Fun in the Kitchen, and Garden Update!

Hi there, sorry I didn’t get on here yesterday and post pictures, it was one of those days that just seemed to fly by. One minute it was 10am and we were heading out to return books to the library, then get some groceries in, and the next minute I look at the clock and it was after 4pm!  But I’m here now with a lovely long post all about the garden and what we’ve been up to in the kitchen!

First off – is it or isn’t it?  RIPE that is! We picked this big watermelon the other day not knowing if it would be ripe or not. There’s really no way of telling, although Jason was surfing the net to see if he could find some information on it.  We decided the only way to tell was to pick one and cut in to it (we have about 5 other large ones out there so if it’s not ripe we’ll leave them for another week or so). . . .

Alas, it wasn’t quite ready :-( I did taste it and it was ok, but not very juicy or sweet yet.

 

Things were looking ok in the garden last week, despite the triple digits we’ve had every day for about 10 days now! We kept finding zucchini that we hadn’t seen before – when you don’t pick them at a ‘normal size’ they get HUGE like the two in the picture below. I also picked some small ‘fairytale’ eggplant. I wasn’t sure what I would do with them, but I roasted them last night with the squash and they were ok – not to Jason’s liking at all!

As you can see (above) we got more potatoes out of the ground, these were the last ones, so I made potato salad to take to Cheryl’s for her ‘Father’s Day’ BBQ on Saturday.

This was a big hit, I did a mustard and mayo dressing and even put in hard boiled eggs from Patty’s Chickens (Cheryl’s sister).  We’ll definitely be planting lots more taters in the fall ;-)

    We picked more corn too – I love this picture, the corn looks perfect and it tasted delicious, but most of them had been eaten at the top by worms (which actually look more like a green caterpillar).  We got about 6 big ears of corn that day and then Jason decided he’d pull the rest of the corn out, the ears left were quite small and a lot that we pulled hadn’t developed the kernels very well either.  Still, I’d call our corn growing a success this year too and we’ll be planting more for sure when the weather cools down.

Here’s Jason pulling out the first stalk!

So on Saturday (while I was making the potato salad, you can see the pan boiling there on the stove), Jason decided he wanted to cook something with his zucchini – zucchini corn fritters to be exact!  He looked for a recipe but in the end decided to just make his own. He used a box of Jiffy corn muffin mix and added shredded zucchini then fried them in the cast iron skillet (which he loves to use when he can).  The first few came out kinda like fritters because there was more oil in the pan. They were pretty tasty. The others he did afterwards were more like pancakes . . .

  So, we drizzled maple syrup on them, and they were even more tasty!

I tried making chocolate zucchini muffins but they weren’t good. Not very sweet at all (I won’t be using that recipe again!). I think I’d rather stick with zucchini bread. The recipe I have comes out great every time. I’m planning on making more today.

As for other garden news, things are starting to look a bit ‘sad’ out there, may be a combination of the heat and, well we seem to have ‘borers’ in the squash. You can click on the link HERE to see what they’re like. We’ve pulled a few squash plants out and thrown them away.

The grapes though have finally started turning color. Problem is they are filled with pips and hardly any flesh. I think actually my grapes are for making wine, not eating. Jason bought me a concord grape this year which is more to eat once it’s ripe. Hopefully we’ll get something off that next year. These ones now seem to be just feeding the birds! Still, nice to look at. I’d like a nice gazebo out the back filled with these, wouldn’t that look pretty!

     

The summer squash may be just about finished but we’re now starting to get spaghetti squash and butternut squash :-) I made my favorite butternut squash soup yesterday. . . I’ll be having it again for lunch today – LOVE it!

This is a bowl I made last year! I use the same Paula Deen recipe every time. It’s just squash, carrots and onions boiled in chicken broth then blended. Of course she adds butter and cream at the end which I never do. It really doesn’t need it, and I save 100’s calories! I’m guessing a cup of my soup is no more than 50 calories.

And finally, apples :-)  We had a ton of them last year and I made apple sauce which Kristen loved. They won’t be ready for a good few months, but they’re coming along nicely.

So, that’s it for today. Hope it wasn’t too long a post for you! I’ve got to get back to chores. . . . there’s nothing like a friend telling you she’s coming to visit to make you get up off your butt and clean house ;-)  Ha ha, MORE about that next time!!

Oh, and I’m a few days behind (again) on the 30 Day Photo Fun, so that will be coming next too!

Garden Update

It’s midweek already! I’m busy planning my Mother’s Day lunch menu, and I think I’ve finally decided on a menu (which I will share later).  But I told you I’d show pictures of the garden, so I will do that in this post . . . . come see how things are growing!

First of all, remember the ‘pizza garden’ I planted while the work was still being done on the yard? I forgot how small it looked until I went looking for the picture. . . .

  What a difference huh?! I’ve had a few snips of basil and cilantro from this pot. I love that it’s just outside the back door and I can pop out and ‘snip’ whenever I like :-)

 

 

We’ve had our first harvest of the season . . .  of course it was radish. These little guys are fully grown in about 25 days! We just pick a few each day and chop them up on our salads.

 

Beets are coming along nicely, next to the radishes.

Corn is getting big too!

Squash! These ones are Acorn (the two larger ones on the right) and the one at the bottom (smallest one) is zucchini, and the one next to that is a Patty Pan Squash. I had two Patty Pan but one didn’t make it so I put a zucchini one in it’s place.

The Acorn Squash already has flowers on and tiny little ‘acorns’

 

We planted potatoes! It may have been a little late, but they’re growing well. Jason is thinking of pulling them out though as the bed is infested with ‘Morning Glory’ weeds!!!!!! I love this flower but it is evil in vegetable beds

Trees are starting to bear fruit :-) We have a ton of peaches on two trees. I hope the manage to ripen.  I hope they all ripen.

   

Plums!

Pears!

This is MY grapevine that I DIDN’T cut back last year!! It looks great but the grapes are tiny!

 

Jason is training this vine‘the right way’, and I must say the grapes are much bigger because of it!

So, there you have it! Things are growing well for the most part, although we are having some issues with the soil. Jason tested it and it was deficient in nitrogen still AND the acidity is high. Our peppers aren’t growing well at all. We’ve added fertilizer and we have some lime to add this weekend.

How is YOUR garden growing?

The best kind of busy!

Wow, I can’t believe it’s Wednesday already and I haven’t posted since Sunday! I still haven’t had a chance to upload the video of Kristen’s piano recital, I will try to do that after I've posted here.

We’ve been rather busy since Sunday, doing . . . . ‘nothing’! Ha ha, yes, all we’ve done for the past couple of days is ‘watch’ the work being done in the yard. Isn’t that the best kind of busy ;-) Jason took Monday and yesterday off work and we’ve just enjoyed some relaxing time together watching what’s going on out back. . . . pictures? Well of course I took pictures :-)

Work started late on Saturday afternoon, just two guys, but within a couple of hours the garden went from looking like this . . . .

to this . . . . .

We were amazed at how quickly the weeds and dead grass were torn out of there! The guys don’t work on Sunday, but on Monday they showed up with the limestone rocks and started marking out the perimeter. . . .

We are itching to get plants in the garden and I’ve actually bought some from the store ready, things like heirloom tomatoes, eggplant, spaghetti squash, bell peppers, jalapenos, AND we’ve planted some seeds that are sitting on the kitchen windowsill.

Hard to believe that the work will be finished by this weekend and we can start planting! We are SUPER excited. The only downside, I’m doing a craft fair with Cheryl all day Saturday AND Sunday so I won’t be around to ‘play’ in the garden :-/ But that’s ok, we have plenty of weekends free after that.

Linking to Tuesday Garden Party at Oregon Cottage.

Outdoor Wednesday

I want to thank you all for leaving a comment in my last post and giving me some ideas about my dining room and hallway. I think I am leaning toward putting the buffet back in the hallway, but as of yet I haven't done it (and I haven't told hubby I will be doing it either!). I'll keep you posted on any changes I make.

Today I thought I'd join in with Outdoor Wednesday, it's been a while since I've done so. Pop over to Susan's lovely blog and see what everyone else is getting up to outside, now that Spring is most definitely on it's way.

I took these pictures in the back yard the weekend before last (Feb 28th), it was one of our first really warm days. This is the sad state of our veggie beds right now. . .

and while Kristen and Boo were doing this . . .

and hubby was doing this. . .


I was doing this . . .

Ha ha :-) OK, truth be told, I'd just finished weeding my herb garden (what's left of it!) and had just sat down. I didn't sit there for long either, I'm not one to want to sit out in the sun these days (I did plenty of that in my youth, but am much 'wiser' now). And it just goes to show how careful you need to be in the sun, after 5 minutes here I did actually have a red chest later that day! I guess it's time to start stocking up with the sunblock!

The sun is shining again today and it's lovely out. I went for a walk this morning and felt great for doing so. Hope you all have a wonderful day.