All Posts by Sabine

Planting Garlic

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I planted my garlic today after putting in a few hours of community work in the garden. I planted two rows of hardneck (Red Russian) and 3 rows of softnecks (Transsylvania), 7 cloves per row. This is the earliest ever I planted garlic. Normally I wait until the first week of November. But we already had two nights of light frost and the weather the next two weeks looks good (50s and 60s), so the garlic should be able to set some nice roots before winter is here for good.

Today’s harvest: a couple of carrots, parsley, the last two hot peppers, a tiny butternut squash (the foliage was already damaged by frost), and the last dahlia. I pulled all the tomatoes, eggplants, cucumbers, nasturtiums and beans and semi-cleaned the plot to get it ready for planting garlic. I still need to do more weeding, pull the dahlia tubers and will need to get hay to mulch the plot.

Rainbow chard

Brussels sprouts

Mustard greens and baby kale (and weeds)

Frost Warning

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Temperatures tonight are supposed to reach 31 degrees. I harvested most of the rest of my tender vegetables tonight: chard, last (green) tomatoes, two last cucumbers, hot peppers, two small eggplants. Still growing: carrots, radishes, leeks, fall greens, arugula, kale, chard, butternut squash.

The last dahlias of the season (perhaps).

I still need to plant garlic, dig up my dahlia tubers and clean my plot to get it ready for the winter. Hopefully I will get to it this weekend or next week.

City Natives October Harvest

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My share today: Ping Tung eggplant, rutabaga, flat parsley, red Russian kale, jalapeno and ghost peppers (not pictured: tons of Thai basil).

I spent some time at City Natives this chilly early fall morning, harvesting most of the produce and cleaning out all the raised vegetable beds. The beds will be demolished and the entire garden will be restructured and rearranged. We hauled in hot peppers, eggplant, rutabagas, red Russian kale and parsley, and there was still a ton of callaloo and hot peppers left in the ground for a later harvest, both of them in the ground-level beds.

Edit (a few days after the harvest): Here is what I did with the vegetables in the kitchen. I cubed and roasted the rutabaga in olive oil in the oven for an hour at 400F, and finished it with a couple of tablespoons of butter and fresh parsley from the back porch. This made a very tasty side dish. I turned the parsley into chimichurri, which was served as a condiment to potato wedges and alongside sauteed chicken breasts. The kale became kale pesto, which was served over fettuccine. I also used the kale pesto as a condiment for sandwiches, which were piled with harissa-roasted green beans and a fried egg. I used the eggplants to make this delicious Chinese eggplant with garlic sauce, which I served over rice. The hot peppers went into a big pot of black bean chili. No complaints from the family.

Late September

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Today’s harvest and a butternut squash that is trying to make it.

The hot pepper plant is bearing fruit like crazy, at least two dozen little peppers (they are tiny and really hot and I do not remember the variety) but the plant itself is only about a foot and a half tall. Apparently the cucumber production is far from being over, a handful tomatoes are still ripening, and I have a ton of now bolted basil. Also still growing happily: leeks, carrots, radishes, arugula (albeit with some flea beetle damage but not nearly as bad as in the spring), fall greens, kale, Swiss chard. And said squash.

I need to weed the plot and take out the beans soon as they are winding down.

Fall is Here

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Fall is here with her spectacular sunsets and seasonal mini bouquets:

Dahlias and Virginia Creeper.

I also harvested milkweed seeds today, from three pods total that I found close to the Sam Adams Brewery. I plan to plant them in the neighborhood in the next few weeks.

Milkweed seeds.

Mid-September

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I will take back what I said about cucumbers. I harvested two big ones yesterday, plus green beans and two eggplants. There are just a few more tomatoes on the vines now, sadly.

Still going strong: leeks and carrots. Also still some cucumbers, eggplants, hot peppers and green beans. And the arugula, chard, kale, fall greens and radishes I sowed a little while ago are looking good.

Here are some recipes I made recently that used home-grown garden produce: roasted green beans with harissa, baked eggplant with garlic and basil, roasted cod with potatoes and green beans, Greek salad, pesto potato salad with green beans, Pico de Gallo, Swiss chard frittata.

No More Cucumbers

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Today’s harvest: Swiss Chard, Kentucky Wonder pole beans, tomato, eggplant, dahlias.

The cucumber vine has started to wither. There is a couple more cucumbers still but I am not sure if they will make it. Well, we had a good run for sure. Still growing: tomatoes (winding down), pole beans, eggplant, chard, kale, carrots, leeks, hot peppers, greens, radish, arugula. The last three were just sown a couple of weeks ago, so they are not ready for harvest just yet. I also still have my directly sowed butternut squash. It looks great and has plenty of flowers, but I believe it is too late in the season for it to bear fruit. Alas.

I ordered seed garlic this past weekend: softneck Transsylvania from Burpee. I decided to save a few of my biggest Red Russian heads for planting. This will not happen until late October/early November. I also ordered a ton of bulbs and perennials for fall planting for our front yard (tulips, crocuses, black-eyed Susan).

Basil

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I harvested a lot of basil today, about a third of what is in my plot. I will puree the washed and dried leaves with olive oil and freeze for use in the winter. I find that just freezing the basil in oil makes it more versatile for cooking and it keeps better. I use it to top soups or as pesto for pasta, pizza, potatoes or chicken. I just add the cheese and pine nuts (for pasta) later during cooking.

Today’s produce harvested other than basil. (My first red dahlia is finally blooming!)