First big bounty of tomatoes...! MORE and MORE to come!
Welcome to my garden... It's quite amazing in fact. My family had always had a garden while I was growing up. I definitely took it for granted. We always had fresh produce all summer and frozen and canned throughout the winter. We also had the best beef, chicken, pork, milk, eggs, butter and rabbit (which I wasn't told until a couple of years ago that we ate more rabbit than I realized). I grew up in Eastern Colorado where the closest grocery store was over 40 minutes away. Well, we did have a grocery store that was only 25 minutes away, but the selection was slim and expensive. We normally drove two hours to Denver or Colorado Springs once a month to load up on groceries. Our garden was HUGE. I mean, HUGE. After working all day in the wheat fields, my parents would come home to dig in the garden even more. Growing up, I always found the fun in playing in the garden and didn't really look at it as "work."
Before... dug all the dirt... most things are planted. This is June 15. We got a late start due to weather(rain and snow) and other commitments in May.
This is August 31st... See how everything has grown?
I hadn't gardened for well over 10 years after being in college and starting my career after that. Three years ago one of my best friends lost her husband. I had told her once things settled down, I would do anything she wanted to do. If she wanted to go to Vegas, we'd go to Vegas, if she wanted to go to the hot springs, we'd go to the hot springs. She told me that she wanted to go fishing. Her husband had been really sick for 5 years and she didn't have any time to herself, let alone any time to go fishing. She doesn't regret spending all of her time with him, but it was still overwhelming to her to have to be his caretaker for so many years. The night before we went to go fishing, she called me up and asked if I would help her with her garden. I said that I would. I mean, it's really just throwing some seeds in the ground, right? Huh. Right. It is a LOT of work. It is a lot of digging, bending over and hauling water. My muscles are mighty this summer. You use muscles that you never knew that you had. It's been wonderful. My friend is a serious gardener, actually a master gardener. She has taken the classes through the local extension office to be a certified master gardener.
The first summer was probably the hardest. She was so sad and upset after losing her husband. Yet, whenever she got out in the garden, her spirits would lighten. She would often ask "what are you thinking about?" She would say "Well, I'm thinking about digging out this darn weed. Isn't it wonderful? I can just melt into the garden." It was a lot of early and late hours. Once you start on a project, you should try to finish it, or it will never get done. It took us all day to make 8 pints of pickled beets one day. Well, we did lay sod and played some Scrabble while we were waiting for the water to boil. That is a LOT of work for 8 pints of pickled beets. The other evening we made sauerkraut. It was my first time making it and I can tell you that I will be making it again. You simply shred the cabbage, throw some salt on it, then pound it down with a big mallet in a ceramic crock. Then it does it's magic for a couple of months. It will be divine...! A little known fact about cabbage is that after you cut the first head, 4-6 smaller heads emerge. A lot of people will cut the entire plant after cutting the first head. Well, if you leave the base plant, it will grow more. And the baby cabbages that grow back... are well, about the best thing you'll ever eat. They are sweet and savory and just delightful! They are the PERFECT size for cabbage rolls.
See how the 5-6 baby cabbages are growing back?
The things that we have grown in our garden this year: snow peas, onions, eggplant, tri colored carrots, 7 different tomatoes (black cherry, early girl, celebrity, box car charlies or is it Willies, orange cherry, red cherry and yellow pear), golden, candy striped and red beets, cucumbers, corn, patty pan squash, acorn squash, zucchini, pumpkins, green and purple cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, collards, egg plant, potatoes, kale, okra, green peppers, watermelons, yellow, green and purple beans and turnips. I think that's everything. We ate a lot of turnip and beet greens. I learned how to make quiche with beet greens. We also learned this summer that eggplants do not like being by onions. We had already planted a few eggplants by some onions when we read this in a gardening book. Well, the plants next to the onions are not happy and the ones on the other side of the garden are thriving.
Okra. One of the coolest veggies you'll see. I'm not particularly thrilled with eating Okra, but it sure is fun to watch grow!
Patty pan squash. My first time growing it. I LOVE them. Some people let them get big before they eat them, but I love them when they're small and sweet. Cut in half, grill and enjoy!
Mini Watermelons... very cool to watch grow... from the size of a pea to a tennis ball!
So after getting the dirt dug, there is some "downtime." Just waiting for the weeds to grow and the plants to take off. And now at the end of the season, we are getting ready to can, freeze and eat as much fresh goodness that we can. The bell peppers are so sweet and so good!
One bonus of so much produce, is getting to share with my friends. I've traded a lot of collards and kale for wild mushrooms. I got hooked up this year with two bags of boletes and a big bag of chantrelles. I've made mushroom pizzas, shrimp and mushrooms. A new experiment last night was I made pork chops and made a white gravy with the chantrelles. Oh wow! It was delish. However, one of my favorites is scrambled eggs with wild mushrooms. It's so fresh and yummy. Wow! How's the best way to cook wild mushrooms? Dry fry in a hot pan and THEN season and add things to it. This draws the moisture out. Otherwise you'll get a wet mess. Also, if you are going to add to a pizza, dry fry them first and then put on your pizza. I've also learned that this works with regular mushrooms as well. Otherwise, you'll get a soggy pizza.
Good Trade! A bucketload of Chantrelles!
I hope that you enjoyed the little tour of my garden... And maybe enjoy some of the bounty if you are my neighbor.