The poor, hot summer garden.

We are just coming off of a week or two of 100+ degree days. It is freaking brutal out there.

My pepper plants look so bad, I pulled two of them. But this one has a wee little baby bell!

The okra has been the winner this year by FAR. It's so hot now, that production has slowed down considerably.

Pathetic peppers.

One cucumber trying to make it on a dying plant.

Yuck.

Forest of okra.

Dying zucchini, which is now dead.

One hubbard squash plant died overnight. the other is trying- even has some buds on it! But I have a bad feeling about it.

Something chewed straight through my only malabar spinach plant. It was a sturdy, strong, healthy plant about foot and a half high, and something just sheared straight though the stem and left it. :(

My lavender died. 

But my chard is much happier! I finally managed to find a place where it gets bright light but zero indirect sun, and is close to my door so I remember to water it. It still droops a bit in the heat, but it green, and putting out new growth. Yay! I really thought I would lose it.

It's beginning to look like fall?

No. No, it is not beginning to look like fall. It was 105 here yesterday. :/  However, it IS time to start some seeds, to be transplanted outside in hopefully a month or so!

This first round has some broccoli, brussel sprouts, two types of kale, kohlrabi, two types of lettuce and frisee. More to come, as I am hoping to time-stagger some plants. The rest of the seeds that I have will be started outside, I think. My set up above is pretty ghetto, using whatever I could scrounge up around the house, since I am super poor. I hope it works!

Patience, patience, patience.

Last chance for winter squash!

First, the store bought acorn squash transplant died. Then the one Hubbard squash seedling (I planted two seeds) that was growing so lovely died very suddenly and mysteriously. So, I am giving it one more try. technically, I think it might be too late to get anything off of a new plant. I will keep my fingers crossed that freezing weather is not early this year!

They popped up almost immediately, and are already almost twice as big! I am hopeful, which is a dangerous thing in my garden...

Homemade pizza with homemade roasted veggie pizza sauce.

We had some friends over for dinner and Cards Against Humanity (I won! I am the weirdest, apparently!) and I decided to make pizza. It was really fun, and it turned out super delicious. I put out pepperoni, italian sausage, soyrizo, thin sliced yellow squash, fresh sliced jalapenos, fresh spinach, chopped artichoke hearts, shredded mozzarella. I made a homemade pizza sauce the day before, and used the pre-prepped pizza dough from Trader Joe's- wow it was awesome! Fresh, delicious, easy to use. We tried the whole wheat and the herb seasoned, and they were both good, though I would probably just stick with the herb seasoned from here on out.

I cut the raw dough in half and then rolled each piece out into vaguely pizza shaped slabs and plopped them onto oiled pans. Actually, we only have one cookie sheet, so one crust went into a large stainless steel skillet and one went into a medium stainless steel skillet. Strange, but hey- it worked! After slathering the dough with sauce, everyone piled on their favorite toppings and they cooked for about 12 minutes or so. A pizza made with half of the dough was the perfect size for one person. Very easy! I put soyrizo, artichoke hearts and squash on mine. So good!

For the sauce, I used this recipe: Roasted Tomato Pizza Sauce. It was crazy easy, and I WILL be making more of this while the summer tomatoes are at the farmer's market, to stock up in the freezer. Basically, you just chop up an onion, a bell pepper, two garlic cloves, two carrots. Add this to a crap ton of cherry tomatoes (I used mostly little orange ones), mix with olive oil, salt, pepper and thyme. I imagine oregano would be tasty, too. Roast for a while, let cool. Put the peppers aside under saran wrap to let them sweat and then peel the skins off. Puree with some broth. Done! :) Next time, I will add more tomatoes, I think. This recipe is definitely a success!

The night ended with chocolate chip cookies dipped in Trader Joe's Cookie Butter, and Cards Against Humanity. Good times.

 

Weekly farmer's market trip

Three types of tomatoes (most of which will be frozen), a canary watermelon, a kabocha squash, carrots, celeriac root, potatoes (red and purple), lots of long beans, leeks and garlic. Oh, and eggs! 

On the menu: pureed celeriac, squash and leek soup. And a stir fry with the long beans, maybe some leeks, carrots, cabbage (from last week's market trip) served with some noodles and pre-cooked Pork Belly from Trader Joe's. 

Planning for the fall

So, what does the middle of summer mean for a gardener? It means it's time to obsessively plan for the next season!

My current seed collection. Broccoli, brussel sprouts, two types of kale, kohlrabi, snow peas, sugar snap peas, fava beans, three types of carrots, radishes, chard, multiple types of lettuce, fennel. (Also pictured- some zucchini for next summer, and some hubbard squash.)

The chart above is a tentative layout of the wee patch. I am trying to keep a center aisle open so I can squeeze in there, since the patch is just a leeeetle too wide to comfortably reach into the center from the edges. 

I don't have any fennel or broccoli typed in up there. I will have some pots empty for the broccoli, not sure where to put the fennel. The lettuce will get grown in a rubbermade container- the ones that slide under beds work great for salad greens. 

The plan is to start some of the seeds inside in August, to get them outside by the end of september. The rest will be direct sowed outside september or october. I have never grown fava beans, snow peas, carrots, radishes. I can't wait to see how everything goes. Hopefully better than the garden so far, considering the only things growing well are the cucs and the okra!

The wee garden today.

I replanted the poor thyme, finally. It was so pot bound, it was dying. Hopefully I caught it before it's too late. To the bottom right, a new lavender plant!

I ripped out two tomato plants, one of which never put out any tomatoes, and the other put out only one. The two remaining plants (a chocolate cherry and a little yellow pear) have a few unripe tomatoes on each, but it's too hot, I don't expect them to ripen. I also ripped out the zucchini-plant-that-was-supposed-to-be-yellow-squash-plant. It only gave out one zucchini. I am giving up the fight against the squash borers. The remaining plant, while also in a serious battle with the borers, is at least giving me one or two zucs a week, so I will keep fighting for now. 

The okra is doing great. I wish I had room to plant twice as much, and harvest more than three at a time! The cucumbers are also doing great. Cucumbers at every meal! EVERY.MEAL.

More homemade soda- Black cherry-fig

A couple of months ago, I made some basil-lemon simple syrup and used it to make homemade soda. The posts (and instructions) HERE. I have been meaning to make some more- trying for ginger and some sort of fruit flavor, but the chunk of ginger sat in my fridge for too long and started to go soggy, so I used the remaining bits for something else. Tonight, spur-of-the-moment, I made some new syrup, using farmer's market figs and frozen cherries. Turned out pretty great- though the fruity aspect to it is not as strong as I would have liked. I wish I had had enough mint to toss some in, as well. But whatever. It's yummy and I am drinking it!

4 cups water, 3 cups sugar, frozen cherries and fresh figs.

After bringing to a boil and dissolving the sugar, take off the heat and let sit, covered for an hour. Then strain.

Poured into my ghetto plastic container (I got to use a funnel! It's always a fun day when you get to use a funnel!) and mixed with some club soda. 

Stuffed spaghetti squash

Finally got around to cooking up a lovely spaghetti squash that I got at the farmer's market a good three weeks ago. I let the man-half choose what he wanted to put in the stuffing, so we used
-sweet italian sausage
-canned tomatoes
-pre-cooked long grain and wild rice pilaf
-purple cabbage (also from the farmer's market)

I didn't follow a set recipe. First I cut the squash in half and scooped out the guts with a spoon. I rubbed some butter all over the flesh and sprinkled with salt and pepper and roasted at 400 degrees till done. While that was cooking, I took two of the sausage links and cut them and squeezed the sausage into a hot skillet. When that was mostly cooked, I added in about a cup of chopped cabbage. Last, I added in some canned tomatoes (maybe a half of a can?) and one package of the microwavable rice. I seasoned with pepper, and some dried turmeric. I didn't add salt, between the pre-seasoned rice and the sausage, it didn't need any. When the squash was soft, I crammed the stuffing in and put it back in the oven at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes. Sprinkled with feta cheese at the end! This was mad tasty, yo. I still have one meal's worth of leftovers in the fridge and I think I am going to eat it for dinner tonight. :)

Weekly farmer's market trip

Wee little orange tomatoes, jalapenos, two of the cutest tiny acorn squash, red potatoes, figs, some sort of melon, and a lavender plant. Not pictured: iced jasmine green tea, and the most delicious chicken empanada with creamy chipotle salsa!

Flowers and veggies!

Just picked.

Habaneros.

Okra babies.

Okra forest.

Crazy cucumbers, there are about four in noticeable sizes growing right now, not including the wee little baby ones.

The zucchini plants looks terrible, it has been a constant battle with squash borers. The D/T powder (a bacteria that kills them, considered safe for all natural gardening) seems to help, but I have to constantly reapply it when it rains or gets wet.

My blue hubbard squash just up and died. Happened very quickly. :(

The malabar spinach looks great!

Happenings in the wee patch.

Picked this week.

Okra flower- gorgeous!

Funny little curvy baby cucumbers.

Ready for picking soon!

Happy Marigolds.

Baby Habenero Peppers.

Blue Hubbard Squash growing very slowly.

The only malabar squash seedling, from six seeds that were planted.

See those pretty zucchini up above? One of them was picked off the plant that was labelled "Yellow crookneck squash" when I bought it from the plant nursery. Sigh. This is the third plant to be mis-labelled from this place.

I figured out a great way to use up just a few okra at a time. I don't eat it, but the patient man half does. I just haven't been able to pick enough to make an actual recipe. But I came up with a keeper- take what okra I DO have, cut the stem top off, slice down the center. Douse in olive oil, hot sauce, salt and pepper, and roast at 400 degrees until crispy. I did this with just four okra, and included it as a lil side dish with some leftover casserole for the man half to take to work with him. He gave it two thumbs up!

Farmer's Market Weekly Trip

Carrots, tomatoes, purply peppers, dill, peaches, spaghetti squash, gluten free parmesan focaccia and a gluten free pizza crust. The focaccia was a bit mealy, smelled delicious but strange to eat. I hope the pizza crust is better. 

Homemade sausage and roasted maple-balsamic squash and fennel

Dinner one night last week consisted of homemade pork sausage patties, and maple-balsamic roasted fennel and patty pan squash from the farmer's market. (And mac n cheese from a box. So sue me, it was GOOD.) The sausage turned out ok. I used THIS recipe, only I used fresh fennel fronds instead of dried seeds. And I added some finely chopped fresh apple. They were bland. (I may have forgotten to add salt??) I will make them again in the future, but I will pre-saute the apples if I add again, and I won't cook as long. The squash turned out great! I didn't really follow a recipe- I just sliced the fennel and the squash into bite size chunks, and stirred in some olive oil till fully coated. Then I added in equal parts maple syrup and balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper and roasted in a very hot oven for 20-30 minutes. Came out delicious.

Food harvests over the last week

Two huge cucumbers, chapstick for size.

The monster zucchini lurking in the back, with the first of the okra, a few beans, and what may be the last of the tomatoes (the chocolate cherries, in an unappetizing color but tasty!)

The first and only pepper (jalapeno) one lone, pathetic lil yellow pear tomato and a gorgeous red okra.