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.

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.

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).

Hot Peppers & Early Spring Heat

Leek (left) Impatiens (top) Parsley (right)

Cucumber with tomatoes in the background (the tomatoes are really growing well; I used some plastic to stake the Brandywines already in their pots)

Dill (left), Sage (front), Thai Basil (back)

Hot Peppers: 2 Poblanos (front row) 1 Jalafuego Jalapenio & 3 Anaheim Chiles (background)

I've been transplanting the tomatoes and eggplants using a mix of Mosser Lee No Damp Off Moss with Compost Crew Garden Soil. I started new seedlings like Cucumber, Calendula, Zucchini and American Flag Leeks in Organic Mechanics Seedling Starter. Since I ran out of the Garden Soil, I'm using a mix of Compost Crew Soil Conditioner Compost with the Seedling Starter for any new transplants. I spread some of the Compost Crew compost around my seedlings in the garden and have also fed them some Espoma Fish Emulsion(April 12). Broccoli Raab, Lettuce, Cilantro, and one Spinach seedling(s) are showing up now. Kohlrabi hasn't changed; Radishes are growing well and I think Carrots are starting to show up too. We have experienced temperatures up to 85 degrees F yesterday. They are expecting 32 degrees Tuesday night. For most of what I have planted, the cold will improve the flavor. The Cilantro might need some protection...

Notes: I've been using a step ladder to hold plants on the steps so more get sunlight. I used some clear plastic to help hold in some heat and keep it slightly more moist in the plastic. This seems to have worked well since the plants have grown. I have also been using some plastic mini green houses from Ikea. 

First Garden Plot 29 Plantings

Today I planted Cilantro, Radishes, Carrots, Parsley, Spinach, Swiss Chard, Collard Greens, Scallions, Lettuce and Broccoli Raab.

I took advantage of some relief from the rain to improve the garden bed fence with stakes and stainless steel screws. Hoping that with the rain the next couple days my seeds will get off to a good start.

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.