Posts Tagged ‘zucchini’
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Sunday, August 22nd, 2010
Last week was really rough for me. I had a terrible time transitioning back into work. I was grumpy, sleep-deprived, anxious, and pretty miserable all around.
But I did manage to squeak out 4 great runs last week. And that makes me happy. I will build on that this week.
I also got an amazing haircut and am very happy I broke down and finally did it.
My head feels much lighter now. And I finally have my layers back!
I bought calimyrna figs for the first time on Friday, and they make the most delicious snack.
Craig and I dogsat this weekend for his sister’s pooch, and it was really fun to cuddle up with a dog. It was neat to have a little shadow.
I also harvested our first melons from the garden!
The watermelons kept popping out of their slings and finally came off the vine.
Organic cantaloupe and sugar baby watermelons!
We went to a fantastic housewarming party on Saturday night for two of our good friends, and we had a blast seeing everyone. I hadn’t been out in ages, and plus we had been away for 3 weeks. So it was reaffirming to catch up with our friends and just chill out eating summer BBQ foods and having tasty beers. We stayed out very, very late. But it was worth it.
Today we visited my parents and caught up with them and showed off vacation pics.
And tonight I washed our sheets, cleaned the kitchen, and made a batch of zucchini and summer squash soup for our lunches this week.
I am feeling more optimistic. This is good! This week I hope to tackle planting new lettuce and baby spinach seeds. And more sugar snap peas.
And I WILL run, of course. Now if I can just work on peaceful, restful sleep I will be golden.
Tags: cantaloupe, exercise, gardening, gratitude, housework, laughter therapy, organic, running, summer, summer squash, watermelon, zucchini
Posted in The Daily Balance, The Growing Season | No Comments »
wrapping up july in the gardens of plenty
Friday, July 30th, 2010
When July began, we were inundated with lettuces. Everywhere. I couldn’t pick them fast enough! That is why they became the July banner. And the fireflies were out every night. Along with the heat. And humidity. July has been HOT. 90°F+ for many, many days with very little rain. I don’t remember the last time July was this hot.
Who’s looking forward to getting their water and electricity bills in August? Yeah. They’re gonna suck. We have one little tiny AC unit that we broke out to use in the bedroom, and I can’t believe how many nights in a row we used it. Eesh. And the near-daily garden waterings. Plus trying to save our lawn, which was a failure. Our grass took its bow at least a few weeks ago. Craig is psyched though—mowing is awesome when you don’t have to do it.
July has been a month of learning for me. I delved deeper into blogging and talking to other bloggers. I started participating in more online discussions with other writers and really focused on visiting other blogs that are incredible. I plan to organize my thoughts more and share, share, share! Soon!
I also started to dip my pinky toe into being more social online and getting to know other gardeners. Stepping out of my comfort zone has been awesome. Even if it was slightly anxiety-ridden for me at first. I get shy. But I also gain confidence. I am learning so much, and it is so rewarding to share information and swap life and garden stories with ilk! And not just other gardeners, but other amazing women and men out there who are invested in self-discovery, in mindfulness, in celebrating the simple pleasures of each day. I love this.
On the gardening side of things, all of this interaction has really helped me, too, because my little plenty this year has been suffering quite a few setbacks. And other gardeners have been awesome with sharing their advice. First there were the squash vine borers. Then there were the red leaf lily beetles. And now I’m battling some sort of tomato fungus that I don’t think is late blight, but rather septoria leaf spotting.
Ick, again.
After 3 years of awesome gardening, I have really had to step back and think about what I am doing. I know you can’t prevent all pests and diseases, but I somehow thought I was immune because I garden organically. Not the case! Turns out I should have been more vigilant, especially last year, to look for signs of pest and disease. Well, silly me… I was far too busy planning my wedding and then enjoying the first weeks of newlywed-dom and then went off to Europe for my honeymoon.
Yeah, well, turns out there were a ton of warning signs going on in my garden that I was clueless about! Wedded ignorant bliss!
If I had payed closer attention to my squashes last year, I might have noticed the onset of squash vine borers. I think I had them last year, but the case wasn’t crazy severe. They overwinter in your soil, though, and so I have had these icky buggers on hand for quite some time. And thinking back, I am pretty sure I had a septoria problem last year, too. But I just chalked it up to crappy tomatoes because New England had sooooo much rain last summer. Slugs were the biggest garden problem! So I just thought my tomato plants were waterlogged and hangin’ in the best they could. I have most likely been harboring septoria in my soil.
Ewwww. Makes me feel like a bad gardening mamma. I got distracted. I got a little too giddy about my success. I failed to read, research, and take preventive measure like rotating my crops and turning my soil.
Just like life, eh? It is so easy to get carried away, get distracted, forget to practice gratitude and be humble. Well, now it has caught up to me, and I am paying for it with a subpar harvest thus far this summer.
It is okay, though. I can take it. It happens to the best of us.
I am experiencing so much, and I feel so present to be able to learn from my mistakes. And not all is lost, which is the best part about the garden. It WANTS to grow. The garden WANTS to flourish. Like the kid in class who knows the answer and has her arm strained up to the sky, begging for the teacher to call on her. Ain’t nothin’ gonna break her. So I take so much comfort in the tiny little garden successes these days. They are amazing.
Here are a few worth sharing as we wrap up July in the gardens of plenty.
Here is my first cantaloupe! This is my first year attempting to grow melons.
My sugar baby watermelons are big enough to sling. I am using old knee-high stockings to cradle and support them.
So exciting to see them grow bigger and bigger! This sugar baby watermelon is the furthest along.
My 4 corn stalks are right on schedule!
One is way taller than the others, but here’s hoping...
Here comes an ear!
After waiting and waiting, my first roma tomatoes are finally ripe!
Romas and cherry tomatoes
We had our first real tomato harvest this week.
Our bush lake beans are still producing in full force.
Our cucumbers have been doing very well.
The vines are withering in the heat, but we are still picking sugar snap peas.
Don’t call it a comeback! Despite the collapse of most of my squash plants, a few are still hanging on. We have new zucchinis growing.
All in all, it could be worse, right? I am thankful for the good and the bad. It is summer, after all, which is simply wonderful.
Tags: beans, cantaloupe, corn, gardening, gratitude, lettuce, sugar snap peas, summer, tomatoes, watermelon, zucchini
Posted in The Growing Season | 4 Comments »
i call it gardens of disgust
Monday, July 19th, 2010
Happy Monday! Hope you had a relaxing, rejuvenating weekend.
There are so many things I want to write about right now. My mind is in a jumble, and I am not sure what to write about first. Usually I would write about all the things we did or accomplished or avoided doing over the weekend. But, and sadly, first and foremost on my mind is the state of my garden squashes. Disclaimer: Usually when I write about the garden, I am happy. Thrilled! Bursting. Today, not so much.
My squashes are ill. Sick. Dying. I know I sound dramatic. But, alas, it is true. And if you spend as much time as I do nursing the garden each day, then you might be just a tad bummed out by this latest discovery.
My squash have been invaded by squash vine borers. A grody garden worm pest that basically bores into the squash vine and sets up business within your plant, robbing the vines and developing squashes of hydration and livelihood. It’s icky.
And it’s gross because no one wants to imagine wormy things taking over their squash plants. And I’m at a loss because my fellow gardening blogger, Nourishing Words, had warned of this problem about a week ago when she saw it happening in her garden. And I was all, “So sorry to hear!” instead of closely inspecting my own squash patch. I even wrote 3 days ago about how I thought my squashes were thriving.
Big mistake.
First warning sign was that my squash plants were wilting. I thought it was the heat. I mean, it has been 90°F at least each day last week. Second warning sign was that I had leaves actually yellowing and shriveling on my plants. Again, I thought it was the heat. Third warning sign was I saw squash blossoms just falling off and looking likes they were molding? Ewwww. I started thinking squash vine borers. But I didn’t know for sure.
So I picked my last “healthy” zucchini tonight.
And when I twisted it off the plant like I have so many times before, I was greeted by the most fowl white grubby-looking larvae on the end all squirmy. Can’t get that image out of my head. Not what you ever want to see on the end of your beautiful zucchini.
I know, super disgusting. I won’t say anymore. And I didn’t photograph it. I had to resist the urge to scream, drop the zucchini, and run 100 yards away. Check out Nourishing Word’s post to see more in-depth detail of things to watch out for.
Gardening when all is good is amazing. Gardening when there’s a pest or a fungus or a blight sucks. What’s even more frustrating is being an organic gardener. I use organic soil and compost. Organic seed. Loving care. And still the pests come. I would not turn to chemical pesticide. But it is sort of mind-blowing to step back for a moment and ponder in awe how farmers hundreds of years before me dealt with pest after pest. When a bug or a disease meant the difference between feeding your family or starving. Between making a living selling crops or going without. And when you see it that way for just a moment, you can open your eyes to how the pesticide industry was born. Dog eat dog world. Or pest eat crop world.
Aye.
I have to remind myself that I am lucky to be experimenting with organic gardening and that this is all part of the adventure. And not to swear too much while I’m busy reading a million Google pages on what to do about squash vine borers. The prognosis is grim. My plants will probably not make it. Here’s a last look at my squash bed as of today.
Oh how looks can be deceiving. Darn squashes.
Nourishing Words suggested using Captain Jack’s Deadbug Brew, an organic treatment that features a healthy dose of spinosad. The crappy part is that I’m having trouble finding it locally. Went to a bunch of places today, and no luck.
I could order Captain Jack’s Deadbug Brew online, but by the time it gets here, my squash would be done. I have a few leads, so I am headed out tomorrow to try to track down this brew. Even by then, I fear it is too late for my squashes already. Once the larvae get in and burrow and take over the vines, it is really tough for the squash plants to recover.
Not to mention GROSS! Did I say that already. GROSS!!!
Tags: gardening, organic, squash vine borer, summer, summer squash, zucchini
Posted in The Growing Season | 11 Comments »
progress and proliferation
Friday, July 16th, 2010
It was just a little over 2 months ago (yikes! already!) that I planted most of my organic veggie and flower seeds. And so far I have been quite encouraged by what I’ve been able to harvest: cilantro, green onion, radishes, broccoli rabe, garlic scapes, lettuces, baby spinach, sugar snap peas, zucchini, and beans.
Everything else is still a work in progress, but coming along with a hit or miss here and there. I’ll get to my misses in more detail in a future post, but let’s just say that my carrot tops and peppers are being obliterated by some sort of munching pest. In fact, I think my carrots might be done for. I wasn’t paying them any attention when perhaps I should have been.
Not gonna dwell on carrot misfortune right now. It’s Friday! And I want to focus on all the great things happening in the garden!
Here’s a good example of excellent garden cheating. Had to do it with my corn. I originally planted 8 seed groupings of two, but only 3 plants came up.
So I broke down and bought some corn starts to supplement the corn that either failed to germinate or got eaten by chipmunks. I prefer to blame the chipmunks. They are still burrowing deep holes between the freshly planted new stalks.
I hope the newer starts will still produce even though the corn I planted from seed is much further along. I think we’re in good shape. Unless the un-mowed lawn keeps taking over. Then we’re in trouble. This weekend! This weekend! Craig, my most bestest favoritist person, will mow this weekend!
All the rain we had the other day coupled with frequent watering is helping my cucumbers along.
Craig says it’s in that looks-like-a-pickle stage.
I am definitely liking the trellis action this year. While it has given my cucumbers more growing space and it’s keeping them from spilling out onto the lawn, the watermelon and cantaloupe, however, are consuming the trellis and still going full steam ahead anywhere and everywhere the vines can go. This weekend I am going to have to go hunting for another trellis for the cantaloupe.
And there she is: one itty bitty baby growing watermelon. Let’s see how long I can keep this up.
Finally after waiting and waiting, I have a summer squash starting to grow!
I see more buds, so I hope the growing is just beginning.
We’ve picked 3 zucchinis so far, and I hadn’t seen any others successfully growing, so I was starting to get worried. Sometimes they start growing their little zucchini nubbin and then they turn yellow or rot. I’m sure there’s perfectly good reasons for why this happens, but I almost don’t want to know. However, after the rain I spotted new, good growth.
Hope these zucchs continue to stay healthy.
And, of course, I will end again with more flowering zinnias. They are a dwarf variety and they are pretty cute. I’m a little bummed that the flower stem part is only about 2″ long, so it kind of makes it hard to cut them for a bouquet. I suppose I could put them in a teacup? The colors are vibrant and new shades keep blooming.
Pay absolutely no attention to the giant weed right in the middle. This weekend! This weekend! I WILL weed this weekend.
Tags: beans, broccoli rabe, cantaloupe, cilantro, cucumber, gardening, garlic scape, gratitude, herbs, lettuce, radishes, spinach, sugar snap peas, summer squash, watermelon, zucchini
Posted in The Growing Season | 3 Comments »
good eats from the garden
Sunday, July 11th, 2010
After a long, hot week where we didn’t have the energy to do much of anything, I finally got inspired over the weekend by my garden veggies and local market finds to make some really fresh, yummy meals.
I tend to plan meals around what is ready to go out in the garden or what I can get a great deal on at the market. So Friday night’s meal was centered about a freshly picked zucchini from our garden and some beautiful red-skinned fingerling potatoes I had bought. I also picked up some organic chicken thin-sliced breasts too.
And here’s a tip about buying organic chicken and beef. Yes, they are pricier than the icky other meats at the market. However, my local food store carries a decent selection. And often they will mark down the price if it’s within a few days of the sell-by date. And then I get a sweet deal and stock up. Chicken can go right into the freezer. The beef I cook right away. And while it’s still more expensive than “regular” chicken and beef, I would rather pay a little extra. I consider it a treat rather than a dinner must-have. We go veggie many nights a week anyway. But I do loves me some good chicken.
I decided to cut the thin chicken breasts into long strips and sprinkled them with organic flour, sea salt, black pepper, and paprika. Then I sautéed them in a little organic butter and olive oil.
Because the breasts are so thin, they cook very quickly—about 2 minutes per side.
I arranged the cooked chicken on our plates, and then added a little freshly squeezed lemon juice and a dash of white wine to the pan to make a sauce with the leftover flour and brown bits. Meanwhile, I heated another pan with a generous amount of organic butter and the zest from the lemon I used.
I’ve pretty much decided that butter and lemon zest are just about the two most amazing things in the world.
I cut up the zucchini from the garden into thin round slices and added them to the pan along with some black pepper. I lightly sautéed them for about a minute and then I added some grated parmesan/romano cheese to the pan to mix in. The cheese melts and pairs wonderfully with the buttery lemon zest flavor. And the zucchini keeps its firmness because I only cooked it briefly.
With the potatoes I made a fingerling potato salad using tarragon, parsley, minced garlic, and minced shallot. I used a little white balsamic vinegar and mayonnaise for the dressing.
Very quick and easy to make. The fingerling potatoes cook with skins on and only take about 12 minutes.
Here’s the final result:
Paprika chicken, sautéed zucchini in lemon butter, and fingerling potato salad
Always exciting to make a non-salad meal!
Saturday night was back to salad, but I decided I wanted to make a different type of salad than our usual. We had plentiful fresh lettuces from the garden to use as the base. And I knew I wanted to use hard-boiled eggs because we had four eggs left in the fridge that needed to go. Plus I discovered 3 pieces of organic turkey bacon in the freezer. Perfect! I decided to make a modified cobb salad.
On top of the lettuces I added big chunks of roma tomato, garden zucchini, garden sugar snap peas, and red onion. Then I added quartered artichoke hearts and stems, roasted red pepper strips, sliced organic hard-boiled eggs, organic turkey bacon, and the leftover cheese from burgers from our BBQ last weekend. The dressing was italian.
Great to use up eggs and bacon. Plus artichokes and red peppers in a salad are so good!
Tonight was a bit tougher. How to top last night’s cobb salad? Not easy.
I centered tonight’s salad around garden lettuces and zucchini, of course, but I also wanted to use up some of our garlic scape excess. I still had a full bag of scapes in the fridge from our trip to Lull Farm a few weeks back. So I decided to repeat the butter lemon zest parmesan/romano sauce from Friday night. But this time I did it with zucchini, garlic scapes, and turkey kielbasa. It was awesome.
Salads really can be a filling meal if you get creative with them. We do salad probably 5 nights a week. Do I ever get burnt out on them? Oh, absolutely. But I love coming up with new, fun toppings!
Tags: garlic scape, herbs, organic, potatoes, salad, sugar snap peas, summer, tomatoes, vinegar, zucchini
Posted in Cooking Adventures, The Growing Season | 1 Comment »