The kitchen garden

The beds beside the house, with their roots, alliums, beans, cabbages, tomatoes and herbs.

25 documents · 4 chapters · 13 dishes · 84 rows

In the chapters

Chapter 5 Making Ground
At the Bench: 3. Asking with a cabbage
Chapter 6 The Five-Year Conversation
The Story: Cabbage, carrot, potato, The garden beside the field, The pulses and the ones from far away, Spice, and the coffee you will not drink
At the Bench: 3. Potatoes Safety, 7. Onions from seed, and garlic, 8. The hotbed Safety, 9. Vegetable seed: the biennials and the tomato Safety
Chapter 7 The Orchard and the Wild
The Story: Herbs and tisanes
Chapter 12 Cold and Dark
Numbers to Carry: Apples away from potatoes
Chapter 13 Sour
At the Bench: 1. Sauerkraut, the master recipe for every fermented vegetable Safety

Documents 25

On the Menu

Sauerkraut and lacto-fermented vegetables Pumpkin soup Cabbage rolls Herb and leaf salads with vinaigrette The alliums in everything Potato gnocchi Roast chicken with herbs Chickpea butter masala Honey cake with the replacement spices Jam with beet sugar Horseradish cream Pressed oils and herb oil Beet sugar and syrup

In the Workshop

The onion, the daylength and the Darren

In the log 84

53 confirmed
20 amended
1 partly confirmed
9 unresolved
1 dropped
22 marked for safety

H7 amended Safety Do not spread stove ash on the woodlot or garden: it carries metals from the city's air
W4 confirmed Safety Bare copper plus acid (vinegar, wine, tomato, apple, whey) gives verdigris, an emetic; every pan that meets acid is tinned
F10 amended Safety Chickpea Ascochyta at 1.1 mm rain; do not save seed from affected plants; thiram/copper dressing kills inoculant
F3 amended Safety Potato solanine from light; store dark 4–8 °C; discard green tubers; cure in dark
F4 confirmed Safety Raw/slow-cooked beans: phytohaemagglutinin, boil hard 10 min
F5 amended Safety Aflatoxin/ochratoxin in beans stored above 13–14 % / aw 0.65
F66 amended Safety Hotbed: trench 60 cm × 1.40 m east-west, 10 cm gravel, horse manure 45 to 50 cm in 15 cm lifts at 55 to 60 % moisture, 5 cm buffer, 20 cm medium; passes 45 °C in 48 to …
F71 amended Safety Tomato seed ferment 24 to 72 h, never over 72 (sprouting), pH 3.8 to 4.2; hot-water seed treatment 50 °C (value lost, standard) 20 min brassica, 25 min carrot and …
F9 confirmed Safety Late blight shared by potato and tomato; keep apart; eaves/fleece
O12 amended Safety Mugwort and ground ivy contraindicated in pregnancy; yarrow 1.5–4 g/150–250 ml up to 4×/day (EMA); horseradish/chicory contraindications
O3 amended Safety Wild garlic look-alikes: Convallaria, Colchicum, Arum all lethal/severe; smell test fails by olfactory fatigue; Brandenburg Red List Cat. 1, picking forbidden
O8 confirmed Safety Dried herbs carry Salmonella, E. coli, B. cereus, S. aureus; drying is no kill step; cold brew only with pasteurised herbs; botulism in sealed low-acid brews
A16 amended Safety Whey from salted cheese poisons a pig without other water (salt toxicity); raw potato and sprouts carry solanine and raw starch passes unused, boil and discard water; …
A5 amended Safety Bloat: wet clover on empty stomach, left flank, kills in an hour; walk, stick across mouth, 0.5 l vegetable oil or paraffin; trocar at highest point left flank, a hand …
A9 amended Safety Comfrey external use only (pyrrolizidine alkaloids, liver); wormwood contains thujone, old wormers killed animals; library gives no dose for any herb
E11 unresolved Safety Garden pond the commonest drowning site for small children in Germany; drowns in a minute in 20 cm silently; fence 1.2 m with child-proof gate from the day it holds water
C1 amended Safety Water bath: 10 min for jams and pickles in half-litre jars; 20 to 25 min for whole fruit and acidified tomatoes in litre jars; 5 min more per 300 m altitude; tomatoes …
C2 amended Safety Pressure canner: 116 °C at 0.7 bar (10 psi) at sea level; vent 10 min; meat and stock in litre jars 90 min; beans, carrots, beetroot 25 to 30 min; restart timing if …
C8 amended Safety Sprouted potatoes are safe once sprouts and any green are cut away
R1 amended Safety Sauerkraut 20 g salt per kg (18 to 30 range); brined vegetables 35 to 50 g per kg total; 18 to 22 °C first week then cellar
R4 amended Safety Mould on brine surface: skim if vegetables submerged, brine still safe
D8 amended Safety Any herb picked low to the ground gets hot water for at least five minutes against the fox tapeworm; eggs survive freezing
H13 confirmed Hannah Glasse 1747, dripping pan "very clean and nice" for a roasting hare; William Kitchiner, Cook's Oracle 1817, pulse of 100,800 beats a day as a timer, physician …
H23 confirmed Tiergarten felled 1945 to 1947 with Holzsammelschein permits, potatoes between stumps; about 200,000 trees to a few hundred; replanted from 1949 with saplings from West …
W43 confirmed Spreewald linseed oil eaten raw with quark and potatoes as the region's own dish
G20 confirmed VDLUFA humus ledger: cabbage and vegetables −1,000, potatoes and roots −760, winter rye −280, grain legumes +160, clover-grass and vetch +600 to +1,400 kg humus-C/ha/yr; …
G28 confirmed Berlin Rieselfelder from 1876 (Hobrecht's sewer system), about 10,000 ha at their peak, closed in the 1980s when Ruhleben and other works took over; grew vegetables for …
G31 confirmed Darwin, The Formation of Vegetable Mould through the Action of Worms, 1881, the last book before his death in 1882
G39 confirmed No mustard or oilseed radish before brassicas; clubroot spores 10 to 20 years; 4 to 6 years between brassicas, 3 between potatoes
G41 confirmed Red cabbage anthocyanin: red at pH 1 to 3, purple to violet 4 to 7, blue to blue-green 8 to 11, yellow above 11; extract by boiling; calibrate against buffers; poor …
G47 confirmed Vegetables on sand take about 4 l/m²/day at peak, about 600 l/m² over 150 days; May to September rain about 300 mm; deficit about 300 l/m²
F13 confirmed Five-year rotation lupin→cabbage→carrot→potato→rye with the stated cover crops and dates
F15 confirmed Humus ledger figures (cabbage −1000, potato −760, rye −280, lupin +160, clover 600–1400; −75 kg floor)
F18 confirmed Rye allelopathy suppresses small seeds for weeks; carrots two years from rye; fresh dung forks carrots
F22 confirmed Barbarea vulgaris G-type trap crop for flea beetle and diamondback; net <1 mm
F23 confirmed Carrot fly: onion/coriander/summer savory within ~1 m
F24 confirmed Carrot bed 2–3 cm tillage, Apr–Jul sowing; Landsberger Gemenge 20–35 dt/ha DM by spring
F25 confirmed Potato: chit 1–2 weeks cool/light, cut and suberise, trench 10–15 cm, 30 cm apart, hill at 20–30 cm, dig after senescence, cure dark
F26 unresolved Yield 20 t/ha potatoes, 3 t/ha rye on sand (model); 60 kg potatoes and 80 kg grain per person per year; 30 m² and 300 m² per person
F27 confirmed Colorado beetle: Germany 1877 (Mülheim), eradicated; re-established from France 1930s; DDR "Amikäfer" leaflet campaign 1950; children collected into paraffin
F29 confirmed Heirloom potatoes: Bamberger Hörnla ~1870 Franconia, Linda 1974, Adretta, Ackersegen, Vitelotte pre-1850, Rosa Tannenzapfen
F36 unresolved Chickpea GDD 1,287–1,612 vs ~1,480 season; sow late Apr–early May, ~80 kg/ha, 33–44/m², rows 45–60 cm; Mesorhizobium inoculant needed
F37 unresolved Black bean: sow second half May, 5–8 cm in-row, heat at anthesis −50–71 % seed, Rhizobium phaseoli not native
F39 confirmed Tomato: sow indoors mid-Mar 1 cm, prick out, plant after Eisheiligen, strip 20 cm, 1–3 leaders, water base morning
F41 confirmed Tomato seed fermentation 2–3 days
F42 confirmed Marggraf 1747; Achard at Kaulsdorf; Cunern 1801 first beet sugar factory with royal funding; Napoleonic blockade; beet ~20–25 % of world sugar
F43 confirmed Beet 16–20 % sucrose, Sep–Nov, −760 humus, 3–5 yr gap, hand weeding hurdle, organic 0.3 % of EU, clamp frost
F44 confirmed Beet syrup at home, ~1 kg from 7–8 kg beet (Rübenkraut)
F57 confirmed Elsholtz 1623 to 1688, Vom Garten-Baw 1667 (133 gives 1666); Reichart 1685 to 1775, Land- und Gartenschatz six volumes 1753 to 1774; Werder as Berlin's market garden; …
F58 confirmed Onion bulbs at 14.0 to 14.5 h daylength (late April at 52°N), needs 8 to 12 leaves by 21 June; from seed sown 15 March to 5 April: 140 to 160 days, bolting under 1 %, 1 …
F60 confirmed Garlic planted 10 to 25 October at 8 to 10 °C soil at 10 cm, never before 1 October or after 10 November, 6 to 8 cm deep, 12 to 15 cm in 25 cm rows; scape removal +25 to …
F61 confirmed White rot sclerotia live 20 to 40 years; bait of 10 kg crushed allium waste per 100 l, 7 days, applied midsummer at 15 to 20 °C soil with no host, hyphae die in 10 to 14 …
F63 confirmed Kitchen garden for four: 25 beds of 12 m² = 300 m², 18 crops, 1,255 kg a year after a 35 % margin (15 storage, 12 pests, 8 trimming), 225 to 255 h (70 Feb to Apr, 85 May …
F64 confirmed Crop yields kg/m²: cabbage 6.5 to 9.3, kale 4.4 to 6.6, swede 10 to 15, beetroot 4.8 to 7.2, carrot 5 to 8, parsnip 5.5 to 8.8, squash 2.6 to 4.6, peas 2 to 3, lettuce …
F69 confirmed Isolation m / minimum plants: tomato 3 to 10 (15 to 30 exserted) / 20 to 35; bean 3 to 5 / 50; pea 2 to 3 / 50; lettuce 3 to 5 / 35 to 50; squash 800 to 1,500 / 30 to …
F70 partly confirmed Ellis-Roberts safe moisture and life in a sealed cellar jar at 8 to 12 °C: tomato 6 to 7 % 5 to 7 y, bean 9 to 11 % 3 to 5 y, pea 9 to 11 % 4 to 6 y, cabbage 5 to 6 % 4 …
F77 confirmed Second-round disagreements printed in the Broker's paragraph: onion consumption 30 (132) vs 12 kg/person (134); curing 14 to 21 (132) vs 10 to 14 days (134); onion seed …
O44 confirmed Rosehip tea in two wars; spring greens list; garlic mustard raw (myrosinase 45–55 °C, denatures >75 °C)
A18 confirmed Plant diet gap: rye 1.5 % fat, potato and cabbage near none; working body 60–80 g fat a day, child a larger share; the rotation gives about 10 g
A20 confirmed Rye and potato lysine-limited, lupin and bean sulphur-amino-acid-limited; grain-plus-pulse complementarity; higher need in under-fives, pregnancy, convalescence
A33 confirmed Family of four on sand: garden 1,000 m², rye 1,200 + seed, potatoes 150 + 550 for pig, lupin fifth of arable, orchard 0.25 ha, pasture 1.2, meadow 0.6, heifer 0.9, pig …
A40 confirmed 118: 200 kg sow 588 kg concentrate/yr = 0.084 ha; finisher 278 kg = 0.039 ha; doubled on sand at 3 t/ha; 4 kg boiled potatoes replace 1 kg grain, 278 kg grain = 1,100 kg …
A55 unresolved Herb list (thyme, oregano, sage, turmeric, ginger, linseed, psyllium, sweet chestnut, tormentil, oak bark, St John's wort, calendula, garlic, comfrey, wormwood) with no …
A56 confirmed Turn: Red List breeds with per-head subsidy; water buffalo on the Tegeler Fließ, Heck cattle at Hobrechtsfelde for the birds; hens legal in Berlin gardens, a hundred …
A77 confirmed Hen ration 80 g grain, 30 g pulse, 40 g roots, 25 ml whey, 8 g grit; c. 29 kg grain a bird a year, 438 kg for 15 birds, 0.18 to 0.22 ha of rye
B26 confirmed Schlachtfest: home pig slaughter common in Brandenburg villages into the 1970s, between first frost and Christmas; Hausschlachter ~20 pigs a season for a fee and a …
B38 confirmed German seam cuts and uses: Hals/Kamm goulash and Kochfleisch; Bug: Schaufelstück, Falsches Filet, dicker Bug (Sauerbraten); Hochrippe roast; Querrippe and Brust …
B44 confirmed Blood sausage / Grützwurst: per litre blood 1 kg boiled rind and head meat, 300 g scalded back-fat dice, 18 g salt/kg of whole, marjoram, pepper, allspice, boiled barley …
B54 confirmed Fat: cow 30–40 kg fat and 40 kg bone; pig 12 kg fat and 10 kg bone; render within 12 h or hold ≤7 °C (Reg 853/2004); suet 86–90 % lipid, trim 62–76 %; dry rendering …
B58 confirmed Bone meal: spent bones burned in a wood fire to white and crumbling (needs >600 °C; 62 gives calcination stages), pounded and sieved; bone ash ~a third P2O5 (62's "up to …
S10 amended Egg floats at about 10 to 12 % brine; potato floats at 3 to 5 %
C10 confirmed Storage temperatures: potato 4 °C, apple 1 to 3 °C, cabbage near 0 °C; cellar 0 to 4 °C at 80 to 95 % RH
C12 confirmed Per head per year about 90 kg bread and grain, 70 kg potatoes, 100 kg vegetables, 65 kg fruit (126 gives 93, 71.7, 98.6, 66.5); wheat packs to nearly 800 kg/m³ (772)
C16 amended Ethylene from apples makes potatoes sprout; apples on a shelf above the potato bin lose the potatoes by February
R8 amended Dutch settlers brought cucumber pickling to the Spreewald in the 14th century; Fontane on Spreewald pickles (1860s)
M23 dropped Quark with potatoes and linseed oil as the Spreewald dish "on a Friday for three hundred years"
D17 confirmed Boil 60 to 90 min hard; cooked-cabbage DMS mark of a short boil; cool fast; 30 g hops at start and 15 g at the end for 20 l
D44 unresolved Korn: unhopped rye or wheat beer distilled twice; Prussian potato schnapps the 19th century's cheapest spirit, sold by the bucket from the estates east of the Elbe; …
J11 confirmed 117's model: 1.0 ha arable in five 0.2 ha blocks (lupin, cabbage, carrots, potatoes, rye) + 0.5 ha clover grass; 3 goats, 12 hens, 2 pigs
J12 confirmed Sand yields: potatoes 20 t/ha, carrots 30, cabbage 30 (70 % edible), rye 30 dt/ha, lupin 20 dt/ha; block outputs 4,000 / 6,000 / 4,200 / 600 / 400 kg; milk 2,100 kg, …
J14 unresolved Kitchen arithmetic (own): 340 kg rye to the kitchen → ~280 kg flour at 80–85 % extraction → ~400 kg bread → a large loaf a day; 4,000 kg potatoes less 400 seed and 1,000 …
J20 unresolved Three narrows: (1) mid-April to end May: potatoes in, lupin, carrots, cabbage transplant, kidding, garden; (2) June hay, late July rye at yellow ripeness, August second …
J21 unresolved Hay: a mower with a peened scythe cuts about a third of a hectare of grass a day; rye 0.2 ha: two days cutting with cradle and binder, one day stooking, a dry week in …
J34 confirmed 122's 0.5 ha at 20,000 l/day for 150 days needs 4.1 ha of roof; a well would need ~1,700 lifts a day; the garden is not irrigated (Ch 5)