Garden Update

I have been happy overall with my garden this year.  I have plans to expand next year.  I am going to try square foot gardening.

Here is a selection of photos from my garden.

Here is the dill.  As you can see, it went wild!

I harvested the seeds.  I wish I had dried some leaves.  I will have to do that next year.  I like to use that in my homemade dip.  I also dried a lot of basil.

I grew butternut squash, by accident!  The seeds came up from my compost.  When it sprouted, it looked just like the cucumber I had growing in the pot, so I didn’t pull it.

I ended up getting two small squashes from that plant.  They were both the size of my hand.  They each made a nice lunch portion size for myself.  They were delicious!
These are my Purple Beauty Bell Peppers.  I thought they would be sweet, but they taste the same as green bell peppers.  However, I noticed a couple turning red, instead of purple.  I let them stay on branch until they were almost completely red.  I picked them last night and ate them in a salad.  They tasted great, as sweet as red bell peppers should be.  Next year, however, I will be growing red peppers.  We just like them better.

My tomatoes have disappointed me.  I did not know that heirloom tomatoes are known for cracking.  The first few that ripened were so bad I couldn’t eat them.  There seem to be plenty now that aren’t cracked.  I hope they stay that way.  :)  Plus, my attempt to keep away the Tomato Hornworms with my Marigolds has been unsuccessful.  The marigolds didn’t get enough sun, they were too close to the tomatoes.  I have found a few big, fat worms–they make me so mad!

Of course, we had to grow some flowers.  We planted a couple of giant sunflowers for fun.  And a row of zinnias to cut and make arrangements with.  I love the zinnias because they are so easy to take care of and they attract butterflies and hummingbirds.

I harvested plenty of cucumbers and made homemade pickles.  I had an abundance of basil and made lots of pesto.  Click here to see my post on pickled jalapeno peppers. However, I did not know much about cilantro and didn’t get to harvest much before it bolted (flowered).  I do have a second batch growing now, so I hope to harvest before the frost.

When the dill was done producing, I pulled them out and planted carrot seeds in their place.  I was so happy that they sprouted and were thriving and then I discovered that they are not carrots, they are dill!!!  The dill reseeded itself.  So no carrots this year, but more dill.  This time around I will dry the leaves.

I made a second attempt at growing a pumpkin.  This time I planted in a spot that gets more sun and warned my husband not to run over it with the lawn mower!  I planted it around July 1st.  It seemed a bit wilted for a while, so I worked in some bone meal (but now I think it was from the excessive heat).  It is doing great now (see below), but no pumpkins yet.

I did notice some mildew on my pumpkin leaves.  I heard of a natural remedy of 1:9 parts milk to water.  I sprayed the leaves with this mixture and they started looking better, but then we started having a really rainy season, so that’s not helping.

My cucumber vines really slowed down producing so I took them out and planted more seeds.  I was happy to see that the harvest time was short, only 50 days.  So, come October, we’ll be making more pickles.  (Hopefully.  The little sprouts seem to be slow-growing, probably the lack of sun from all this rain.)

I’m thinking of trying out a fall batch of lettuce when I pull the pepper plants out.  And I really want to plant some garlic.  It has to be planted in the fall.  I will probably put it in when I pull the basil out.

Anyway, that’s my update.  I hope it is encouraging to you.  I don’t really know what I’m doing.  I just check out some books from my library, do some research online, ask friends’ advice, and experiment.  You can do it, too!  Just give it a try.

Many Ways with Pesto

I have been harvesting plenty of basil this year, I love it!  Most of the time, I like to make pesto with it.



I don’t really follow a recipe.  I just pack my food processor bowl with basil leaves.  Throw in a few tablespoons of walnuts, a couple garlic cloves, some Celtic Sea Salt, and start pulsing.  When it’s chopped down nicely, I will pulse and drizzle with olive oil.  Pesto calls for Parmesan cheese, but I have heard that if you are going to freeze it, you shouldn’t add the cheese.  So I just add some Parmesan to it when I thaw and am ready to use it.



What do you use pesto for?  It’s wonderful on pasta!  But did you know, there is more to pesto than just a pasta sauce?



You can use it on pizza instead of tomato sauce, it is awesome!  You can dip fresh veggies in it.  You can use some to make homemade salad dressing.  Just look in a basic cookbook, like Joy of Cooking for a basic ratio of oil to vinegar/lemon juice.  And don’t forget about my Pesto Cheesecake!  It’s really more of a cracker/bread spread.  Think cream cheese, basil, garlic, and sund-dried tomatoes.  It’s wonderful!



Do you have other ideas for pesto?  Please share.

My Green Thumb

 

Cucumbers

 

I have doubted for many years that I have a green thumb, but last year I was pleased with the fruit of my garden, so this year I have expanded.

Dill

I failed a few times in the past, my husband had even banned me from trying a garden again, but last year I decided to try yet again!  I decided I must start small and if I succeeded, I could expand from there.  So I tried just one container with 2 tomato plants and a few basil plants. I used a mixture of potting soil and cotton compost. I had more basil than I knew what to do with and many, many delicious tomatoes.

Jalapeno and Bell Peppers

Since I succeeded, this year expansion was in order. I have heard such good things about mushroom compost and wanted to use it last year, but I waited too late and the stores sold out. This year I bought some and I have to say, I think my plants are liking it better than the cotton compost.

Cilantro

I have six containers this year, one for dill, one for pickling cucumbers, one for basil, one for cilantro, one for tomatoes (with marigolds to keep away the bugs), and one for a bell pepper plant and a jalapeno pepper plant.

Brandywine Heirloom Tomatoes

I planted a pumpkin seed in the yard for fun, but it has died. Perhaps it had something to do with being passed over by the lawn mower! Oh well, we’ll try again next year. We also planted a couple of sunflower seeds for the kids.

Basil

I encountered aphid infestation on my pepper plants a few nights ago. I am going to buy a bar of Kirk’s Coco Castile soap and make this recipe to ward them off. In the meantime, I dabbed some Dr. Bronner’s Sal Suds on them. They have died and I’ve only seen a couple since then, but I’m quite sure my dilution was too strong, the leaves have brown blotches on them now. Overall the plants still look healthy, I think they will recover.

Marigolds in with my tomatoes

I will be sure and post my harvest results later in the year.

 

Here is another picture of my cucumbers.  I have strung up some jute twine to some nails in the overhang of my roof so the cucumbers can climb.

Jute Trellis