Veg*n Cooking and Other Random Musings: Garden Update #3

Saturday, April 19, 2008

Garden Update #3

I usually do my garden updates on Sunday, but tomorrow is Columbia’s celebration of Earth Day, so alas, I will be gone all day.

All I can say is what a difference a week makes! I knew that plants grew fast, but I didn’t realize they grew THIS fast. We’ve been putting the starts in the window during the day to get sun, I think we’ll take them out to the porch pretty soon.

Not pictured here is a start to a mini bell pepper plant, it’s barely going, I just noticed it this morning, so I didn’t figure it was really picture worthy. We are still waiting on the Serrano peppers and sweet banana peppers to start, but other than those, we have a start of everything else.

Check out the progress:















Long red cayenne pepper start. (!!!!)















Butternut squash.















Cucumbers. These were the first little starts I posted pictures of last week.















Buttercup squash.















Jalapeno pepper starts! (!!!!)















Zucchini.















Acorn squash.















Yellow straightneck squash.



















Brandy Wine tomato. It's looked a lot better since we brought it outside. There is still discoloration on the lower leaves, but it's growing, so we'll see.



















Better Boy tomato, looking good and getting big.



















Me being silly early in the morning.















Chard.















Broccoli. Look at how much better it looks since we brought it outside! I can't believe it, the day we took it outside, it was actually pretty windy and we weren't too sure it was a good idea, but this little guy took it really well, stood back up, got stronger and started growing. We're going to transplant the starts into a container sometime this weekend.

It was a very eventful week with the plants. I remember when I was talking to Brett at lunch earlier this week, he told me one of the squash plants started, and I got so excited, but by the end of the week something was starting or growing every day!

Anyways, I thought I'd end this post with a grocery store wrap up and a brief review of what Brett and I have eaten this week.

The produce might seem a bit redundant, in a lot of ways it is, this time of year is not the best for fruit (if you want it to come from a half ass close place at least) and the veggies aren't super abundant either, but during the summer, my produce selection is a little more varied. Honestly, Brett and I pretty much like Mexican, Asian (particularly Thai and Japanese), and a little bit of Middle Eastern during the summer. That's really about it.

Moving on. Here is the produce.















I'm never quite sure where to start. I'll start from the right, I suppose. There are: 3 tomatillos, 4 bulbs of organic garlic, 4 organic red potatoes, a couple of organic California avocados (I'm so happy they aren't from Mexico anymore, California is a least a little bit closer), 2 organic oranges, a lemon, a lime, lots of jalapenos, lots of serranos, a poblano pepper, a red onion, a yellow onion, bean sprouts, organic spinach, organic cilantro, organic Pink Lady apples, 3 organic Jewel yams.

And the rest of the stuff:















Organic frozen cut green beans, wild rice, slivered almonds, regular Newman O's, organic veggie broth, a big 'ol bottle of organic shoyu, Newman's organic pretzels (both Brett and I were craving something salty, we rarely buy chips aside from tortilla, which still, isn't very often at all), organic blue corn taco shells, soft silken tofu, chocolate hemp milk, Black Bean Chili chips (I am very skeptical about these chips, but we'll see, you have to be experimental from time to time).

Meals this week:

So, I will not do a run-down of my breakfasts, lunches or snacks as they are fairly boring and don't change very often. For breakfast I have either Early Grey tea or Sumatra or Ethiopian Sidamo coffee, fruit - as of late it's been mostly apples, but that's what there is right now, or a Nature's Path Hemp Plus Raisin granola bar. Weekend brunches can be a bit more creative and I will note them where appropriate. Lunch is leftovers or one of Amy's frozen vegan things. During the summer, my lunches will consist largely of giant salads, hummus and veggie plates, etc. My snacks are usually one of the following: nuts and dried fruit, more fresh fruit, dairy-free, wheat-free Newman O's. This week there was an exception, I stopped by Main Squeeze on my way home from work and got Brett and I's favorite cookie - the vegan chocolate espresso mint cookie. They are GIANT and delicious. I wish I had gotten a picture.

Onto dinners:

Monday: Tofu and Potato Burritos (it had been awhile)
Wednesday: Amy's vegan pizza
Thursday: Ordered in from a local Thai place. I got a stir-fry with bell peppers, onions, carrots, sprouts, bamboo shoots, rice and a sriracha based spicy sauce. It was really good. Brett got Phat Thai.

Well, I'm off to the farmer's market. Happy Saturday!

'Til next time.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

You have a true green thumb, Jennifer! I really admire it. =) I wish I had the patience that you have. Thankfully my parents do and we always have a fabulous garden, hehe.

Alicia said...

They are so big already! I ordered jalapeño and habanero seeds on Thursday, I hope they come soon :-)

ChickPea said...

Can't wait to see all that squash!!
I love seeing what people buy at the grocery store...what do you have in store for those yams??

Monika K said...

I miss all of the cool things I could grow in the south (Oklahoma)like cukes, tomatoes and peppers.... Sigh. We just can't get the same kind of productivity from our tomato plants here that you can there. Oh, well, post lots of pictures this summer and I'll live vicariously through you. (-: As for being off to the farmer's market - boy, I am jealous! Our farmer markets won't start again for a while (nothing's ready yet). At least the snow is melting and the sun is shining...spring is definitely in the air!

(I'm liking these garden updates - keep 'em coming!)

The Vegan Snorkeler said...

Your plants look amazing! I'm growing some tomato plants from seed myself. It's always so exciting when they first start to sprout!

Anonymous said...

Yay your plants are growing!! A little sunshine (even if the sun's not showing) does a lot of goodness. :-)

Tell Brett I have a really good Phad Thai recipe!

Anonymous said...

OMG! I get so excited by plants its not funny >.<
Your farmers market has WAAAY more interesting products than mine. But Australia is in drought so I should cut them some slack

Anonymous said...

You are going to feast this summer on all of your freshly grown produce! That is awesome!

You will have to let us know what you think of the Black Bean Chili chips...I have never tried them either!

Courtney

J said...

Romina - Hahaha! Thanks, I'm not too sure about that yet, we'll have to see if I can successfully get them in the ground and actually get veg off of them. :-)

Awesome about your parents gardening, you've got it covered!

Alice - I know! Awesome!!!! I'm really excited! You'll have to start a garden update too so we can all see their progress!

Chickpea - Me neither!

Well, I've got a couple recipes I created, burros and tacos, Mexican of course.

Monika - I bet you could grow a lot of things down south! Alaska not so good for gardening? Aw! Well I hope my garden goes well so I have lots of good pictures for you.

Our farmer's market doesn't really have anything right now either. Just plant starts and things I don't eat (non-vegan stuff), we just went to sign our contract for the CSA. We'll start getting produce in early May.

I will, I'm glad you like them.

Vegan Snorkeler - Thanks! We didn't start our tomato from seed. :-( We got starts at the farmer's market. Maybe next year. It is really exciting. There is a lot of anticipation and they grow so quickly!

Leng - I know, I am really happy they are doing so well. The sun really does seem to have helped significantly. I've had to turn them because they lean towards it so much.

Ooooh, I will, would you possibly be willing to email it to me? I have one, but it's only so-so.

Bean Mix - It's really neat, isn't it. I'm growing some flowers on my porch too (which oddly, I'm not too fond of flowers), as they attract butterflies and bees which I hope will pollinate my peppers.

I WISH I had gotten all this stuff at the farmer's market! We got this stuff from the grocery store, our farmer's market doesn't have anything significant until early May.

I hope you guys get some relief from that drought soon, that can't be fun, fresh produce must be pretty hard to come by, or at least pretty expensive.

Courtney - I really hope so. I'm thinking about getting a canner so I can can salsas. I already know I am going to freeze sauces and veggies, and dry peppers, but it would be nice to can too.... I really am like an old person aren't I?

The black bean chili chips - they are ok, pretty bland. We thawed out some of the midwestern spice chili I made awhile back to have for lunch and had some with the chili, they were pretty good that way, but not so much on their own.

ChocolateCoveredVegan said...

Wow, you have so many home-grown veggies to look forward to! We always try to plant things, but some hungry little creatures end up eating most of our hard work! Last year they ate our cantaloupe plant, strawberry plant, and our chard. Luckily, we were able to salvage a few goodies-- home-grown tomatoes and peppers :o).

Anonymous said...

wow you are so successful with your garden! awesome!

Animal-Friendly said...

Those plants are gorgeous! I know how exciting it is when they start to sprout. I'm jealous of all that squash you're growing- I can't wait to see how pretty they become!

Vegan_Noodle said...

You are so making me want my own garden!! Your plants are so cute :-)

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