Vegetable Transformations

B has just alerted me to the synchronicity of what I am about to post. On Tapestry right now (CBC Radio 2), they are doing a show about gardening as a window into the mysteries of creation (Back to the Garden podcast). A brief synopsis: Joni Mitchell says in Woodstock, we've got to get back to the garden ("...then can I walk beside you?"). Stephen Scharper, a professor of religious ethics and environmental studies at the University of Toronto, says the root of our urge to get back to the garden is a longing to choose life. Gardener Marjorie Harris refers to her garden as a cathedral.

...Another good quotation (just missed the source of it..): "The best place to find God is in the garden, you can dig for Him there."

Here are some little miracles I found in my garden today:

My curly-leafed parsley came up with doubled-up pointy tips and stayed that way for the first 4 weeks of its existence. I wondered how it would ever begin to resemble what I put in my tuna parsley tomato pasta. I was so excited to see its hilarious new growth today of little curly-topped toupés:



My beleaguered strawberry plant sprouted new hope today from amidst the remains of its stolen fruits..



Last and most exciting, I came out wondering if my wilting tomato flowers were a good or bad sign. I was soon ecstatic to see how good it was...



...a first tomato!

The perfect sweet and spicy summer salad

Spinach Salad with Ginger Mustard Vinaigrette
(with mesclun thinnings from the garden!)

basic salad ingredients:
baby spinach
black olives, roughly chopped
green pepper, diced

dressing:
1 part dijon mustard
2 parts olive oil
tiny knob of ginger, minced
a squirt of orange juice

extra:
baby mesclun thinnings from the garden

This summer salad was spontaneous magic. The black olives and green pepper were pizza topping leftovers from last night's dinner. The crunch and spice of the green pepper turned out to be perfect with the ginger mustard vinaigrette. Black olives gave a deep and savoury foundation to the flavour combo of sweet and spicy.

The light tones of the mesclun mix from the garden were probably overshadowed, but their taste combo was also a mix of hot and sweet, so I thought they were a pretty addition to my salad, and of course, eating what I'd grown myself made it that much sweeter.

<3 pamplemousse

Good news, bad news

Bad news: Crow stole my strawberry. (Isn't that red crown beautiful though?)
Good news: Thunderstorm traumatized the plant into producing 3 more flower buds!

This time I bought netting to protect them.

This isn't over, Crow!

<3 pamplemousse

Thinning While Eating

Who says thinning doesn't go with eating?



...At least in the garden it makes sense!



I discovered one fun thing I can do with my overcrowding problem. Above are arugula and green onion sprouts I pulled to give the remaining plants a little more room to grow.

A sandwich a day keeps your garden growing!

Here's what I garnished with my baby arugula and green onion sprouts:

Summer Toast!
(with olive tapenade, tomato and parmesan)

1. The olive tapenade is a cinch to make and can be kept in the fridge for a month. All it takes is pitted black olives and a couple glugs of olive oil in a food processor (blended to a rough paste). Mix in a couple sprigs of fresh thyme for extra flavour.

2. I spread my tapenade on bread and added a slice of giant beefsteak tomato on top.

3. Sprinkle generously with parmesan.

4. Toast it up in the oven or toaster oven.

5. Garnish with garden toppings.

Delicious!

Herbscrapers

That's mint in the front and lemon balm in the back, both of which I guess I'm not eating fast enough! They're at least a foot tall now and growing.

Cheer Up Thunderstorm Pasta

Heavy days, heavy rain.

On top of all that's been happening lately, I came home from work yesterday to find the afternoon thunderstorm had decimated my baby arugula in the garden.

The day before, the half ripe first strawberry I had been looking forward to snapping a picture of (and procrastinating bringing inside to protect!) had been snatched early by a crow. My first strawberry. Ever. Gone!

I half-heartedly took some photos of the damage yesterday but my heart just wasn't in it. How can you take a good picture when you're sad? So instead I'm going to show you how I cheered myself up today: With a Cheer Up Thunderstorm Pasta.

Years ago, my stepmother imparted to me the perfect summer pasta, which involves little more than fresh summer tomatoes and fresh basil tossed around a pan for a minute or two.

My tomato plants are still just flowering and my basil plants are the tiniest sprouts in the garden (we grew them from seed this year), but I did have a pile of overripe organic tomatoes I left too many days on the shelf, and several pots of other herbs we bought as plants from the garden centre a few weeks ago. Plus, my garden chives from B's mom were out of control and desperately needed a haircut.

Chives are such a great summer herb because they replace themselves to full height a day or two after cutting - they grow like grass - and because snipping a bunch of chives into a dish takes a fraction of the time it takes to dice garlic and gives the same flavour. Summer cooking is all about fresh food and optimum laziness for me, so chives are a great garden chum to have around.

Here's what I did:

1. Put my pasta water on to boil.

2. Went outside with a pair of kitchen scissors, grabbed the whole bunch of chives by the hair and snipped them to an inch above the soil. Then I carefully picked a mixed handful of leaves from my oregano, rosemary and cilantro pot (any mix of Italian herbs would be great). I threw them all on my chopping board and went at them with my mezzaluna (that half moon blade Nigella uses to chop herbs).

3. Diced my tomatoes with a sharp serated knife.

4. Heated the pan to med-high, threw in the tomatoes, a pinch of salt and a glug of olive oil. Threw on the herbs and tossed for about a couple minutes to allow the tomatoes to sweat a portion of their juices and simmer lightly with the herbs and seasonings.

5. Turned off the heat and tossed it a few more times till the flavour was even (You can give a toss here or there inbetween draining and plating the pasta).

6. Threw the sauce on the pasta and tossed with a little olive oil, some sea salt, fresh ground pepper and fresh parmesan.

A bit of sunshine on a rainy day. :)

Yum. Can't wait till my baby basil grows up.


<3 pamplemousse

Garden Photo A Day: Spanish Onions from Bulbs

Sprouting bulbs!

B's Mum gave us 5 Spanish onion bulbs from her garden, along with a bucketful of herbs and wildflower seeds. She is the reason my garden exists!

Thanks Mary!



<3 pamplemousse

Garden Photo A Day: Beans Unfurled, Hello World!

My Tendergreen bush beans gave a yawn, stood tall and stretched themselves out proud over the last day or so. Mama Greenthumbs (me) is so proud to see their infant first true leaves unfurled and basking confidently in the summer sun. Their bright shock of youthful spring green is my favourite colour today!

<3 pamplemousse

Garden Photo A Day: My first strawberry is blushing!

Isn't it a cutie? I wonder what made its ears hot. ;)

Garden Photo A Day: Tomato Flowers

Red Candy plum tomatoes growing in bunches - B. wanted a high yield of tastiness this summer.

<3 pamplemousse

What you get for being a pessimistic gardener...

my mesclun salad mix at 2 weeks old.

...Overcrowding like a Tokyo condo!

"Spacing! Pfffft! Staggered sowings? Pish Pash! Maybe ONE in ten seeds will sprout at BEST and I want lettuce NOW!"

Hmm... Er.. Ahh. Huh.

Gardening Lesson # 1: The seed packet knows what it's talking about.

So I set about thinning them...

At the garden centre I found two used plastic seedling trays that they let me take for free. Their shallow bottoms would work just fine for shallow-rooted baby lettuces.



I also transplanted a handful of seedlings at the correct spacing next to the main row...



...Well that takes care of 43 of about a gajillion seedlings.

Hmm. *Scratch head*

Gardening Lesson #2: Give in to the Dao; let it be!

We'll just have to sit back and see what happens in... Survivor: Garden Battle 2010, The Lettuce Edition.

Garden Photo A Day: Arugula Sprouts

I started a vegetable garden for the first time this spring. It is just a tiny plot outside our front door but I've been finding myself crouched over it several times a day like a mother hen wondering what her babies are up to.

Above are the arugula sprouts I thinned out of my thickly sown patch. Is it crazy that I was traumatized by killing my vegetable babies? I've grown so attached, tearing them away from their life-giving roots was tough!

I was pleasantly surprised though by how much the taste of them varied by the size of the sprouts. The very baby ones were hot and peppery and the slightly larger sprouts had a milder, sweeter flavour.

These sprouts are about two weeks from planting. I've made a resolution to post a garden photo a day to show you how my babies grow.

<3 pamplemousse