What's Growing in the Garden 8/12//2012

After a night of soaking rain the garden was wet and shrouded in morning mist.
Thai basil, left, is waiting to be picked but parsnip, right, will be ready after frost and into next spring.

What's Growing in the Garden: 9/23/2011

The days maybe getting shorter and nights cooler but don't give up on the garden yet...

Heirloom Rattlesnake Pole Bean reaches for the sky and pumps
out beans all summer long.  Great as snap beans or dry beans.
Save some seeds for planting next summer and you won't need to
buy seeds again.

Sweet and Sour Cucumber

Here's a recipe to get you through the hazy, hot days of summer.

Sweet and Sour Cucumber

In my farmers' market days, I served this relish/salad along side my Chicken Satay with Peanut Sauce, but this fresh relish really goes with everything. Try it with hot or cold meats, alongside lunch time sandwiches, or all by itself for guilt-free snacking. It is a perfect way to deal with cucumber glut from the garden.

Sweet and Sour Cucumber
4 to 6 small cucumbers, thinly sliced into circles or half moons
1 small onion, cut in half and thinly sliced

Marinade:
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup water
1/2 cup white vinegar
1 tsp salt

Garnish (optional):
little tiny hot chili peppers (as much as you can take)
cilantro

In a sauce pan over low heat, dissolve sugar in the water, remove from heat and stir in vinegar and salt. Makes two cups.

Put cucumber and onion in a serving bowl, add marinade to cover the vegetables. Garnish as desired. Refrigerate until ready to eat but the flavor improves as it sits. It will keep for about five days in the fridge, except at our house, where it doesn't last that long.

Cook's tips:
Double or triple the marinade, it keeps in the fridge almost indefinitely. Easy and convenient.

Pick cucumbers when they're still small, when the seeds are just starting to form. At this stage they're popping crisp and distinctly sweet.

My Garden: Wild and Weedy

With all the rain we've had this summer, my rambunctious garden is like a child only a mother could love - no matter how unruly, it's still the object of my affection.

Can this garden be saved?
My mistake here was mulching with hay. Apparently there's a big difference between hay and straw: Hay contains weed seeds and straw does not...oops.

Tomatillos and potatoes threatening to take over the strawberries.

I'm hoping the watermelon will crawl over and crowd out the weeds.
Wishful thinking?

The asparagus rises above all obstacles.

Cucumbers finally getting the long awaited summer heat.

It's time to harvest all the lettuce before they bolt.
When I have a lot of lettuce and fresh herbs, I serve Spring Roll Lettuce Wrap, and that's what I did at our monthly supper club. Six of us chowed down almost half this row, six heads of lettuce, a light meal with lots of moans and groans.

Thai basil, another good candidate for Spring Roll Lettuce Wrap.

Garlic and weeds

My favorite, Patty Pan, has the best texture and flavor of all summer squashes.

Swiss chard, onions and black turtle beans.
The brick mulch keeps Ben, our garden tiger, from claiming the garden as his own.