Life, Death and Ratatouille

It's been quite a week in the garden.  Exciting news: last week, I enjoyed my first tomato sandwich with ripe tomatoes straight from the garden:

on my homemade squash bread:

And a dab of light mayo, salt and pepper:

A few days later, I got a slightly larger harvest of tomatoes, along with a green pepper, parsley, oregano, basil ...

 A couple of zucchini and a mystery squash.

I decided it was just enough for a side dish of ratatouille, to go along with the chicken Parmesan that the MOTH was making for dinner that night.  I sauteed some onion, garlic, along with the green pepper:

Then I added the zucchini and squash and sauteed that for a while:

I pureed the tomatoes, and added them to the saute along with the parsley, oregano and basil:

And let it simmer for a while until all the flavors had melded:

It was really delicious.

As you know, I wasn't entirely happy with the squash bread (made from the mystery squash), so this morning I harvested a few more squash and made some banana-squash bread and muffins:

Sadly, while harvesting the squash, it became clear to me that the garden had experienced some serious casualties.  As I previously reported, the zucchini plant had been attacked by some kind of insect (squash borer maybe), which basically chewed through the vines.  I tried to save it, but evidently, the infestation was too great and the zucchini had become completely separated from its roots.  Also, the infestation had spread to the mystery squash plant.  Today, I spent several hours removing the zucchini and cutting out the affected areas of the squash.  Here is a photo of the utterly revolting culprits and some of the devastation they have wrought:

Piece of Zucchini vine with disgusting murderous attacker

Close-up of the culprit

I found dozens of these nasty monsters throughout the both the Zucchini and the Squash plants.  I dug them out of the vines and shmooshed every single one of them I could find - they made a horrible popping sound (or maybe I just imagined the sound, but it was definitely a popping sensation), which was actually more disgusting than satisfying.  Each time I came across another one as I went through my poor plants, I literally shuddered and said things like "oh my god, ahhhh!" out loud.  It was the most disgusting day in the garden by far!

In the end, I salvaged one last zucchini and a few remaining squash and squash blossoms:

The Zucchini plant is completely dead and has been removed.  I also removed most of the squash plant, but left two vines that might stand a chance of surviving.  We will see.

In addition to the last of the zucchini harvest and what may well be the last of the squash harvest, I also harvested a bunch of basil (which I will puree and freeze for future use):

In addition, I spent several hours pruning and tying up the tomato plants, which are growing like crazy in this heat and have started to tip over again.  I ended up pruning off several branches of tiny green tomatoes, so I'm going to see if I can find some recipe to use those in:

As well as a bunch of ripe tomatoes - a combination of Sweet 100 cherry tomatoes and Early Treat Hybrid tomatoes:

Still pondering what to make with today's harvest.

Stir Fry Chicken and Sauteed Swiss Chard

Up until now, I haven't grown enough Swiss Chard to have more than a few leaves combined in a salad with some other greens.  I've never cooked Swiss Chard in my life.  Yesterday, I felt that I finally had enough of it to make a small side dish of sauteed Swiss Chard, which I decided to serve with some Chicken-Veggie stir fry.

I harvested a bunch of leaves, along with some other herbs:

A Pile of Swiss Chard and Herbs, Freshly Picked

Swiss Chard, Ready to be Chopped

I used the herbs for the stir-fry, which I made with some chicken breast marinated overnight in a cilantro-scallion sauce.  Clockwise from the top left, the herbs are:  Oregano, Sage, Tarragon, Parsley, with Basil in the center:

I found nice, simple recipe for sauteed Swiss Chard on-line, but substituted thinly sliced Shallots and some diced Scallions (leftover from the night before) for the red onions.  I also used a bit less butter, olive oil and cheese than the recipe calls for.

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1/2 small red onion, diced (I used shallots and a few scallions)
• 1 bunch Swiss chard, stems and center ribs cut out and chopped together, leaves coarsely chopped separately
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice, or to taste
• 2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• salt to taste (optional)

Directions 

Melt butter and olive oil together in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Stir in the garlic and onion, and cook for 30 seconds until fragrant. Add the chard stems and the white wine. Simmer until the stems begin to soften, about 5 minutes. Stir in the chard leaves, and cook until wilted. Finally, stir in lemon juice and Parmesan cheese; season to taste with salt if needed.

Chicken-veggie stir fry and sauteed Swiss Chard

The Swiss Chard was a big hit with the Moth and I have to admit myself that it was very tasty.  I think chopping up the stems and center ribs of the Swiss Chard and cooking them first - before adding the leaves - is key.

More Container Plantings and a Surprise Gift

It was a beautiful sunny day here in Metuchen, New Jersey, so I decided to plant my herb barrel.  I picked up the barrel a few days ago and have been very eager to get some herbs into it.  I had originally purchased one from Amazon but it was badly packed, so it arrived broken.  I returned it but did not want to wait for a replacement to be delivered, so just bought a new one at the local Home Depot.  I usually have great experiences with Amazon and have never had to return anything, so I was extremely impressed with how easy the return process was.  I just printed out the label, repacked the barrel, slapped the label on and my mail carrier picked it up.  A couple of days later, I had my refund.  I didn't even have to talk to anyone to complain or ask for a refund.  Amazon is pretty awesome, I have to say.

Anyway, some of the herbs came from the Rutger's University garden day (which we attended last weekend), but I grew some of them myself from seed.  I started by putting some plastic bottles in the bottom of the barrel and filled it with potting mix, peat moss and some dry fertilizer.  Supposedly the plastic bottles make the pot lighter because you use less potting mix and improve drainage.  Also, it's great for us because the MOTH drinks tons of bottled water (which I hardly ever drink) and I always feel so guilty about throwing those little bottles into the recycling bins.  Who knows if they don't just end up in some landfill somewhere anyway?  So, now I can actually use them for something productive and positive.  Then I transplanted herbs, watered them and added a layer of mulch.  And Voila!

Clockwise from the top, we have:  tarragon, flat parsley, oregano, curly parsley, sweet basil, thyme, sage and (in the center) lemon verbena.

I also planted a container of succulents.  Again, most of these are from Rutgers, but I picked up a couple more from Home Depot to fill out the pot.  I planted these in regular potting mix but I added some extra perlite to make it lighter and improve drainage.  Here is the finished product:

Finally, I got a nice surprise gift from one of the landscapers who is bidding for the job on my property.  He initially came by on Thursday (he's the one who noticed the bird's nest).  Then, he came by again today to take photos of the property, and gave me a Lily that he said was left over from another landscaping job.  It was a bit sad looking and dry with a bunch of yellow fronds, so I cut off the dead fronds and gave her some water.  Now I just have to figure out where to put her:

According to her tag, she is a Black Eyed Stella Daylily who should be planted in sun to partial sun.