This cool and rainy August Sunday was the perfect day for slow-roasting a sheet of (mostly) cherry tomatoes. I convection-roasted tomatoes (plus unpeeled garlic and thyme) at 270F for 2 hours until they had a slightly dry/jammy consistency, then packed them in olive oil and let them cool. They will be stored in the freezer for a few months.
Last night, after three weeks of curing, I cleaned my garlic and prepped it for storage. For the hardnecks, I just clean off the dirt and the outermost papery skin, cut off the stems and root hairs and placed them in a ceramic crock to live in my pantry for the coming months. I will use those up first as hardnecks do not keep as well as softnecks.
I also braided the softneck garlic and added a few strawflowers for decoration. The braid now hangs in my pantry. As always, I saved the two largest heads of each type (4 heads total) as seed garlic. I will plant those cloves in early November for next year’s harvest.
First round of pesto in the freezer! Last night I processed the basil I had harvested the day before and made pesto. I still had garlic scapes in the fridge, and used a few of those plus pine nuts, olive oil and salt. To make the pesto more versatile and to be considerate of pesto lovers in my circle who cannot have dairy, I did not add cheese. Cheese can always be added later. I then froze the pesto in ice cube trays and transferred the (ten) frozen cubes to Ziplock bags this morning to freeze for the longer term.
This weekend, I made a first (double) batch of Thai basil pesto. I also made my first refrigerator pickles of the summer.
My cucumbers are doing exceptionally well this year. The pickles are based on this recipe, but I brought the brine to a boil first (and then let it cool down again) before adding it to the cucumbers.
This morning, I harvested my garlic. The total haul: 18 Russian Red hardnecks and 17 Transylvanian softnecks. On November 8, I had planted 16 hardnecks (some of them split resulting in 18 bulbs) and 18 softnecks (meaning I only lost one over the winter). They will now spend a day or two on the porch airing out before I brush off the dirt and hang them to dry and cure in my hallway for about three weeks.
I also harvested my first Cocozelle zucchini (zucchino?). Looking forward to grilling it and the two eggplants I harvested yesterday. After grilling, I will add a tiny bit more olive oil and sprinkle a little chopped mint on the zucchini and chopped basil on the eggplant. Served with fresh mozzarella, tomatoes, olives, prosciutto, crusty bread – perfect summer antipasti!
Garlic update (July 14): This morning, I cleaned the dirt off the garlic – careful to not take off any papery skin – and tied them in bundles of about 8 bulbs each. They now join the shallots in my airy back hallway to cure. It is fine if some dirt stays. It will all be removed after the garlic has been fully cured.
I love late June in the garden. Everything is starting to take off, and typically, there are no major pest issues yet. Apart from the rabbits, rats and birds perhaps, but no mildew, blight or aphids etc.
I harvested the garlic scapes and lettuces. The rhubarb is still producing. I also harvested mint, which I hung to dry in my pantry, and I picked some flowers, herbs and seed heads to make small bouquets. The tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, cucumbers and squash are starting to flower. Everything looks fresh and green and full of promise 🙂
This morning, I harvested two heads of lettuce form the garden plot. The garlic scapes are coming in, and with the recent heat, things are growing nicely. I also finished weeding the communal bed, planted the last Zinnias there and mulched the entire bed with straw.
Last night, I harvested my overwintered leeks. They looked pretty rough in early spring but recovered beautifully, and some of them are enormous. I also pulled green garlic from a forgotten and accidentally overwintered plant. I am thinking leek quiche or leek tart; not sure yet what to use the green garlic for, maybe pesto.
It has been an excruciatingly slow start to the season. Such a cold and rainy spring so far, which after this long and cold winter is especially hard. So, things in the garden have been slow to come up. I did not plant peas this year, and have not started anything yet in the garden plot. But both, the garlic and the rhubarb are coming up nicely. As are the grape hyacinths and a few tulips, which have yet to open.
My dining room table is full of seedlings. I thinned the basil seedlings on March 30th and plan to re-pot tomatoes, Swiss chard, sage and thyme this weekend. I will also start hardening off the snapdragons. The kale has been living on the porch full-time for about a week now. This weekend, I also plan to plant my shallots and start my cucumber and squash seedlings.
The radishes and spinach on my porch are coming up nicely. I had started them on March 30. Because it was so cold (we even still had a few frosts), it took them a while. On April 21, I also started leaf lettuce mix in one of the big containers.
It has been a long, cold and snowy winter, and things in the garden are just starting to emerge. The rhubarb is looking healthy, as is the garlic. Yay to new beginnings!
