What Did You Eat Out Of The Garden Today?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I put an effort onto gardening, probably more for the therapeutic value I get out of it rather then the obvious results, but I do get results. I only wish I had a green thumb like my parents.
But now as August approaches, I am getting results, and tonight’s was one of those that we long for all winter.
This is what the chef put to good use in the kitchen tonight:

Beets (red and yellow ones)
Patty Pan Squash (discovered these a couple of years ago)
Potatoes (dug up a plant early)
Tomatoes (oh how I hate green house tomatoes)
Carrots (damn cat dug up most of them!)
Green beans
Zucchini
Onions
Basil
Oregano
Rosemary
Parsley
Blueberries (in a zucchini loaf!)
Apricots (earlier in the day)
Cherries (last of the season)

I think that’s about it. As the summer progresses, it’ll get even better!

2

This year I have no garden, since we’re living in an apartment. I hope that by next year we’ll be back in a house and gardening away.

3

One of my sons is our in-house gardener. (He hopes for a career in sustainable urban agriculture.) Finished off the kholrabi (very nice freshly julienned). Just harvested a bunch of beets, the green onions and chives keep giving as do the various herbs, lots of lettuce, tomatoes, hot peppers … but the summer squash and zucchini are on overload. Thinking of making this style of lasagna that thin slices of the zukes and summer squash as the noodles and with the fresh beet greens instead of the spinach.

4

I had some beautiful (and tasty) tomatoes from my garden!

5

Tomatoes. I broke my ankle so we’re down to the tomatoes I started early and the established flowers (which I don’t eat).

But we’ve got lots of tomatoes!

6

So far, I’ve canned 60 quarts of dill pickles. I’ve also got tomatoes, blackberries, and green beans. I’ll be starting on canning the tomatoes, as soon as the cukes are done.

7

I used some of the onions.

Due to travel on business and for visiting my ill father my garden has sort of gone to hell, or at least the weeds. There’s lots of stuff still growing in there but it’s going to take some work to get to it.

8

Peeled, seeded and chopped some tomatoes. Sautéed onion and garlic and added the tomatoes. Added some chopped okra, basil, oregano.

Eventually added purchased stuff that I found in the downstairs refrigerator; sliced squash, a red bell pepper that I first roasted, some chorizo that I grilled and sliced.

Served over pasta.

9

We moved in April and I didn’t get the new garden plots properly sorted, but I did plant a bunch of herbs and lettuces which did really well. I had some in my lunch today. :slight_smile:

10

That’s quite an impressive garden, bb49. I’m jealous.

I ate zucchini (anyone need some?), tomatoes, parsley, lettuce, and shiso leaves.

I cannot for the life of me grow beets successfully and I don’t know why. They are about an inch long and half an inch wide at the moment, and I planted them early.

ETA: Forgot the raspberries! Our bushes are very productive this year.

11

I’ve been harvesting zuchinni blossoms (excellent!) and very small zucchinis for use in salads, etc. hoping to avoid the inevitable two-foot longer monsters.

12

Try this, if you haven’t already:

Sublime!

13

Just dug up the 2015 garlic crop to dry (we’re still eating last year’s harvest).

The Tomatoberry plant is yielding well (large, strawberry-shaped cherry-type tomatoes, very meaty and with good tomato flavor).

The eggplant harvest has begun (standard purple, white, elongated and downright snake-like (an Asian type).

Just sampled the first okra.

And of course there’s fresh rabbit and chipmunk from our live traps. They make an excellent Kentucky burgoo.

14

I had to give up my veggie patch because the idiot squirrels would pluck the tomatoes off the plant, eat a bite or two, then pluck another. I got tired of dealing with it, so I just go to the local Amish produce stands and get what I want. So far, we’ve had tomatoes, potatoes, corn, peaches, cantaloupes, cucumbers, and watermelon.

I’d love to grow my own, but unless I build a squirrel-proof cage around the plants, it’s a foolish venture.

15

Just basil. Even though I staggered my tomato plants, they’re all hell-bent on having ripe tomatoes on the same agreed-upon day in August.

16

Cilantro and basil have been the most successful crops. Looking forward to some chives. The peppers look pretty pathetic, and the tomato crop is a failure. Between the bugs, rabbits, squirrels and deer, the varieties of lettuce have not been a success either.

Oh, the spring rhubarb harvest was successful.

17

I made up some Dirty Rice* with zucchini, Fooled Yas**, tomatoes (I cheated… these were frozen whole last summer) and onions that came from the garden. We drank mint tea from the mint garden to wash it down.

*Zatarain’s Dirty Rice … I threw in a can of black beans, 1 pound of hamburger, 1 pound of ground pork and the garden veggies … family of 5.

**Fooled Yas look and smell like Jalapeno but have little to no heat.

18

I only have a little herb garden, but we had some mint in our tea on Sunday and will use basil in our pasta tonight.

19

All of our gardening is box planters, so we aren’t exactly growing enough staple crops to carry us through the harsh Utah winter here. :slight_smile:

However, we are growing the hell out of some herbs, which we do actually grow more of than we can eat. Since the weekend I’ve used:

  • basil
  • rosemary
  • sage
  • spearmint
20

Tonight will be squash (garden) and corn (local market) soup. Tomorrow will likely be squash and leek soup with lemon zest creme fraiche. Yeah, we have a lot of squash. Gonna have to cook up some green beans soon and have more salad to use up all the greens we’ve got growing in back.

Fookin’ basil is four feet tall this year: amazing.