Veg*n Cooking and Other Random Musings: Garden Update #4

Saturday, April 26, 2008

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.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

That's interesting how your interest for gardening came about. Maybe you are seeking to make up for what you lacked growing up? I've grown up surrounded by gardens and gardening. My mother is obsessed with plants and my father plants a garden here, and two in Italy, and he spends so much time in the summer enjoying his plants. I'm surprised I'm not more interested!

But it's so satisfying knowing that you are eating something YOU produced, and you know where it came from, who handled it, it's a great feeling of pride. =)

Alicia said...

They're so huge already! I can see lots of zucchinis in your future :-)

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

That's fabulous that you're interested in gardening, despite not being "raised around it" - my mom and I grow vegetable, herb, and flower gardens every year, so I definitely understand your excitement about your garden starting to show signs of life! :0)

Lori- the Pleasantly Plump Vegan said...

growing yr own food is so satisfying. hopefully the weather will cooperate and y'all get some awesome produce. thanks for sharing the pictures, although it made me a little jealous i am trapped in an apartment with no balcony.

Bianca said...

Wow! I'm so jealous of your gardening skills. No matter how hard I try, I always kill everything. Last year, I managed to keep the basil alive for most of the summer, but I killed my oregano, my tomato plants, my dill, and my mint within two months of transplanting. I much better with animals....

Anonymous said...

the chard is sprouting like crazy! I have to say my favorite of your plants would probably be your newest addition, the Habanero starts. Can't wait to see how it turns out.

J said...

Romina - I thought so too. I think that it's just a new way of doing things that didn't open for me until I became an adult.

You may find your interest grow as you get older, maybe not. That's really cool about your parents. You were able to grow up with fresh, local produce, grown in a proper manner. That's something a lot of us don't get to experience, many don't truly know what a tomato REALLY tastes like...

Alice - I know! I bet there will be too, I LOVE zucchini. And we already have back up plans if we get too much produce - first, hit up friends and family, then give the rest to the Central Missouri Food Bank. There are people here is Mid-Missouri that could really use any extra food we have.

Veggie Girl - How exciting. I bet that's really fun to do together. Brett and I have really enjoyed planting the seeds and watching the plants grow.

Pleasantly - I'm hoping so. Aw, that's really sad Lori! I'm sorry! My old apartment faced due North, so even though we had a porch, it didn't matter, our apartment spelled death to plants. :-(

Bianca - Hahahaha! I wouldn't say it has much to do with any 'skill' I have at this point. The plants have done all the work themselves, I've just watered them. :-)

Aw, what a bummer. I tried to grow cilantro last year, the bugs got to it in less than a week. I'm glad your better with animals too! ;-)

Leng - I know, I was starting to get a bit worried about it as it didn't seem to be growing after I transplanted. Then one day last week it just started going crazy.

I think the habanero is the one I'm most excited about too. I hope it goes nuts! I would love nothing more than a steady supply of homemade habanero sauce and dried crushed habaneros for over the winter.