Pretty Fresh

Chopped chard

So, enjoy those colors before they're all roasted or sauteed down to chunky, green slop. It's good slop, though. Especially in lasagna or deep dish pizza or to add an edge to the vegetable soup.

Yes We Can (Grow Carrots)

Bunch o' carrots

I've never had success with carrots before now. And earlier in the summer I still had my doubts. Maybe all that was missing was patience.

It's a real kick to grab a bunch of greens, pull straight up, and suddenly have a mess of these guys dangling there like a rabbit out of a magician's hat.

Soup, carrot cake, and glazed carrots, in that order.

Yes, they are short aren't they? I bought a five-inch variety since the bed is only a foot deep. A lot of greens left over. I'm told there are only two things to do with greens. Compost them, or feed a pony.

Not Done Yet

Last harvest

Every boxful seems like the last, but I'll be out there again tomorrow when the rain breaks to cut the last chard and pull up the last carrots.

The red onions never grew much bigger than mothballs. A dozen of them are rolling around the bottom of the box. They'll go into the salads that are now supplied by Costco (sigh).

We still get one or two handfuls of beans every few days which, along with the carrots and some diced tomatoes, stretch a couple cans of Progresso soup into several delicious meals.

Another Fine Mess

First few beans

This garden and blog began with good intentions, and one needs only note the gap between the dates of this post and my last to see what often becomes of such intentions. I'm having a go at achieving closure on this little project (for now) by posting some notes I wrote up back on August 23rd, followed by a quick update on current conditions. Hmm. That sounds like a weather report, due perhaps to the dreary rain out my window and the persisting forecast for snow in a couple days.

August 23, 2009

I'd better make some entries before summer trips into fall and everything I've learned end up in the compost pile. So here is the first of a bunch of notes about the vegetable garden-in-the-garden experiment – what happened, what's going on now, and thoughts about next year.

Swiss Chard. No complaints here. The half-dozen plants that sprouted provided all the chard we could want, meaning a meal for two every week. It might be more honest to say, "All the chard we could stand..." because I generally have not been a big fan of this very nutritious, but earthy-tasting, leafy, green veggie. This season, however, I found two new ways to cook it that heightened it's appeal. One is to use it in lasagna, sort of like you would spinach, but with the stalks as well. The other is a roasted version inspired by an online recipe at beyondsalmon.blogspot.com. In both recipes I added a lot of chopped onion and garlic. Works wonders.

A true chard enthusiast (if one exists) might want a few more plants.

Beans. One plant survived, and as of this date is not prolific. We had a skimpy dozen beans between us two nights ago, and they were flavorful but not worth the trouble. Probably won't grow beans or or peas next year unless I establish a fenced area to keep out the critters. Not likely to happen.

Zucchini. These things really lived up to their reputation. On one forum I read a comment that began by saying the squash should be harvested at six to eight inches in length for best flavor, and went on to admit that zucchinis like to play hide and seek, resulting in the baseball bats. While I agree with the latter, I have no complaint about the flavor of the giant zukes.

First Zucchini

And it's a whopper

Look what I found, peering under the sprawling canopy of prickly leaves in the back row of box two. I had no idea. Must have been the first bloom; all the rest are the size of my little finger or smaller. That means a lot of squash in our future, and that's alright by me. mmmmm...

Herb Bar

But will they eat the nasturtium?

And we now have fresh herbs to add to the salad. Dill, oregano, basil in pots by the back door.

Lettuce Update

Red Oakleaf Lettuce; Swiss Chard

Because it's all about the lettuce, right? We'd been taking 2.5 lbs. of lettuce out of the first box every week, mostly green while the red oakleaf type matured more slowly. The second planting in box two was done by a just-sprinkle-it-in approach that turned out to be too concentrated for the area seeded. The plants were too crowded, and grew pale and spindly. A hot spell didn't help either. I've thinned them out quite a bit, but it will take weeks until they mature and become more substantial in flavor and crunch. The red oakleaf has matured nicely, and the flavor and texture is perfect. They were also spaced and thinned more deliberately, so now I can harvest the oldest leaves from each plant every few days. Several of the green leaf plants that I cut down to stumps a couple weeks ago have pushed out new leaves. I did not expect that. Nice bonus.