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.

Pesto Chicken and Sauteed Zucchini-Pepper

Today, I harvested three Zucchini and a hot pepper.  But, most importantly, I harvested my first ripe tomato!

Okay, he's tiny.  But he's cute!

I decided to make some sauteed zucchini, orange peppers and tomatoes as a side dish along with the organic chicken breast I had marinated overnight in homemade pesto sauce.

I chopped up the zucchini, peppers, tomatoes and some basil to season the vegetables.

 

I started out by sauteeing onions and garlic in one pan (to go with the vegetables):

Meanwhile, I sauteed the shallots in a second pan (to go with the chicken):

Then, I added the some fresh chopped basil and hot pepper to the veggie pan:

And started browning one side of the marinated chicken breast in the other pan with the shallots:

Then, I added the orange peppers to the onions, garlic, pepper, and basil:

I continued to brown the other side of the chicken:

I added the sliced zucchini and the rest of the fresh basil to the veggie pan:

I added some more basil sauce to the chicken along with homemade stock:

Then, I added chopped tomatoes to the veggie pan, along with 3 teaspoons of Worcestershire sauce, a half teaspoon of sugar, and a dash of salt and pepper:

We had some leftover new potatoes from the other night, which I heated up and served with the chicken and veggies:

For dessert, we had the rest of the berry crumble I made a couple of days ago from a Martha Stewart recipe.  Her recipe was for blackberry crumble, but I made it with a mixture of blueberries and strawberries:

Although, I'm not generally a huge fan of berry desserts (I'm a chocolate person), this berry crumble was incredibly delicious.  I will definitely be making it again.

I Hate Zucchini!

Or at least that's what the MOTH has been telling me for the past eight years.  So, when I decided to include a Zucchini plant in my garden, he was none too happy.

Poor innocent Zucchini plant - so maligned

Then, it started to grow and take over the yard:

And started producing blossoms:

Then, yesterday, I harvested these two babies:

I wanted to make sure my first zucchini dish was something really tasty - mainly so I could say "I told you so."  But I also didn't want to make anything too complicated - something to bring out the natural flavor.

I decided to cut them up into pieces ... 

And roast them in the oven with some tomatoes, onions, herbs, salt and pepper, hot peppers, garlic and a little white wine.

Right at the end, I mixed in a little Parmesan cheese and basil to finish off the dish.  I was hoping I would be able save some to take with me for lunch tomorrow:

Yeah - not happening.  By the end of the evening, the whole dish was gone ...  Apparently, we don't hate zucchini anymore.

Pesto Chicken and Roasted Veggies

I finally got around to harvesting a bunch of my basil, which has been growing like crazy and starting to go to seed.
 

About Four Cups of Basil

I made a big batch of Pesto, using almonds instead of pine nuts, some Parmesan cheese, a few tomatoes and olive oil.

Then I marinated some chicken breast - I decided to splurge and buy locally grown organic chicken, which is about three times the cost of the chicken we usually buy on sale.

I also decided to make a roast vegetable dish to accompany the chicken, so I made a dressing from fresh herbs, red onion, garlic and lime juice:

And mixed it with a variety of chopped vegetables (red and green peppers, asparagus, carrots, tomatoes), which I roasted in the oven:

I browned about half the chicken with onions and garlic and then added some homemade stock and white wine to finish it off.  Then served it with a side of the roast veggies:

The chicken in particular was amazing - using the organic chicken made a huge difference.  Luckily, we still have a batch of marinated chicken left over for another meal.

Vegetable Plot Progress

I thought it was about time to show the progress of my little veggie plot.  I started preparing the plot back in early March, by marking out a 3 foot by 6 foot space on the sunniest side of my house with a spade.
 

I covered the sod with newspaper, watered it, and covered that with layers of dead leaves, compost, soil and manure.  Then I covered all that with black plastic and let it bake for several weeks.

When it began getting warm near the end of May, I decided it was time to start transplanting.  I started by planting with tomatoes (which I had been growing from seeds inside) along the back row.  In front of those, I put a variety of peppers (both hot and sweet) and some basil and parsley.  Here is how it looked after the initial planting.  There is also a pot of greens (lettuce and swiss chard) next to it, which I later moved to a shadier side of the house:

The Veggie Plot on May 23, 2012

Well my poor little veggie plot was inundated with insects, so I read everything I could find on-line and in my gardening books about how to control them organically.  As a result, I learned that interplanting marigolds, geraniums, onions, and certain herbs - such as sage and mint - can deter insects, so I did that.  I added a pot of geraniums on one side and a pot of mint on the other.

Around this time, I also planted a little zucchini plant on the front right corner of the plot:

The Veggie Plot on June 4, 2012

And a little summer squash plant on the front left corner of the plot:

Please make a note of how close the squash plant on the left front corner
is to the white geranium and the yellow marigold ...

 I had quite a few left over tomato plants, so I decided to put those in pots next to the veggie plot, along with a little pot of chives and some parsley:

Tomato plants in pots

Eventually, however, I knew the tomatoes would outgrow those small pots.  But I didn't want to spend a lot of money on large pots.  Then I came up with an idea.  These buckets cost about $2.98 at Home Depot:

Meet Homer

I had bought a couple of them previously to use for various gardening and household tasks.

So, I bought a few more:

Drilled some holes in the bottom:

Instant Tomato Pot!

I spent a weekend transplanting tomatoes into my new Homer Pots:

Tomato Pot Alley, on June 10, 2012

Here is the Veggie plot that same day - I mulched it with some dried leaves:

Veggie Plot - June 10, 2012

Hmm . . . squash plant getting a bit bigger ....

 I took a photo of my first hot peppers that day:

A green one

And a little tiny purple one - supposed to be very hot!

The tomato vines were starting to grow longer, so I started tying them to the bamboo posts with twine:

Also, on June 10, I had a little tiny harvest of greens:

Which I made into a tiny salad for dinner:

So Tiny ...

We had the salad for dinner, along with chicken stir fry made with some fresh herbs from the garden

Here is the Veggie garden, on June 13, just a few days later:

The next big events occurred on or about June 30:

OMG!!!!!  Tomatoes!!!!!

OMG!  The Veggie Plot!

It Lives!!!!!

Pretty blooms on the (now gigantic) squash plant:

The poor white geranium has no chance ....

 More hot peppers (pepper shown in previous photo has now been eaten):

And here is tomato pot row on June 30:

The following day, we had another harvest:

Bunch of cilantro, parsley and other herbs, and a hot pepper

I made some scallion-cilantro sauce, which I've been using to marinate chicken:

I also made some cilantro-lime dressing, which I've used for stir fry, salad dressing, and to make some spicy cilantro scrambled eggs for breakfast this morning:

I also made some fresh salsa:

Finally, a few photos from the garden today:

That little squash plant and that little zucchini plant have taken over,
and the tomatoes are reaching the tops of their bamboo stakes

Some beets I planted from seeds several weeks ago

Tomatoes

Close-up of squash plant

Another tiny purple pepper

More hot green peppers

I am also overrun with basil, so this weekend I will be making pesto sauce and freezing it for future use.

So, just to summarize -

Before:

And After: