So far the growing season has been fantastic for us this year. This is the new garden we made in the beginning of April (and you can see the new herb garden behind it which needs a few more bricks on the back). In this one, we’ve already got baby squash and pickling cukes (too bad I don’t know how to can). We also planted pole beans, bush beans, regular cukes, spaghetti squash, ichiban eggplant, stevia, and dill.

In the other two smaller gardens, we’ve already harvested lettuce, broccoli, peas, and basil and I think the kale and beets may be ready. The green onions are still a bit small, but still chop up nicely like chives. I also spied some little hot peppers and baby green tomatoes! The only thing that didn’t do anything was the spinach… will have to try planting it earlier next year.

The garden has us so excited this year that I am already thinking about where else i can put more veggies… hmmm. I really want an asparagus bed and a strawberry bed. I’m also wondering if I can move the squash along my fence where I get lots of sun and make more room in these ones. Oh, the decisions!

Week One we picked up: Eggs, Collard Greens, Strawberries, Arugula, Red Russian Kale, Turnip Greens (we think), Endive (?), Spinach, Radishes, and Rosemary. And we made Strawberry Shortcake, stir-fried collards, stir-fried kale, a spinach and cheese quiche with rosemary, sauteed shrimp with Arugala, tomatoes and feta cheese, and Orange and Radish Salad with Arugula (a recipe that our CSA provided from Cook’s Illustrated). This salad left David and I with serious doubts, but I have to tell you… it was delicious! And if David will eat it, you know it’s good. The only items that ended up in the compost pile from week 1 were a couple of radishes and what we think was the endive… we weren’t sure because the CSA had our email wrong and we missed the email that explained (and I don’t know what endive looks like).

Week Two we picked up: Flash Collard Greens, Arcadia Broccoli, Hakurei Turnips, either Beet Greens or Bright Lights Swiss Chard (not sure which), Dinosaur Kale, Easter Egg Radishes (which looked bad when we got them), Mesculin Mix, Savoy Cabbage, Rosemary, and Lovage. So far we’ve made stir-fried collards with white rice, turnip soup using this weeks turnips and last week’s turnip greens (a dapted from the recipe “A Rough and Ready Turnip Potage” by Deborah Madison’s Local Flavors), and Moo Shu Pork from Martha Stewart’s Everyday Food: Fresh Flavor Fast using the cabbage (pictured below). The recipe the CSA provided (that we have yet to try) is Chicken, Lentil & Chard soup. I hope my Chard makes it until I can try this recipe because it has been looking rather lousy. I’ve soaked it in water for a full day and it’s looking a little better, but if I don’t cook it tomorrow, it may end up in the compost.

Needless to say, we are pretty happy lately with all the fresh veg. It has been so rewarding to try new veggies and put them to good work. We have enjoyed everything we’ve tasted so far (EVEN DAVID!). PLUS, we have also been harvesting our own veggies from the garden!

We made Jaime Oliver’s Beef and Vegetable Stir Fry yesterday using our own broccoli and peas from the garden, and I sprouted my own bean sprouts. We already have a squash that’s almost ready, as well as some hot peppers and baby green maters… so it won’t be long now! Our garden has been so rewarding this year… probably due to the fact that I paid attention to when things grow this time. It was about this time last year that I put in my garden (way too late) and we only had tomatoes and basil (no wonder… duh?!).

One other note of interest: WE MADE OUR OWN MOZZ CHEESE! That’s right… fresh and tasty mozzarella cheese from this kit: 30-Minute Mozzarella (which comes with enough to make over 30 batches). It was fun, rewarding and we plan to continue making it. Even David loved it, and he had his doubts. He couldn’t stop talking about how we made our own cheese… LOL! But of course, I didn’t get any pictures of any of this to show you… sorry (next time).

Thought I would show the little hoop house I made to protect my lettuce, spinach, kale and broccoli using half-inch pvc pipe and recycled screen from our porch. It also gives these cooler weather crops a little shade and they are loving it!

Yesterday David and I decided we better hurry and get in the Spring garden before it gets too warm, so we prepared the two beds and got the one on the left ready to go. We bought some broccoli plants to try, although I only wanted 2-3 and they came with nine, so I’m trying some in pots and two went in the other garden for now. We planted peas in one square, kale in three squares, spinach in two squares, green onions in one square, beets in four squares (because my dad sent my 4 different varieties), and lettuce in two squares. I also sprinkled some lettuce leaves in the other garden and I am hoping to have those grown and harvested by the time we put in the tomatoes and other summer veggies.

Here’s the garden plan:

And we are going to try a few different things this year… first, I bought a couple of soaker hoses so that I don’t need to use the sprinkler because they say you should water underneath the plant, not over it. Now I need to invest in a timer for the hose. Two, I went to Gardeners Supply and ordered some hoops, garden fabric (for when it gets cold and maybe to protect from bugs on some stuff), and shade netting (to try saving my lettuce in the summer). This way I can try to extend into all three seasons better. I will update on the progress of those later.

I still need to figure out what to plant in the Summer garden to the right, but I am quickly learning that I need another bed… which would bring us to three. David wants to wait until we get the drainage issue in the yard handled though… sigh. And so far our 5 goji berries and 3 blueberries are doing well and have started to bud… they are babies though and need a few years, but at least I know that the cold we’ve had didn’t kill them last week. I even took extra precautions by covering them with makeshift soda-bottle greenhouses!

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So far we have gotten a ton of basil and this makes 4 tomatoes, a ton of cherry tomatoes, some beans, a couple of jalepenos & Serrano peppers, and we have our first baby cucumber and canteloup. There is some lettuce and golden beets, but they are growing pretty poorly. I think maybe they would do better in the fall. The chives and cilantro are almost non-existant too, along with the green peppers, summer squash and the spaghetti squash… although they are flowering. I’m womdering if I should plant something else in some of the spots where they look empty. We are thrilled for the time being though and have made a ton of brushetta, caprese salad, and tomato caprese paninis. Now I need to get rid of the salsa we bought so I can use my tomaotes an peppers to make that. YUM!

So I thought I should share a few of the recipes. The salsa is from Whole Foods Market and is actually a Pico De Gallo which is chunkier. We love it.

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Pico de Gallo
4 large ripe tomatoes, finely chopped
1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
1/2 small red onion, finely chopped
1 jalapeño pepper, finely chopped (optional)
2 to 3 tablespoon fresh lime juice
1 teaspoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon sea salt, or to taste

For the Pico de Gallo, combine all tomatoes, cilantro, red onion, jalapeño peppers, lime juice, olive oil and salt. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use (you really should refrigerate at least one day to let flavor meld together). Use any fresh, juicy tomatoes and adjust proportions to your own taste. Makes about 2 cups.

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Tomato Caprese Panini

2 slices of Italian bread
Tomato
Fresh Basil (must be fresh) or pesto
Fresh Mozzarella (must be fresh)
Salt to taste
Olive Oil

Heat your skillet or frying pan and get Panini press ready and hot (you don’t need a panini press and can just make this like grilled cheese and kinds squish it). Slice your bread, tomatoes, mozzarella, and chop basil. Rub outter sides of bread with olive oil. Place one piece of bread (olive oil side down) on skillet and top with sliced tomatoes, mozzarella, a little salt and then basil. Top with remaining slice of bread (olive oil side out). Squish it a little as you go and flip when golden brown on first side. Grilled to perfection both sides are a nice golden brown and cheese is melted.
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I would have liked to make this the “salsa” garden, but I had plants that needed to get in the ground and we didn’t have the second garden frame complete yet. The only seeds sowed were the beans seeds, which are already sprouting, and one of the squares of basil (the other I bought). My tomatoes in the garden were supposed to include a cherry tomato, but by accident I put those back, so I had to buy some for the other garden (I now have extra tomatoes that need to go in pots… this was not how I planned this and I will have way too many tomatoes if they all do well).

The second garden is almost all by seed, except the cherry tomatoes:

I have never grown lettuce, cukes, beets, or spaghetti squash but figured that I would give it a whirl. I’ve heard that cilantro does horrible here, but thought I’d still try for David’s sake (he cooks a lot with it and I use it in salsa). I also think I may have some trouble with the squash because they take up so much room, but I figure I’ll see this year and learn. So far everything is doing well and I should know soon how the seeds go. We are super excited about this, especially since everything that vines we are growing up on trellis’ (yes, even the canteloup). I have a little area behind these gardens where I planted two of the extra canteloup plants, and I bought some pumpkin and gourd mixed that will go there too (also to be grown on a trellis). Yesterday we also bought and cut some re-mesh (concrete reinforceing wire) to make some square tomato cages and a trellis from… we still need to get more, but they seem much sturdier (and cheaper) than what I’ve seen on the market. I’ll have to take a picture soon.

Next year, if we get the picket fence in, I’ll keep the veggies in the garden and hang some window boxes on the fence for the herbs. I’ll also move the compost pile to something a little more practical inside the fenced area (right now I’m just using a big trash can and the process is a little too slow, although I used some anyway.