Sunday, June 27, 2010

We are getting results!

We are finally seeing some of the fruits of our labor - yippee!! And discovering the Macro setting on my camera I am also able to document our beauties a lot better, double yippee!!!


Last night we tried a couple of radishes, yow-we they were spicy!


Unfortunately, I don't remember what variety they were as we have two in the garden. Note for next year, keep a better garden plan...



We also are starting to see some of our round zucchini. Speaking of squashes we got a beautifull array from yesterday's CSA pick-up




Our squash patch is looking pretty good too.



We also have a variety of tomatoes coming in, considering we have about 12 tomato plants I'm looking forward to the end of the summer when we won't have to buy them, local and organic can get pricey! Hmmmm I wonder of the CSA will have tomatoes...




Here are the Brandywines, they are still tiny.








When I bought the 3 Lemon Boys one plants already had a tomato, this is it I haven't noticed any more, but the plants are a bit of a jumble...











Our Patio Tomato, while still tiny has a nice piece of fruit on it's way.






We also have 3 Romas that are doing pretty well. It looks like all of them are starting to bear fruit,




and our Acid Free Yellow is also starting to bear fruit






We also have peas that are podding, now I don't like peas but tasting these I may have to change my mind. Our Spinach never does well, grows too fast and flowers to quickly on us. I think next year I will be planting a few rows of peas instead of spinach


The rest of the garden is doing well, our herbs are looking good:

Cilantro


Basil





Mint




Parsley





and Oregano













We have green beans that I think are going to be really nice






We also have a few rogues!

Butternuts in the compost


Tomatoes in the greens



A Zinnia in the tomatoes




and a Sunflower between the asparagus and zucchini


Speaking of Sunflowers, some of my more established ones are starting to bloom, shame they didn't make it to 7 - 8 feet like last year, however, it's nice to see the flowers and their friends


Sunday, June 13, 2010

Filling it in


So I decided to add a few more seeds today. The beans are growing quickly so I filled in the open spaces with more, I used the square foot method, however, they can be 3 inches apart. I started seeds indoors and for shits and giggles planted a seed at the same time, well that one is now the biggest bean I have!









I also planted some more beets since what came up was a bit sparse. The radishes (behind the beets) are doing well as are the turnips.


My favorite - sunflowers - are also doing well. I have to figure out how to get them to not break. These seeds were propagated from the wonderful sunflowers we had last year.







I also went a little crazy and planted a whole back row of sunflowers!








Our collards and chard are still doing well, the spinach is not looking so pretty though...

Sunday, June 6, 2010

Recipe of the Week - Stuffed Tomatoes

This one is a nice treat during a hot day, you can serve on a bed of greens as an entree or you can make little ones and serve them as appetizers.


Stuffed Tomatoes

Ingredients

    Red Ripe Tomatoes, 3 large whole (3" dia) Mushrooms, fresh, 1 cup, pieces or slices Lemon Juice, 1 lemon yields Garlic, 4 cloves Shallots, 3 tbsp chopped Carrots, raw, 1 cup, chopped Walnuts, .5 cup shelled (50 halves) Sage, ground, 1 tsp Oregano, ground, 1 tsp Thyme, ground, 1 tsp Fresh Chives, 2 tbsp chopped

Directions

Put the tomatoes aside.

Process all of the ingredients except the chives to a paste-like consistency.

Cut the tops off of the tomatoes and scoop out the insides and put your filling in. Chill in fridge if desired and garnish with the fresh chives or parsley

Number of Servings: 3

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Back in the garden again!

Well folks last weekend was a great weekend to get back into the garden. A few weeks ago we moved the seedlings outside. We have a few yellow peppers from seeds I saved from an organic pepper.



There are cucumbers, zucchinis, and butternut squashes.





The big one on the right is a butternut squash from seeds I saved. It was a large one that I used for our Regifting Party in January. I made a fab Moroccan Stew and Cousous with Chickpeas.







We also have collards (here is a photo of one the triffid collards that self sowed from last year's batch) and Swiss chard.

















If you look closely you might be able to see the rogue tomatoes growing with the chard and collards.












Of my many, many tomato seedlings I had only one survivor.


The fun part is figuring out what it is since I lost track a few weeks ago. We were able to put 4 in the ground but after back to back 80+ degree days I lost 3 of them.

No worries though, I did pick up a few tomato plants, about 9, at our local hardware store. I bought 3 Romas and 3 Lemon boys, a Brandywine, a Patio and a yellow acid-free variety tomato. And of course we have the rogue tomatoes




I also planted radishes, beets and turnips in the garden bed with oregano just on the outside and sage in the flower garden.




In pots out back we have cilantro,



parsley, basil, radicchio, arugula, eggplant, mini peppers



and kitties.

Out front we have butternut squashes and more tomatoes and maybe some peppers.