So many cucumbers this year! About two a day. From three plants bunched into one single seed pot. I am not even sure what the variety is, I think I might have panic-bought them at Whole Foods after my direct-sowing experiment failed. This picture shows about 3 pounds of cukes.
I chopped those cucumbers up and turned them into this tasty Turkish-inspired cucumber salad, minus the dill. It was very refreshing. I served it with spiced lentils with yogurt and feta, roasted broccoli, sauteed chicken breast and rosemary focaccia.
Category: Cooking
Mid-July – a Week of Harvests
Sunday: Kale and green beans. Dinner included green beans with feta.
Friday: carrot, beans, basil. Dinner tonight included a large Greek salad (I used up all home-grown lettuce and the cucumber harvested yesterday).
Thursday: first cucumber, the very last lettuce, beets, kale and green beans. Dinner tonight did not involve anything in this picture, but this (with carrots and herbs from the garden) and homemade rosemary focaccia, roasted broccoli (daughter is vegetarian) and sauteed chicken breast (son is not).
Wednesday: more green beans that together with the harvest from previous days were turned into this deliciousness.
Monday: Swiss Chard, lettuce, green beans, mint and the first cherry tomatoes. On the menu: Swiss Chard, mushroom and sun-dried tomato frittata, and a Greek salad with feta, parsley (from my back porch) and mint.
Mid-Summer Harvest
Some of the last lettuce from the garden. It will go in a side salad tonight with radishes, cucumbers and carrots and a creamy cilantro dressing.
Garden Pizza
Pizza last night with all toppings form the garden (except the cheese of course). I made a garlic scape pesto (with scapes and basil from my garden) and topped it with fresh kale from the garden (chopped and briefly massaged with a bit of olive oil and salt), fresh mozzarella slices and shredded cheese. Yum!
I only have a limited amount of scapes this year as I primarily planted soft-necks. In fact, all the scapes are from hard-neck volunteers that I left in the ground last year.
Garlic scapes right before harvesting about two weeks ago (I kept them in the fridge until now and they were fine).
Garlic scape pesto.
Just before going in the oven.
Late October
Today I spent a couple of hours getting the plot ready for winter. I ripped out spent plants, pulled weeds and turned the soil. During the process, I found a number of potatoes I had left in the ground, a welcome basis for today’s dinner of roasted potatoes and carrots and pork tenderloin with mushrooms.
The rain kept me from cleaning up more than I had planned to, but I still got to pick some flowers for a little bouquet. Planting more flowers this season was definitely a good idea. I loved having fresh flowers every week this summer and fall.
I also harvested carrots (which we had for appetizers, dipped in hummus), kale, Chard and parsley. I still have carrots, radishes, leeks, Chard, kale, leeks, onions, dandelion greens, herbs and flowers growing in the garden. It has been an extremely warm fall and one of my plot neighbors has some strawberries growing in his plot. Crazy.
Dahlias, Jerusalem artichokes, parsley and foliage
Late July
I spent several hours on this cool cloudy summer day weeding, harvesting and planting. I pulled all remaining carrots (a total of 2.5 pounds), a couple of large cucumbers and some beets. Also parsley. The plan is to turn the carrots and parsley into a Moroccan carrot salad (I always cook the carrots). The beets will be roasted and either go in a salad or will top some fresh bread with goat cheese. I also pulled the last garlic and sowed radishes, carrots, bok choi and lettuces.
Friday Harvest
- Mixed spring greens and sugar snap peas. These will go into a salad for dinner tonight. I will add some cucumbers and maybe mint and a citrus dressing.
2. Dandelion greens (Cicoria) and garlic scapes. With some basil (from the store, as my plants are still too small) , some pine nuts, grated Parmesan and good olive oil, these will make a nice pesto for later this week.
Reds and Greens
The garden plot has started to deliver: radishes, rhubarb and tons of green garlic and scallions. All in pretty shades of red to purple and green. The scallions I harvested today will go in a vegetarian Pad Thai. I love the recipe for Your Pad Thai or Mine by Didi Emmons from her book Vegetarian Planet.
The radishes, I like to just slice up, sprinkle with salt and pile them on a buttered slice of baguette. Or I use them in a spring salad I make from romaine, sliced cucumber, diced avocado and sliced radishes with a creamy cilantro lime dressing.
