After a summer of tasty grape tomatoes, rows of lavender, beautiful dark green leaves on my prolific pepper plants and some healthy pumpkins I noticed my Victory Garden is looking a bit out of sorts. It truly looks like an ugly duckling. But there are reasons for the seasons and winter renewal is a valuable part of the garden.
Of course, I could just do a green manure cover crop. Alfalfa, rye, clover and buckwheat would revitalize my soil while giving my Victory Garden a more appealing look. But I have more of an “industrial” look. I’ve put our cardboard moving boxes over a large bed that was overgrown in weeds. I lift the boxes and put my food scraps under them so they can compost. I have some cinder blocks that mostly keeps them from blowing away – some might call the look junky- but I’m claiming industrial. When spring returns the weeds won’t – total win in my opinion!
For my other bed – with less weeds, I’ve decided to embrace being in the south. Since the temperatures are relatively mild, it helps when it comes to having a winter garden. And my southern garden is growing collard greens! Come January 1, there’s nothing quite like having fresh-from-the-garden collard greens with your black-eyed peas and hog jowl that you cooked up for good luck in the coming year. Ok- so I think I’ll skip the hog jowl and just add bacon (it just sounds better to me).
Some even believe that collard greens are required for the “luck” to be a reality in the new year. After 2020, I think we will all agree that we need lots of luck, so believe me, I planted a dozen plants from my local farm and garden store.
A friend who has grown collards for years said that she removes the outer leaves as they are growing. Because they are young, it results in collards that truly “melts in your mouth”, she says. The collards will continue to produce more leaves until they shoot up as the weather warms up in the spring. I always think of collards as a big bunch of mature dark green leaves like the ones I see at the grocery or farmer’s market. However, when you grow them yourself, the young, tender leaves make for a much better dish, in my opinion.
Swiss chard is a family favorite at our house, and I was excited to know that I can easily grow it in cool or warm temperatures. I love the stems’ bright colors – red, pink, purple, yellow, orange and white. It’s a nice addition to any garden with all that color. I’ve even seen it used in flower bed borders for interest.
I found this recipe for Swiss chard on Allrecipes.com3 that I’ll try with my first harvest. As a matter of fact, this sounds so good I don’t think I’ll wait that long. There’s goat cheese in the refrigerator just waiting, so a trip to the farmer’s market for fresh Swiss chard is definitely in order.
Swiss Chard with Pinto Beans and Goat Cheese
Original recipe yields 4 servings
- 1½ T vegetable oil
- 1½ T butter
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- Pinch of red pepper flakes
- 1 bunch Swiss chard – rinsed, stems removed and cut into ½ inch slices
- 1 (15.5 oz) can pinto beans, rinsed and drained
- 1 small tomato, chopped
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1 T fresh lime juice
- 3 T goat cheese
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease an 8 or 9-inch square baking dish.
- Heat the oil and butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and red pepper flakes; cook and stir until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add Swiss chard, cover and cook for 4 minutes. Uncover and mix in the pinto beans, tomato, lime juice, salt and pepper. Cover and continue cooking until the chard is wilted, about 4 more minutes.
- Transfer the chard to the baking dish and dot with goat cheese, pushing it down into the dish.
- Bake for 15 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the goat cheese is warmed.
Garlic is another family favorite. Since I use so much in cooking, I love that I can plant garlic in my fall garden. However, when planning my spring planting, I’ll have to remember that it will be growing until probably around July, so I can’t use that space for other crops. There are three varieties to choose from – hardneck, softneck and elephant garlic. I’m not fond of elephant garlic (it’s not really garlic, anyway), so I decided on the softneck since it is best for mild winters.
Leaves are falling everywhere, and it made me recall all the times my grandad would rake his leaves and burn them. It’s a smokey fragrance I always associated with autumn. Of course, burning leaves is frowned upon these days since it’s bad for our environment, so my leaves got raked into small piles. My husband relieves stress by mowing them with the lawn mower several times. We raked them again and put them in the garden (under the cardboard) to compost and I’ve added them as mulch to the collards and Swiss Chard. Not only will it make my Victory Garden look better, it’s good for the soil and my worms love them.
So, for now I’m letting most of my garden revitalize and rest. While it may be an “ugly duckling” right now, it won’t be forever. I’m embracing it’s awkwardness and celebrating and enjoying the rest.
Happy Planting!
DeeAnn
The Victory Garden Gal
3 Swiss Chard with Pinto Beans and Goat Cheese” By Danalace Allrecipes https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/150367/swiss-chard-with-pinto-beans-and-goat-cheese/