Making Apple Crumble with my Lodi Apples

I'm a much better gardener than I am a cook! I tried to make Apple Crumble today with my very own Lodi summer apples, but I mixed up the steps in the recipe. I accidentally added the flour and chopped pecans that were supposed to be for the topping into the apple slices instead.

I didn't want to peel, core and chop more apples, so I put the apples/pecan/flour mix into a strainer and rinsed with water to get the flour off. Then I picked out as many of the pecan pieces as I could without going too crazy. I like pecans so the remaining pecan pieces in with the apples will probably be fine. I've never had apple crumble before! This is going to be so good. :) 

I used this recipe from Delish.com: 

https://www.delish.com/cooking/recipe-ideas/a21581233/easy-apple-crumble-recipe/

Building a Permaculture Fruit Tree Guild

It Began in the Summer of 2018...

Before I moved to this home in Colorado Springs, the yard had been constantly walked over, driven on, and even parked on, so it was very, very compressed. A few years back, I had made a lazy girl's compost pile in the middle there, and a flower border along the driveway.

When I decided to make more flower beds in 2018, I first had to remove the layer of weeds that had surrounded the compost pile. I also discarded the un-decomposed layer of garden debris from the top of the compost pile. Then I turned the dirt over with a shovel and spread out and mixed in the compost that had been created over the years...

I took a trip to my sister's home in Florissant and collected piles of rocks that I brought back to use as borders around the garden and paths.

I used rocks to mark out the flower beds and the pathways, then I dug the path areas down a bit so they would hold water better. (As I went, I tossed the dirt I dug from the paths onto the new garden bed.) 

I hauled in bags and bags of mulch for the paths. The sandy gravel in the new garden contained almost no organic matter, so I mixed in several bags of my favorite soil amendment, Sheep & Peat compost mix, which I get from Home Depot.

I bought a plum tree, so I decided to enlarge the garden area even more and to make it into a permaculture fruit tree guild. I planted my tree, removed more weeds, mixed in more Sheep & Peat compost mix and added more mulch. Then I was finally ready to start planting...

Unfortunately, it was almost October of 2018 by the time I finished all this. Most of the planting would have to wait until Spring.



In the meantime, I'd had to content myself with planting some pansies, daffodil bulbs and a couple of small evergreen trees.

Photos from 2019

By June of 2019 I had planted oregano, garlic, sage, chives, dill, wormwood, comfrey,  echinacea, feverfew, chamomile, nasturtium, tomato 'patio princess', melon 'tigger', melon 'MN midget', and pumpkin 'neon'.

The wormwood was not happy and died by the next year.

By July I had expanded the garden even more and had made several sub-irrigated planters. The tomatoes absolutely loved these planters.

By August everything was really taking off. By this time I had added Goji berry, sweet William, calendula, a few turtle bean plants, and a pretty ground cover. A larkspur volunteer popped up, too.

How I Winter Sow Seeds for My Next Summer's Garden

Preparing one-gallon plastic jugs

Using a drill, hammer and nail, or soldering iron make holes in the bottom of the jug for drainage. You can also use a small screwdriver heated on your stove burner to melt the holes, but the fumes aren’t healthy.

Using a sharp knife or scissors, cut the jug almost all the way around just below the level of the handle. You want to leave a ‘hinge’ of plastic to hold everything together.

Alternatively, you can cut 3 sides of a square opening leaving a top flap. With this method, you won't need to tape the opening shut. Just push the flap back down.

Planting the seeds

Add about 1 inch of potting mix and sprinkle your seeds on top. Cover with more potting mix to the planting depth specified on the seed package. (Some seeds, such as Snapdragons, need light to germinate, so don’t cover that type with potting mix at all.) Don't water the potting mix now since we don't want the seeds to sprout until Spring.

Place a label or tag inside the jug so you know what you planted. This is important because labels on the outside will fade completely from the sunlight, and you won't be able to read them.

Close and tape the jug with duct tape. If desired, label the jug on the outside with more duct tape and a permanent marker, or you can write directly on the jug.

After the Winter Equinox (December 21), Place Jugs Outside

Place the jugs outside. Be sure to leave the caps off the jugs, otherwise on sunny days, even in cold weather, it can get too hot inside the jug, and also so that rain and snow can enter. During the coldest part of winter, it is not necessary to water the jugs because the seeds will not sprout yet.

I am in zone 5, so in early March, I move my jugs to a plastic swimming pool so that I can easily water them by adding an inch or two of water to the pool. The potting mix will soak up what moisture is needed through the drainage holes without disturbing the seeds.

At the perfect time for each type of seed, the seedlings will emerge. Water as often as needed when there is no rain. Once the weather is warm enough, the seedlings are big enough, and the garden soil is not too wet, transplant into your garden.

If the weather has gotten very warm before I get around to transplanting, I open the jugs so that the seedlings don't overheat and die. The jugs create a greenhouse effect so that sunlight--even on cool days--can make it very warm for the plants.

If the seedlings are very crowded in the jugs, I will sometimes transplant them to separate containers and place them in my greenhouse until they get large enough--and the weather gets warm enough--to plant them in the garden.

This is my method of winter sowing—there are many other ways.

For more information visit www.wintersown.org. 

There is also a very helpful Facebook group: www.facebook.com/groups/wintersown/