Welcome to my Blog

Hi, my name is Suanne and I am writing this blog to share some of the tips and recipes I have learned or created with our backyard garden. The garden itself is actually my husband John's but we have had a garden for over 25 years so I have picked up some garden knowledge along the way. We live in Austin, Texas so we are blessed with a year long growing season. We always have something to eat from the garden and this pretty much dictates what we eat. All of our meals are planned around what happens to be growing at the time. One of the biggest challenges is what I like to call crop maintenance. What to do with all of the vegetables? Beyond sharing with the neighbors and friends I am always trying creative approaches to preparing the bounty. So the blog seemed like a good way to both keep track of and share my recipes.

Monday, June 6, 2011

June 11 update

Well it is very hot already in the 100's so the garden is not doing great. The potato crop was a dismal failure. We may try again next year and get them in earlier. The Corn was a mixed bag, the sweet corn we harvest was really good but the blue corn was mealy. We will only plant the sweet corn again.

The tomatoes plants are the smallest we have had in 15 years. Probably due to lack of rain and heat. We began harvesting about mid June.

The pole beans were ok but we like the bush beans better so probably won't repeat the poles.

The winter squash only produced 2 small squash and then the plants withered and dies.

Cucumber also did not do great again heat and lack of rain.

Eggplant and peppers are doing great. We had a wonderful onion crops as well.

Now we have blackeyd peas and baby limas growing so we shall see how they do with the very hot weather. Hope it rains soon. We also have Okra in now.

June 2011 new recipes


Tomato Watermelon salad
2 cups ripe tomatoes in med sized chunks
2 cups ripe watermelon cut to same size as tomatoes
1/4 cups chopped fresh mint
1/2 cup vinaigrette ( I make my own but you can used purchased)
1/2 cup Feta cheese
Truffle salt
combine all ingredients and serve

Got this one from a Sunset magazine article which was forwarned by my friend.
Swiss Chard Pesto
Adapted slightly from Sunset Magazine
Serves 4 with sauce left over
Note: Don’t feel hemmed in by the amount of chard you use. The original recipe called for two cups, but I didn’t want to be bothered with measuring the leaves, so I just started using the entire bunch. You could also save the stems for a soup or to chop and stew into a taco filling later, with some tomatoes and spinach.
Ingredients
1 bunch swiss chard (around 7 ounces), leaves removed, stems discarded or saved for another use
2 cloves garlic, peeled
1/4 cup grated queso aƱejo, or grated parmesan
1/2 cup pine nuts or pumpkin seeds
1/4 cup olive oil — possibly a little more if you’re using the pumpkin seeds
Salt
Pepper
Directions
In a food processor, add the garlic and pulse to chop. Then add the chard, cheese and nuts or seeds. Pulse until smooth — feel free to scrape down the sides of the bowl to add in any errant cheese or chard bits. Add olive oil and blend until smooth. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve with pasta, vegetables, or (as I did with my sister-in-law recently) spread on crusty bread.