Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Update - weeds. 'maters, etc.

Just a little update for everyone, since poor MG has been pretty much the only one watching the garden and I'd guess she is sick of thinking about it. So, I'll try to step in. There is some good news and some OK news and maybe some less than great news.

Good news. So far there are seemingly no large beetle problems, although as you can see from my previous post there are lots of other people in the area who are not so lucky. I've seen a few here and there, but so far, so good.

The weeds, on the other hand, are thriving. We've done a fair amount of weeding in the past couple days and have made quite a bit of progress (I've been just leaving the dead weeds on top of the straw as a second layer of mulch). As we've cleared the weeds, we've found some good surprises (the cukes and one plot of yellow squash look great) and so-so (some of the replanted squash plants seem small but healthy. Brussel sprouts look good. I think the cabbage and broccoli may be toast. I haven't looked at the beans (that area still needs some weeding).

Now, tomatoes. As MG, planbreaker and I have noticed, the tomatoes do not seem to be turning red very quickly (we had a lot of red tomatoes by this time last year). We've also cumulatively thrown out probably 40 rotten tomatoes that have turned red; essentially it seems like if they turn red they rot instantly. There is a similar, though less pervasive, problem with some of the peppers -- although in general the peppers look pretty good. This seems to be only a problem with the regular tomatoes, the cherry and grape varieties seem fine.

However, I talked to a friend who is a big gardener, and got some news that may be better than MG and I had hoped. Turns out a lot of people don't have many red tomatoes yet this year, some people think it has something to do with the weird spring and the effect on bees, which in turn has an impact on pollenation of the plants. However, things are starting to look up in that regard. And, the rotting is likely blossom end rot, which, from what he said and from what I've found online, is caused by soil composition and soil moisture, neither of which there is anything we can do about. HOWEVER, it often solves itself as the season goes on and the roots get better established. I guess for now all we can do is keep an eye on things and hope for the best. The only thing he suggested is more regular watering, but not drowning it when you do (do we need to move to daily watering? Seems excessive, but I dunno...)

I picked a couple good tomatoes today (good sign!), a couple cukes, and a couple beets because I didn't want them to go bad out there. If you want them, come and get them--we're kind of overloaded with food right now. We are probably to the point where there will be good new stuff daily, so people should start picking away. There's also a ton of chard out there and the kale is really good too.

Lastly, planbreaker and I think we should just tear out all the lettuce, maybe plant something new in its place? Here are the things that the UI Extension says can be planted now, and hopefully we could get it harvested by the time they close the garden:

Beets
Brocolli
Cabbage
Leaf lettuce
Peas
Radishes
Spinach
Snap beans
Cauliflower
Carrots
Mustard greens
Mesclun mixes (If weather is unusually hot, plant these greens in partial shade.)

Well, that about wraps up what's been going on. It should be pretty obvious what needs to be weeded, if anyone wants to go out. An hour or so can really make a dent. I'm up for going, with a little notice, if anyone wants company.

We also need to plan a harvest "feast" sometime soon. Anyone wanna suggest a date?

Wednesday, July 12, 2006

Beetles

A little local news about our friends.

Monday, July 10, 2006

update from the weekend

a few quick things:

-beans are ready so people who want them should go and get them
-there was an extraordinarily large zucchini that i picked and served on saturday night to renee. a couple of more should be ready this week so go get them
-there were 5-6 beetles on the chard so we should keep an eye on them and make sure they don't get out of control.
-i planted some scallions where the spinach used to live. all you need to do is cut off the tops with scissors or a knife, maybe leaving about 4 inches above the ground and it should grow back. i'll check in on them this week so make sure they took to the ground

Greens with double garlic

This is straight from p. 562 of How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman so the measurements will be exact. Even though it says "collards or kale," df and I use chard and it's pretty awesome. Actually, I'm addicted to this recipe.

1 pound colars, kale or broccoli raab with stems under 1/4 inch, well washed
1/4 c. olive oil
1/4 c. thinly sliced garlic (about 5 or 6 cloves) plus 1 tsp minced garlic or more to taste
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes or to taste
salt and freshly gorund black peper to taste
1/2 c chicken, beef, or vegetable stock or water
lemon wedges (although this is not absolutely necessary)

1. coarsely chop stems and leaves of the greens
2. place olive oil in a large, deep saucepan. Add the sliced garlic, pepper flakes, salt, and black papper adn cook over medium-high ehat for about 1 minute.
3. Add greens and the stock or water. Cover and cook over medium-high heat for approximately 5 minutes, or until teh grees are wilted and just tender but stilla little firm.
4. Uncover the greens and continue to cook, stirring over medium-high heat until the liquid has all but evaporated and the greens are quite tender. Taste for seasoning and add red or black pepper and salt as needed; add teh remaining minced garlic and cook for 1 minute more. serve with lemon wedges (I usually just put the sprinkle of lemon juice on top and stir).

Tofu and Kale salad

this recipe is "adapted" from Strawberry Fields. this is a pretty vague recipe.

1 pkg firm tofu
a bunch of kale
corn (either frozen or 3 or 4 ears)
soybeans

cut up the tofu, boil the soybeans (they'll end up firmer than a black or kidney bean when they're done; maybe about an hour or 1:15?), defrost or cook the corn, and steam the kale. the best steaming method for me is to wash it thoroughly, then put it in a covered pan at a low-med heat with all of the water still clinging to it. don't let it get too wilted, but cooked enough, then run cold water over it in a colander so you can roughly chop the cooked kale. when all the ingredients are cool, mix them together in a bowl.

for the dressing, start with a mixture of sesame oil and vegetable oil. i worry that sesame oil on its own is too strong for a raw salad so i cut it with vegetable oil. i guess this is what they mean by "to taste"; i usually do a little more than a third of a cup of sesame oil and then a quarter cup of vegetable oil. like the spices in the zucchini cake, i kind of go by smell. quantity also depends on how much of the other stuff you have. mince 3-5 cloves of garlic, slice up some scallions, add some red pepper flakes and a little bit of salt. whisk up the dressing and then pour it all over the kale and tofu and stuff. mix gently.

this keeps pretty well in the refrigerator for a few days. you can tell when it goes bad b/c the tofu will get slimy.

Chocolate chip Zucchini cake

The recipe is actually adapted from the Chocolate Zucchini cake recipe on epicurious. I wanted it to be more of a spice cake with chocolate chips and zucchini. Here's my variation:

2 3/4 c. flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 c. sugar (maybe a little less)
3/4 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. butter (1 stick)
1/2 c. vegetable oil
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 c. buttermilk (but I didn't have buttermilk so I just used a little less than half a cup of regular milk and filled up the rest with plain yogurt and lemon juice and mixed it all together)
2 1/2 c (or even more) of grated zucchini
spices--cinnamon, cloves, ground ginger
1 1/2 c. of semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate chips (I used bittersweet)

Preheat oven to 325. Butter and flour 13x9x2 inch baking pan (I ended up using a 9x9 square and then a 6 inche round). mix flour, baking soda, salt and spices (I eyeball it until it looks and smells the right amount of spice for a spice cake; maybe a 2 tsp of cinnamon and 1/2 or 3/4 tsp of cloves and ginger?). Beat sugar, butter and oil in large bowl until well blended. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla extract. Mix in dry ingredients alternately wiht the milk mixture in 3 additions each. Mix in grated zucchini. Stir in chocolate chips. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake until tester is clean, about 50 minutes.

I put cream cheese frosting on top, which was 1 8oz pkg of cream cheese, 1 stick of butter and confectionary sugar (I didn't really measure; just put a cup in and then added more until the consistency looked ok). Mix it all together and then put in the freezer so it firms up a little bit (that way, you can use less sugar).

df and I discovered that the cake tastes pretty good freshly baked when it's all moist but even better after a night in the refrigerator.