Little Garden, Big Garden

Mine is a tiny Montana garden. Dive under the leaves of our one small row of crookneck squash and you see another world, one with possibilities for lots of good, fresh, yummy food, such as http://mixedgreensblog.com/2010/09/01/seasons-eatings/fannie-farmer-my-squash-casserole/.

Come back to our compost pile and look northeast toward the house. The garden still has a sizable look, with 6-foot-tall vines of Sungold and Black Cherry tomatoes against the garage. This means more food prep, such as: http://mixedgreensblog.com/2010/08/25/in-the-garden/happiness-is-a-bowl-of-sungolds-mid-winter/

Step away from it and into the lawn and you see how really tiny it is. We're still harvesting spring-tender lettuce plus squash, cucumbers, eggplant, herbs and tomatoes. Cauliflower is coming on (zucchini totally got away from us). http://www.inerikaskitchen.com/2010/06/spring-salad-with-cherries-and-goat.html

So here's a recent white-bean soup, made with our rosemary, parsley and tomatoes, plus Hamilton Farmers' Market carrots and kale from Pat and John's garden next door (we didn't get here early enough for a spring planting of kale). http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Tuscan-Ribollita-355570/

We even take our garden cucumbers and mint and remake a cocktail that we loved at the Seattle restaurant Revel (http://www.revelseattle.com/): Called the "Lazy Gardener," haha! It features cucumber-infused gin, fresh mint syrup and fizzy ginger beer. Especially good on a hot and smoky (fire season is upon us) afternoon.

Now, to the real vegetable gardens in the Bitterroot Valley...

I had the honor to visit Bill Kindzerski's garden in early June 2011, and Alex joined me for a visit there last week. Wow! The long-time gardener has acres to work with and brilliantly uses his mostly wide-open space for plant and compost experiments and for using/creating micro-climates. (Cold, for instance, comes down from the mountains and gets trapped by significant trees at the back of his property; he's eliminating varieties that he can't grow -- but nextdoor neighbors can! -- and focusing on rebuilding a hoop house for more varied tomatoes.)

A morning's watering lingers on Bill's cabbage.

Yellow cauliflower shines in the intermittent sun.

Bill tells Alex about his favorite onion varieties, including Redwing, Whitewing, Copra, Sweet Spanish, and Multiplier. Bill explains that he uses long-day onions that bulb only when they receive at least 15 hours of daylight, "being so close to the North Pole" as we are, Bill says, we get those longer summer days. Short-day onions are for much farther south.

Yukon Gold potatoes fill a large patch., at left above. His other favorite vegetable varieties include the celeries Utah and Tango; corn, Extra Sweet; carrots, Scarlet Nantes and Chantenay.  Early Girl tomatoes are his best performers for the short season here -- even with those extra-long days!

Bill's relatively new worm bin takes all of the kitchen waste and is eaten by the little red wigglers, digested and turned into a beautiful black soil booster of worm castings; it gets surrounded by straw bales against the winter cold and covered with a neat layer of loose straw.

Bill's wife, Virginia, meanwhile, takes care of many different flower beds, including this clever one accented with ornamental cabbages up by the road. What a gift it is to get to see this couple's Montana garden first-hand!