I decided this year to keep track of the vegetables that we harvest out of our garden. I am keeping a running total on the sidebar of this blog. So far the lettuce bolted and was a wash. None of it was edible, well at least not by my standards. Horrible, bitter stuff that it was the goats thought it was simply delicious. I don't think the broccoli is going to fair any better. The weather has just been too hot and I just got it started too late with the monsoon rains we had in the spring.The tomatoes are starting to come in though. We probably would have gotten more tomatoes already but we have been under attack by tomato worms. I wanted to keep the garden organic this year but I may have to break down and do something. If anyone has any good organic suggestions, or any suggestions at all for tomato worms I would welcome them! There are still lots of green tomatoes in the garden yet though. Swiss Chard is something I have never had in the garden before so I did not plant much of it, but what I did plant has been doing great.
For the rest of my garden shortcomings one thing that grows really well here is zucchini! I can hardly believe we have gotten over 50lbs of it already! We have had zucchini in our spaghetti, zucchini bread, fried zucchini, two different types of zucchini casserole and tomorrow I will freeze some of it. I have given sacks full of it away but people are starting to not answer the door when they see me coming. "Oh No, please no more zucchini!" I guess next week I will take some of it to the farmer's market and hopefully I will have some tomatoes to take with it. If the worms don't beat me to them! It looks like it is definitely going to be a zucchini year for us here on Shiloh Prairie Farm. What kind of year is your garden having?
Garden Harvest 2009 (so far!)
- Grape Tomatoes - 1 lb, 13 oz.
- Green Onion - 2 bunches
- Red Tomatoes - 5 lbs, 12 oz.
- Swiss Chard - 11 oz.
- Yellow Tomatoes - 1 lb, 2 oz.
- Zucchini - 50 lbs, 3 oz.
Simple Garden Zucchini Bake
Hearty Tuna Casserole
Garden Zucchini Pie
Posts
23 comments:
Oh, you're one of those people that folks hide from when they see you coming. I thought that was gonna be me too, lol! Our garden did great for awhile, but with the lack of rain and I guess watering, and it has mostly died. We got a lot of squash and zucchini and some lettuce and cucumbers. We are planting a new smaller crop now and hoping for more. That's a great idea to measure how many pounds you're getting of everything!
By tomato worms are you talking about horn worms? Big fat green things? Those we just pick off unless they have little white bumps on them. The little white bumps are the eggs of a parasitic wasp. It will kill the worm and make more wasps that will help keeps your bugs under control.
That is A LOT of zucchini. I posted a new recipe over at MIFS for stuffed zucchini. It was delish!
Mmmm. You can send some of that zucchini my way. I am sorely missing my garden this year. I decided not to do one, due to the impending move. I've only got a few tomatoes in my flower bed :)
Wow, that's great! I know how frustrating it is when your greens bolt before you get a shot at them; we barely get any arugula before it's done. We had great luck with spinach last year, but this year it was like your lettuce.
Have you thought of picking zucchini flowers and selling them? Dunno if there's a market for them in your area, but as Liz mentioned, they're popular for filling and frying. And then they can't make more zucchini!
Miss Chef had a Chef once who did something surprising with zucchini, like a fake apple pie or something. I should ask her what it was. I know she tasted it and said you couldn't tell it was zucchini.
I love zucchini!! Our favorite way to eat its chopped up and sauteed in butter and garlic. My garden is nil this year due to the move. I miss it!!
You'll have to check out Stephanie's HREF="http://www.stoptheride.net/2007/08/too-much-zucchini.html">Zucchini Strudel
HREF="http://makeitfromscratch.blogspot.com/2009/07/stuffed-zucchini.html">or stuffed Zucchini both excellent.
I was going to keep track of my harvest by weighing it, but it got to be too much work. I guess I'm lazy. I need more zucchini. I'm actually going to plant more this weekend. I'm not getting as much as I'd like from the plants. I've got tomatoes like crazy though.
Wow, that's a lot of zucchini!
Thanks Nancy! I am still waiting on our cucumbers!
Stephanie - I am assuming that is the worm that is causing the most damage. I have not seen but one horn worm, however we have gotten just as many tomatoes with big holes in them as ones without this year. Thanks for the link!
Flartus - Interesting. I did not realize anyone used the flowers for anything. Yes, please ask her. We are getting about zucchinied out here so a recipe that uses zucchini but doesn't taste like it would be a nice break. :)
Thank you Tim! I will check those out for sure. Thanks for a good idea too. I edited this post to include some zucchini recipes too!
Our garden is still growing but we are in Montana....
I take my zucchini, cook it with olive oil, garlic and tomato then pressure can it in quart jars. My hubby and I about live on it all winter. It is a soup base, it is a sauce, it goes in risotto. It is a million different things. I canned 18 quarts last year and it wasn't enough.
The horn worms can be hard to see when they are small. They hide under the stem usually near the leaf. I usually know they are there by their poop. It is kind of a tube with ridges on it. Gross I know. :) I'm not sure if they eat the fruit though. That might be something different. I'll be checking out your recipes too!
Well, now I feel a little silly for the excitement we got from pulling one zucchini off our plants, but there are more coming on and it's our first year with a real garden!
~Jenny~
There is nothing better than tomatoes just picked, still warm from the sun. You are sooooo lucky!!!
Keep up the good work!!!!
So, I imagine you have gathered together quite an impressive collection of zucchini recipes ?
I have been getting mostly zucchini and cucumbers from my garden. The cucumbers are starting to dye out. It's time to replant them, here in the south.
I have only seen one hornworm. I'm not sure, but I think they only eat the leaves. Are you sure its not birds pecking holes in your tomatoes? Either way, let us know what you find out.
50 pounds of zucchini? i LOVE zucchini bread!
I'll have to talk Diane into starting her own garden after I've moved to Iowa! I had a great garden in California, but that was 40 years ago. Had a lot of swiss chard - I really miss it. Have never seen any here in Georgia. I did inherit a garden here about 30 yrs ago. Harvested tons of zucchini, but most of the rest disappeared.
Nancy in Atlanta
You remind me of Garrison Keilor's Minnesota story about trying to give Zucchini away and sneaking over to your neighbors in the night to place a paper bag full of Zucchini on their porch then run like crazy back home.
50 lbs! Holy zucchini! I've only got one tomato ;(
Sounds like your garden did well! Unfotunately, mine was first drown, as we had three straight weeks of rain...then it got so hot so fast. Even my string beans were pathetic (although the goats loved them). I did get some tomatoes and peppers, but gardening was basically a disappointment for me this year.
It is a good thing zuke is such a yummy versitile veg! Did I make a comment on your NAIS post a while back? I can't remember but I remember reading it all hot and grumpy from working and waiting for the hay to get cut. Your clip and links are good.
I love fried zucchini. I really really do!
Wow, that's a lot of zucchini! (I'm laughing) I personally don't care for zucchini, nor does the hubby.
We've gotten one green pepper so far, but my serrano and chili peppers are coming in now and it looks like each plant is producing quite a few. I only have a few potted veggie plants this year - hopefully a full garden next year!! :)
Post a Comment