Thursday, July 31, 2008

Roasted Vegetables with Balsamic Vinegar

This is almost as good as the Grilled Vegetables with Balsamic Vinegar that our friend Megan makes. Surprisingly, it is also good the next day reheated in the microwave. This recipe is also from recipezaar.com (Barb Gertz)

Ingredients

* 8 ounces fresh green beans, ends trimmed
* 1 small onion, cut into thin wedges
* 1 garlic clove, minced
* 1 tablespoon olive oil
* 1 dash salt
* 1 dash pepper
* 2 medium summer squash, halved lengthwise and sliced 1/4 inch thick
* 1/3 cup balsamic vinegar

Directions

1. In a shallow roasting pan combine beans, onion, and garlic.
2. Drizzle with olive oil; sprinkle with salt and pepper.
3. Toss mixture until beans are evenly coated.
4. Spread in a single layer.
5. Roast in a 450° oven for 8 minutes.
6. Stir in squash and roast 6 to 8 minutes more or until vegetables are tender and slightly browned.
7. Meanwhile, in a small saucepan bring the balsamic vinegar to boiling over medium-high heat; reduce heat.
8. Boil gently about 5 minutes or until vinegar is reduced reduced by half (vinegar will thicken slightly).
9. Drizzle the vinegar over roasted vegetables; toss until veggies are evenly coated.

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Harvest

After checking on everyone this morning, I discovered that I had picking to do.... again!

I have another zucchini almost ready, so this weekends project is ZUCCHINI BREAD! Yum!!

Garden Update

Celebrity Tomatoes
I am hoping that I won't lose these to blight and/or blossom end rot.

Market More Cucumber
(Heirloom)
These have been really good producers and I like the taste for salads.

Eight Ball Zucchini
I plan on picking this soon (4" in diameter). There are 2 more growing, my goal is to make some zucchini bread.

Our "bald" cherry tomato plant.

Ghostbuster Eggplant
This will be picked when it reaches 7" in length.

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Stuffed Eight Ball Zucchini

I picked up this plant while my parents were down here last month. It is an Eight Ball Zucchini (1999 AAS Winner), which from what I understand is perfect for stuffing. I stuffed this one with rice and mozzarella. After this photo was taken, I covered it with some hot spaghetti sauce. Yummmmm!!!

The only problem with this zucchini, is I waited too long to pick it. It should be picked when it is 2-3" in diameter. This one was twice that size. Oops!

Monday, July 28, 2008

Stuffed Yellow Squash

I found something to do with my yellow squash. You can also substitute zucchini or eggplant.
From recipezaar.com (2Bleu)

Filling:

4 ounces cream cheese; softened
1/4 cup milk
4 ounces Italian sausage, cooked, drained and crumbled
2 tablespoons onions, chopped fine
2 tablespoons bell peppers, chopped fine
2 tablespoons carrots, chopped fine
2 mushrooms, chopped (optional)
1 garlic clove, minced
1 teaspoon fresh basil, chopped
2 tablespoons soft bread cubes (or crumbs)

Other Ingredients Needed

2 yellow squash
1/2 cup spaghetti sauce
1/4 cup parmesan cheese

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix cream cheese and milk in large microwaveable bowl. Microwave on high 1 minute or until cream cheese is melted and mixture is blended.

2. Add remaining filling ingredients. Toss to coat and set aside. Take some aluminum foil, and crimple to make a log about 1" high. Use this to support the 'neck' of the yellow squash so they will lay in a horizontal position in your baking dish. Set aside.

3. Cut Squash (or zucchinin) in half lengthwise. Using a spoon, scoop out seeds to create a boat. Divide filling equally amongst the boats.

4. Place boats in a shallow baking dish. Spread 2 Tbsp spaghetti sauce over each boat. Top with a sprinkling of parmesan cheese and bake for 30 minutes.

Blight

Apparently, the garden gods do not think that dealing with slugs is enough for the first time gardener. Now I have blight to deal with. After work, I drove down to Agway to pick up some Copper based fungicide. I cut off all of the affected leaves, which left Jason's cherry tomatoes bald, and sprayed away. I am planning on reapplying this weekend sometime.

In the meantime, I plan on not watering with the hose and I am going to add some baking soda to my water.

What's next, locusts?


Sunday, July 27, 2008

Yellow Squash

Today I picked 3 more yellow squash. I am not sure what variety these are. I picked up these plants as a souvenir from my trip to Bar Harbor. I think that I am supposed to pick them when they are smaller, like 4-5" in length. I did grill one, and it sure was tasty!

Harvest

After picking about a dozen slugs this morning and pollinating the cucumbers and 1 more squash - I was able to harvest some veggies!

We got 1 eight ball zucchini, 2 yellow squash,4 cucmbers, 2 cherry tomatoes and 1 roma and a small handful of green beans!

Thursday, July 24, 2008

I hate slugs!!!

I was innocently picking green beans this morning when I found this horrible looking creature:

As it turned out, he was picking green beans too. Bastard. As I was going through the other plants, I found out he had friends... and they found out, I had salt. The war is on.

After my anxiety attack over Slug Wars 2008, I discovered that I am growning 7 very nice looking yellow squash (souvenirs from Bar Harbor). Yeah for me!

Monday, July 21, 2008

Uh-oh. Sounds like somebody's got a case of the Mondays. ...

Monday was a depressing day in the garden. My tomatoes and peppers have blossom end rot and my white zucchini had this on 3 of its leaves (which I picked and discarded after this photo):

Sunday, July 20, 2008

Harvest

Today, after mulching, feeding and watering... we managed to get a small harvest! These are the first cucumbers and Roma tomatoes. Jay also had a few more cherry tomatoes.

I packed away my first set of Carmody cherry tomatoe seeds today and have more seeds fermenting. It will be interesting to see if I can get them to grow in the Spring. I also managed to pollinate 2 more squash and saved 1 male flower for tomorrow. Tonight, I am hoping to spray for bugs and then call it a day!

Saturday, July 19, 2008

Week of July 18th

This week I sowed some Oregon Sugar Pod II Peas and French Horticulture Beans outside in peat pots. I sowed some Black Seeded Simpson in a Jiffy Pellet Greenhouse & that is in the garage, and have Romaine Lettuce seedlings outside still in their peat pellets.

We are planning a mini harvest tomorrow of one cucumber, one Roma tomato and a few Cherry tomatoes. After we are done picking, I have to pollinate, mulch, feed and water. Then I have to go to work! Oh joy!

Here are some photos from around the garden (Photos are on photobucket.com, so please allow time for them to load!):
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Eight Ball Zucchini Squash

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Ghostbuster Eggplant

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Cherry Tomatoes

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Kelso in the Cucumbers

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Tomatoes taking over the deck!

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Roma Tomato

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Yellow Squash from Bar Harbor, Maine.
Pollinating is not going so great with these, so I am not sure if I am going to get any squash from these plants or not.

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Marketmore Cucumber

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I have been seeing allot of interesting bugs in the yard since the vegetables have moved in.

Garden Views

(Click photos to see larger images)

My 2 headed Chernobyl yellow squash blossom


Baby green bean


Kelso in the tomatoes

Friday, July 18, 2008

Garden Update

Not too much happening in the garden. I am trying my best to keep up with all of the cucumber blossoms. Jay and I saw another bee this past week, and he did check the cucumber blossoms out, but didn't stop. We are not sure how far they fly away from their hives in search of food, so we may have a hive in our woods.
The yellow squash (souvenir from Maine) are starting to blossom. These four plants are sending up mostly female flowers and as of right now, I don't have any males. Just my luck!
(Female Yellow Squash Blossom)

We do have a strange eggplant thing happening. I am not sure if it is the start of an eggplant or not. We'll have to wait and see what it develops into.



(Ghostbuster Eggplant creation)


This weekend, I will be attempting to start my fall garden. I have some lettuce, peas, chard and beets. I am still working on my wildflower garden, I have some nice Lupine seedlings going right now. The wildflower mix from Maine hasn't sprouted, neither has the wildflower mix from 3 years ago. I think I am going to toss that box in the trash.

(Kelso thinks it is too hot to garden!)

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Zucchini Problems

So today I realize, OMG I finally have a female zucchini flower & guess what - no male to pollinate it with. Crap! So, I run down to the nearest nursery and was able to find this thing.

Can you believe that it wasn't even discounted? WTF. Anyway, beggars cannot be choosers and since my souvenir yellow squash from Maine are not sending up flowers yet - I really didn't have a choice. The good news is, it did have 2 nice male flowers with pollen in both. Huzzah! Other than that, the garden is looking pretty good, lots of tomato blossoms and I was able to spend some quality "alone" time with the cucumbers. The beans are also looking pretty good as are the beets. Mmmmmm, beets.

I was also very happy to discover that the Eggplant is self pollinating. VG.


Female Flower :-)

Monday, July 14, 2008

Garden Update

It is raining this morning, so no new photos.

Kelso and I did brave the rain to go check on the plants though. There are FINALLY 2 female zucchini flowers growing on the zucchini. One of the souvenir yellow squash from Maine is also growing a female flower. My concern now is that I won't have any male flowers to pollinate them with.

The Soldacki (Polish heirloom) tomato is also growing some flowers, so I am hopeful to get a least 1 tomato from the 3 plants that we have. The Brandywine from Maine also has a flower on it. Jason had a mini tomato harvest over the weekend, and managed to have enough to share with Larry. After picking and feeding there are now 22 green tomatoes amongst the 3 plants.

The cucumbers are all going crazy and it is hard to keep up with them. I have about 10 females that I am pollinating by hand and over the weekend, I saw my first bee. He checked out the cucumber flowers and flew away and I haven't seen him since. This morning with the rain, I passed on pollinating - but did check on the 2 cucumbers that are growing. We have one that should be ready to pick within the next week or 2.

I also managed to squeeze in time to run to the farm stand in Cheshire to get some of their wonderful cherry tomatoes. I asked what variety they were and was told, "Ours, from our greenhouse." Jeez. So, I bought them and then went online to find out how to save the seeds. So, now I will have MY OWN from MY OWN "GREENHOUSE" next summer. Ha!

Other than that, not too much going on in the garden. We have 2 cherry hot peppers growing and it looks like more on the way. I bought some more peas and some Swiss chard from the Cheshire Nursery (which has Jiffy pellets if anyone needs some) to plant later this season for a fall garden. I have some lettuce started in my Jiffy Windowsill Greenhouse. we will see how that goes.

Friday, July 11, 2008

Garden Update

Here are some updated photos from the garden:

The cucumbers finally shot out some vines and are climbing up the deck and the stairs. This morning I hand pollinated about 6 female cucumber flowers. Hopefully, I am doing it right! Wish me luck :-)

I also spotted some new tomatoes, though nothing from the Soldacki/Polish Tomato as of yet.
And, still no female squash blossoms.


Today, I am watching the sun to see if any areas of the yard are getting more sun than the deck is. I also plan on redoing the weed block and mulch on the tree in the front yard and adding some mulch to the bushes in the planters out front.

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Celebrity Sighting

One of the Celebrity Tomatoes finally decided to get to work this week. So far, this is the only tomato-ling on any of the Celebrities. And it will be mine - ALL MINE :-)


One of the Roma's has a few nice tomatoes coming in also:


And - one of the Hot Cherry Peppers is producing as well!



Before I watered everyone this morning, I checked all of the plants that need hand pollinating. I had 3 new cucumbers, and no female Squash/Eggplant flowers. AT ALL. To lift my spirits from this great disappointment, I used some of my new Jiffy Pellets. I sowed some Romaine Lettuce this morning to see if I can grow it in August. I also sowed some of the Lupines and Maine Wildflower Mix that I picked up in Bar Harbor. And, I even found the time to loosen up some more soil near the fence and dropped some seeds from a VERY OLD box of Wildflower Mix that we had in our garage. It will be interesting to see if anything will grow.

Other than that, I moved some of the plants to the side of the house instead of the front of the deck to see if they will get more sun. Tomorrow, I will chart it too see if it is any improvement for them.

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Back from the Cape



Thank you again to Uncle Larry for caring for the plants and the dogs this time around! I didn't bring back any new vegetable plants, but I did manage to find some Jiffy Pellets and a Jiffy Pellet greenhouse. I am hoping to get a jump start on the season by starting seedlings in the house in March/April.


We came home to our Gay Zucchini Alliance, which is apparently out of the closet. Still no female flowers on this plant. Jason has a few cherry tomatoes coming along and he is waiting for them to ripen all together. And my cucumber is looking pretty good, it is about 3-4 inches and looks like an OK cucumber shape. I am hoping that I did a good enough job hand pollinating.


Sunday, July 6, 2008

Cape Cod

The plants are watered, fed and sprayed! And we are off to the Cape.

Friday, July 4, 2008

First Tomato

Jason picked the first tomato of the season today off one of the Cherry Tomato plants. He claims that it did not taste as good as the ones we bought from the farm stand in Cheshire a couple of weeks ago... oh well. We have another that should be ripe by the time we get back from the Cape, unless Larry gets to it first.

I was able to mulch 3/4 of the garden, re-tie some of the tomatoes, as well as prune dead leaves today. I also picked up some organic insecticide made from chrysanthemums. I hope to finish mulching and feeding tomorrow and then on Sunday, spray them down before we leave.

I also did a quick flower check on the cucumbers, eggplants and squash. As of right now, everything is MALE. I am beginning to think there is testosterone in the plant food. A quick check of the tomatoes revealed that the Soldacki have no blossoms at this point, though they are nearly 4' tall. Also, my Alaska Peas absolutely did not like being transplanted, all of them are wilty. Hopefully, we will get some sun someday and they will bounce back.

Thursday, July 3, 2008

Getting ready for the Cape

I think I am finally finished transplanting everything that I have collected. This week I was able to transplant the 4 Yellow Summer Squash and 1 Brandywine Tomato from Maine, as well as the Detroit Dark Red Beets, Romaine Lettuce, Bush Snap Green Beans and Alaska Peas that I grew from seeds. The deck garden has now officially spilled into the yard...

Kelso and I also dug a flower bed near the fence last night and transplanted the Marigolds I bought and all that I grew from seeds. If they make it until the middle of July, I will plant some more flowers in the front yard. I bought some Maine Wildflower Mix and Lupine seeds while we were in Bar Harbor that I think would look really nice on the sides of the pathway to the house.

This weekend my plan is to mulch the containers with some more potting soil, fertilize everything and make some pesticide to spray before we leave for the Cape.


Photo of a Hot Cherry Pepper blossom


Photo of the very tropical squash blossom. Everything on this plant is MALE. Just my luck!