Showing posts with label 2011 garden. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2011 garden. Show all posts
the zucchini bread that could save the world
You might as well go all-out, in that case:
I was totally caught up: The last zucchini grated went into this cake yesterday morning: and then I went out in the afternoon and there were 5 or 6 more!
the zucchini crisis has been downgraded
All week, I struggled to keep up with produce. It's not exactly that we're swimming in tomatoes (not at all, yet); more of an battle of motivation and other parts-of-life-busyness. There's been some pickling, canning, baking, and some great meals, but still a feeling like I wasn't keeping up. |
| no matter how busy I feel, I am never as busy as these guys... |
And all week, I kept thinking if I could JUST MAKE ZUCCHINI BREAD, it would somehow indicate that I was catching up, and in that way would SAVE THE WORLD. But it never happened. Zucchini bread is just never a priority, no matter what you tell yourself.
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| Did I mention the 20 pounds of grapes from the neighbor's vines? |
So today, I tackled the nagging chores in my head, the ones that appear first thing in the morning when you hit the alarm clock and try to doze for another 7 minutes. I picked the greens that need picking in the wee hours before it gets hot. I made yogurt, scraping the last 2 tablespoons from the old jar for the new batch (as always just-in-time production, sigh). Pizza dough was prepped for dinner; dishes were done, scum was skimmed from the pickle crocks; I cleaned the damn house. I picked more tomatoes and cucumbers. I purged the fridge of old leftovers, and composted last year's horseradish roots that for some reason I kept saving in the chill drawer, despite their sad condition. I did the semi-weekly countertop tomato prioritization, and started a batch of sauce with the most-ripe, and have a colander ready for the dehydrator later.
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| not-very-impressive but notable: my first batch of pressure canning! Check that off the "things that I am afraid to do" list. |
When all was said and done, the 4 zucchinis left in the fridge were the least of my worries, and I put off the bread for another day. I'm sure there's a moral to this tale somewhere, if you find it, let me know!
gathering steam
I have noticed around the internets and "real" gardening friends, a moment of doubt, a spot in the lull between spring bounty and the late summer onslaught where we wonder if we planned right, if the weather will cooperate, and maybe it's not going to be the year of our dreams garden-wise.
But then, suddenly, a few days later a walk through the garden yields another picture--of the very beginnings of a deluge of Very. Good. Things. I've compared it in the past to being at the top of the roller coaster, where you feel you are not getting anywhere, right before the swoosh of speed.
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| Not a huge harvest, but not bad for one patch--the golds were from two little organic grocery store spuds that sprouted. Gotta love recycled/free food! |
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| thanks to Bt and some active wasps, my savoy regrouped and turned out lovely! |
Not that all is perfect around here, I am somewhat bemused to find my brand new beds are out-performing my older established garden. My tomatoes are a little under-loaded with fruit. Here I was thinking that years of soil amendment would trump fresh soil. I think I may have overworked my original garden a bit, a few years of 3- and 4-season plantings, not enough room for proper crop rotation, and not enough feeding. I think I will give it all a well-deserved rest this winter, with lots of manure, cover crops, and conscientious planning for next year.
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| fairy tale eggplants, as prolific as described in the catalog, and so pretty! I have a feeling this may be the year of the eggplant. |
But the new garden: 4 foot tall eggplants! 6 foot high tomatoes. Crazy bean patches and running squash. My Trombetta climbing zucchini is ginormous, perhaps too happy as it is slow to make real fruit despite being 8 feet tall!
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| Climbing summer squash, thank goodness behind it are ground cherries, who are also out-of-control. |
The ideas for dinner are way outpacing the number of meals in a week here, I think we have to start having people over. A lot. I also took a load of kale and other veggies to a food pantry in my neighborhood, which I am planning on making into a habit.
leek love
I credit El with helping me diversify my onion-y plantings. I had one really good onion year a few seasons back, right when I was getting serious about growing food. I used purchased plants of storage onions, and we ate most of the winter. After that? Not much luck. I started trying to grow from seed, and have not had good success. Or maybe it was just a really good onion year, followed by meh.Anyway I've since learned to spread my wings a bit, and now grow lots of alliums in all seasons: walking/potato onions, Tokyo bunching, chives, etc. And the leeks. For some reason these have been way easier for me to grow from seed, and this year I have a wonderful crop.
As a newbie cook I looked at any recipe including leeks and in my mind read "expensive onion" and just substituted. To buy a leek, and then use the miniscule "only white" parts per the instructions, just seemed beyond me. But I bought a pack of Bleu de Solaize leeks from Seed Savers, and now, I'm a believer.
They are easy, they don't take up much room, and they are lovely. Both to look at and to eat.
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| tonight's dinner: goat cheese, leek, tomato and zucchini galette. |
I'm going out of my way to look for leek recipes now :)
Around here 4th of July weekend is kind of a deadline of sorts--we have a big fireworks event in our neighborhood, and it becomes an arbitrary goal to finish outside projects. Neighbors build decks, and seal their driveways, primp their yards and mulch their garden beds to at least hide weeds for one weekend (okay, that last one is mine).
And while we're normally a sleepy little street, for one day loads of people walk by, so my front yard has an audience other than the immediate neighbors.
And now I find myself in a lull, what to do, besides harvest the broccoli and beets that are ready? Tomatoes are setting, I found a bud in the artichoke (woohoo!) and with a little 90 degree weather the eggplant and peppers are finally looking happier.
Soon, meal planning will entirely revolve around what needs eating. For now, it's a pleasant wander clipping good stuff here and there.
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| note random black-eyed susans, the patch moves around the yard from year to year. |
And while we're normally a sleepy little street, for one day loads of people walk by, so my front yard has an audience other than the immediate neighbors.
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| Early July isn't our biggest bloom-time in front, but it has some color. It's not all veggies around here... |
And now I find myself in a lull, what to do, besides harvest the broccoli and beets that are ready? Tomatoes are setting, I found a bud in the artichoke (woohoo!) and with a little 90 degree weather the eggplant and peppers are finally looking happier.
Soon, meal planning will entirely revolve around what needs eating. For now, it's a pleasant wander clipping good stuff here and there.
I'm on vacation this week, and entirely enjoying myself despite the fact that I have gone nowhere and have done things like wash the side of my house, cleaned the car, and weeded. But there's been plenty of fun stuff too, like this
And this:
The first of these I've ever grown.
That went into this:
And if I'm not crazy enough, I just put a strawberry pie in the oven at 9:00. It's a special kind of madness, isn't it?
Also on the gardening front, I discovered the ultimate mulch today. The vacant city lot (across a sidewalk from the bit we just bought) gets mowed every few weeks or so. If you go through and mow it with the bagger in another week, you get this perfect mix of partially dried and extra long grass clippings. It's like free hay! Well, definitely worth the wee bit of gas I used to mow it, and I made the neighbor happy too, since it looks a lot better after a second grooming.
And, my dog mauled the pea patch today (he has learned to jump the 4 foot fence). I should have never let him watch me shell the first picking, he's way too clever and decided to harvest his own! Between the chickens and my pea-loving hound, this may be my worst pea season ever. Oh well, next year!
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| strawberry rhubarb jam |
And this:
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| scape pesto |
The first of these I've ever grown.
That went into this:
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| fresh pasta with peas, favas, broccoli, fresh herbs, and dried tomatoes & mushrooms. |
And if I'm not crazy enough, I just put a strawberry pie in the oven at 9:00. It's a special kind of madness, isn't it?
Also on the gardening front, I discovered the ultimate mulch today. The vacant city lot (across a sidewalk from the bit we just bought) gets mowed every few weeks or so. If you go through and mow it with the bagger in another week, you get this perfect mix of partially dried and extra long grass clippings. It's like free hay! Well, definitely worth the wee bit of gas I used to mow it, and I made the neighbor happy too, since it looks a lot better after a second grooming.
And, my dog mauled the pea patch today (he has learned to jump the 4 foot fence). I should have never let him watch me shell the first picking, he's way too clever and decided to harvest his own! Between the chickens and my pea-loving hound, this may be my worst pea season ever. Oh well, next year!
midsummer?
Doesn't feel like mid-summer here, but the thunderstorm that just passed was a classic summertime event.
So even though the main planting is done, more projects remain... This week I've been back working on our original veggie garden.
We rearranged the fence which now encompasses the entire back corner of the yard and mulched (no more mowing!) Having paths along the outside means now I can reach each side of my four-foot-wide beds. Also--no more chickens and/or dog eating peas through the fence! The gateway is recycled from our old fence line, and the gates need a little work still.
It's funny having two garden spaces. I'm learning where I should be redundant (parsley! Definitely need in the closer patch--now remedied). But I am also looking forward to being able to rotate crops more easily.
Note the one covered row here, the brassicas are bursting out of their hoop now, but looking good:
Picking beets this week, and lots of kale, but ready to be eating some summertime crops soon.
hoop doings
More progress, another long weekend.
We pounded the side poles in, and I got to learn how to drill screws into metal for the first time, a fun new skill :)
Monday I filled the beds. I had reserved an adjacent 4 x 8 bed for this purpose last fall, and added piles of compost before winter. Somehow this and some soil from the fence post holes mostly filled the 2 main hoop-house beds. It may sink down a bit! Also added hardware cloth around 2 edges so far, to keep out voles. Will eventually do all the sides, and back fill a bit.
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| check out the BIG stone we dug out, no wonder post 3 stopped 10 inches in, sigh... |
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| Just starting to get shade late in the afternoon. The last bed on the end will come later as more soil is available. It's a little easier to work around for now. |
We have pretty warm summers here, so it's not a real need, except for wishing I had it up 6 weeks ago for our coooool spring (we had two nights with frost advisories this week).
logistics
We are finally making headway now. Our wood order was delivered around 3 on Wednesday, and we had 4 holes dug and posts set by 7 or so that night! Yesterday, we added the dog-eared pieces.
So garden design, which of course has been ongoing, is adjusting a bit to the feel of the new space. The hoop house will be centered in the back, with about 6 feet of clearance to the fences. We have an overgrown raspberry patch in this area, which is being tamed a bit to run behind the hoop and along the older fence. I think raspberries should be able to handle the slightly shaded conditions.
I am planning beds alongside the new fence as well, but not sure how shady it will be. We don't have a lot of experience with shade in our crazy sunny yard, so this is a new one for us. Possible options are just to have compost bins there, or it might be good for asparagus or summertime greens? Climbing beans?
Also a logistics issue is water. Our current and only exterior faucet is WAY down that hill, on the far side of our house (you can barely see behind our garage...which yes, is at eye level here, its quite a hill). Long-term, we'd like to add another faucet, but for this year at least we'll just be running hose or creating a holding tank. Any suggestions for favorite quick-release extenders for hoses, or alternative ideas?
So much to do, and the gulf between the neat potager garden of my dreams and the chaotic messy garden of reality is great. So off the computer I should go, and get to work.
