What's Up Wednesday!

It's a little late, but here's what's up this week in my garden!! Lots of the Fall plantings are doing really well- I'm excited to see how they perform in the colder weather when it gets here. In the mean time, I am still enjoying lots of tomatoes, peppers, cukes, and the occasional onion!

Swiss chard! It's so pretty, and I don't like to eat it. I'll have to do a neighborhood trade, I suppose!

      A second round of sugar snap peas is establishing nicely
 

I'm now able to pick late-summer lettuce! :)

Will the pumpkins and zucchini grow big enough in time?

Last of the chamomile is blooming. 

This summer I've harvested about 2 half-pints for tea this winter!

 The mystery squash thing that I couldn't identify is a cantaloupe- What an awesome surprise!

The canning pantry is quickly filling. I've spent 5 or 6 evenings in the last month 

filling it up with goodies- canned corn and canned peaches just recently- yum! Time to set some canning and local eating goals for the season, I think!

What's up in your Garden this week? 

Planting in Late Summer for Fall & Spring Harvests

This is the year that I'm going to do it, guys- make the leap and do some serious Fall planting! I think I'm usually tuckered out by the time the end of the summer rolls around. Before I know it, the time to plant for fall has passed me by. Not this year!

I'm been direct seeding Fall veggies in my garden for the past 3 weeks now, and I will finish up the last bit of planting tomorrow. If you're in S.E. Michigan, Northern Ohio, or a place with a similar last frost date (Oct 7th), you still have a few days to hop to it!


Fall Planting list:
Super Sugar Snap Pea
Prize Choy
De Cicco Broccoli
St. Valery Carrot
Grandpa's Admire Lettuce
Winter Density Lettuce
Parade bunching Onion
Rhubarb Red Swiss Chard

I've tried to seed most everything in the new, larger bed (pictured on the left)- it's closest to the side door of our home so if I need to dash out during the winter I'm one or two steps closer, and it already has crazy, thriving Kale there.

I'm planning to put up some quick hoops over the first 8 feet of the bed, enough distance to cover up the Kale, fall onions, and sugar snaps. I might want to do another 8 feet of hoop down at the other end (by the lovely garbage bins), because there are broccoli, a few carrots, and some speckles lettuce down there!

I'll be sure to share pictures of the quick hoops once I get them put together, as well as some guidance and assembly photos. I've been wanting to do serious season extension for a long time, and it will finally happen this year! One step closer to that ideal Badass Garden that's always floating in my mind...

What are you planning on planting this Fall?

What's Up Wednesday

My first Cherokee Purple tomatoes are ripe!

 Cucumbers! Now I have two plants producing- twice the harvests :)

 

First batch of coriander seed is dried and ready 

to be harvested and put on the spice rack

New fall seedlings are germinating nicely- 

swiss chard, onions, broccoli, pak choi, and more

 Yum :)

What's Up in your Garden this Week?

Tuesday Takehome- My Market Haul + a Recipe

Another beautiful CSA share pick-up at the Farmers' Market! This week I was graced with:

Swiss Chard
Beet Greens
2 type of Kale
Kohlrabi greens
Radishes
a bunch of lemon balm
Lettuce mix & Cress
Spinach
Green garlic

Now that we're into late May, a lot of produce is popping up at the Farmers' Market. There were so many beautiful seedlings for sale, I couldn't resist purchasing 4 tomato plants.

So now comes the fun part- I'm tasked with finding out what to make with these beautiful veggies! My goals for tonight and tomorrow are the kohlrabi greens (right) and the swiss chard. I'm thinking some kind of simple recipe involving olive oil and green garlic. I looked at making this recipe for simple Swiss Chard, but in the end opted for the recipe below.

Roasted Swiss Chard with Feta 

 Ingredients

• 1 bunch rainbow chard 
• 1 large onion, chopped
• salt and black pepper to taste
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 4 ounces feta cheese, crumbled
• 
  

Directions

• Preheat a pan on low heat w/ 2 tbsp olive oil
• Toss the chard stems and onions in a bowl with 1 tablespoon olive oil. 
• Season with salt and pepper to taste, and add to frying pan.
• Cook in the pan until the chard stems have softened and the onion is starting to brown on the corners, about 8 minutes. 
• Toss in the chard leaves over the stem & onion mixture, then scatter the feta cheese over top.
• Cook for another 2-3 minutes, until chard leaves are tender.

Serve and Enjoy!

Any favorite swiss chard recipe recommendations?