Randomness from the past week

We've been eating like kings around here!  In addition to what's below, the zucchini is coming in and getting all grilled up now as well.  Kaya liked it the first time she tried it (the Black Beauty), but not so much the second time (the Grey zucchini).  She has a very sensitive palette and said the Grey tasted too zucchini-i.

I've prepared the turnips like mashed potatoes and roasted them - both quite good.

Just the tip of the iceberg.  I've already put up 5 jars of refrigerator pickles and they're just getting started.  Note to self...grow more dill next year (and possibly less cukes).

I dug up a test hill last night and found these beauties!  1 plant = 1 pound of taters.  It was the perfect amount for dinner.  The girls wanted seconds so they ended up eating all 4 of the big ones and I scarfed up the rest.  The flesh had an almost creamy consistency and the skins so delicate that both girls ate the whole thing.

We also spent some time at the Dragon Boat Festival and enjoyed some delicious Asian food.  Well, Kassie had a hotdog, but Kaya and I enjoyed some delicious Asian food.  Kaya finally had enough of the rainbow and butterfly face painting and opted for the half skull this time.  She loved it but at the same time was afraid that she was going to scare people too much.

I set up a tight rope in the backyard using my old Harley tie down straps. 

It actually worked pretty well.

Welcome to the Nursery

There are babies poppin' out everywhere!

A wee little Howden Pumpkin

Hubbard Squash - I think this baby is the equivalent of a 9 lb human newborn

Black Beauty Zucchini - hope to be grilling this up in about a week

Long Pie Pumpkin

Gray Zucchini - looking pale green

Buen Gusto de Horno Squash - the plant is huge so i'm guessing these might get quite large

Vines are starting to overtake the space in between rows

I'm trying to direct the vines somewhat so they don't end up in the yard.  Spacing could get a little tricky.

He just loves watching veggies grow!
Ok, it's his usual psychotic staring at the ball waiting for me to throw it.

Over in the melon patch - itty bitty Tigger melons

Baby and Mama.
Mama was the first and only ripe for the pickin' so she became a delicious snack about a minute later.

Minnesota Midget melon

Cukes are starting to go nuts and the Watermelon are venturing out and over the front of the bed.
Haven't spotted any Watermelon babies yet.

Garden Update - July 2, 2014

First part of the garlic harvest.  Duganski in the middle and Susanville on the left.   And my first 2 turnips!

The remainder of the Susanville.  I ended up with a little over 50 heads!

The 3 sisters bed

If the potatoes are doing as well underground as they are above, I'm in for a terrific harvest.

Howden pumpkins

Gray Zucchini.  So far the leaves are gray, not exactly what I was expecting...we'll see what the fruit look like.

The pole beans are doing their thang with the corn.

Roses and Peas.  Peas and Roses.

Kale, Collards and Carrots.  As you can see, I've been harvesting and quite enjoying the Kale and Collards.

From back to front... Sunflowers, Boston and Muncher Cukes, Tigger Melons and Ali Baba Watermelons

Oh yeah, baby!  Won't be long now!  Hopefully before the crush of Cucumber beetles takes over.  I've been out plucking them off by hand (the beetles) every evening and so far there has been minimal damage.  But the babies don't hatch for another few weeks.

Cukes. Climbing.

Onions, Minnesota Midget melons and Texas Gold Watermelon

Onions are taking shape nicely!

I'm so proud of these guys...wasn't sure they were even going to make it for a while there.

Tomatoes...mostly Roma and Amish Paste.  The row closest to the fence are the slicers but they have not been doing much.  I guess that 30 minutes less of sunlight has really set them back.  Hoping for a growth spurt!

Garlic Scape Pesto

It's my first year growing garlic.  I planted two varieties - a hardneck, Duganski - and a softneck, Susanville.  I put 70 cloves in the ground in October and I'm just a few weeks away from harvest, or so the scapes tell me.  Once the scapes develop, harvest is usually 4-8 weeks away.  From what I had read, I thought only the hardneck varieties were likely to produce scapes, but my softnecks have sent up the flower stalk as well.  Fine by me.  I knew they were edible, but wasn't sure exactly what I was going to do with them.  They first appeared about 3 weeks ago and I'd been cutting one off here and there and adding it to my salad greens that have also been coming in.  I had seen a couple recipes for garlic scape pesto and it seemed like I should have enough scapes, so I decided to give it a try.

Garlic Scape Pesto

1 cup rough chopped garlic scapes
A heavy 1/4 cup pine nuts and/or walnuts (I used some of each)
Juice from 1/2 a lemon, plus some zest
1/2 teaspoon salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1/4 - 1/2 cup of olive oil
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

Lightly toast the nuts in a dry pan over low heat.  Allow to cool for a few.  Combine toasted nuts, scapes, lemon juice, salt and pepper in a food processor and blend well.  Drizzle in olive oil while continuing to blend.  Transfer to a bowl and stir in the Parmesan.

I actually forgot that you usually stir the cheese in after.  I blended it all in the food processor.

I imagine this will last in the refrigerator for at least a couple of weeks

Use as you would your regular basil pesto....with salmon or in pasta.  Beware - you can do some serious vampire warding off after eating this stuff!

Lunch!

    

Pectin or Pect-out?

The strawberries are coming in much better this year!  I've already harvested more in the first picking than I did all of last season...and of greater quality and size.  I think the winter mulching and consistent watering have helped immensely.  Here's my first little harvest:

So juicy and flavorful!

Our 20 or so plants provide us with enough for fresh snacking, but not enough to can jam.  So it was off to the Farmer's Market to hunt down some additional harvest.  The girls and I went a couple weekends ago, but didn't arrive until 11am for the market that opened at 8am.  Sold Out!  The berries were all gone within the first hour or so I was told.  I was intent on landing some fruit because last year I was not quite as determined, never came across any, and regretted it the whole season.  So last weekend I took a solo trip back to the same market, arriving no later than 8:30am.  Score!

12 pints from a great, beyond organic/biodynamic local farm

 I promptly turned them into sweet ruby gold...

Had planned on using the old fashioned no-added-pectin method of just boiling them down for half a day.  I usually lean toward food in it's purest form and adding anything "extra" rubs me wrong.  But as I looked into it more, the downsides to not using additional pectin were further loss of nutrients and less end product, all due to the long cooking time.  And of course, the possibility that the jam would not set.  So I went ahead and used powdered pectin.  Turned out great!

Which method do you prefer - added pectin or not?

Three Sisters

I'm trying out the Three Sisters method of companion planting this year.  It's an old Native American technique whereby corn, beans and squash are planted in close proximity.  The (pole) beans run up the corn stalks providing extra support for each and the squash vine around low to shade out the weeds.  I sowed the corn at the end of April, giving them a bit of a head start, with the goal being about 4" high before the beans and squash went in the ground at the end of May.   I didn't create mounds, as is typical, because my soil type does not jive with mounds.  I tried it last year with my pumpkins and the water just ran off as if they were coated in Rain-X.  Nothing soaked in.  It wasn't until a couple weeks later, upon seeing no sprouts that I realized what was going on and flattened out the mounds.

To accomplish the Three Sisters, I planted 4 corn seeds, 6" apart in a diamond.  Then 4 beans in each corner.  That's one "mound".  Alternating with the corn/bean plots are the squash mounds, with roughly 2-3 plants each.   I had a 10' x 10' space to work with so ended up with 7 corn/bean mounds and 8 squash mounds.

1 variety of corn:
     Golden Bantam

2 varieties of pole beans:
     Kentucky Wonder
     Purple Podded

10 varieties of squash:
     Howden Pumpkin
     Long Pie Pumpkin
     Black Beauty Zucchini
     Gray Zucchini
     Rogosa Violina Gioia Butternut
     Golden Hubbard
     Lemon
     Thelma Sanders Sweet Potato
     Buen Gusto De Horno
     Greek Sweet Red

My seed order from Baker Creek Heirlooms contained a few bonuses.  They must figure anyone ordering over $100 worth of seed has got it pretty bad.  Two of them were the Lemon and Sweet Potato squash.  I couldn't *not* try them, so with only 8 mounds, I had to double up a couple.

I had a little extra space on the shadier end of the bed (left side of photo), so as an afterthought I threw in some old organic potatoes I had sprouting in the basement.  I had held on to them just in case I found room somewhere.  They are doing quite spectacular.

Cardboard and straw mulch application in between rows until the squash vines can start meandering and taking over weed suppression duty.

Everyone seems to be happy and getting along quite well so far.

That Took Some Real Balls