Zucchini Bread

Derrick got a zucchini from one of his coworkers and requested bread so I made some.  I used this recipe.  The only thing I changed was the cooking time- it took around 70-80 minutes, but our oven is always slow.  It is DELICIOUS!  It has a nice crust on the top and the inside is very moist and yummy.  We have already almost finished one of the loaves and I just made it yesterday.

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Watermelon

This weekend we harvested the first watermelon of the season!  The variety we grew was called Desert King.  It has yellow flesh and is drought tolerant.  Derrick picked out the seeds and took charge of caring for them.  He was nice and shared the fruits of his labor with me, though.  Here are the pics![gallery columns="2"]

Notes to Self

1. Chard is pretty but we don't eat it - don't grow next year


2. One cucumber plant is plenty


3. Tomatoes need more than 1 square foot of space (more like 2x2)


4. Don't be lazy and neglect to pinch off suckers on tomato plants


5. Pole beans are better than bush beans but they need poles (easy)


6. Corn and sunflowers grow well together but put sunflowers in the front or they will face away from the garden.


7. Watermelons like to take over the world; give them space to do so.


8. Calendula needs more than 1 square foot (more like 2x2)


9. Marigolds are awesome


10. I am too busy to water potted plants every day.  Don't bother planting in the summer time


11. Potatoes are easy; plant more


12. Ocra seems unhappy.. not really sure why.  The small harvest I've gotten has been very tasty

Harvest

This week has been very exciting! I have harvested corn, a pepper, cucumbers, potatoes and onions.

That bottom one is pretty pathetic.  Only like 20 of the kernels got pollinated.  Since then I have harvested several more ears that have looked much nicer. They got eaten so fast I didn't even get pictures.

Cucumbers!  This is the first of two so far.  It was yummy.

I made a chicken wire lined bed for root crops.  Yesterday I dug up everything in there.   That strange looking thing on the bottom left is a carrot.  It got smooshed up against the chicken wire and looks like a mutant.  A couple of the potatoes were giants- even bigger than the originals.  We ate them last night for dinner :)  I love the color of the onions- haven't tasted those yet though.

I am impatiently waiting for my tomatoes to ripen.   There are like 5 billion green tomatoes but none of them are ripening! boo.

Peas, Dead pumpkins and babies

I pulled up and harvested the last of the peas over the weekend.  I also bought some flowers and herbs for my hanging baskets.  I found some lemon balm at Ace and it smells absolutely divine.   The flowers are pretty too- I will try to take a pic soon.

I have sad news. Today we had some pretty strong wind and at least one of the pumpkins is dead, stem just broke off the rest of the way.  With the way the wind is around here I think the rest of them will probably die too before they get around to even flowering.  So sad.  Perhaps I shall go buy some replacements at Ace..

I checked this evening and I have baby corn! And a few more baby tomatoes as well.

My, how you've grown!

So its been about a month since I have posted any pictures (oops!) and my how things have grown! And I have lots of news and updates to report!

OK, so lets start with the overall picture:

This is actually only about half the plot. The corn, sunflowers, beans, pumpkin and watermelon are behind me. Anyway, the ocra is the empty looking space in there. It still hasn't really taken off yet. I've heard it really likes the heat and it has been cool(er) lately.

Next, a story about my tomatoes. My roma tomatoes have been flowering like CRAZY but I had yet to see an actual tomato. I noticed last week that the blooms were just falling off!! I was so sad. I thought maybe my soil nutrients were off, but a little internet research suggested that it was due to the heat wave we had the week before. Anyway, as you can see in the picture below I have at least one baby roma! yay!!

Oh, and one more story. So I was all excited that I was going to string up my tomatoes and have tomatoes growing up this 6 ft high strings, etc. I failed to realize that romas are indeterminant so they won't climb, just make giant bushes! Which is fine, I am just a little sad that they won't get to make use of my great trellis! The cucumbers are enjoying it tremendously though.

I also have a baby 'mystery tomato' from the picnic day batch. yay!!

Below is the chard. Oh great beautiful chard that I have no idea what to do with! I have discovered one yummy recipe that involves wrapping it around fish but other than that I am at a loss. Anyone with good chard recipes please hook me up!

I have peppers!!! So. excited. I bought this plant from Ace- some kind of hot peppers (red something, maybe you can read the tag in the pic ;) )

Here we have soy bean on the left and black turtle beans on the right. They are growing lots but no flowers yet.

Here are the limas and the remains of the peas on the left and pumpkin and watermelon on the right. The Green Arrow peas have been wonderfully delicious and productive. The pumpkin is growing really well. I thought I had lost it during the high wind storm we had last week. The main stem got a little broken, but apparently it doesn't need the whole stem to feed the whole plant. Watermelon is looking kind of pathetic. I got the seeds from a watermelon from the grocery store. I'm not even sure what kind it was. It was small and really tasty. Hopefully not a hybrid though. I am tempted to go to Ace and get a new one...

My corn is so pretty! It and the sunflowers have created their own personal jungle. Some are starting to form tassels. The real test will be when the corn comes and the squirrels notice..

L: Cucumber flowers! So far most of them look like male flowers, although they are still small yet. I don't know, I have never grown cucumbers before. If I can figure out the flowers I want to try hand pollinating.

R: Potatoes! They are blooming. I didn't know that potatoes bloomed- I guess I never really thought about it. These are another sort of experiment. I took organic grocery store potatoes and stuck them in the ground. How do I know when they are done? Does the plant die and I just did them up? I need to do some google-ing.

OK, just one more- the strawberries! I have two different types. The first are the ones I got from my neighbor. They are growing well, putting out lots of yummy berries and lots and lots of runners. Even the runners have runners. Crazy. So if anyone wants any strawberry plants just let me know!

The other variety I have is Fragaria. I got these from Ace. They are supposed to produce throughout the summer and do not produce as many (if any) runners. They have also produced lots of yummy berries.  Here is an almost ripe ones and the remains on ones I had a nibble on.

Whew! That was a long overdue update. I am amazed at how much everything has grown up in just a month. Before I know it I will have produce up to my ears ( I hope!).

Peas, Lettuce and Beneficial Insects

Over the weekend I harvested my first peas and they were so delicious. I just shelled them and ate them raw. yum! Today I harvested all the lettuce and will eat a yummy salad in a few minutes.  The spinach bolted last week.  Its supposed to get up into the 90s this week (where did spring go!?) so I figured the lettuce was about done too.

Today I also saw a Soldier beetle (I think). It was just chillin' on the sunflowers, hopefully making a meal of lots of cucumber beetles.  I also saw another bug that I think (even less sure on this one) may have been spined soldier bug.  Or maybe just a regular stink bug.  I didn't get a close enough look at it.  I did notice that as it flew off, there was red coloring under its wings.  I will have to get pictures next time!

Beetles and Sprouts

The past week in the garden has been very exciting!  Here's a list:

• Planted soy, black and lima beans; limas and soy are mostly up; still waiting on the black beans


• Planted clover in back beds


• Planted pumpkins and watermelon; came up yesterday


• Cucumber beetles (spotted and striped) are out with a vengence (as of May 1). I squished lots of them as they nibbled on my sunflowers.  When their numbers seemed to dwindle I put my actual cucumbers out. So far so good


• Bought hot (chile and something else) and chocolate bell pepper plants to replace those lost to frost.


• Bought fluffy pyramid flower plants to add some color.


• My tomatoes have flowers!!!!!!!


• I have peas!!!!!!!!


• I'm only mildly excited about those last two..

So everything is gradually greening up and filling in all the empty space.  yay! I will try to post some pics eventually.

Lots of Pictures!

L: CW from the front: Lettuce, oregano, peppermint, spinach/lettuce

R: baby corn and sunflowers. A couple of the corn plants got frost damage :(



L: Tomatoes and basil. A couple of the tomatoes got frost damage too. I think they will recover but right now they look pathetic.

R: Strawberries!!! I have one that is almost ready to pick



L: Rosemary bush, marigolds, peppers

R: Peppers (frost damage! :( ), chard, onions/potatoes under cage- which still hasn't kept the rodents out. I think it must be mice that can fit through the chicken wire. grrrr.



L: Peas and where the soy beans will go

R: More peas and the bed where I planted the lima beans. The rough looking patch in the background is where the black beans will go



View of the whole plot from the north end (the hanging baskets are behind me)

Spring has Sprung

There has been a lot going on in the garden plot lately.  Sorry I don't have any pics. My camera battery is dead and I haven't had time to go get another.  Here is a list of whats growing (or at least not dying):

• Corn: planted about a month ago; sprouted two weeks ago; about 5-6 inches high now


• Tomatoes: planted a couple weeks ago, growing pretty well; still waiting for them to get bigger before I 'string' them


• Basil: Growing well; still covered with plastic jug, just in case it gets cold


• Cilantro: One pathetic little plant


• Peppers: planted with the tomatoes; red, orange, purple and hot varieties; growing slow but not dead


• Sunflowers: planted with the corn; sprouted at different times so lots of different sizes


• Peas: not very many sprouted, but the ones that did are growing well- I can see the beginning of flowers


• Strawberries: got free from my neighbor; growing well- lots of green strawberries


• Rosemary: growing like CRAZY!


• Swiss Chard: just transplanted today


• Lettuce and Spinach: very happy in their baskets; I've eaten several yummy salads!


• Peppermint: happy in the basket; I had some peppermint tea last night!


• Oregano: happy in the basket


• Marigolds: blooming!


• Crimson clover: leftover cover crop is blooming; I should probably turn it in but the flowers are so pretty!


• I believe thats all!

This weekend is PICNIC DAY!!! so. excited.  I am most excited about free plants.  If the PES dept doesn't do that again this year I will be crushed.   I also will be at the BAE poster from 1-2 and Biotech exhibit from 2-4! Come say hi!

Planting!

So over the course of the week I have planted pretty much all of my tomatoes and peppers outside. Still waiting a bit on the basil because its supposed to get down into the 30s tonight. I will post pictures as soon as I take some!