What Worked This Growing Season

Brandywine Tomatoe Plant

Martha Stewart's Brandywine Tomatoes were definitely the perk of growing our own vegetables this year. Each plant produced several large tomatoes over the growing season from July thru early September.

Burpee Roma Tomatoes produced a good amount of tomatoes. Some of the seeds in the package gave us some weird shaped tomatoes but otherwise we were pretty happy with them. They gave out all their fruit by the end of August. I have one plant in a backyard planter that sat in the shade that's giving out it's first fruit of the year.

Honey Delight Tomatoes

Honey Delight Hybrid Tomatoes (Burpee) grew bunches of tart yellow tomatoes. They made an easy replacement for tomatillos in salsa recipes.

Kohlrabi (Behnke's) was a surprising treat once they were ready. We were really happy with this vegetable as a replacement for cucumber early in the growing season.

Garden Babies Butterhead was a delight to watch grow. They grew into small heads of lettuce with light flavor and delicate leaves.

The small eggplants were neat in terms of serving a whole little eggplant in a dish. They came out tasty in an indian curry with rice and roasted in a honey/soy/miso sauce over noodles. My one gripe is that they take forever to grow.

Herbs were definitely winners this year. They all gave awesome flavor:

• Cilantro, Calypso
• Sage, Common
• Parsley, Titan
• Basil, Siam Queen
• Large Leaf Basil (Behnke's)
• Dill, Fernleaf
• Lovage (Behnke's)

Calendula (top) Nasturtium (Bottom)

The Edible Flowers were a nice mix in the garden and did attract the right insects. Although I think I would limit my nasturtiums to one plant next year. Their flavor is a bit too much and you do get a good amount of foliage/flowers from one plant:

• Calendula, Flashback Mix (Organic)
• Nasturtium, Dwarf Cherry Rose
• Edible Marigold, Lemon Gem

The Biggest Losers this Season:

Zucchini

Burpee Zucchinis were a big disappointment this year. I think I would try a vining type instead of a bush type next time. This type of Zucchini says it's for a small garden and grows one squash at a time. Seemed like way too much leaves to meager fruit.

Burpee Broccoli Raab grew into flowers way too fast before developing any thickness to their buds. This was the most disappointing vegetable of the season. I love the taste of Broccoli Raab but wouldn't plant this type again.

I don't think I'd plant the Ferry Morse Spinach again. The leaves came out way too small and we didn't really end up eating any of it.

More Recipes

AUTUMN SQUASH/SWEET POTATO MASH

I've been making a squash/sweet potato mash recently that is inspired a bit by Barefoot Contessa's soup recipe. I take Acorn squash or Butternut Squash and slice into big chunks (better to cut so that flesh side is completely covered by the pan and only skin is exposed to open oven air/I think this helps with cooking and making flesh easier to remove from skin), remove seeds, slather the flesh side with olive oil. I place the pieces skin side up on a sheet pan. At the same time I chop up sweet potatoes and onions to the same cube size (inch cubes) slather with olive oil and throw on the sheet pan in a single compact layer. 400F oven for about half an hour or until onions and sweet potatoes begin to brown (you don't want them burned). Once squash is soft, remove with spoon from flesh and throw into food processor with roasted sweet potatoes and onions. Add a tablespoon or two of butter, salt to taste, two tablespoons of herbs (rosemary, thyme and/or sage), and pepper. Puree until it's a mash potato consistency that you like to eat. Top with parmesan cheese and serve warm. I have also thrown the leftovers into a ramekin topped with mozzarella and baked at 375 until the cheese is melted.

I've been making this with store bought sweet potatoes because my garden ones are still not an adequate size.

HERBY PORK LOIN (TRADER JOE'S)

Puree any combination of parsley, thyme, oregano, sage, and/or rosemary with garlic, dried breadcrumbs, sauteed mushrooms/onions in a food processor. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Add two ground cloves and scrubbed orange or lemon peel for a different taste. Take the pork loin and cut in half to have two four inch long cylinders. Take one of the pieces and poke the front of the loin with a knife to form a "C" that pierces the loin the whole way through so you can stuff the loin from the front and the back. The goal of the C is to maximize flavor into the pork. Try to keep the same width of meat around the C as is left inside if possible. Using a teaspoon spoon the filling into the "C" shape from the front and back. Remove some of the fat at the top of the pork loin if it has uneven sections (it needs a nice even cover of fat). Score the fat side top with a crosshatch going through the entire fat thickness just touching the meat. Salt the outside of the pork and cover with wrap or container and set in fridge for a few hours or up to a day. This will allow the pork to absorb the salt and some of the flavors. Sear the outside of the pork in vegetable oil on a stovetop before placing into the oven at 375F for about an hour or until a thermometer piercing the inside reads 165F. The fat at top should be nice and crunchy. Allow to rest before slicing into 1/4 inch thick slices.

ASIAN FLAVORED PORK LOIN

I have also altered the filling for the pork loin to take on a more "asian" flavor by sauteing equal parts shiitake and cremini mushrooms in vegetable oil with onions, garlic and ginger. Let those brown and add sake to reduce. Finally add in soy sauce and a small drop of sesame oil to taste. I pureed this mixture with miso and a little bit of parsley to create a paste. I spooned this into the pork loin and followed recipe as shown above then served over a bowl of noodles. I heated some of the filling in a pan and used that to sautee the noodles for additional flavor.

Garden in the Beginning of Fall

The Brandywine and Roma tomato plants were beginning to wither at the beginning of September. They had produced some tasty tomatoes in a satisfying quantity for our household. Seeing them, made me realize the growing season is just about over and I didn't feel like I had really used the garden to it's full potential. Thanks to some cooking episodes (Thank you PBS & Food Network) I was inspired to amp up the amount of herbs I had been using in my recipes. Now I realize I had been much too conservative with the quantities of herbs up to this point and they do make a big difference in flavor. Some herby recipes that I have been using most recently are:

Herb Roast Chicken (America's Test Kitchen)

Carne Asada (my version: Soy Sauce, Thyme, Rosemary, Garlic Powder, Onion Powder, Olive Oil & No Tequila & No Cilantro & No Butter)

Porchetta (my version: No Pork Belly, included small bit of lovage)

Halibut Vermicelli with Dill & Pineapple-Anchovy Sauce

Vietnamese Spring Rolls have included some to all of the following ingredients: slices of rolled lettuce, matchstick carrots & radishes, thai basil, cooked shrimp, nasturtium leaves/flowers, & mint.

Basil Pesto that I keep in the fridge for a week's use at a time includes just olive oil, garlic, salt and as much basil leaves as can be kept under a protective layer of olive oil in whatever jar I use. I add hot pepper flakes & Parmesan cheese just before serving.

Salsa (of course!!): roasted tomatoes or fresh chopped brandywine, cilantro, hot peppers, roasted garlic, lime juice and onions. Added Avocado to turn into Guacamole or mangoes to make it a sweet and spicy sauce.

Instant pickled veggies for the fridge have included 1 part cider vinegar to 2 parts water and some to all of the following: olive oil, salt, pepper, cloves, bay leaf, rosemary, oregano, thyme sprigs, garlic, red onion, yellow onion, sliced serranos, sliced jalapenos, sliced poblanos, carrots, and cauliflower.

Lovage salt: 6 tablespoons salt to every ounce of Lovage. Adapted Recipe from Celery Salt (Time Life CookBooks 1981)

Herb Butter Recipes (I've been creating sage & parsley butters for the winter)

Bread Recipes: I've adapted bread and pizza recipes by including sage, rosemary and/or thyme.

Bread Recipe that included finely chopped sage. I topped the loaf with whole sage leaves.

Other recipes that have used harvests from the garden have included:

Pho Bo: Beef Noodle Soup (used Thai Basil, Scallions, Radishes & Jalapenos as Garnish)

Moon-Viewing Noodles in Broth & Spinach steeped in Broth (scallions, collard greens, swiss chard)

Chicken with Roasted Coriander in a Coconut Curry Sauce (adapted to use small halved eggplants instead of chicken, tomatoes, hot peppers)


The state of the garden at the beginning of Fall 2014: A collection of pictures

I dug around the sweet potato plants last week to find the roots still too small for eating. These may not be ready until December.

Sweet Potato plants interspersed with Thai Basil & Italian Basil

These eggplants only grow to three inches long

The Honey Yellow Tomatoes grew so large in September that I wrapped them around the vacant cucumber teepee trellis. Now the new cucumber plant is growing up on the tomato vines. It seems to be working well.

Parsley has been growing at the base of the teepee over the season but not as well as in full sun.

Honey Yellow tomatoes growing around the teepee with the cucumber vining it's way around them

Poblano peppers (top), Eggplant (right) and Radish/Cilantro seedlings (lower left)

Radishes and Cilantro

Second attempt at a zucchini plant (top left) with swiss chard that has been growing dependably all season (middle) and poblano peppers (right) and carrots (lower left)

I recently planted collard greens near the carrots in the row with the zucchini plant. The roma tomato plants died away in early September and I planted a container tomato plant to see if it would still give fruit. One more tomato is growing.

Cucumbers

I removed both of my cucumber plants from the garden this week. The dried stems and the last crinkly skinned fruit finally convinced me they were past help. They caught some sickness from the beetles that were feasting on them. I've planted some new seeds and am hoping they grow in time for us to enjoy cucumbers before winter. Two of my pepper plants are showing signs of weakness and I'm still at a loss as to what's causing it.

Here's a picture of this week's harvest; greens and herbs have proven reliable and the tomatoes are the newest addition to our dinner table.

Clockwise top left: Calendula Flowers, Basil, Swiss Chard, Collards, Jalapenos, Honey Yellow Tomatoes, Roma Tomatoes, Brandywine Tomatoe, Anaheim Chile Peppers

July Garden Pictures

Here are some pictures from the garden during one of the hottest days of the season so far....

Chamomile plants

Red Onions

Collard Greens

Zucchini

Calendula (about to blossom)

Baby Butterhead Lettuce

White Carrot

Brandywine Tomatoes

Honey Yellow Tomatoes

Nasturtiums

Zucchini plant up close (baby zucchini is growing at center)

Sage Plants (we're ready for thanksgiving)

Swiss Chard

Sweet Potato (Porto Rico)

Thai Basil

Two Cucumber vines are climbing up the teepee just fine

A really long cucumber (must be 10 inches long)

Roma Tomatoes

Southern Night Tomatoes

Strawberry plant

Calendula & Zucchini

This morning I harvested zucchini and calendula flowers in addition to the usual collards, lettuce, and herbs from the garden. The zucchini plant needs trimming because many of it's leaves seem to wither when they get tangled up with the other limbs of the zucchini plant. I used some twine to tie the tomato plants to their staking posts and trimmed their leaves back. There are many small green fruits appearing on most of the tomato plants. There are three cucumbers growing. The teepee trellis is working wonderfully so far for the two cucumber plants that are climbing it. Occasionally I have to move them away from the neighboring tomato stakes and tie the cucumber vine to the teepee. I haven't seen any peppers yet and I'm looking forward to trying some from the seed grown plants. We are experiencing some high temperatures (mid 90s) today and I'm hoping we get the rain tonight and tomorrow the weathermen have been promising.

Clockwise from the top: Calendula flowers, Collard greens, Zucchini, Lettuce, Nasturtium flowers & leaves, Parsley, Sage, Lovage, Basil, & Thyme.

I'm planning to use the calendula petals (top of picture) as a garnish for food since they are edible. They don't have much flavor but they do have a pretty burnt orange color to them. I'm also interested in using them in rice dishes to see if they impart their color. The nasturtium flowers (bottom of picture) are pretty topping an omelete in the morning and add a spicy flavor. I've also used the nasturtium leaves (zesty flavor) inside an omelete usually accompanied by swiss chard and/or collard greens and of course cheese.

Harvest

I have been harvesting lettuce, radishes, collard greens, cilantro, dill, sage, parsley, nasturtium and swiss chard pretty regularly from the garden (all the kohlrabi has been eaten and replaced with growing tomato plants). This past week we enjoyed a cucumber, a small zucchini, basil, scallions, jalapenios (from Danielle's plant) and red onions. Small green tomatoes are growing on most of the tomato plants. The zucchini plant is growing larger than what I initially thought it would and brought too much shade to the neighboring thyme plant. I had to remove the thyme & replant to where I had harvested the red onions.

The greens (collards/chard/basil) have mostly ended up in pasta dishes and omeletes. The radishes, cilantro, parsley and lettuce have appeared in salads and tacos/tostadas. I've pickled the kohlrabi & radishes in apple cider vinegar for salads. The dill has found it's way into chicken salads and fish recipes. The nasturtium leaves I've used in omeletes and paired them with their flowers for salads. I'm looking forward to including nasturtium flowers/leaves in spring rolls this week with cuttings from five thai basil plants that are now growing.

Herb & Flower Transplants plus a Strawberry Surprise

Today I planted some of the herbs and vegetables I have started indoors: four chamomile, three calendula, two parsley, and two dill seedlings. I also found what I think is a strawberry plant growing in the walkway that I transplanted to where the spinach are planted. I also planted additional seeds: Broccoli Raab in the uphill eastern part, Swiss Chard uphill and downhill, Nasturtium (2 additional scraped seeds since the original seeds haven't germinated yet), Spinach (scattered throughout the planting area), three carrots in the uphill north part, and four zucchini seeds in a diamond pattern. I also transplanted some Chef Jeff's Rosemary and Oregano plants that I've had inside the house.

There are also other "weeds" growing that could be celery or thyme that I've transplanted in the lower western corner where the chamomile are planted. Their leaves aren't as apparent as the strawberry ones to identify. I'll see if they come out with anything interesting and useable.

Next on the list is to set out my peppers in the cold temperatures on my deck (night & day) and begin hardening my tomatoes, cucumber and eggplants (during the day). Also I can get the leeks into the garden along with some sage and Thai basil tomorrow. I haven't really hardened my herb or flower plants before setting out (crossing my fingers they'll be okay).

The cilantro in the garden that got pulled out by that storm has recovered and true leaves are forming (they actually look like a regular cilantro leaf).

Herbs, Onions and Flowers

Today I planted parsley, sage, dill, chamomile, thai basil, leeks, scallions, and marigolds using yogurt, ricotta cheese and solo cups and egg cartons. I don't think these will work as well as the plastic egg cartons but we shall see.