Community garden progress in June & July

It’s been a busy couple of months. Some triumphs and some failures.

First, let’s talk about the three sisters (see post from May). The bean plants never produced. They grew amazingly but didn’t produce a single bean.

bean plants growing high but no fruit

We got some good corn (see corn post), but soon enough we were out, and we also had some disappointing crop with a lack of kernels.

disappointing corn

The squash plants also grew just gigantic but didn’t produce anything. We only ended up with one fruit after all of that.

the only squash ever produced

So we decided it was the end of our three sisters experiment and we got rid of everything so we could try something new.

removing squash plant

Good thing is we now have a composter so were able to compost the corn, beans, and squash plants.

corn and beans for compost

On the bright side, everything else has been doing well.

There are some more cantaloupes and watermelons just about ready to harvest.

cantaloupes

watermelon

We continue to have cucumbers whenever we want. Big ones! We removed the pickling cucumbers (which had bitter skins, and we still have plenty of pickles) to make some room so now just have these bigger guys.

cucumber

Hot peppers and bell peppers are all doing well. The new structured covering helps so nothing is getting burned.

pepper plants

The yellow squash produced some really nice fruit. I’ve been eating a lot of yellow squash lately (grilled on the bbq, added to various dishes, or just raw with hummus).

yellow squash

And the basil plant is doing very well still. Lots of basil.

basil

And the pumpkin plants (sowed about 3 weeks ago) are coming along really nicely already. We are hoping the pumpkins are ready to harvest in October.

pumpkin

Update on Herbs

I wanted to just share how our herbs are doing and some updates.

Certainly the healthiest herb is still the Thai Basil (see my recent Spicy Thai Noodles post).

Thai basil

The chives aren’t doing that great. They are still alive, but not much growth so we haven’t gotten much out of them. Possibly it’s too hot?

Chives

The peppermint is still healthy, but the leaves don’t seem as big as they used to. I’m not complaining, though, because we have been able to use them regularly for drinks (coffee and soda) and spring rolls.

Peppermint

The spicy oregano was starting to look really sad (leaves turning brown, no growth at all), so last weekend I pulled it up and replanted in a pot. I’ve kept it under the porch so that it gets less direct sun, at it seems to be doing better already.

spicy oregano

We also bought two new herbs. Lemon balm (as mentioned in my recent soda post) and Greek oregano. I tried to keep them inside but they weren’t getting enough sun, so today I put them out on the porch and will keep an eye on them.

lemon balm and Greek oregano

 

Lemon Mint Cucumber Soda

At Mesquite Valley Growers last weekend, I bought a Lemon Balm plant. It smells so good (like lemons, obviously).

Lemon balm plant

I wanted to make a refreshing drink using it, and so I took some leaves from it along with some peppermint leaves from my herb garden. I cut three slices of cucumber and placed it all in a glass of club soda. I let it sit for a few minutes to take in the flavors before drinking.

Very refreshing. Next time I might leave out the cucumber, or just put one slice in it, because the cucumber flavor dominated.

I also want to try making a lemon mint herbal tea, but I probably will wait until it gets cooler (we are still in the 100s most days).

Lemon balm is supposed to have a calming effect and is often used in aromatherapy. It also can be a mosquito repellent (when you rub crushed leaves on your skin)!

Spicy Thai Noodles

Our Thai basil plant is doing the best of all our herbs. It is very lush and we have an abundance of basil just waiting for us to use in different dishes.

The only maintenance for this plant is clipping off the flowers, which I need to do about once every week or two.

Thai basil plant

This week we decided to make a noodle dish using a base of soy sauce, Thai basil, some of our spicy peppers from the garden (jalapenos, fresnos, and poblanos), and the standard garlic & red onion. We were careful to remove most of the seeds from the peppers so it wasn’t too spicy, but it definitely had some nice spice to it.

We threw in vegetarian chicken first for 5 minutes, then added broccoli, cauliflower, and orange bell pepper from the garden, cooked for another 5 minutes.

We cooked the rice noodles separately (they only take a few minutes to cook in boiling water) then mixed them in and let sit on low heat for a few more minutes to absorb the flavors.

It turned out really nice. I think my tolerance for spice is increasing these days!

 

Tostadas with Calabacitas and Pinto Beans

For an easy meal, we often make tostadas with cheese and various toppings. This time, toppings included cheddar and monterey jack cheeses, olives, peppers (fresh from the garden), spring onion, and avocado.

For sides, I made a simple calabacitas dish with chopped yellow squash and cherry tomatoes fresh from the garden.

I just sauteed some olive oil, red onion, garlic, and finely chopped jalapenos to give it a kick (also from the garden). Threw in the chopped squash and tomatoes and cooked on medium-low for about 10 minutes.

Also on the side we had pinto beans simmered on low with onion, garlic, and jalapenos for 10 minutes.

First Taste of Pickles

The pickles had been sitting in the fridge for 3 weeks so were ready to try. (Made back in June, the month of cucumbers).

They came out nice and crunchy with good dill and garlic flavor and a bit of spice from the jalapenos.

They make a good addition to burgers. Above is a boca burger on a hoagie roll with barbeque sauce, melted cheddar, pickles, and romaine.

 

Frozen Vanilla Peppermint Coffee

I enjoy an iced coffee nearly every morning, but last weekend we decided to try something a little bit different.

The night before, we made regular drip coffee and poured half of it into our ice cube tray and the other half just in a glass bottle.

frozen cubes of coffee

The next morning, we gathered our ingredients and began blending.

cold coffee, vanilla half and half, and milk

It took awhile to get the proportion right. The ice wasn’t easy to blend so we added quite a bit of the liquid; it was just trial and error until we got the right consistency. We used the vanilla half and half as well as whole milk so that it wouldn’t be too sweet.

Near the end, we added some of our fresh peppermint from the garden (about 10 leaves) and added to the blender for some final mixing. Look closely and you can see the green flecks.

Frozen vanilla mint coffee

Frozen vanilla mint coffee (yes, I recycled a Dunkin’ Donuts cup)

Delicious. We will definitely make these again.

First Watermelon

The watermelon plant – planted nearby as an extension to the community garden – has grown pretty huge in the past few weeks, covering lots of ground.

watermelon plant, partially covered in shade cloth

It only has about 5 or 6 fruit on it, but they are now getting to a good size. They are “personal watermelon” size so won’t get as big as what you usually see in the grocery store. Here is a small one just starting to grow a couple of weeks ago:

small watermelon growing

On the 4th of July, we went over there and decided one of them was ready to harvest. It had a yellow spot on it, which they say is a sign it’s ripe. Also the ridges are supposed to be defined.

watermelon fresh picked from the garden

We ended up waiting until a few days later to eat it, since a friend had brought over a half watermelon for our BBQ. So we cut it open yesterday.

Watermelon cut in half

As you can sort of tell from the picture, it wasn’t quite ripe. We were able to eat some of it, but unfortunately – even though the texture was great and it was nice and watery – a lot of it was tart and/or not sweet enough.

We didn’t move forward on harvesting any others yet so will probably wait until next week before taking a look again. It’s all part of the learning experience… (we also learned this from our first cantaloupe – we just need to be more patient!).

 

Cherry Tomatoes and Chives

Picked these from our garden yesterday.

They topped our big salads, which also included bell & chili pepper and cucumber fresh from the community garden. Plus spinach, celery, carrots, olives, avocado, and baked tofu.

Panko Breaded Eggplant

Our neighbor gave us an eggplant from his garden. My partner isn’t a big fan of eggplant, but is a fan of panko breading so was willing to give it a try. And it was a big success!

Eggplant fresh from the garden

We sliced the eggplant pretty thinly, then salted both sides, covered with a paper towel, and placed a cutting board on top to put pressure on them and get out that extra moisture. (This prevents them from getting too soft when cooked and can improve the flavor). We let them sit for 20 minutes.

salting the eggplant

We heated up the cooking oil while preparing our breading.

Two whipped eggs, panko breadcrumbs with garlic powder, and flour

We coated each slice first with flour, then eggs, then the breadcrumbs.

breaded eggplant ready for frying

Then we fried them in about a half-inch of cooking oil. Only a minute or two on each side does it.

frying breaded eggplant

almost done…

They turned out nice and crunchy with good flavor and texture. It was a lot for two people to eat so next time we won’t make the whole eggplant. We had it for dinner with a side of spinach tortellini and marinara sauce (to which we added our spicy oregano from the garden).

Panko breaded eggplant with tortellini and marinara sauce