As usual, we are starting to have more zucchini than we can handle. Here, Loris is sauteeing some zucchini with onion before he adds the eggs to make a frittata.
My space to share my love of gardening, cooking, crafting, swim-bike-running, nature, hiking, climbing, and my kids.
Monday, June 30, 2008
Zucchini
As usual, we are starting to have more zucchini than we can handle. Here, Loris is sauteeing some zucchini with onion before he adds the eggs to make a frittata.
Monday night
I stopped by the garden today on my way home from work. It's looking great. I accidentally picked our first tomato, which isn't quite ripe yet, but will be shortly. I also picked another zucchini, a few handfuls of green beans, basil, and parsley.
The lima beans are already up, they started poking out of the ground and uncurling their first sets of leaves on Friday. More are still coming, as I can see from where the dirt is cracking open. The two melons are getting bigger almost daily, but I still don't think we'll be eating them before we leave for Europe.
Tonight for dinner we had green beans cooked with onions, tomato sauce, and parsley, and store-bought gnocchi with freshly made pesto. And homemade bread, which is getting a bit old. And the last bits of cheese from our rafting trip yesterday. We just took a walk to our "neighborhood store" (Rite Aid) to buy milk to eat with our leftover chocolate chip cookies. It's going to be a good evening =)
The lima beans are already up, they started poking out of the ground and uncurling their first sets of leaves on Friday. More are still coming, as I can see from where the dirt is cracking open. The two melons are getting bigger almost daily, but I still don't think we'll be eating them before we leave for Europe.
Tonight for dinner we had green beans cooked with onions, tomato sauce, and parsley, and store-bought gnocchi with freshly made pesto. And homemade bread, which is getting a bit old. And the last bits of cheese from our rafting trip yesterday. We just took a walk to our "neighborhood store" (Rite Aid) to buy milk to eat with our leftover chocolate chip cookies. It's going to be a good evening =)
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Canned dill zucchini
Dilled Zucchini Sticks
Ingredients
(4 servings)
4 1/2 lb Zucchini
3 tb Pickling salt
2 1/2 c White vinegar
1 1/4 c Sugar
1 ts Celery seed
1 ts Dill seed
1 md Cooking onion, thinly sliced
4 Cloves garlic
4 Sprigs dill weed
Instructions
Wash zucchini, retaining peel and removing ends; quarter lengthwise; cut quarters in half. Layer zucchini and salt in a large glass, stainless steel or enamel bowl; let stand 1 hour.Fill boiling water canner with water. Place 4 clean pint mason jars in canner over high heat.
Place snap lids in boiling water; boil 5 min to soften sealing compound.
In stainless steel or enamel saucepan, combine vinegar, sugar, celery and dill seeds; bring to a boil.
Rinse zucchini in cold water; drain thoroughly, pat dry. Add zucchini and onion to pickling liquid; bring to a boil; boil 5 min.
Place 1 clove garlic and 1 large sprig of dill weed in a hot jar; pack zucchini and onion slices snugly in jar to within 3/4 inch of top rim. Add boiling pickling liquid to cover vegetables to within 1/2 inch of top rim. Remove air bubbles by sliding rubber spatula between glass and food; readjust head space to 1/2 inch. Wipe jar rim removing any stickiness. Center Snap Lid on jar; apply screw band just until fingertip tight. Place jar in canner. Repeat for remaining vegetable and pickling liquid.
Cover canner; return water to a boil; process 10 min for pint jars at altitudes up to 1000 ft. Remove jars. Cool 24 hours. Check jar seals. (Sealed lids curve downward.) Remove screw bands. Wipe jars, label and store in a cool, dark place.
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Garlic braid
I harvested the garlic a couple of weeks ago. I had accidentally planted two cloves together in a lot of cases, and I wasn't sure what was going to happen. It turns out that they grew two bulbs right on top of each other, and often one was much bigger and the other much smaller. I think I had around 42 bulbs total, and we almost finished up the bulbs from last year before they went bad completely, so it seems that I'm planting the right amount. If I want to give any more as gifts, I'll have to plant more in the future.
I really wanted to braid them, first because a garlic braid is beautiful, and second because I was hoping they'd take up much less storage space that way. And I think I'm right. I still don't know where to store the braids, though. I made two braids of 13 bulbs each, and the rest are just tied in a bunch for gifts and everyday use.
I really wanted to braid them, first because a garlic braid is beautiful, and second because I was hoping they'd take up much less storage space that way. And I think I'm right. I still don't know where to store the braids, though. I made two braids of 13 bulbs each, and the rest are just tied in a bunch for gifts and everyday use.
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Garden update - end of June
It's the last week of June, and things are looking pretty good. Here’s a rundown on the garden:
1. Cucumber – really great, we’ve had 4 cukes so far and they’re all delicious. These are pickling cukes, so I could pickle some, but I have to check and see how many jars we still have from last year. We don’t eat a whole lot of pickles normally.
2. Melon – doing fantastic for now! We have two melons about the size of a baseball. Unfortunately, they’re starting to climb the leeks that I haven’t gotten out of the ground yet. I’ll have to take care of that this weekend.
3. Basil – growing quickly. We still have frozen pesto from last year, so I’m not really sure what I’m going to do with it yet (except make liquor!).
4. Sauce tomatoes – the roma tomatoes are doing very well, we have a lot of green tomatoes so far and they’re growing nicely. I’m doing my best to keep them trained to the stakes, and it’s going decently well. I think these varieties are a bushier variety and training them to stakes may not be the way to go. Some of them are climbing the stakes pretty well, but others aren’t. I can’t help wondering if I’m accidentally limiting the harvest by pruning them or not. I have to learn more about it.
5. Heirloom tomatoes – 5 plants now have little green tomatoes! Woohoo! The last one doesn’t – it’s a beefsteak, which I’ve read don’t do that well in Sacramento because it’s slightly too hot here. We’re having a spate of slightly cooler days now, so I’m hoping it will set fruit. I’m so excited about slicing into our first heirloom tomatoes.
6. Peppers – I can’t remember if I posted that I planted 6 MORE pepper plants. I believe I now have 36 plants (plus one spicy pepper for Loris). A bunch of them have pretty good-sized peppers on them now – I’m quite happy with how it’s going.
7. Zucchini – We’ve had 5-6 good-sized zucchini so far and they keep coming. Yum!
8. Shallots – I dug up one bunch and they were delicious. It seemed like they’re still dividing. I don’t know how/if I should store them, so the others are still in the ground.
9. Beets – doing well – see previous post(s)
10. Lima beans – Just planted, June 22. Total experiment – let’s see how it goes!
11. Green beans – are doing extremely well. Most of them have grown big and bushy, and we’ve had enough to make a big green bean and potato salad, with another big batch in the fridge.
12. Yellow summer squash – this seemed to suffer after I planted it, but now it’s picked up and doing pretty well. I expect it to start producing any day now.
13. Carrots – Doing well, but they’re also sort of “unwrapping” the outside layer from the core. They’re still edible, but they look awfully funny. I didn’t do the best job of thinning them, so I’m not sure if that’s part of it or not. They do seem to be too close together.
14. Eggplant – The four original ones I planted are getting big and starting to flower. I think we’ll have some eggplant when we get back from Italy, if not before. The last one, which I just planted within the last month, had a hard time after transplanting, but seems to finally be perking up. Whew.
15. Parsley – Growing quickly into bushes. Hopefully I didn’t plant too much! We’ll be making a lot of bagnet this year, I hope.
16. Leeks – are flowering. Not good. They’re forming a woody center stalk, which makes them difficult if not impossible to eat. I have to get them out of the ground to salvage what I can. They do have beautiful flowers at least. They never got big like the ones you buy at the store. Loris says it’s because they’re too close together. Honestly, I’m not sure they’re worth the trouble. I can see lining the border of a bed with them, but dedicating a whole space to them is probably not the way to go. We just don’t need that many.
1. Cucumber – really great, we’ve had 4 cukes so far and they’re all delicious. These are pickling cukes, so I could pickle some, but I have to check and see how many jars we still have from last year. We don’t eat a whole lot of pickles normally.
2. Melon – doing fantastic for now! We have two melons about the size of a baseball. Unfortunately, they’re starting to climb the leeks that I haven’t gotten out of the ground yet. I’ll have to take care of that this weekend.
3. Basil – growing quickly. We still have frozen pesto from last year, so I’m not really sure what I’m going to do with it yet (except make liquor!).
4. Sauce tomatoes – the roma tomatoes are doing very well, we have a lot of green tomatoes so far and they’re growing nicely. I’m doing my best to keep them trained to the stakes, and it’s going decently well. I think these varieties are a bushier variety and training them to stakes may not be the way to go. Some of them are climbing the stakes pretty well, but others aren’t. I can’t help wondering if I’m accidentally limiting the harvest by pruning them or not. I have to learn more about it.
5. Heirloom tomatoes – 5 plants now have little green tomatoes! Woohoo! The last one doesn’t – it’s a beefsteak, which I’ve read don’t do that well in Sacramento because it’s slightly too hot here. We’re having a spate of slightly cooler days now, so I’m hoping it will set fruit. I’m so excited about slicing into our first heirloom tomatoes.
6. Peppers – I can’t remember if I posted that I planted 6 MORE pepper plants. I believe I now have 36 plants (plus one spicy pepper for Loris). A bunch of them have pretty good-sized peppers on them now – I’m quite happy with how it’s going.
7. Zucchini – We’ve had 5-6 good-sized zucchini so far and they keep coming. Yum!
8. Shallots – I dug up one bunch and they were delicious. It seemed like they’re still dividing. I don’t know how/if I should store them, so the others are still in the ground.
9. Beets – doing well – see previous post(s)
10. Lima beans – Just planted, June 22. Total experiment – let’s see how it goes!
11. Green beans – are doing extremely well. Most of them have grown big and bushy, and we’ve had enough to make a big green bean and potato salad, with another big batch in the fridge.
12. Yellow summer squash – this seemed to suffer after I planted it, but now it’s picked up and doing pretty well. I expect it to start producing any day now.
13. Carrots – Doing well, but they’re also sort of “unwrapping” the outside layer from the core. They’re still edible, but they look awfully funny. I didn’t do the best job of thinning them, so I’m not sure if that’s part of it or not. They do seem to be too close together.
14. Eggplant – The four original ones I planted are getting big and starting to flower. I think we’ll have some eggplant when we get back from Italy, if not before. The last one, which I just planted within the last month, had a hard time after transplanting, but seems to finally be perking up. Whew.
15. Parsley – Growing quickly into bushes. Hopefully I didn’t plant too much! We’ll be making a lot of bagnet this year, I hope.
16. Leeks – are flowering. Not good. They’re forming a woody center stalk, which makes them difficult if not impossible to eat. I have to get them out of the ground to salvage what I can. They do have beautiful flowers at least. They never got big like the ones you buy at the store. Loris says it’s because they’re too close together. Honestly, I’m not sure they’re worth the trouble. I can see lining the border of a bed with them, but dedicating a whole space to them is probably not the way to go. We just don’t need that many.
Very quick note on lima beans
I planted two varieties of lima beans this past weekend (Sunday June 22, to be exact). One was a standard variety, the other a baby lima bean. I've never grown lima beans before, but I expect they're not too different from peas, and those did quite well. These are both bush varieties, since I really don't have a system set up for a vining type yet. I'm doing my best to keep them moist by watering them every day. I'll post more about growing them when they actually do something - I believe days to germination is supposed to be 6-10.
Very quick note on beets
As I mentioned in the previous post, I pulled 5 beautiful beets out of the garden the other day. I just checked other past entries in this blog, and apparently I planted them not too long before May 14. So apparently they grow pretty fast in the spring. Good to know. It seems like all the winter veggies that I planted last fall took all winter to grow, but the ones I planted in the spring grew amazingly fast. They're actually pretty easy to grow, and cheap when you consider you just need to buy a packet of seeds. I highly recommend growing them.
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