Garden Plot July 10.

Garden Plot

July 10th 2014.

The community garden plot is coming along nicely this year and we have spent lots of time making sure there are no weeds popping up and keeping it well maintained.  Bug damage has been minimal so far and the tomatoes and actually everything else seems to be getting stronger every day.

Looking a little tight but that just makes us eat more kale and add it to every meal at this point in the game !

Lettuce varieties are just sizing up and Ill probably grab a head or two this week.

Flowers are blooming and hopefully calling some bees over their way to get a bit more pollination of the tomatoes and eggplant !

Onions are bouncing back and looking strong too !

Tomatoes are caged and fingers are crossed that the recent blight sighting in Maine will not make its way towards our little guys !

A groundhogs view.

Thinned out the kale and filled a basket with a mixture of Winterbore (Curly) and Lacinato (Tuscan) varieties along with another big bunch of Sage that I've been drying and packing in a jar.

Even our kitty, Merrimac loves kale and always asks for her share when we get home from the garden !

Will update the progress of the rooftop garden in the days to come !

Day 173 LocalrootZ Project (June 24, 2010)

Breakfast

Sunny Side Up Egg

w/ Garlic Roasted Taters

& Kraut

Lunch

Plain Smith Farm Yogurt

w/ Honey

Dinner

Broccoli & Snap Pea Saute

w/ Garlic scapes & Shrimp

side of

Pan fried Zucchini Blossoms

stuffed with goat cheese

 

Dessert

Strawberry Ice Cream

Yum, what a night !  Dinner was just what summer is all about. Quick is the most important thing when the temps soar into the 90˚'s in our attic apartment.  This meal took about 10 minutes to prep and serve.

Here's how it went down... crack an beat 1 egg into a bowl...put a quarter cup of cormeal in another bowl...wash zucchini blossoms an pat dry, then add a small spoon full of goat cheese...after that you drop them in the egg and coat then dust with cornmeal... set aside.  Get two frying pans out (8" and 12") and coat with 1tbls of butter, 1tbls of sunflower oil)  In the large pan add broccoli, peas and shrimp and toss... sprinkle with sea salt cover and let sit on medium heat for 2-4 minutes.  In the small pan heat butter/oil mixture to a hot bubble... lay the coated squash blossoms into the pan browning on each side for 2-3 minutes...and serve !

On a side note the squash blossoms were from the garden and it is doing very well... here's a visual update !

Assorted Lettuce and Salad Mix

I harvested the three bok choys after we had been eating the side shoots for the last couple weeks.  Not will be sowing the bland spots with radishes and salad mix this weekend.

I waited to long to put cages on the tomatoes but I got them on 8 of the 11 plants in that jungle !

The Zucchini, Cucumber and Onion bed is getting a little out of control !

Our peas are having a hardtime finding the fence but are on there way to popping some tender pods and the row of carrots seems to be doing quite well.

Give Thanks for such a wonderful season thus far !

Transportation Today

Work Commute : 22 miles bicycle

Errands : 3 miles walking

Day 157 LocalrootZ Project (June 8,2010)

Breakfast

Plain Swallowtail Yogurt

w/ Honey

Lunch

Garlic Root Soup

 

Today was a harvest day at the garden plot... we gathered enough salad greens and Asian greens for a couple meals...

 the lettuces and asian greens...

 

 Chop chop snip snip....

 Zuke and Cukes are coming along as well as the mustard greens...

 

Collards and Kale are getting ready to harvest the first round...

Our first homegrown salad of the season...

other fresh picked Asian greens for the week....

 

Dinner

Lasagna and Garlic Bread

Homegrown Salad

 

Dessert

Honey Ice Cream

Transportation Today

Work Commute : 22 miles bicycle

Day 148 LocalrootZ Project (May 30, 2010)

Breakfast

Plain Swallowtail Yogurt

w/ honey

After an early morning bowl of yogurt it was off to water and inspect my community garden plot down on Valley st.  Everything is looking wonderful and has almost doubled in size since transplanting them from my coldframe on the May 17th.  Here's how we look as of this morning...

so heres what we have... from front left 3 Tat Soi, 3 Nappa Cabbage, 3 Speckled Troutback Lettuce, 3 Green Butterleaf, 5 Sungold Tomatoes, 6 Brandywine Tomatoes, along the back fence our carrots and sugar snaps hae started popping up from seed... on the right 6 Lacinato Kales, 2 Swiss Chard, 6 Collards and then in the middle 3 Green Zuchinni, 6 Marketmore Cukes, 6 Assorted Mustard Greens,  8 sets of Clear Dawn Onions and 8 sets of assorted onions... then on teh frindges we have some moss parsely, chives and some "wild" strawberries much to Cassi's delight.  There is also some chamomile and dill here and there as well as a handful of mixed salad greens that I tossed here and there as well as some basil seed I dispersed around my tomatoes.  Leaving the plot fully satisfied I returned home and tackled some rooftop garden projects... swept out coldframe.  Potted & staked some tomatoes (black cherry, burbank, gold ida, nepal, husk as well as peppers (cayenne, anaheim, poblano) and placed them in the recently cleared out coldframe.. Im going to replace the plastic on the lid with chicken wire to deter squirrels from getting in and harvesting the fruit like they did last year... Im thinking this is a good answer !

Anyway all that work and a now awake girlfriend brought me into the kitchen to make a brunch to satisfy my growling belly...

Lunch

Sunny Up Egg
Over Buttered Apsaragus
and Spelt Garlic Toast
Melted Raw Swiss Cheese
Over a bed of sauteed garlic, shallots, beet greens, bok choy and mizuna greens

Dessert
Blubarb Crisp
w/ Honey Ice Cream

Day 135 LocalrootZ Project (May 17, 2010)

Breakfast

Sunny Up Duck Egg

over fermented slaw

Spelt Toast

Lunch

Mixed Salad Greens

w/ Fermented Slaw & Sonnental Pepper Jack Cheese

Dinner

Local Heiwa Tofu Browned

w/ Baby Bok Choy & Beet Greens

Side of Roasted Chiogga Beets

Glass of Coastal White

Dessert

Strawberry Ice Cream

over Cornbread

Monday is here and I have declared this will be a very productive week... not that Im ever very lazy I mean abut a 1/2 hour on the couch and I get pretty stir crazy or I just pass out from exhaustion.  Anyway... I had a swift ride to and from work,  partly due to rested legs after taking all of Sunday off from the bike and partly do to switching out my rear tire after wearimg down my first of many tires for the coming summer ! So after returning home to 60˚+ temps and an energetic girlfriend we decided it was a good day to get make some headway on our community plot on Valley St.  I have been down there a few times this spring to harvest some wild chamomile, chives and dandelion greens as well as to enrich the soil with some of last years compost, weed the early bloomers and loosely plan out the beds for this years season... last year I acquired the plot from a new found friend late into the season duriing all that rain so this will be our first season starting at the right time and testing my plant knowledge that Ive slowly absorbed over a few years of working in the produce industry as well as on the farm.  I did also spend a good part of the winter months reading up on methods and theories on growing a successful garden.  Heres the first glimpse at our plot....

I think I maximized the growing space with this design... left room for getting in there to harvest and weed !

In this bed is greens from the top Rainbow Lacinato Kale, Swiss Chard & Collards

You can also see a couple strawberries and my chives that pop up along the perimeter.

A woodchucks view...

In this bed Asian Greens (Pak Choy, Napa Cabbage) and then a small row

of lettuces... a standard green leaf and an heirloom speckled trout back...

 Final steps for the day....

Done for now !

Transportation Today

Work Commute : 22 miles bicycle

Errands: 3 miles walking