When September Ends

now




3 months ago

it took forever for the sweet-potato vine to grow. then it didn't stop
those are 'daughter' strawberry plants. i'll have more next year! muahahaha!

annuals are starting to look ratty



 
the stevia is about 5' tall

peppers are ripening

the marigolds have never looked better

nasturtiums are still blooming. they liked climbing on the strings that were for the spring peas

Purple Pesto (on a diet)

This recipe is made with the flowering bits of cinnamon basil, which are a lovely dark purple.
Do you see the pretty light-purple blooms toward the top/middle of the photo? Yeah...I didn't quite get them picked as soon as I should. But, oh well, it's still totally edible. They'd probably make a sweet garnish, too.

Ingredients:
equal parts finely chopped basil leaves*
and walnuts
2-3T olive oil
1/2 cup low-fat Parmesan cheese
3 stalks of green garlic*
milk

Items with a * came from the garden.

*

I decided to not use a food processor this time. I heard that hand chopping the ingredients for pesto is much more authentic and brings out better flavor.

Pictured above is equal parts finely chopped basil leaves/blooms and walnuts. Yes, walnuts. Why not pine nuts? I didn't have any and didn't feel like running to the store. Don't try to tell me that walnuts aren't used in pesto, because I already know pine nuts are traditional, but I don't think purple cinnamon-basil pesto is exactly traditional to begin with, and I'm going to deviate from tradition even more. Hold onto your pants. ;)

I mixed them up with just a couple tablespoons of really light, delicate olive oil and about 1/2 a cup of low fat Parmesan cheese. ("Real" pesto uses a whole hell of a lot more oil and real cheese, not the stuff I get out of a plastic tub. But I'm poor and on a diet.)

To that I added minced green garlic. What's green garlic? In a word: delicious. Another word: subtle. And another: delicate. It's like food poetry it's so good. Actually it's just grocery store dry garlic cloves I stuck in a pot, they sprout, and those green spears usually get snipped off for my lust for green garlic long before the plant would start reproducing. I'll do a post just on green garlic soon. Promise.

Here's the finished pesto! I added a little milk to smooth it out. It already had dairy from the parmesan cheese, so I figured it'd work out fine. It did. Very creamy :)

Oh, and it was delicious. I used it as a dip for crackers and a spread on a pita. Maybe next time I'll put it on pasta.

Potato, Pepper + Basil Stovetop Casserole

I dunno...Can you call a stovetop recipe a casserole? But it turned out looking and tasting like a casserole!

My dinner prep started with these funky peppers. They came off a plant I got from Burpee, but I don't think I was supposed to get a purple pepper! So either they weren't quite ripe, or they were a fluke.

I also had a bag of small potatoes I got on sale at the grocery store. Despite a majority of my ancestors being Irish, I don't eat a lot of potatoes, although I do love them. ;) These had been sitting around for awhile and had just started to get wrinkly — definitely time to use them up!

I found a recipe online that I sort of followed...but not really. I'd love to link to it, but I haven't been able to replicate the search :(

Ingred:
1 bag of B (small) potatoes, quartered.
1 large onion, sliced
2 sweet peppers, sliced *
1 Anaheim pepper, sliced *
1 T veg oil
water
1/2 cup of cream
1/4 cup of low-fat Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup fresh chopped basil *

(ingredients marked with a * came from my garden.)


Add oil to large pan on medium heat. Add potatoes. Cook until they start to soften a bit. Add water if they start to stick to the pan. Then add onions. Cook a bit, then add peppers. Cook till everything is soft. I think I ended up adding 1/4-1/2 cup of water a bit at at time to keep things lubed so they didn't stick and burn.

When those look nice and cooked, keep the heat on and let them dry out a bit and get a bit of a crust on the potatoes, but keep a close eye so they don't burn! Then turn off the heat, add cream, cheese and basil.


Let it sit a couple minutes, then serve!

I really liked it. My husband thought it was OK. He's pretty damn picky, so that's pretty good coming from him. I think next time I'll add breadcrumbs, though. Or maybe crushed potato chips. It needed a bit of a crunch. And a bit hotter of a pepper, or a dash of cayenne powder. The Anaheim didn't do much.

Garlic Eggplant + Grits — Update

So here's what it looked like cooked! I sliced them lengthwise this time, and they held together a little better.

(I've been super busy lately working a full-time job + martial arts training/teaching 15 hours/week and crazy weekend activities! And my garden has suffered a bit, but I'll finally have some free time this weekend to get everything back in order!)

What I made for dinner last night — garlicky eggplant and cheese grits.

The 'fairy tale' eggplants have been producing fairly consistently. I pick them when they're just longer than the width of my palm (3-4 inches). They don't stay that nice purple color, though. Maybe the sun bleaches them out?

The combo of eggplant with grits was a happy accident. I needed to cook those babies and my husband was jonesing for some grits.

So, the "recipe" which is not really a recipe, but what I remember of what I threw in the pan.

EGGPLANT:
Washed the egplant. Cut off the green ends. Sliced into 1/4" wide medalions. Heated 2T oil (I used coconut) in a big saute pan on medium heat. Added the eggplant (maybe 4 cups worth?) Added a pinch of salt. Covered the pan. Tossed it around occasionally. Finished cooking in 10-15 minutes. Added shredded green garlic stems. (Could have also used diced garlic.)

GRITS:
2 cups milk + 2 cups water + 1 teaspoon salt brought to a boil in a big pot. (I use a dutch oven.) When it boils, slowly whisk in the grits. Whisk until all the lumps are gone. Cook covered, over a medium-low heat for 20 minutes. Whisk well every 3 minutes, make sure to get all the corners and the stuff stuck to the bottom. When it's done, remove from the heat, add 2-4 tablespoons butter and 4 oz sharp cheddar cheese. Mix in well.

We served it with a big sloppy pile of grits on the plate, topped with the eggplant, and a little garnish of chives. The eggplant or grits on their own aren't nearly as good as they are together!

No pics, sorry. It smelled too good and I was so hungry ate it before I thought to take a photo!

Post-storm update

Not looking too bad after yesterday's storm. Just some of the more delicate flowers (petunias and nasturtiums) are a little ragged.

But the squash started to topple over the edge!

Then it stormed AGAIN today! And more fell over the edge. Maybe they'll continue to grow like that?


8/13/09 update: Eh, no. They didn't grow. They survived for a week or two, then shriveled up and died. I have one cucumber vine hanging on. It looks like it'll continue to trail over the edge. And it has a couple fruits. They're only a couple inches long now. So, I'm adding squash to my list of things I'll probably not try again next year.

Rain and beans

This morning was very dreary, cloudy and damp from last night's rain. I picked off another half dozen Japanese beetles – drowned them in soapy water. I guess the garlic didn't work. Allegedly the smell of the corpses deters more from coming. We'll see…

I'm glad for the rain (I don't have to water so often), but it's not good for my fungus infected strawberry plants. I got a copper spray for them. It will, of course, only stop the fungus from spreading. The infected spots will remain infected. I'll remove them when I get a chance.

Look at how well the mints (bottom center) are doing! It might be time for a mojito party!
And the lemon thyme (at the top) is spilling out of the planter. No idea what I'm going to do with all of it.

I got my first harvest of green beans. And it looks like many more are on the way!

Weekly update: flowers and fruits...err...vegetables!

The hanging basket has filled out nicely. The lantana, sweet potato vines, marigolds, petunias and vinca are all doing really well. The nasturtiums...not so much - they're still about 4 inches tall, and no blooms.

 

Remember the pretty eggplant blooms from June 26? Well, a week-and-a-half later I see a couple little bitty fruits! They're about 1.5 inches long.

The squashes put out a huge amount of blooms this week! I may pinch a few off so the plants can have enough energy.

Looks like I'll get a decent crop of green beans. These are about 3" long.

The carrots handled their transplant very well. They're doing a lot better than the ones stuck with the squash. I think I'll have to pull those out, they're very stunted. The piggles will FEAST!

Peppers are doing a little better in their new home in the sun. Just two fruits so far on this 'Great Stuff' pepper.

This 'Anaheim' pepper is doing the best. I see at least 3 fruits and one more bloom. None of the other peppers have bloomed.

The second batch of onions I seeded are emerging. It only took them a week.

This particular nasturtium plant is doing very well. I think it likes the support of the taller surrounding pots.

The nasturtiums in the boxes hanging on the railing have stayed very compact. Even though they're blooming beautifully, I wish they'd do as I intended and cascade over the side of the balcony.

Strawberry leaf spot and Japanese beetles

I noticed this little beetle on my green beans last night. I promptly squished him. Look at what he did!

Jerk.

After looking around some more I found a dozen making their way through the strawberry plants. I squished them too. A couple got away, but I sprinkled garlic powder over everything hoping that would keep them away.

I checked this morning and didn't see any more. So hopefully the garlic was good enough. But, I'm keeping my eyes open.

 

Actually the strawberries got a double-whammy…they also have what I think is strawberry leaf spot.
So, I'm off to the garden center for an organic fungicide.

July 1 Census

click to enlarge

I took inventory of what's growing right now. The above photo gives a general idea of what's growing where. The color refers to the sort of plant. The size refers to roughly how much room it uses.


Edibles:
Beans (green)
Carrots
Cucumbers
Eggplant
Onions (bunching)
Pepper (Anaheim)
Peppers – sweet (5 varieties)
Squash (summer, spaghetti)
Strawberries

Herbs:
Anise
Basil (sweet, cinnamon, spicy)
Borage
Chives
Garlic
Lavender
Lemon Verbena
Marjoram
Mint (orange, peppermint, spearmint)
Oregano (variegated, Greek)
Rosemary
Sage (regular, pineapple)
Stevia
Thyme (regular, lemon)


Edible flowers:
Nasturtiums
Marigolds
Pansies
Violas

Non-edibles:
Alyssum
Hyacinth
Lantana
Strawflower
Sweet potato vine
Vinca

I forgot what a few were called...and I can't find the tags I supposedly stuck in the pot.
small yellow flower
small pink flower
pink/green groundcover

Done + removed:
Lettuce
Mesclun
Peas