Strawberries and Asparagus.....next year

We ordered some Winona stawberry plants from Burpee this spring and layed them out in two 3x7' beds. We also bought two packs of asparagus roots from Wal-mart. I was a bit skeptical as to their quality since they were from wally-world, but all 15 of the roots that I planted came up, as well as the other 5 that we gave to some friends. For 6 bucks for a pack of 10, you can't beat it. We bought 25 strawberry roots and as directed picked off all the flowers so that they get more established and produce plenty of runners. We should have tons of berries next year because each plant is producing at least two runners, we'll probably have to cut some off due to space restrictions. I have no idea how much asparagus 15 roots will produce (roots were already 2-3 years old according the the package), but we have plenty of friends and neighbors who will make sure none goes to waste. These were both an exercise in patience since we had to put in all the work to prep and plant them this year, but have to wait over a year to get the first harvest. But they should provide years of goodness.

Lettuce, Greens and Broccoli

We've had several pickings of lettuce and various greens throughout May. The square foot gardening techniques help condense our garden space to maximize the various crops. In one 4x4' bed we planted leaf lettuce, mesclun mix, and arugula, in a criss-cross pattern. Then in the four 1.5x1.5' corners of the bed we planted different greens...spinach, collards, swiss chard, and pak choi. So far we've harvested the pak choi 4 times, chard and collards once, and several pickings of spinach and lettuce. The lettuce and spinach are starting to feel the effects of the heat, but we should still have a few more weeks of production. The chard and collards are just hitting their peek. This is the first time growing pak choi so I'm not sure how long it will last, but we are really pleased with the flavor of it. In addition, we've had all of our broccoli havested, 6 heads, of which we put up 5 freezer bags since it all ripened within a week of each other. We had a slight infestation of cabbage worms, they totally got to and destroyed one head, but the other 6 were mostly unaffected. The next veggies to ripen will be the sugar snap peas, baby potatoes, and summer squash in the next few days.

square foot gardening

Since we've had our first child this March I haven't been on here posting, but I've been working a lot in the garden this year expanding, organizing, and reshaping it since reading the book "Square Foot Gardening" by Mel Bartholomew. I'll get some pics on here when I get them downloaded. I must say, the garden looks great and should be much less maintenance going forward since I did all of the hard prep work this year. I'm curious how much produce we will actually harvest so I will do my best to do weekly postings on harvests and total it at the end of the growing season. I know it will be much more than we will consume, but we have plenty of friends who will take the extras if not I plan on taking it to our local food bank.
We are growing many more varieties this year than last to include: lettuce, spinach, chard, collards, pak choi, arugula, red cabbage, broccoli, red and golden beets, carrots, onions, radishes, several tomato varieties heirloom and hybrid, sweet and hot peppers, sweet corn, yukon gold potatoes, cantelope, snap peas, bush and pole beans, eggplant, yellow squash, zuchini, butternut squash, cucumbers, fennel and various herbs. We also started a plot of asparagus and stawberries, which are already doing great, but we will forego the harvest this year in order to let them get well established.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

What a year this has been. We are still using carrots from our garden from earlier this year. We did not have all that much luck last year with seedlings and this year, we may use a local farm that grows whatever seeds you give them. For us, half the battle in starting our garden was having nice, strong starters. Perhaps some time this year we'll make our own hot box.

On a personal note, we have been busy with preparing for a baby this spring. Even though, I hope to post more frequently.

I am grateful for everyone that I have met this year via this blog. I am looking forward to 2009.

Happy New Year Everyone!

Tah dah!

Yes, yes, we have been gone for quite some time. Since I am the primary one who does the posting, I suppose I am to blame for the lack of garden updates. Truth is, I'm pregnant!!! The first three months were a bit rough because 1) developed aversions to foods that I LOVE, 2) can barely stay awake at any given time and 3) realizing my life has changed (for the better!) but there are many career decisions that must be made.

So basically I've been laying in bed eating crackers complaining that I have no energy to do anything.

Luckily, my energy is returning and I feel up to doing things that I did before getting knocked up. We are terribly excited as this is our first child!! So, we'll be in and out but I hope we can get some pictures up of our fall crops. We are growing kale, swiss chard and beets (I think!).

Summer pasta

One of the great thing about having some many vegetables and herbs is the food that we get to eat. We made this very colorful pasta dish which basically has pesto (yum!), sauteed vegetables, a little Parmesan and herbs. It is something that is easy to make with so many veggies on hand!

Veggie explosion

This is just a small sample of what our garden has been producing. My favorite looking veggie has to be our eggplant that resembles a small pumpkin because of the ridges it has. In total, we have five eggplants and I think it is three to many. We made a huge bowl of baba ganouj, a few veggie sandwiches and that is about it. We've given quite a few away already and I'm pretty sure, that trend with continue over the summer.

We're Back

I wish were on vacation since our last post but instead...

Our home computer died due to a burned out power supply (this is the second time it has happened!!!) and it took about a MONTH to get it fixed. Why so long? Due to Dell sending non-working power supplies to the person fixing it for us, it took a long time. Over the past month, our garden has grown, we've encountered squash bugs (I'd not wish these pests on my worse enemy...well, maybe not), made tons of baba ganouj with our eggplant, and so on. Now that we have our computer back, we will begin posting yet again!

Zucchini Bread

This was my first attempt at making zucchini bread. Truth is, I have never had it but apparently it is very popular. This is another example of missing out on American culture due to having a non-American parent but alas, that is for another day. The recipe I found received good reviews and it seemed simple enough, so I went with it. I added a bit more than two cups of zucchini, essentially filling the measuring up to the top.

Then I mixed everything together and got this lovely batter that smelled great, probably because of the cinnamon. I divided it into 8 mini loaves and 1 regular loaf (8 x 4). The recipe called for walnuts, so I added some to a few of the mini loaves. I also made some that had both walnuts and raisins. Lastly, I made some without either walnuts or raisins just so I could figure out what I liked best.

Here is one mini loaf. I think I am a fan of the ones with both walnuts and raisins. It reminds me of banana nut bread--quite heavy. I am definitely going to share with some of my friends because there is no way we could eat it all!

Walking in Memphis

This past weekend, we were in Memphis, TN for a meeting (for my husband). It lasted from Thursday to Sunday.

On Thursday, we went a ball game between the Cardinals and Arizona Isotopes. The ball park is absolutely beautiful but I worry if there is enough support for it. I'd guess about 25-35% of the seats were filled. That evening, we ate food catered by Rendezvous, which is famous for it's BBQ.

On Friday, we sneaked away and went to a place called Itta Bena. They do not advertise and there is no sign for it. The only reason we knew where it was is because of good directions from some friends. We were excited...after all, how can one not be when eating at a secret location. The ambiance was very nice but sadly, the food did not impress either of us. The first d'oh moment happened when there was a fruit fly in the glass of white wine. My husband had a good salad (the highlight of the evening) and I munched on their bread, which was good. Our main dishes, pork chops smothered in apple bourbon mix along with pureed sweet potatoes and a scallop/shrimp cheese grit combination were NOT good. My pork chops were seared too much in that there was an overwhelming burn flavor of which ruined the dish. The seafood cheese grits was overwhelmed by the vinaigrette they used and we never got the hint of apple truffle oil. What a disappointment.

Finally, for lunch on Saturday, we went to a place across the street from our hotel called, The Big Foot Lodge. It was packed and for a good reason, the food was simple and good! We even got to see the Sasquatch 4 pound burger! Can you even imagine eating a four pound burger????