What Have You Made From The Bounty Of Your Vegetable Garden?

[TheGardener]

My first crop to pick were organically grown peas. I first made steamed peas. Given how many I had I either had to freeze them or do something else. So I made some pea soup. I can't say it was especially good, but I'm sure that it was very healthy. I made about 2 quarts. 1 quart is frozen.

Organic tomatoes are coming in. Growing Washington Cherries, Big Beef and San Marzano. Aside from eating them with my salad with Romaine lettuce from the garden or just alone, I've added the San Marzano tomatoes to a bean side dish. The beans are canned, but are still organic. Used Great Northern and Black beans. Combined them with fresh chopped parsley, dried lemon thyme from the garden, dried dill, fresh celery, Vidallia onions, salt, red sweet pepper, white vinegar and apple cider vinegar. It still wasn't right, until I thought to add some juice from a lime.

Picked a Oriental variety of Eggplant. Very mild taste. Started frying them in a skillet with extra virgin olive oil, onions, mushrooms, red sweet peppers, and dried lemon thyme from the garden. Added in some yakitori sauce. Then added in the fresh salmon. Delicious.

Something ate my Edamame bean plants, so I just replanted for the third time. Spinach was planted in mid June, after I tried using seeds from my plants last year. Spinach was planted just after hot weather, and their growth is stunted. Cukes never germinated. Seeds were from a package bought last year.

Waiting on some Pontiac Red potatoes. Don't want to dig them up too early. First time growing potatoes. Also one or two weeks away, I think, fir the sweet pepper to ripening and turning color. Carrots need another week or so. Parsley was replanted late. So looking at September for that.

Interested in your success or not this summer, and what you are doing with your bounty.

 

[DrPizza]

I've eaten plenty of green beans, steamed. I'm sick of broccoli - have it about every other night, it seems. I go out and pick and eat fresh tons of cherry tomatoes. We've sliced zucchinis down the middle, scooped out a few of the seeds, and filled it with 93% lean ground beef mixed with a bunch of seasonings (garlic, etc.), and topped with crushed tomatoes. (Was delicious.) Planted a variety of other squashes, as well as watermelons and cantaloupes. I'm left wondering, wtf: why do we have 50 bazillian spaghetti squashes from one hill? I've never seen such a prolific squash before. I wish everything grew as well as that did.

 

[skyking]

Good on you guys for growing one. We have not had the earth boxes out for 4 years now. Those San Marzano are supposedly the best canning tomato.
I picked up a 20 lb lug of tomatoes and one of Delp Hale peaches in the lower Yakima valley for $15 each and split them with the neighbors.
When we ran the earth boxes we did cherry tomatoes.

 

[bbhaag]

The cool weather crops did great this year. Plenty of snow peas, broccoli, cauliflower, radishes, lettuce, and celery were harvested. The broccoli and cauliflower were exceptionally good this year.

Now that summer has moved in we finally got some green peppers. My wife has made stuffed peppers a couple times and they tasted great. The cucumbers this year have been insane! My wife has already canned 15 quarts of spear style pickles!
The beans have been ok this year. The flavor is good but the amount they have produced is down from last year. The zucchini is good but it always is. That's about all we did for vegies.

The water melon is doing fantastic this year with all the rain we had. We have three this year. One is about the size of a volley ball and the other two are little bigger that softballs.

The only other stuff we did this year was some herbs. The basil and chives are just ok. Good flavor but they didn't size up. The dill did good but it always does good.

The only disappoint this year were the onions. I didn't get them planted in time and they just sat and never sized up. I finally pulled them last week to make room for the fall crops.

 

[TheGardener]

I wintered over tarragon and lemon thyme. Right now I'm drying out some tarragon,which I'll keep in a contain ready for cooking. Already did this with the thyme. I have plenty more of thyme to pick, but it is flowering now and that is attracting bees. So I'll wait a bit. Both herbs came in a 4 in pot. The thyme is about 4 feet in diameter! These herbs can take up a lot of room if you are successful in getting a second season out of them.

I've picked enough San Marzano tomatoes to make some sauce. Need to pick up some tomato paste and garlic.

 

[vi edit]

There's far too many trees around my house to put in a garden. Yard is shaded about 90% of the day so I joined a farm share. Is that cheating?

So far I've made choclate zuchinni bread.

Took some beets and put them in the pressure cooker for about 30 minutes. Made up a dressing of garlic, olive oil, parsley and Gorgonzola cheese and drizzled over the top. Good stuff.

Last night I took zuchinni and shredded it, strained it, added in garlic bread crumbs, some corn starch and gorgonzola cheese and an egg and made fritters in a skillet. Soooo yummy.

Taken tomatoes halved them, slathered on olive oil and garlic and grilled them for a few minutes and then dusted them with Parmesan.

Summer squash cut into spears + lemon juice, black pepper, salt and olive oil and let it marinade for about 20 minutes. Then toss them on the grill. You can hit them with a bit of lemon zest and other shot of lemon juice when you pull them off. Very fresh and tasty.

Got a cantelope waiting for me tonight to cut up. Yay!

 

[ViperXX]

calabacitas, with the zucchini, squash, corn and green chili.

 

[stormkroe]

Apparently lots of rain has wreaked havoc on my patents garden, but it looks like it might pull through. When I finally get there for a visit it's gonna be fresh pico de gallo(sp?)

 

[TheGardener]

We got some hail this week and it did some damage to my garden. My big beef tomato plant got knocked over. It is supported by 2 stakes which are leaning over. Other than some green tomatoes touching the ground, it seems to have survived. I thought about straightening out the stakes, but I don't want to damage the plant at this point.

I made my San Marzano sauce. I pealed the skin off the organic tomatoes. I sauteed some finely chopped Vidallia onions and garlic in extra virgin olive oil. Added some finely chopped organic eggplant from my garden. Added finely chopped red pepper. More olive oil. Didn't let them brown and then added the tomatoes, which were finely chopped.

Next added dried dill, organic lemon thyme, apple cider vinegar and fresh parsley. To give it a little sweetness, I added organic honey.

Let it cook for a couple hours, stirring frequently. Shut off the stove top and went to bed. In the morning I had about 48 oz of sauce. Froze half and refrigeratored the rest. Will cook up some pasta tonight and try out the sauce.

Cleaned out my patch of peas. There were dried out pods remaining. I'm going to try to plant the seeds in a couple weeks to see if I can get a fall crop.

 

[bbhaag]

Picked the largest watermelon yesterday. Gonna let it sit on the counter for a few days before we slice it up. It looks so good. The boys and I can't wait to taste it!

 

[TheGardener]

In the last week, I harvested my red potatoes. One of my neighbors complained about his crop last year being ruined by yellow worms. So I am excited because mine are in great shape and no worms, though admittedly small. For now I'm just storing them in the coolest and driest part of the house.

My peppers are starting to turn yellow. First one I had to toss because it rotted on the plant. Picked a good one today, but accidentally cut it with my knife. I'll have to use it in a salad or cook with it right away.

More oriental eggplants coming in. Been looking online for some good recipes.

Might make some gazpacho soup today from my San Marzano tomatoes. I want to make some marinara sauce, but it takes a while.