Pre-Sandy Harvest

So, once again, we find ourselves waiting for a hurricane and wondering how bad it will be.  In anticipation I cleaned out the rooftop vegetable garden and came downstairs with a quart of green tomatoes.  There were a few more orange ones which I am leaving on the sill to ripen but those green ones just called out to be broiled.

I couldn't be simpler - just slice them and lay them on a baking sheet.  Then drizzle with balsamic vinegar, top with oregano and goat cheese, and then a little final drizzle of olive oil.  Then you broil them for about 7 minutes.  Yum!

School was canceled, and we are all home today.  We're going to make some Halloween cookies.  I got a nifty mold from my mother-in-law that makes cookies which look like fingers!

Home Grown!

We returned from our in-laws to find that my rooftop garden is doing well.  So well, in fact, that there are many cucumbers developing on the cucumber plants, and some tomatoes starting to grow to a decent size.  Even the peppers are looking good!  I present to you now my first harvest of the season....

It's so exciting!

Vegetables

Every year I optimistically plant vegetables. I did this even when we lived in the city, on a roof deck that required hauling water daily up an iron spiral staircase which jutted out over the parking lot, 3 stories below. I had a love/hate relationship with that staircase... And every year I get a few vegetables which either end up on the table or incorporated into something canned. Not very much, mind you, but something.

I keep trying. This year I have big tomatoes and cherry tomatoes, green peppers, eggplant, and summer squashes. I haven't tried squashes in a container before, but I'm tired of the bunnies and chipmunks eating whatever I've got at ground level. So they're up there this year, too. Usually the way I get squash is that something grows out of the compost heap, does really well, and then when a squash is just about ready to eat, I'm beaten to it by some little critter. One year the chipmunks took the corn. Stalks and all. Pulled them right into their little burrows. One day the corn was almost ready, the next day the entire plants were missing. It was like an alien abduction - there wasn't even any evidence there had been a plant there.

So far the leeks haven't grown and the peas have proved irresistible to the bunnies. We have gotten a grand total of 5 strawberries. All attempts at sunflowers have been gnawed off. I'm hoping the rooftop one does better. And the new soaker hose is doing great.

The farm share starts next week (yay!). I'm betting we'll get bok choy and lettuce.

Gardening Update

April and May are always really busy months for me, since not only do I have a full time job and a family, but I am also an elected Town Meeting Member and Town Meeting starts in April. 3 hours a night twice a week until all the business of the Town is done. Takes about 11 sessions. So I am not sure I am going to have a whole lot of time to can things at least for another week or so. First on my agenda, though, is mint jelly. The mint is starting to come up and pretty soon I'll have enough to make a batch.

In the meantime, my peas have started to sprout.
I can't tell what the leeks are supposed to look like, but I don't think they are doing as well as the peas. I also planted 4 pumpkin seeds and 4 kabocha squash seeds with the hope that maybe they'll do something. The rhubarb is growing, but the stalks are very small and not getting much larger. This is the same problem I had last year, and I was hoping that if I left it alone near the compost heap and didn't move it much then this year would be better. It doesn't seem to be shaping up that way.

Lastly, in a week or so I'm going to try to start the roof top garden. I have decided I will not buy the plants at Wal-Mart this year, and will stick to a local garden shop instead. Hopefully they will do OK up there!

I'm Trying Again

The reason I moved my vegetable garden up to the roof balcony is that the chipmunks, those cheeky little critters, would eat all my tomatoes and leave the skins where I could find them.

After 2 years of rooftop gardening, which goes pretty well if one doesn't mind hauling potting soil and compost through their bedroom, I've decided to give ground level gardening another try. Since yesterday was such a gorgeous day, I worked up about 5 square feet of the garden with a little compost, staked it off to keep out human feet, and planted leeks and peas. I'm optimistic that the chipmunks don't like leeks.

I will still plant the tomatoes on the roof.

I am Awed and Inspired

We're visiting my sister in Colorado and she has a plot in the local community garden. 10'x20' of amazing vegetable loveliness! After her first year, when she grew too much bok choy (which seems to be easy to do) and zucchini, she has come up with a well balanced mix of lettuce, peas, beans, chard, spinach, zucchini and summer squash, beets, tomatoes, bok choy, sunflowers, radishes, and I'm sure I've forgotten something. Eggplant, maybe? Before dinner, we walk out there and pick what we want. It's like a grocery store. And I have garden envy.

To be fair, there is no shade, so the garden gets sun all the time. The soil is refreshed with compost yearly. The water source is right there and it's easy to tend. The most amazing thing of all is that she doesn't seem to lose anything to critters. And there are almost no bugs. Regardless, I am very impressed at how productive this little patch is.

Since we've been out here, we've had salads, zucchini and summer squash fried in just olive oil, and pasta with chicken sausage and spinach. All amazingly fresh and tasty!