3762 , http://www.ReimerSeeds.com They carry some nice purple, green and white kohlrabi, as well as a couple of the gigantic types.
* If you missed the articles on mulch (Nurture your Soil), earthworms, aphids, or gophers visit: http://harvestsgardeningsecrets.blogspot.com Use the search function on the page to pull up the archived articles. (If you have trouble finding any of the articles, let me know and I will find you a link.)
Next time, by special request, we will be featuring a number of ways to use all that summer squash you’ve been growing. Until then you can probably find me out in the garden, Digging the Dirt.
Copyright 2006 Harvest McCampbell, from my column "Digging the Dirt," published in The Hoopa Valley People Newspaper, August 8, 2006. Posted here with permission.
This versatile vegetable is delicious grated into coleslaw or salad, cut into sticks for dipping in ranch, cubed in soups and casseroles, or simple quartered and steamed. Its taste resembles a mild, sweet, crisp cabbage. It is interesting enough to serve on its own, and subtle enough to mix with other bold or quiet vegetables. While the swollen stems –are the part most often eaten, the leaves are also tasty in soups or stir fries.
Kohlrabi is great news for dieters. Low in carbs, high in fiber, and no fat or cholesterol gives it a place in almost any diet you could possibly be on. It is also a good source of Thiamin, Folate, Magnesium and Phosphorus, and a very good source for Vitamin C, Vitamin B6, Potassium, Copper, and Manganese. And a full cup only has 36 calories! Nutritious, tasty, and safe for most diets, who wouldn’t want to grow some of this unusual vegetable for themselves?
This Northern European vegetable was hand selected back in the 1600’s from a certain strain of cabbage that had swollen stems. It is still very popular in Germany, Hungary, and Russia, but around here the response is most commonly, “What’s that?” When you get some going in your garden you simply say: “It is the best kept weight loss secret to come along in four centuries. If you help me weed I just might have a few to share with you.”
Kohlrabi is easy to grow, and will produce nice “bulbs” (or swollen stems) from seed planted either in spring or fall. For a fall crop seeds can be started in six packs right now, as long as you keep them in a cool bright window, or on a shady porch. Young seedlings need protection from the scorching heat. But once they are big enough to plant out in the garden they should do fine, as long as they can get watered regularly. You can also wait and plant Kohlrabi out doors directly in the garden once the weather cools down. It normally takes about 3 months from seed until you can start pulling plants for the table. But winter grown Kohlrabi often takes longer to mature. Once you have Golf ball sized “bulbs” you will want to start harvesting. Except for the varieties that are bred to be gigantic, those over hard ball size will need to be peeled. And once that skin starts toughening up, the peeling is not so easy.
Beauty is only skin deep, they say, and that may be true for Kohlrabi too. You can order seeds for green, white, and purple varieties, in addition to the gigantic ones already mentioned. But the color affects the skin only. All kohlrabi is light ivory-green, crisp, sweet, and delicious on the inside. However, the variety in skin color does liven up the salad and the garden.
Kohlrabi suffers from the same pests as its close relatives, cabbage, broccoli, and cauliflower. Those being our very favorites - cabbage worms and aphids. The best part about growing kohlrabi in the winter, is that once the weather cools down and the storms set in, the pest damage comes to a screeching halt. (Except for the dang slugs. But if you catch them snacking on your plants you can easily catch them and trap them in a zip lock bag. We will have more on slugs in a future column.) Mean while you can hand pick those green cabbage worms whenever you see that they have been munching holes in your kohlrabi leaves.
Kohlrabi does not need any special care, and will thrive in most ordinary garden soil. The only real trick to fall gardening is to choose or create a space that is not too hot during the initial growing period, but that will get plenty of sun (if we get any) over the winter. A spot shaded by deciduous trees for at least part of the day is ideal. However, use of row covers and shade cloth also works well. Not only do the row covers and shade cloth cool your plantings down, they also help eliminate pests, so that is a bonus. Another consideration for fall and winter gardens is drainage. My soil resembles a wet squishy sponge during the winter. If yours does too, a raised bed is ideal. In a raised bed you can hand build your soil, provide drainage, and protection from gophers too. Not that gophers have ever bothered my kohlrabi, but they might want yours.
Whether you plant in raised beds or in the ground, don’t forget to mulch. Mulch reduces soil temperature, helps the soil retain moisture and nutrients and feeds those oh so important earthworms and soil micro-organisms. All these factors will help your kohlrabi to get established and thrive. Once the weather cools and the rains begin the mulch isn’t nearly as important. But late summer and early fall mulch will give your plants a good start. Believe me, along about December or January you might just be grateful that the best kept weight loss secret in four centuries is growing right out in your garden, especially since it taste so good.
If you can’t find seeds at your local nursery or in your favorite catalog, here’s a great spot to order on-line or by mail. Reimer Seeds, PO Box 236, Mount Holly, NC 28120-0236, Fax: 704-644-3762 , http://www.ReimerSeeds.com They carry some nice purple, green and white kohlrabi, as well as a couple of the gigantic types.
* If you missed the articles on mulch (Nurture your Soil), earthworms, aphids, or gophers visit: http://harvestsgardeningsecrets.blogspot.com Use the search function on the page to pull up the archived articles. (If you have trouble finding any of the articles, let me know and I will find you a link.)
Next time, by special request, we will be featuring a number of ways to use all that summer squash you’ve been growing. Until then you can probably find me out in the garden, Digging the Dirt.
Copyright 2006 Harvest McCampbell, from my column "Digging the Dirt," published in The Hoopa Valley People Newspaper, August 8, 2006. Posted here with permission.
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
Crimson Clover
Trifolium incarnatum (Fabaceae)
Crimson clover is a wonderfully versatile plant. It is grown for hay, silage, and pasture for animals; and as a winter cover crop for orchards and fallow fields. Early spring it graces road sides and pastures as a brilliant flame of a wildflower. And it adapts readily to the garden as a nitrogen fixer, a source of organic matter, and as a showy quick fill flower. Crimson clover is also much loved by bee keepers as it provides superior nectar that makes great tasting honey. And bees love it. If you grow fruit or vegetables that depend on insect pollination, successive plantings of Crimson clover will keep the little buzzing darlings visiting your yard or orchard. Crimson clover also has a nostalgic appeal. Tommy James and the Shondells made Crimson Clover famous with their 1968 song, “Crimson and Clover.”
Crimson clover is not too picky about how much sun it gets, but to be happy it does need at least 4 hours a day. It is not picky about soil either, in fact, it is often grown to improve poor soils. Crimson clover can be broadcast over fallow fields or garden beds in the fall and allowed to grow through the winter. Turning it under in spring will improve your soil for next summers garden or field crops. And if you can wait until it flowers before you turn it under, oh what a lovely show you will have.
In my yard and garden I primarily use Crimson clover as a filler flower in my borders and beds. It grows quickly, produces awesome flowers, and fixes nitrogen while it is making me smile. And nothing much could be easier. I purchase a quarter pound of seed at a time. (It’s less than a dollar at most feed stores.) And I simply broadcast the seed into empty spots in my borders and beds. Crimson Clover happily inter-grows with flowers, perennials, and vegetables. If it begins crowding it’s neighbors it is easy to pull or cut, and it makes an excellent addition to compost or mulch. (Crimson clover has a reputation for being invasive, however I have seen absolutely no sign of self sowing or spreading in my yard.) Warm weather sowings will require regular watering to get established, and will begin producing flowers in 45 to 60 days. Winter sowings won’t flower until early spring, but they require no irrigation or other fussing. Noting much could be easier. In the winter I even toss the seeds into bare spots in the lawn. Crimson clover will take some mowing, and I am rewarded with red blossoms amidst the grass, English daisies and white clover in the early spring.
There are more garden worthy clovers you can grow from seed, and some specialty ornamental clovers that you must seek out as nursery plants. First, here are the ones that you can grow from seed:
White Clover, Trifolium repens, is grown as a perennial used for orchard and garden ground cover, animal forage, winter cover, and as a nitrogen fixer and a source of organic matter. It spreads by runners and seeds. It can compete with Bermuda grass and win! Most of my side garden is inter-planted with white clover and it makes an excellent companion to my squash, tomatoes, and other plants. It improves the soil, provides good quality organic matter; acts as a living mulch - retaining moisture and keeping the soil cool in summer. During the winter the roots and leafy cover prevent the rain from compacting and eroding the soil. White clover is great for gardens, and it is edible and medicinal too. The flowers and leaves can be eaten raw or cooked. Consider adding them to soups, salads, or summer time sun-tea. There are several varieties of White Clover, ask at your local farm supply, nursery, or feed store to find which one is best suited for your needs and our site.
Red clover, Trifolium pratense, sports classic clover blooms in shades of pink and rose. These attractive perennial plants are grown for pasture, hay, as nitrogen fixing cover crops and as medicinal herbs. You can buy dried Red Clover flowers at most herb shops, they make a pleasant healthful tea. Or you can grow your own as easily as any other clovers. They need a bit of room to spread out. And they are happy in sun or part shade. There are also several varieties of Red Clover available, with a range of plant sizes and bloom colors.
Pink Clover, Trifolium rubens, is primarily an ornamental perennial. It grows from 18 to 24 inches tall and sports mauve to pink flowers similar to Crimson Clover. They look great in arrangements or in the flower bed.
Here are a couple of specialty ornamental clovers that must be sought out at the nursery:
Dark Dancer features deep purple leaflets edged in bright green. Instead of the normal three leaflets this lucky little guy often sports four, and is commonly sold as a Shamrock around St. Patrick’s Day.
Dragons Blood Clover is another little ground cover. This one has three leaflets each marked in cream, green, and red. It makes a great accent for a taller potted plant or a shady nook in the garden.
Sources:
If you can’t find the clovers your heart desires at local nurseries, feed stores, or farm supplies, you can order by mail, phone, or Internet:
Bountiful Gardens has seed for red, white, and crimson clovers. (707) 459-6410 http://BountifulGardens.org
Pink clover plants are carried by Digging Dog Nursery (707) 937-1130 http://www.diggingdog.com/ and the seeds can be ordered from: http://www.thompson-morgan.com
Dark Dancer and Dragons Blood clovers can be found at: Big Dipper Farm, (360) 886-8133 http://www.bigdipperfarm.com/
Crimson Clover Photos are available on line:
http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/wildseed/24/24.8.html
http://www.oregonclover.org/crimsonclover.html
Stay Tuned, next time we will be getting ready to grow some Kohlrabi, a very tasty treat. Meanwhile, when I am not hiding from the heat at the creek, you can find me out in the garden, Digging the Dirt.
Copyright 2006 Harvest McCampbell, from my column "Digging the Dirt," published in The Hoopa Valley People Newspaper, August 2, 2006. Posted here with permission.
Crimson clover is a wonderfully versatile plant. It is grown for hay, silage, and pasture for animals; and as a winter cover crop for orchards and fallow fields. Early spring it graces road sides and pastures as a brilliant flame of a wildflower. And it adapts readily to the garden as a nitrogen fixer, a source of organic matter, and as a showy quick fill flower. Crimson clover is also much loved by bee keepers as it provides superior nectar that makes great tasting honey. And bees love it. If you grow fruit or vegetables that depend on insect pollination, successive plantings of Crimson clover will keep the little buzzing darlings visiting your yard or orchard. Crimson clover also has a nostalgic appeal. Tommy James and the Shondells made Crimson Clover famous with their 1968 song, “Crimson and Clover.”
Crimson clover is not too picky about how much sun it gets, but to be happy it does need at least 4 hours a day. It is not picky about soil either, in fact, it is often grown to improve poor soils. Crimson clover can be broadcast over fallow fields or garden beds in the fall and allowed to grow through the winter. Turning it under in spring will improve your soil for next summers garden or field crops. And if you can wait until it flowers before you turn it under, oh what a lovely show you will have.
In my yard and garden I primarily use Crimson clover as a filler flower in my borders and beds. It grows quickly, produces awesome flowers, and fixes nitrogen while it is making me smile. And nothing much could be easier. I purchase a quarter pound of seed at a time. (It’s less than a dollar at most feed stores.) And I simply broadcast the seed into empty spots in my borders and beds. Crimson Clover happily inter-grows with flowers, perennials, and vegetables. If it begins crowding it’s neighbors it is easy to pull or cut, and it makes an excellent addition to compost or mulch. (Crimson clover has a reputation for being invasive, however I have seen absolutely no sign of self sowing or spreading in my yard.) Warm weather sowings will require regular watering to get established, and will begin producing flowers in 45 to 60 days. Winter sowings won’t flower until early spring, but they require no irrigation or other fussing. Noting much could be easier. In the winter I even toss the seeds into bare spots in the lawn. Crimson clover will take some mowing, and I am rewarded with red blossoms amidst the grass, English daisies and white clover in the early spring.
There are more garden worthy clovers you can grow from seed, and some specialty ornamental clovers that you must seek out as nursery plants. First, here are the ones that you can grow from seed:
White Clover, Trifolium repens, is grown as a perennial used for orchard and garden ground cover, animal forage, winter cover, and as a nitrogen fixer and a source of organic matter. It spreads by runners and seeds. It can compete with Bermuda grass and win! Most of my side garden is inter-planted with white clover and it makes an excellent companion to my squash, tomatoes, and other plants. It improves the soil, provides good quality organic matter; acts as a living mulch - retaining moisture and keeping the soil cool in summer. During the winter the roots and leafy cover prevent the rain from compacting and eroding the soil. White clover is great for gardens, and it is edible and medicinal too. The flowers and leaves can be eaten raw or cooked. Consider adding them to soups, salads, or summer time sun-tea. There are several varieties of White Clover, ask at your local farm supply, nursery, or feed store to find which one is best suited for your needs and our site.
Red clover, Trifolium pratense, sports classic clover blooms in shades of pink and rose. These attractive perennial plants are grown for pasture, hay, as nitrogen fixing cover crops and as medicinal herbs. You can buy dried Red Clover flowers at most herb shops, they make a pleasant healthful tea. Or you can grow your own as easily as any other clovers. They need a bit of room to spread out. And they are happy in sun or part shade. There are also several varieties of Red Clover available, with a range of plant sizes and bloom colors.
Pink Clover, Trifolium rubens, is primarily an ornamental perennial. It grows from 18 to 24 inches tall and sports mauve to pink flowers similar to Crimson Clover. They look great in arrangements or in the flower bed.
Here are a couple of specialty ornamental clovers that must be sought out at the nursery:
Dark Dancer features deep purple leaflets edged in bright green. Instead of the normal three leaflets this lucky little guy often sports four, and is commonly sold as a Shamrock around St. Patrick’s Day.
Dragons Blood Clover is another little ground cover. This one has three leaflets each marked in cream, green, and red. It makes a great accent for a taller potted plant or a shady nook in the garden.
Sources:
If you can’t find the clovers your heart desires at local nurseries, feed stores, or farm supplies, you can order by mail, phone, or Internet:
Bountiful Gardens has seed for red, white, and crimson clovers. (707) 459-6410 http://BountifulGardens.org
Pink clover plants are carried by Digging Dog Nursery (707) 937-1130 http://www.diggingdog.com/ and the seeds can be ordered from: http://www.thompson-morgan.com
Dark Dancer and Dragons Blood clovers can be found at: Big Dipper Farm, (360) 886-8133 http://www.bigdipperfarm.com/
Crimson Clover Photos are available on line:
http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/wildseed/24/24.8.html
http://www.oregonclover.org/crimsonclover.html
Stay Tuned, next time we will be getting ready to grow some Kohlrabi, a very tasty treat. Meanwhile, when I am not hiding from the heat at the creek, you can find me out in the garden, Digging the Dirt.
Copyright 2006 Harvest McCampbell, from my column "Digging the Dirt," published in The Hoopa Valley People Newspaper, August 2, 2006. Posted here with permission.
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