The Joys of Community Gardening!

It's true that I long to have my own backyard garden someday. And it's true that I get tired of walking 2 miles (round trip) just to see if anythings ripe or the garden needs watering. And carrying all my supplies with me. I could drive, but that seems to defeat the purpose and objective of this other-wise earth-friendly hobby. It also bothers me that I have to wait for the garden to open on a certain date and I have to deal with my neighbor's unweeded and overgrown plots. These things I won't miss. But there are many many benefits to the community garden, which I may have mentioned before, but are worth mentioning again.

Talking with other gardeners is extremely valuable. And it's reassuring to hear that, for example, everyone had trouble with eggplant this year or that everyone's tomatoes got wiped out by insects. I also enjoy when someone walks by the garden and starts asking questions. I've started offering these folks a sample of a handful of grape tomatoes or a sprig of rosemary and then explain to them how to acquire a plot for themselves (also some current gardeners are so cliquey that it'd be nice to have some fresh meat to break up the cliquey old-timers). I also enjoy sharing my surplus with people that appreciate it. Even better, I am benefitted when other gardeners have surplus. Last night I left the garden with 5 HOT peppers (I think they're serrano peppers) from a neighbor. In return, I offered her her pick of anything she wanted from my garden. Also, and this is just a suspicion, I don't have any problems with squirrels or birds eating my crops. I'm guessing it's because with so much to feast on, no single garden is decimated. I also suspect we have the best fed squirrels in all of Nassau County and they're actually quite full, but I never notice my veggies getting eaten. One other benefit: lots and lots of flowers and plants, so there's no shortage of bees and beneficial insects to help the plants.

I'll definitely miss the community garden and the community gardeners!

Tomato Tart

What to do with so many tomatoes? Make a tart! This one looks a little burned...that's because it was my first time using our new oven. I tried the broil feature as per the instruction to get the chèvre browned. As you can see, it didn't brown the chèvre, but it sure burnt the crust. It still tasted great. And it was an easy recipe, even making the crust from scratch. My only complaint was that it only used 3 tomatoes.

It's been a few weeks...

I've been away, but before leaving I canned several pints of Roma tomatoes. I was afraid of botulism and didn't even know what I would do with canned whole tomatoes, but once we returned I made use of all of them as the sauce for various homemade pizzas. Because of the natural acidity of tomatoes (and I added lemon juice according to a recipe), they could be canned in a water bath rather than a pressure cooker. And no one died from eating them! But I now own a pressure canner and hope to put it to good use (one night when Morgan's home to help).

While I was away I asked a family friend to help herself to anything in the garden. I wasn't sure who was doing who the favor, honestly. I was thankful she stopped by, watered, and helped herself so nothing rotted and she enjoyed the abundance of cherry tomatoes and whatever else she found. A perfect arrangement if you know someone who likes fresh veggies (who doesn't like fresh veggies?). She even made great use of our resident rosemary plant - she dried a bunch in her dehydrator and gave me a container filled with fresh dried rosemary! What a great gift idea!

When I returned I picked several banana peppers and pickled some in jars. It didn't need to be water bathed or pressure canned because it's in a vinegar solution (apparently). Then I had an abundance of green beans (2 weeks in a row) from my CSA so I made canned dilly beans! Yay! The dilly beans I processed in a water bath for 5 minutes according to the recipe. It's also in a vinegar solution, so hopefully won't have any botulism risks. It's important to use legitimate recipes and not get creative. This is science, not art!

Below is a picture of the dilly beans in the canner and also a picture of the banana peppers. It's a beautiful thing this canning!

Red Peppers!

I've got a red pepper! I couldn't help myself, I picked it! And it's gorgeous! Last year, I didn't have the patience. I picked all the peppers when they were green.

I also have a few ripe banana peppers for canning!

Another Good Harvest!

And this doesn't include the 2 zucchinis and tomato that I gave my parents.

Also, it's time to start thinking about the fall garden! I ordered a micro-blocker to start lettuce, Bok Choy (again), and maybe carrots! Since we'll be out of town until August 12th, I have arranged for a neighbor to water the garden, if needed, while we're away, and I will start the fall crops when we return.

A Rainy Summer Day?

No problem! From my novice gardener perspective, I'd say this has already been a great gardening season. Lots of warm temperatures, plenty of sunshine, and just enough rain! I've hardly had to water the garden with a hose at all. I can remember 2 times and maybe Morgan got out there 2 times as well. This is great. And everything is producing in abundance.

Next up....preserving the harvest via canning?

Pasta with Roasted Garlic and Grape Tomatoes

I forgot to take this picture before we ate most of last night's dinner. Morgan picked more grape tomatoes (is anyone else getting scared that these grape tomatoes might take over the world?), he also came home with fresh basil (and a yellow squash thingie that we're not even growing*) and whipped up a roasted garlic-tomato-basil "sauce" and served it with quinoa pasta (not as bad as I thought it'd be-the quinoa pasta. I didn't think the sauce would be bad) and Parmesan. The whole thing was so delicious! And went from garden to table in under an hour!

Here's the after picture!

*Morgan didn't steal the yellow squash thingie. Another gardener gave it to him. Love the community garden! Luckily, Morgan did not accept his extra zucchini!!