Garden Update #4

I got to wondering awhile back where my interest in gardening came from. You see, I grew up in St. Louis, I don't think I've ever been on a farm in my life, and my mom had more of an interest in fake plants than real. I still don't know, but for whatever reason a couple of years ago, I decided to grow a tomato plant and with each year the interest has grown.

There has been a lot of growth this week! The weather in Missouri is being, well, the weather in Missouri. It had been well above freezing for a few weeks now, so I decided to put the more established starts we got from the Farmer's Market outside and transplant the broccoli. Well, then of course this weekend a cold front came in and lows are going to be in the mid 30s. A little too close for comfort for me, so I brought them back inside, but not before the cold did some damage to the leaves on the tomato plants. We'll see how they do. We should be ready to put the starts in the ground in the next two weeks, once the community garden has been tilled. The peppers will be transplanted into pots as they get large enough.















Yellow Straightneck Squash.















Mini bell pepper starts.















Sweet banana pepper starts. (!!!!) Seeds started to sprout last Monday!















Zucchini. These are really taking off.















Acorn Squash.

We transplanted the three healthiest broccoli starts and will put a mini bell pepper plant in here with them. I think they will work well as companion crops especially with their skewed growing seasons. Broccoli is spring and fall and peppers are mid to late summer.















Serrano pepper starts.















Jalapeno pepper starts.



















This is our serrano pepper plant from last year. We decided to try to keep it alive inside over the winter to see if it produced again and if the flavor of the pepper is any different. I talked to a co-worker who is experienced with gardening and he said it will likely fruit again this year. Wahoo!

Better Boy Tomato.

Brandy Wine Tomato.

Buttercup squash. These are HUGE!

Butternut Squash.

This is a new addition to the garden. I found a habanero start and I couldn't resist, I love habaneros. Brett agreed to it so long as I didn't go crazy with them. Many of them will be dried and crushed into pepper flakes.

Cayenne pepper starts.

Cucumbers.

Chard. It's really taking off.

And now, I will end with our pictures of our recent grocery trip as well as a brief run-down of our dinners this past week.

As always, I'll start with produce. We've got: lots of tomatillos, 2 organic crookneck squash, organic garlic, an organic jewel yam, 2 organic California avocados jalapenos, serranos, organic cilantro, 2 red bell peppers, 2 poblano peppers, organic pink lady apples, large snow white mushrooms, shiitake mushrooms, a bag of organic limes, an organic yellow onion, and a red onion. We should receive our first box from our CSA in two weeks, I'm getting pretty stoked!

The rest of the stuff: Mexican oregano, flour tortillas, organic frozen sweet corn, organic frozen 'stir-fry' mixed veggies, organic frozen blueberries, a spice jar, freezer ziplock bags, Newman's Pretzels, organic picante sauce, chocolate hemp milk, organic fair trade Earl Grey tea, chipotle chilies en adobo, sliced black olives, white corn tortillas and toothpicks.

Our breakfasts, lunches and snacks this week were fairly similar to last weeks. For dinner we had: Chile, Potato and Wild Rice Burros, a falafel and hummus from a restaurant downtown (on Earth Day), Sweet Potato and Quinoa Tacos, General's Veggie Stir-Fry with Slivered Almonds (we are out of adzuki beans at the moment), Lentil and Potato Tacos (those were so good we had to have them again), and pizza.

Whew! This is a long post! Well, I'm off to make some tester muffins for Lindsay's cookbook.

'Til next time.