Monday, June 29, 2009

CG, Steroids & Stir-Fry. Yup, My World!

Stopped by our CG plot today and am pleased to report there's noticeable growth going on! Well, everything but the peppers are obviously happy with their home - guess we got the right amount of (organic) fertilizer to go with the amount of rain we've had. The tomatoes, which just last week were decidedly yellow are now green and growing like weeds. There's many flowers on the squash and cucumbers, and we're gonna have to build a higher trellis for the beans! The pea plants thought it best to grow along the ground, so we had to redirect them to grow UP their trellis. And the strawberries, which daughter Rem insisted we had to have seem to like their home as well. See that sparse area in the middle? The peppers...I am not happy with the peppers. And they are not happy with me. Hmmm....wonder what they need...

Of course, I thought our squash plants were doing well until I saw this monster. I do believe this gardener is cheating and giving that squash steroids! What the heck?!?! That sucker is 10 times the size of our squash plants!

I love to see what other folks are doing with their garden plots. This is a plot near ours and these gardeners have all their sections very neatly defined with string. That single plant you see there is a watermelon. Someone walking by on the outside of our fence asked them (rather incredulously) "Won't that take over your entire garden plot?" I listened to the plotters reply: "Oh no, we were sure to get miniature watermelon seeds!" The walker said a quick "Oh" and quickly turned away. I think there was laughter trying to be covered up. There are also corn plants here, and in a lot of plots, both down below with all us newbies and in the upper garden with all the "Martha Stewart Wannabe's" as I heard a newbie say the other day (possibly a little jealousy is involved?). We're not supposed to plant corn or sunflowers because they block out too much sun. Obviously the message is being rather poorly delivered.

Here's a garden plot that has just been planted in the last week. I get a kick out of seeing the vastly different ways folks go about laying out their plants. These folks are very creatively is using shims to divide their various plants. What the purpose is I really can't decide. Maybe the cedar keeps slugs and other such gross bugs at bay. Whatever, their plants look good - wait a minute! Their squash plants are bigger than mine, too! What is going on??

Sometime I'll have to show you the plot that has a bowling ball and baseball guarding the veggies. Then there's the plot with at least 10 whirley-gigs madly whirling away, I suppose to ward off marauding birds and such.

Many of the lower garden plots are still under water. Since we were all supposed to have our plots planted by June 15th, some of the underwater plotters have attempted to plant anyway. It's not pretty, and I really feel bad for those folks. Hope the federal grant Fodor Farms received will help them do something to make those plots viable.

Enough already!
~

Dinner tonight:
It seems I'm in a new cooking phase of late. More often than not, I stir-fry some mix of veggies - always in an iron skillst - to accompany whatever meat we're having. I do believe tonight's mix was our favorite so far. We loved it! Of course, it involved Vidalia onions and, in my humble opinion, anything with Vidalia onions is good! Yum! Here's the throw 'n go recipe:

1 med. Vidalia onion, sliced
1 garlic clove, minced
1 med. yellow zucchini (not summer squash), sliced into 1/4" thick rounds
1 med. green zucchini, sliced as above
handful fresh basil leaves, chiffonaded (fancy way to say, cut into thin strips)
handful fresh parsley, minced
fresh ground pepper & (Trader Joe's) lemon pepper w/grinder
salt to taste (optional)
olive oil
iron skillet

Put enough olive oil into skillet to coat evenly and heat to medium high. Slice Vidalia in half down to bulb end. Cut onion in thin slices. Add to skillet and gently cook, stirring often, about 5 - 6 minutes until onion begins to carmelize. Add garlic. After a minute more, add the squash and sprinkle it with the pepper(s) and salt (add more oil if you think you need it). Let bottom layer of squash begin to brown around the edges, about 4-5 minutes, and then flip with spatula. Keep flipping until squash is cooked, about 10-12 minutes in all. Just before all is done, add the basil and parsley and give a final good stir. Taste,correct seasonings if needed, and serve! Delish! (As Rachel Ray would say.)

~

There! A little glimpse into my world.

~~~

xoabb
expect anything!


23 comments:

  1. Look at your garden grow!

    We are having a lot of growth, but not so much in the veggie area yet. I'm hoping the sun from the past few days will take care of that!

    That dish looks yummy and will be made by me very, very soon!

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  2. I love my vegetables this way and with the exception of the Trader Joe's, I make mine the very same way! I have to get the key ingredient, though . . .
    Miniature watermelon seeds? Ha! And it's funny to see the different personalities of the gardeners coming out in their plots. I expect they'll be surprised that the plants will do what they want and not stay within the confines of string and such!

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  3. I gotta go see that place....And I like your patriotic nod;)

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  4. Garden is lookin' good.

    When is dinner tonight? I will be there!

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  5. Your food is looking good...both raw and cooked! I don't think you need to worry about that little bit of corn casting too much shade. My dad always planted our tomato plants inbetween corn plants to give them some shade.

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  6. yummy stir fry!! I love carmelized onion when it fries up with the squash like this. and basil??? yum

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  7. Love your garden! Great photos and the squash and carmelized onion had me drooling! Great shots -- all of them! Have a great week!

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  8. I'm very impressed! TOG's zuchinni are huge too!

    I'm going to be laughing about miniature watermelon seeds all day!

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  9. I am wanting some of that stir fry! And I am wondering ..did everyone get the brand (Burpee or whoever) seeds? Maybe those with bigger/better looking squash plants got the Maxi sized seeds ... ;-D

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  10. Your blog is really interesting... Good Luck...keep writing.

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  11. Look at your garden. You are a regular gardener now. I only have one measley tomato plant that is now just starting to grow. Keep it up.

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  12. Loved reading about your garden and seeing all the pictures. I laughed out loud at the mini-watermelon seeds and the other stories. I'm with you and vidalia onions ... yum!

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  13. I hope I'm not considered a "Martha Stewart wannabe"! I'm not sure how the corn and sunflowers block other people's sun---mine certainly didn't bother anyone last year. There are some tomatoes growing in the upper garden that do block the sun, though. I'd like to know what kind of "organic" fertilizer they're using!

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  14. Ann: Fun post about your garden, I think you are comparing different type squashes and that isn't fair.

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  15. Don't feel bad about the pepper plants. I have 2 and neither one is growning very well. There are flowers but can't imagine peppers can grow on a 4" high plant!!!

    Your garden is fabulous.

    Your veggies are all of my favorites..yummmmmy.

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  16. Peppers are temperamental little b... If you want your squash to cover the whole plot and the neighbours as well, give it a shovel full of sheep manure and stand back quickly. Isn't gardening fun?

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  17. Peppers are temperamental little b... If you want your squash to cover the whole plot and the neighbours as well, give it a shovel full of sheep manure and stand back quickly. Isn't gardening fun?

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  18. Impressive growth. I enjoyed this post. Made me think of my dad's garden behind the house. I think the dryer offers a tropical blast that makes growth a strangely sporadic thing that will yield sudsy beans someday!

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  19. Lovely garden. Nice to see how others planted also. It's so nice to eat your own grown vegies. Haven't had that luxury in a while. Enjoy what you sow.

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  20. Hi ~ I am jealous of your garden - mine has been overtaken by the weeds. I just can't seem to keep up! Pretty soon you will be enjoying the fruits of your labor. That recipe looks yummy - will be trying it soon! Enjoy!

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  21. love your garden and yes everythign goes with vidialias~!

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  22. Love the recipe and seeing all of the garden plots! Your plants look wonderful!

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  23. YUM to the recipe. Corn should not be grown in such small plots. Those are no bigger than my garden. I grew corn one year just to see if it would grow in the desert. It was DIVINE, but half my space wasted on one meal. No wise.

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Thank you for taking the time to leave a thought. It's appreciated! xoabb