Category: garlic

(More) Thai Basil Pesto

SabineLeave a Reply

Yesterday, I harvested all remaining Thai basil, which was a ton. Back in March, I had started seeding six cells, which I then thinned to three or four seedlings. It took me more than two hours to prepare all the basil leaves for pesto. In the end I had exactly six cups of packed leaves and made a triple batch of the pesto recipe. I froze two servings in Ziplock bags for the winter (I now have three servings in the freezer as I had made a double batch back in August). Looking forward to Thai Pesto Noodle Bowls tonight. Overall, my six cells of Thai basil produced a total of 12 packed cups of leaves for six batches of pesto. A nice yield!

The Thai basil “wall”

Thai Basil Pesto

Sabine1 Reply

Last night, I harvested a bunch of Thai basil from my plot and made this delicious Thai basil pesto. It uses toasted sesame oil and peanuts, and gets a little kick from red pepper flakes. The kids and I had one of our favorite meals last night – crispy pork bowls topped with Thai pesto. I used this recipe for the pork. So good! I made a second batch of Thai pesto but left out the vinegar and lime juice, and froze it for future use.

Thai basil harvest (about a third of what is in the plot at the moment)
Mise en place (kind of). I used my Ninja blender, which works really well for pesto.

Garlic Braid

SabineLeave a Reply

I cleaned and braided my softneck garlic this afternoon. With only 13 heads, this is the smallest braid ever. But those heads are big. But then, I still have four heads from last year’s harvest. The braid will hang in my pantry for storage. I will consume my hardnecks first, plus four or five smaller (and “injured”) softnecks that did not make it into the braid. I also saved the two largest heads separately as seed garlic to go in the ground in late October/early November. The hardneck garlic is still just hanging in the back hallway. I want to give it a bit more time for curing before I clean it and put it away as it has been very hot and humid these past few weeks.

Garlic Harvest 2024

SabineLeave a Reply

This morning, I harvested my garlic. It was a good week or two earlier than in previous years, but it seemed ready. An empty-nester now, I grew less than in previous years and harvested 19 softnecks and 12 hardnecks. I will leave them on a tarp to dry for a few days (on my back porch out of the sun) and then brush off the soil and hang them in my back hallway to fully cure. After they have fully cured (in three to four weeks), I will clean them well and braid the softnecks and destem the hardnecks. I will use up the latter first as they do not keep as well as softnecks.

Update: The next day, in the late evening, I cleaned them lightly and hung them to dry. There are four bundles, the two shown below are the hardnecks.

Hardneck garlic left to cure

Midsummer Plot

SabineLeave a Reply
Left side of the plot: calendula, kale, Swiss chard, leeks, winter squash, tomatoes, basil, flowers

Today, I spent three hours weeding my plot. Way overdue. I kind of had neglected my plot a bit in the past few weeks as I was more focused on the communal bed outside of the garden. It was a cool (70F) and overcast day, a welcome break between the heatwave that ended yesterday and the upper 80s predicted for the next coming days. Perfect weeding weather. Things are coming along nicely with the hot weather and now with a few days of showers and thunderstorms. I had fertilized the tomatoes with banana peel water last week, and they seem to have doubled in height since.

Right side of the plot: garlic, beets, zucchini, Thai basil, cucumber, cucamelon, rhubarb, flowers
Swiss chard, still fenced in together with the kale to fend off the rabbits
Butternut squash
The holy vegetable garden trifecta: tomatoes, basil, marigold
Zucchini

June Harvests

SabineLeave a Reply

Earlier this week I harvested my garlic scapes and turned them into garlic scape pesto. I (loosely) used this recipe, but omitted the cheese as I plan to also use the pesto on fish or for other purposes where cheese might not work. I am loving the sunflower seeds in the pesto. They made it super creamy and tasty. As always, I froze the pesto in ice cube trays and transferred the frozen cubes into Ziploc bags for storage.

Last leeks plus rhubarb

I also had several harvests of rhubarb, all of which were turned into strawberry-rhubarb compote to go over vanilla ice cream. The rhubarb plant is still young, so I did not want to over-harvest, but I got quite a good amount of stalks.

Peas 🙁

This is the first year that I did not get to harvest a single pea. I was very successful in protecting the peas from the rabbits by fencing them in, but they sadly were no match for the birds. I ripped out all plants this week. I will need to think about what I want to plant there now. Beans? Beets or carrots? More greens?

Last Squash

SabineLeave a Reply

Today, I used up the last butternut squash from the fall. I made a rose harissa-roasted squash salad with greens, toasted pumpkin seeds and blue cheese (because I did not have feta on hand) in a white balsamic vinegar dressing. It turned out pretty spectacular.

My last squash, harvested on October 31, 2023
Looking good for having spent the last five months in my back hall way
Last soft-neck garlic

As for home-grown vegetables from last year, I still have garlic hanging in the pantry and a few beets in the fridge. In the freezer, there is still basil pesto, lemongrass, Thai basil, and Thai peppers. I used some of the lemon grass last week to make this lemongrass chicken dinner. Very good. It is nice to still enjoy some produce from the garden while this year’s harvest is starting its journey in the seedling trays.