The Garden Project: It’s Edible!
New rule: go to the garden before buying groceries.
When we visited the garden on Sunday (after buying groceries on Saturday) we had quite a few things to pick: (from left to right above) cucumbers, green beans (!!!), zucchini, onions and lettuce (and basil, not shown). We had already bought lettuce and zucchini at the store. Oops.
We did a bit of weeding and watering on Sunday, along with the veggie picking. You can tell from the photo above that the ground is super dry. It is cracking in big clumps, making pulling weeds a bit of a pain. I wore the new gloves my mom gave me to pick weeds,
but soon discovered that sweat + gloves + weeding tool = ouchy blister in my hand. Duh.
(And unfortunately, I have to post things like this so I remember not to do them again. Okay okay, and I like to share the pain! Side note – notice the blood on my hand – yeah – I killed about 39139874 mosquitoes while I was there, and have 3980808 bites from them.)
Some things are doing better than others in the garden:
Doing well:
- Cucumbers
- Zucchini
- Lettuce
- Basil
Looking like crap:
- Green Beans (this may be the only time we get to eat them, sad face)
- Broccoli
- Peppers
Questionable/too early to tell:
- Sweet Potatoes
- Carrots
- Tomatoes
- Onions
Only time will tell what happens!
For now, I am excited that we were able to eat something from our garden! We took our produce home and made a yummy salad with the lettuce and cucumbers, and steamed the green beans.
The cucumbers and green beans were especially good! The lettuce took forever to wash and was a bit bitter, but was good with all of the toppings on it.
I feel so happy that we are actually able to eat the stuff we are growing. Not sure why I was worried about it… guess I was just doubting myself!
Do you have any fun basil or zucchini recipes to share with me? We love zucchini on pizza, and sauteed with pasta… but I like to try new recipes too!
I’ve included some more photos of our garden in an extended post below.
The garden:
Cucumbers:
Green Beans:
Tomatoes:
Basil:
Themocracy
Looks like your garden is doing well! My parents came by on Saturday and brought me cucumbers and tomatoes from their garden. I LOVE fresh produce that my parents grow. Someday I’ll have space for my own garden.
Have you ever made basil pesto? It’s tasty. Also, basil with tomatoes and mozzerella cheese (caprese salad). I think I could eat basil on everything! 🙂
Do you have a pesto recipe without cheese? I do desperately want to try making it but I don’t eat dairy.
Yay!!! Garden success!!! Looks like it’s doing great– how exciting that you’re getting to eat the “fruits” of your labor (ha ha).
We always had issues with green beans in our garden back at my parent’s house, too- they’re rough to grow!
If I were you, I’d hunt down a zuchinni bread recipe- that stuff is sooooo good! If I had a recipe, I’d send it your way- but I always just munched on the stuff my old roommate used to make…
My best recipe for zucchini: Chop up an onion and saute it in your favorite oil. Slice a zucchini and add that to the pan. Cut up 3-4 tomatoes into chunks and add that to the pan. Cut the corn off of 3-4 ears (or use about a cup of frozen) and add that to the pan. Add basil, oregano, salt, pepper (basically anything you would use for spaghetti sauce) to taste. Let it simmer for 3-4 hours, and enjoy. It’s better the next day – lets the flavors really infuse themselves into the vegetables.
We seem to be totally on the same thought process a lot of times. Last time it was when I posted about the cauliflower, and then read your blog and you talked about deep fried cauliflower, and today I sent you an email about the zucchini/pumpkin issue and you posted about your garden. Too funny.
Wow! Your garden looks awesome! I didn’t have high hopes for ours because last year it did awful but everything we planted is growing like crazy so I wish we planted more!
I love zucchini bread and that is what I plan to do with ours if I ever can tell it apart from pumpkin and actually pick it from the garden before it rots (if it in fact is zucchini and not pumpkin).
One of my favorite ways to use zucchini is as a “pasta.” You can eat it raw, or not.
Question: how long did your cucumbers take to grow? I planted some, and I’m getting impatient. 😉
<3 <3
We planted our cucumbers on May 9, so it has been about two months!
Lucky you with all that great stuff in your garden.
I have a super zucchini recipe that I made yesterd from Sally Bee. I haven’t posted it yet but it’s easy and really tasty.
Basically onion, garlic, zucchini, veggie broth and parsley.
I like to make zucchini noodles with my mandoline and then use them with a pasta sauce, I’ve done both creamy and tomatoey. I don’t even cook the zucchini, just pour the sauce right on.
…Just noticed someone already said this…oh well.
Wheee! Eating your green beans! I don’t even have any yet and you planted after I did! JEALOUS!
Wow, that is quite a harvest. You will have a bumper crop.
One thing that we like to do with zucchini is to julienne it with carrots and summer squash and saute it in some butter and then add some salt and serve. It takes a few minutes to cook and it is delish!
This makes me want to have a garden- and I’m not good at growing things. Looks so yum!
Wow! It’s looking great!
We usually just saute zucchini with some salt and pepper and then eat it as a side dish instead of french fries 🙂
Oooh… yummy! I didn’t have much luck with my garden last year 🙁
What happened? 🙁
Wow, I’m so impressed! And envious of your veggie bounty 😉 I use zucchini all the time now. I had no idea I liked it until recently. I use it in lasagna, in calzones, and in tofu fajitas. I just saute it with whatever sauce I’m using (marinara for Italian dishes, salsa for Mexican dishes, etc). It’s always so good. I pick leaves off our basil plant at least 4 times a week — for paninis, calzones, pasta, pizza, you name it.
oh my gosh that looks like heaven to me!! I hope we live somewhere in a few years that I can have a garden or just someone next door with a garden that grows too much 🙂
The hand blister looks totally painful. Ouch.
Your garden looks great!!
Ugh, hand blisters are so painful. Yuck! Your garden looks great to me though!
And I *love* this recipe for zucchini: http://kitchengardeners.org/recipes/chocoate-zucchini-cake
(Of course, it’s cake.)
What a cool recipe! I am going to ask Steven to print it for our “to try” list! There’s nothing wrong with cake.
I made those zucchini muffins that were awesome! We also had zucchini on a pizza with spicy Italian chicken sausage last weekend. Major yum! Your green beans look awesome — I hope you can get some more! I’ve only picked one cucumber so far — I hope to get at least 1 more before I leave! And I just KILL basil. I don’t know why I can’t grow the stuff…I’ve tried a LOT of time. Does it like the heat? Everything looks great…except that blister. OW!
I saw your recipe today but have not had a chance to look at it! I bet it is one I will be printing!
I am not sure why the basil is growing. It is over by the clumpy clay soil, with the peppers, which look like crap. Maybe it does like the heat.
I hope you can pick some more before you move!
Congratulations on the garden project! That is definitely on my “bucket list” – things that I want to do at some point in my life. Seriously.
Hope you continue to enjoy the fruits (or veggies) of your labor – ha ha!
looks great! i love green beans!
NICE! you’re basically a farmer now. Although, you’ll have to work on sandpaper style caluses on your hands.
BTW – headed to NW iowa this weekend. So excited to finally see stuff that is GREEEN!
Yay! Have a fun time in Iowa! We are going back out in two weekends 🙂