State of the Garden...An Update

I said I was going to get back to this blog and by golly I mean to! I promised myself a post by today and though the day has surely gotten away from me here it is: an update of the 2013 garden as it stands in late June.
Last summer's garden was the best I'd had yet, but not without its share of disappointments, mostly in myself for letting things go that I should have been on top of. I vowed not to let that happen this year and I have to say, so far, mostly so good. What has helped me a lot is that I got a freebie calendar, you know, the kind that banks and auto repair shops hand out, and I wrote goals for when I wanted to get things started either as indoor seedlings or planted outside and I have stuck pretty well to that schedule. So things that were overlooked last year got done this time around. It's been a great season so far! Here's a look at things:

Not that everything has been hunky-dory. My eggplant seedlings that were so robust and beautiful were set back majorly when I hardened them off. Don't know why, I can only figure it was the cold spring. Then when I planted them out they were attacked by flea beetles and just about destroyed, a problem I have never had before. I mean, I've always had flea beetles, who hasn't, but never so that the poor eggplants were skeletonized! Anyway, they are hanging in there, but I suspect it won't be a good year for eggplant around here.
Then there were the tomatoes. I always plant my seedlings on the same date and in the same way. For whatever reason, my tomatoes, all 21 varieties, refused to grow! They sprouted and looked healthy enough, but they stayed mini until the day they were planted out in mid-May. Thankfully, they have taken off once they were outside and don't seem like they are too far behind normal at this point. Weird.
I had my first ever terrific year for spinach. I wish I had a photo of it to show you! The cool spring was a boon to spinach growers in the northeast and I harvested a few bushels of it. It was just wonderful! Spinach quiche! Greek spinach pie! And it looks like my onions, which were so pathetic last summer are going to be nice this year, barring any unforeseen disaster.

 Above is a closer look at the onions, which are thriving. I have a little more sunlight this year since my husband took down some trees that were really restricting the light and I think it is improving things a lot. The plan is to take a few more down next year, but for now I am happy with the extra sun that I've got.

 My zucchini plants are smaller than this time last summer, again due to the very cool spring we had. But the first baby zukes are showing themselves so we should be getting some soon.

 My swiss chard last year became diseased very early on. So far, so good for this season. The bed is smaller, but they all look healthy. Behind them is the garlic. I planted way too much this year so my friends will be the recipients of a lot of garlic I think! I haven't even come close to using up last year's supply and then I went and planted twice as much. Well, now I know. That won't happen again, because space is always at a premium.

 Here is some kale off to a good start. I planted a number of varieties: Siberian, Red Russian, Winterbor, Beedy's Camden and Tuscan.

 The winter squash is beginning to take off too. I have finally got a handle on the svb's I think, but last year the squash beetles were brutal. I already found my first one the other day along with a cluster of eggs which I destroyed, but will really have to be ready for them this time.

Sugar snap peas have hit their peak today. I picked six and a half pounds of them and there are still plenty for the coming days. My Little Marvel shelling peas are about done and I will likely be pulling those plants next week sometime. Well, that's some of the report and I will continue it tomorrow if I have the energy in the evening. I'm spending the day babysitting 2 adorable little toddlers who usually wear me out completely by the time they're done with me. It's my way of helping a young couple out and I get a little shot of second childhood out of it. And exhaustion...

You Don't Have to Ask Me Twice...Er...Three Times...

Or, The Return of the Prodigal Blogger

It all started with a head of broccoli. Well, two heads. The ones pictured above. I came to my husband with them, all excited and said "Look! These are the largest broccolis I've ever grown!" To which he replied "Wow. They're as big as the ones you get in the grocery store. I hope you took a picture of them for your blog!" Hm. Eyes down, feet shuffling I told him I really wasn't doing my blog, hadn't posted to it in months. He was disappointed with me. He said I shouldn't give up my blog and disappoint my readers too. "What, all three of them?" I thought. But I never started this blog to get readers, I started it to write about my life as a gardener and to enjoy the fellowship of other bloggers and to try something new and exciting in my "golden" years. Well, I walked away from that conversation like a sulking child wrestling with my conscience. Maybe I really should discipline myself to get back to the old blog but I wasn't ready to think about it yet. This was two days ago.
Then, today, what should I get but a message from the very first person in blogland who encouraged me when I got started and whose blog I have loved, Annie's Granny wondering if I was OK and saying she missed me. Aw, wow. Sniff-sniff. Thank you Granny! You are such a caring person, you put me to shame! Thanks for asking!
Here's the deal: I'm OK. Pretty OK. It has been an up and down year here in the land of the wooden nutmeg. My older son got divorced which has been tough on us, but to make it even more tough it resulted in his moving to Florida. I have been struggling with lonliness for family and disappointment with how some things have turned out. All the younger generation have moved far away and the older ones have moved even farther. None of the young ones seem to want to have children. Thank God I have a large and loving church family so I don't wallow in depression, but there is no substitute for having your own family nearby to love, share with and cook for. I am coming to grips with the changes slowly but surely. I am not a wallower, but I have my moments. On the joyful side, my younger son who lives in New York City got married and we had a great time at his wedding where the far-off family members got together again like in the old days. Ah, that was nice.
I also turned sixty this year. Not that I mind it, but it is part and parcel with this feeling that I have to refigure what my place in life is meant to be. And those are my lame excuses for not keeping up with the blog! I had every intention of documenting this gardening season from the very first seedlings that I planted in February. I even took all the pictures to post them and redesigned the look of things. But I let myself be consumed with the day-to-day minutiae (and my new ipad mini which takes up way more of my time than it ever should!!!) I also had my share of writer's block, because sometimes I really don't think I have anything interesting to say! I stopped reading blogs too, mainly because if I read them I'd feel guilty about not writing mine. And that won't do, because I miss all the great bloggers who share their gardening and their lives and their encouraging words of wisdom!
So there's the story. I will post an update on the garden (which is doing great!) in a day or so. I am looking forward to catching up with everyone else's gardens. Now I am off to lunch with a friend who is the queen of upbeat and positive and try to learn from her!

Using the Harvest: Stuffed Peppers

For the past several years I have started most week-days with a 45 minute walk with several girlfriends. It's been a great way to start the day, other than the ridiculously early hour we do it (due to the fact that one has to get her kids off to school and go to work and another has to get her grandson off to school too.) It is therapeutic, not just for the obvious excercise we get, but it is a great time to share what's on our minds regularly and in the gray, cold time of year to combat the winter doldrums. Unfortunately this very cold and snowy winter has really limited those walks and I miss them! I am just not a self-starter with the excercise unless it's working in the garden, so the couch potato syndrome is settling in on me altogether too much. I was given one of those Maxine daily calendars this Christmas and today's little joke expresses my situation quite well: "I was planning to go to the gym, but I got a better offer from my refrigerator." Yup, altogether too much eating going on around here.
Still, I am trying to modify my diet somewhat and limit the amount of dairy and meat I'm eating. It helps that D is a vegetarian. I thought I'd share how I used peppers from our garden to make stuffed peppers for supper the other night.
We had such an abundance of peppers this past summer and many of them grew large enough for stuffed peppers. So while most of my excess harvest was sliced up or cut into large chunks for freezing, the biggest ones were just cut in halves and frozen just that way to be used for stuffers. It worked out great and eliminated the need to par- boil the peppers before baking them.

The picture is not the most colorful, but I can assure you, they looked good as they came out of the oven. This recipe does not have to be vegetarian, in fact, the original does call for about a pound of ground beef in it, and that tastes marvelous. But I substituted chopped mushrooms for the ground beef, which worked very nicely.

I just took my frozen pepper halves and layed them out in a baking dish. Didn't bother to thaw them out. At this point I would brown the ground beef (or in this case, saute the chopped mushrooms) with chopped onion and garlic.

Add a mixture of rice (a half-cup uncooked white and half-cup uncooked brown) along with tomatoes from my garden. These were frozen, but usually I would use two pint jars of canned. I also add an undrained small can of chilis and a cup of frozen corn. Season the mixture with about a teaspoon of chili powder and a quarter teaspoon of cumin (more if you like it), some vegetable bouillon, salt and pepper to taste.

I'm still using my home-grown onions, although they are not much bigger than sets and rather annoying to peel and chop. This mixture is cooked over medium heat until the rice absorbs the liquid. Fill the pepper halves generously with the filling mixture.

Finally, sprinkle some shredded cheddar cheese on top and bake, covered for about 45 minutes. I was very pleased with how these came out. I would say the only major difference in using the frozen, unthawed peppers to the par-boiled fresh ones was that there was a fair amount of liquid in the pan after baking. Maybe I should have baked them without the cheese, uncovered and added the cheese the last 15 minutes. I'll try that next time. This is a very forgiving meal as you can really adjust the recipe any way you like to change the filling. I'm feeling all healthier-than-thou having the vegetarian version, but with the hamburger they are really even tastier! But until I get into that walking habit again, I'd better pass for now!

Back In The Saddle Again

...I hope! No, I have not abandoned my blog although you'd think so when noticing that I haven't had a new post in a month. Adding the extra steps of uploading my photos to Picasa, after first shrinking them so as not to take up too much space, then finally being able to put them on the blog has really put the brakes on my posting. But I am hoping to have finally overcome my resistance to the new regime.  My patient spouse, who is so much better at working with computers than I am, has helped me to learn to do these things and even helped me to finally customize the look of the blog a little bit. Probably not for the last time!
So, what have I been up to this past month? Seed starting! At last! Onions, shallots and leeks were planted on February 10 and are just beginning to pop up. After our big blizzard this past weekend, it is amazing how much seeing the little green sprouts has lifted my spirits!

HA! And after all the trouble of learning the new regime, I now find that Blogger is allowing me to add my pix the old way again. Shall I tear my hair out now do you think? Well, live and learn. Anyway, aren't those cute little onions a beautiful sight? I have all kinds this year, because I can never resist buying new seeds and I am trying to use up last year's too. I planted Prince, which did very well for me two years ago, Copra, Stuttgarter, Pontiac, a new- to- me variety called Varsity and Ailsa Craig. I have Redwing on back order, but if it doesn't come in soon it may be too late.
For shallots, I planted Prisma and Ambition. Last summer's onions didn't do too well for me, but the shallots sure did. And I planted Tadorna and Bleu de Solaize leeks. I'm sure you can see that I do like my alliums!

I bought some cheap dollar store storage boxes and used a wonderful hint from Annie's Granny, making drainage holes in the bottom using a hot glue gun. Thank's for the idea Granny! These are great for planting alliums in. I also planted two small containers with celery yesterday, Tango and Afina cutting. I started these last year too, but never got them into the garden. This year will be different. The celery takes about ten days to sprout.
Another thing I have been busy with is turning 60. While the actual birthday was last week, about a month ago D gifted me with a new ipad mini. It has been nearly impossible to get off of that tiny little portable computer since! I can check my e-mail, my facebook, read blogs, watch Netflix, get the weather, practise German, play mah jong games and read books all in the comfort of my lazy chair. Not necessarily good for my health or weight! Birthday week a group of close girlfriends took me to a ski resort in the Massachusetts Berkshires for the day and we soaked in hot tubs, ate and did what girls do best, talked, talked, talked. And on the weekend of the big blizzard my husband took me to Newport, Rhode Island to a lovely little inn downtown and we enjoyed the storm in the coziest way, until it was time to come home to a very snowy driveway and lots of shovelling.

Yup, that's me, looking very happy and comfortable. Wish my house looked so nice! Oh, and what's that in my lap? My little ipad companion!  I'm not sure how I feel about being 60 since it seems that only yesterday I was 40, but I have plenty to be thankful for, not least of which is friends, family and health. And starting those seeds! Blogger, it's good to be back!

January Thaw and Green Growing Things

We in Connecticut are experiencing a short-lived January thaw. Temps today were in the high 50's and the sun tried to peek out from time to time, but already the clouds have thickened and it's getting colder. I decided to visit the garden and amid the detritus scattered all around (my garden clean-up was less than ideal this year) I saw a surprising amount of greenery that was not weeds, but leftover plants from summer. I even harvested a handful of very small carrots that I've been munching on this afternoon, so I suppose I've had a real Harvest Monday!

 Just a few short days ago, the garden above was covered in inches of white! And below...ta-da! My harvest of carrots, which are much smaller than the photo makes them look. Still, it's January 14th!

 I found a tiny little lettuce growing in its own micro-climate, in the pathway, sheltered under one of the rocks that surrounds the bed. Again, much tinier than the close-up makes it look. I'm amazed at its indomitable spirit, living on like it has through freezes and snow, without cover.

 Here's a little flat-leaved parsley peeping out from some autumn leaves and straw.

 And, one of my late-planted kale. There are several, none of them protected. Perhaps they will provide us some of our earliest spring greens, along with some overwintered spinach, which I did protect but neglected to get a photo of.

 There were a few komatsuna plants still hanging in there. It looks like some of the wild critters had been munching on them.

 And a handful of onions that were missed in harvesting because they were too small are sending up their green shoots.

 I also found quite a few autumn-sown arugulas bravely growing among the stones and weeds.

Alas, the cold weather is on its way back they say, but it sure was nice to get outside in the fresh air and visit the garden. And to make the day complete my Fedco seed order arrived with all but a few back-ordered packets in it, so I am getting very excited to start planting in just a few weeks.
Now I'm for hopping on over to Daphne's Dandelions to get my weekly dose of garden inspiration! I especially love seeing the pictures from the southern hemisphere, because they remind me of the good things to come.

Pad Thai and Blogger Problems

Wow, have I ever had a time with Blogger today! Out of the blue I found that uploading pictures to my blog involved a new step of uploading my photos from my computer into a Picasa album before being able to upload them to my blog. Up till now, I have been able to just do it all directly from the blogger template. It's taken me all morning, with the help of my spouse to figure this out and to finally get the pictures to the blog. Brother! I'm too old for this!
Anyway, I wanted to share how excited I am to be able to cook with "fresh" vegetables from my garden in the beginning of a very cold January! I put fresh in quotes, because the cabbage I used to make Pad Thai has been in storage in my basement for a few months, but it is not processed or frozen. This may be old hat to many gardeners, but to me it is still a new and wonderful thing to be eating a fresh- from- my- own garden veg this time of the year! Since getting back to gardening a few years ago I've stored alliums and potatoes in our cold basement, but this year I have cabbages and carrots too. It's a beautiful thing!
So last night I decided to cut up one of the cabbages to make Pad Thai for supper.

 I added shallots and since I didn't have any scallions, I substituted some of my little leeks and a can of drained mung bean sprouts. These were stir fried with some tofu and then softened rice noodles were added. Home-made Pad Thai sauce was stirred in and it was topped with chopped peanuts. Voila! Supper!

The snow is still covering the ground but we are able to enjoy a taste from last summer. The new garden seeds are trickling in via the mail and I can't wait to see if I can extend my "fresh" vegetables even more next year!

Dare I Resolve?

One of the many stonewalls that criss-cross the New England landscape as reminders of the hard-working farmers of years past.

So, today begins a new year. 2013! Doesn't it seem like just yesterday that we were anxiously waiting for the turning of the century and years starting with 20 instead of 19? Now there is a whole generation out there that never saw any of the 1900's. And that feels just weird! But never mind, there is a point to this post. I thought I'd make a list of garden-related New Year's resolutions which I'd love to keep but probably won't. The point being at least I'll try. There are all kinds of people out there who say making resolutions is a bad thing because so few are accomplished, but it really doesn't bother me a whole lot when I don't keep them. To me the resolutions give me some goals to shoot for and either they get done or not, but most often they get partially accomplished. It's not an all-or-nothing thing with me, and any part of a resolution I am able to keep is a step forward.
So, to my resolutions:
1. Stick to the schedule! As much as possible. I use a calendar and write out when I want to plant, transplant, harden off, trim, plant out my vegetables and flowers. It is flexible to some extent because life and bad weather can get in the way, but I found I missed some good things last year by not paying attention to that schedule.
2. Stay on top of the weeds! OK, every year I fail at this. But, I will say, my garden is a bit more weed free every year, so it's a goal worth continuing working on.
3. Try growing a new veggie. This is one I know I will keep because every year I try something new. Last year was cauliflower. This year I'm going to try amaranth.
4. Plant those fall seedlings! I have a tendency to fizzle in the mid-summer heat. This is another of those goals I don't quite meet, but do better on every year. It kind of falls under resolution #1.
5. Plant more flowers around the garden to attract pollinators.
6. Make more compost. Use it.
Alright, I'd better stop. I'll overwhelm myself otherwise. Here's to a productive and Happy 2013 for all of us gardeners. May the year see many more people learning to love growing their own vegetables and sharing that love with others!