Harvesting the Garden

This last weekend none of the house projects were worked on, I spent all the weekend picking blanching, freezing or baking.  I pulled up the pea vines and froze my last 2 quart for the season.  I was picking beans all week and froze approximately 6 quarts of whole beans.  Cucumber started producing this last week, so I made my first sour cream and dill cucumber salad.  I been trying to find a dill pickle crock pot recipe yet if you would be willing be share one, please do.  The summer squash is going crazy and my refrigerator is loaded with them. 

I had one zucchini get too large so I shredded it up and had enough to make 4 zucchini breads.  I prefer to pick zucchini between 6 to 8 inches long with a diameter of 1 to 1½ inches.  I made my favorite zucchini dish which is a zucchini quiche. 

You can use a frozen 9-inch pie dough but I prefer to recipe from 1,000 Lowfat Recipes which I referred to in the “Caramel Apple Pie” blog.  The original recipe suggested that cheddar cheese or Swiss cheese but I prefer using a Reduced Fat Baby Swiss Cheese made by Country Connection.  It is made in Wisconsin’s driftless area.  It is the only reduced Baby Swiss Cheese I found in a block.  I do not like pre-shredded low fat cheese in the grocery stores.  It tastes terrible so I always looking out for low fat cheese in block form.

Many zucchini quiches recipes puree the zucchini but I like them thinly sliced and then sauté.  It gives the quiche body (adds more fiber to the dish).  Here my version of the dish.

Zucchini Quiche

9 inches unbaked Pie shell

8 slices bacon

3 cups unpeeled thinly sliced Zucchini (pick 6 inches with diameter about 1 inch)

1 medium thinly sliced onion

4 eggs

½ cup evaporated non-fat milk

2 tablespoons fresh marjoram, chopped

¼ cup fresh basil, chopped

1/8 teaspoon white pepper

½ teaspoon salt

2 cups reduced fat Baby Swiss Cheese (I like Country Connection brand, it is the only reduced Swiss cheese I can find in a block)

Cook bacon until crisp, cool on paper towel and crumb it.  Using the bacon dripping sauté onions until soft then add zucchini and cook until soft.  Set aside onion and zucchini mixture.

Preheat oven to 425F.  In a large mixing bowl break open the eggs and beat until smooth.  Add evaporated milk, white pepper, salt, basil and marjoram.  Beat until mixed.  Add onion and zucchini to egg mixture and fold it in.  Fold in Baby Swiss Cheese and bacon to mixture.  Pour it into the pie shell.

Bake at 425F for 10 minutes, then turn down the oven to 300F and bake for 50 – 60 minutes or until center set (knife or toothpick come out clean).  Let quiche sit for 10 minutes before serving.

Makes 6 serving.

Adaptive from the The Zucchini Cookbook by Paula Simmons

The Blooming Garden

Perennial garden on 6/14/2011



 

  

Serveral types of bearded Irises.



American Columbine



Seberian Iris



Bleeding Hearts

  

Jack In the Pulpit



Sage Flower

Creeping Phlox



Week 2: The weather has not been helpful.

 

We had freeze warnings from last Friday to Tuesday night, so none of the plants were put outside to harden off until this Wednesday afternoon.  I only put the cabbage, broccoli, Brussels sprouts and cauliflower along side the house with a light covering over them.  The stones next to the house work as a heat sink and keep them warm overnight and the covering is also use to use the plants from being burned in direct sunlight. 



Plants are kept under a light weight cover the first couple days.





Here are some blooming plants that did survive the frost.

The first tulips of the year.



The hyacinth is near the end of its blooming cycle.



Prairie Smoke is just beginning to bloom.  When the flower starts to died it looks like smoke is billowing from it.

  

The next two pictures show Wild European Ginger in bloom.  The blooms are very hard to find.  It is hidden under the leavers on very short stems next to the ground.  The flowers are not at all showy.  If you look in the center of the pictures you will see a small bud like flower.

Last weekend I did get all my basil and paste tomatoes transplanted into their containers.  I did plant seeds for my cucumbers, winter and summer squashes.  I put the cucumber and squash plants in the garden on the last weekend of May.

Week 3: A Little of This and A Little of That

Last weekend I spend most of my time transplanting over 250 snapdragons and approximately 118 nicotiana plants into the 3-hole packs.   Besides transplanting the flower seedlings I found time to transplant most of my tomatoes, ground cherries and tomatillos seedlings into individual pots.  The weather was wonderful outside last week but I spent most the weekend in the basement trying finish transplanting all the seedlings.  I only have two starter trayes left to transplant that includes 30 paste tomato plants, 18 eggplants, about 50 purple basils and another 50 green basil plants left to do.

I was hoping to start my cucumbers, butternut, acorn squash, and pumpkins last weekend but there is only so much time in a day.  I did find some time on Sunday morning to go outside and plant golden pea pods, sugar snap peas.  I put in more short rows of radishes, carrots and spinach.  The spinach and radishes from the earlier sowing sprouted a week ago.

I have run out of room on my plant stand, so I moved my cabbage, Brussels sprout, broccoli, cauliflower, and petunias out to the 3 season porch.  I would like to bring them outside to harden off but the nights have been in the mid to upper 30’s and I am worried that it is too cold for them.  The plants are more protected on the enclosed porch and seem to be doing well.

Today is the first day this week we will see the sun and I am hoping to rototill one of the gardens where I want to plant the cabbages, broccoli, Brussels sprouts and cauliflower.  I may just plant them before I harden them off outside.  If I do that, I am going to cover them with a ground cloth to protect them from the direct rays of the sun.

This weekend I will finished transplanting all my seedlings and plant the cucumbers and squashes in started pots.  I use to never start plants for cucumbers and squashes but in the last 4-5 years I had the replant seed directly is the soil least twice before they germinate.  When I mentioned this problem to other gardeners, agree that they are having the same problem.

Wednesday evening on my way home from work, I stopped at the local nursery and pick up more soil and flats for the weekend project.  So I am ready to finish the last of the indoor gardening this weekend. 

Note: We got frost this morning.  I guess it was a good thing that I did not put the plants outside to harden off.  I just hope the radishes and spinach that sprouted in garden survive.

Week 9: Seed Starting & Spring Report

All the seeds I started in Week 10 sprouted except Long Island Brussels Sprouts, their germination time is from 10-21 days. The coleus and ivy germanium's are big enough to transplant into 3 packs. My petunias now have 2 to 4 true leaves to develop but they still to small to transplant them this weekend.

This is a big week to plant seeds. Here is the list:

Herbs: Italian Large Leaf Basil, Napolitano Basil, Italian Dark Green Flat Parsley, catnip, oregano, Broad Leaf Sage and Green Culinary Sage

Flowers:
Annual: Radiance Cosmos, Tinny Peach Snapdragons, Ribbon Hybrid Snapdragons and Perfume Hybrid Nicotiana.
Perennial: Giant Pacific Mixed Delphinium and Mixed colored Mullein

Vegetables:
Peppers:
Sweet: King Arthur (red and formerly called Fat ‘N Sassy), Orange Bell, King of the North (red), Chocolate Beauty, Purple Beauty and I will need to pick up a yellow sweet pepper
Hot: Early Jalapeno and Ancho Gigantea

Aunt Molly’s Ground Cherry, Sugar Sweetie Cherry Tomatoes (red), Big Rainbow Tomatoes (huge yellow) and Jade Cross E Brussels Sprouts.

It should take about 7 seed starter trays to plant all of the above.

My Amaryllis now has two buds and one is tall enough to start opening so the 3 individual buds per stalk will so appear.

On Tuesday I notice that I have a tulip leaves coming up on the south side of the house.


The weather been mild but still is a lot of snow surrounding my house but any area which is not shaded is clear of it. It is going to be in the low 60's today so hopefully more will melt.

What did you do this weekend?

While my weekend was full with the usually cleaning, laundry and preparing lunches and breakfasts for the work week, I did get to work in the garden. Saturday’s weather was in the 60s with a brisk wind perfect for hanging out the laundry. I have actually been able to hang the laundry out most weeks since mid-March.

I started to weed the gardens and stone paths. I try not to use herbicides in my yard. I keep the weeds down in the gardens by just weeding and mulching. The stone paths weaving through the gardens I weed. Another technique to keep the weeds down is to boil your dish water and throw it over the stones. I do occasionally use herbicide on thistles, dandelions and creeping Charlie. I brought a dandelion and thistle weed puller but it does not work very well. When I am done my yard is full of holes and the weeds usually return. Using the tool makes it harder to pull the weeds out the second time because of the holes created from using it.

Sunday, I did more weeding in the stone paths; three fourths of the job is done. I spent time rototilling the herb garden. If you go to the Garden Design, the herb garden is the large garden behind the patio on the right side. I transplanted parsley and some Swiss chard that survived the winter. I also dug up my rhubarb since I wanted to move it. The rhubarb never did well when I transplanted here from the last place I lived. The plant would produce some leaves but they would die and never grow large. When I pulled the plants from the ground I found that they had crown rot. I did some research last year trying to find the problem and crown rot fit the description. The only thing to do is throw the plants out and start over with new one. I prefer Canadian Red Rhubarb; I can only hope the nursery's bare root section still has some.

I start sifting the compost piles and got two wheel barrows from it so far. I spread one wheelbarrow over the north side raised bed that I will be planting Monday. I did plant the middle raised bed on April 4 with pea pods, black Spanish radishes, breakfast radishes, Spinach, Detroit Red Beets, Dragon Carrot and Nantes Carrots. All the seeds germinated and I cannot wait until I get to start eating them. The raised bed to the north, I will be planted with yellow pea pods, Giant German Radishes, mustard greens, more carrots and beet.

I hope your weekend was just as productive.