General garden update

Painted Red Lady Beans 
I see flowers but no beans.  Maybe it's too early or maybe the morning glory is crowding it out.  It might be time for a murderous attack on the morning glory, but the MG is so entwined in my peas and beans that it might be difficult.  Carrots Love Tomatoes said that they were good companions.  I will rid my fence of the MG once and for all at the end of the summer.  It's dead to me.

 


Potatoes
The potato plants look strong.  I added some more potting soil to the container today.  In theory I should've added soil every time the plants peaked above ground, creating large root systems and potatoes of different maturities at different levels of the bin.  Unfortunately, I left for a month and the plants got big, so I wondered whether is was too late to fill up the bin with soil.   Sunset Nursery suggested that I do a little bit at a time until the pot is full of soil and making sure not to over-water.  I asked if I should trim the leaves on the lower part of the stem like you would do when you plant a tomato plant super deep to encourage the stem to turn into root.  She didn't think it was necessary to I left the leaves attached.

 

Lettuce
After a winter of too much lettuce, I cautiously planted a few seeds in my tomato garden.  They've been super slow to grow and before I left for Nicaragua, they looked like they might be eaten by aphids by the time I returned.  They've battled the bugs and are still alive, but aren't exactly flourishing.
 

 

Tomatoes
Some of the tomatoes look great.  Here is one that doesn't look so great.  I'm not sure what the bug is.  I'll continue to monitor.
 

 

Okra
I planted okra here in front of the nasturtium. I'm 99% sure this is not okra. I'll give it a couple more weeks to prove me wrong and then something else is going in.
 

 

Zucchini 
The one super happy and thriving plant in the garden right now is the zucchini.  Thank goodness for that.  It might be crowding out my herb garden, but it's beautiful nonetheless.
 

 

Don't you just want to be tiny and take a nap in there with that pretty green filtered light?

 


Eggplant
I broke my seed-only streak and bought some plants from the nursery.  I put Japanese long eggplant in this bed and will put either watermelon or pumpkin seeds in the bottom left corner before I go to Seattle.

 

Peppers
After removing the giant celery trees that loomed over the peppers, I'm seeing some good fruit.  I bought a couple more pepper plants to supplement. 

 

Cucumbers
The cukes look good -- not as good as the zucchini, but I think they are going to take off soon. 

So quickly the peas turned sad

I'm not quite sure how this happened.  The other day when I came home to abundant English peas, I saw some dying vines toward the back, but I assumed it was just survival of the fittest.  A few days later the whole lot seems to be suffering.  The lower leaves have a white powdery substance on them.  My first diagnosis with the help of the internet is powdery mildew.  It looks like powdery mildew should look.  In a cursory search for the possible sins I could've committed to make this happen,  I came up with not enough fertilizer, not enough mulch, and too much watering.  It's probably been a bout 9 weeks since my last fertilizer round, I did not mulch this bed, and  I could very well be over-watering with my automatic soaker hose, but the ground doesn't feel saturated.   Thanks to the soaker hoses though, I know I'm not having problems with water splashing fungus up onto the leaves.  I've got a call into my parents at Maas Nursery to see what they suggest -- rolling over or somehow fighting back.  Meanwhile I collected the pods that aren't already shriveled and brown for what could be one last meal of peas.  And do I need to get those plants out of the yard so they don't infect anything else?

 

Minty English Peas, Sesame Carrot Salad, and Built-in Bacon Burgers

From the yard: peas, carrots, mint

I came back from a month in Nicaragua to find a beautiful garden filled with peas and carrots. And my husband!

   


Put a tablespoon of butter, two tablespoons of chopped mint, and a tablespoon of water into a pan.  Cook on medium-high until peas are cooked (about 7 minutes).  Salt to taste

 

Shred carrots, add a tablespoon of sesame oil, a tablespoon of soy sauce, and two tablespoons of chopped cashews.

 

We went by Lindy & Grundy, a fantastic new butcher at Melrose and Fairfax.  It blew my mind a little.  I bought a half pound of this brilliant idea: chopped beef with house-cured bacon built in.  It was as ridiculous as it sounds.  Matt rolled his eyes when I said it was the best burger I've ever had, but I think it might be true.

 

Again with the ugly food photography.

Nicaragua

After an April of very long days prepping for a film and a May in Nicaragua working on the film, I'm back in the garden. Before I left, I installed drip hoses on a timer both to conserve water and to ensure there would be a garden when I got back. The project cost about $150 and about 8 hours.

I bought drip hoses for each bed and connected them with parts of regular hoses using hose connectors.

 

There were a few splitters.

 

Unfortunately there is only one faucet on my entire house, so I had to buy a 4-way splitter to run hoses to all the beds in the front and back yard.

I chose the $35 Orbit single-dial timer.  It's been great so far.  Very easy.  Very reliable.  I still have a garden after being gone for a month.  It's weedy, but there is food in it.

Two weeks in LA and then in Seattle for two months for another film. I've got some planting to do.

the yard marauders

The weed-whacker is the the most formidable opponent that my garden has faced thus far.   I was out of town for 10 days, and I came back to a grizzly scene.   I've seen aphids on old plants, I've heard tell of horrible tomato blight in years past, and there are definitely plenty of slugs in my lettuce, but none of these tiny pests have come close in destruction to the yard guy with a weed-whacker who descended upon my yard two days ago.  The guys my landlord pays to cut the grass hacked down my 3 month-old arugula, some carrots, and trampled my baby beets.  I put fences around most everything to keep the dogs out, but the few spots without a fence got it.  I pulled the carrots, the beets have a good chance since they were so small, and I guess I'll see what happens to the arugula, but it doesn't look good.

Next steps:  Get the yard guys off the calendar.  Buy this.   Cut the grass myself.

Butternut Squash Soup

From the Yard: Thyme, Bay Leaf

I've never really been a squash person -- I've had flings, but nothing serious. Two butternut squashes have been staring at me since Christmas, so I decided to do something about them tonight. I made a soup, and it was kind of delicious. This recipe will make about 3 or 4 servings if it's not the main course.

Cut a butternut squash in half. Put oil and salt on each half and put facedown on a cookie sheet. Cook at 375 for 35 minutes. Meanwhile caramelize half an onion in a dutch oven with a little olive oil. Scrape the flesh from the squash into the dutch oven. Add 4 cups of chicken stock, 1 tsp fresh thyme, a bay leaf, a pinch of cayenne, and a teaspoon of freshly grated nutmeg. Bring to a boil and then simmer for 20 minutes. Remove from heat and blend with a submersion blender. Add a tablespoon of heavy whipping cream, a splash of apple-cider vinegar, and salt to taste (about 4 tsp).

Roasted Beet and Avocado Salad with Pickled Onions

From the yard: beets, onions

Unpeeled roasted Beets are not much to look at.

The salad. Slice onions thinly and soak in vinegar for at least an hour. Roast beets at 375 for two hours.  Peel, slice, and layer on plate with sliced avocados.  Top with pickled onions, drizzle with olive oil, and sprinkle with kosher salt.