I've always wanted to plant a garden. In Phoenix, it's so hot that I never really knew what to do or where to start. When we were designing our backyard here, we decided to leave room for a future garden. This spring we decided to give it a go. Neither David nor I really knew much about it, but we figured it would be a learning experience. We bought several already established plants and we also tried to grow some things from seed. We learned that out of 8 already established plants half of them died. That was a pricey lesson at $3 each. The seeds are only $1 and we've had way more success with those plus they produced several plants. We planted cucumber, rhubarb, zucchini, basil, parsley, strawberries, tomatoes, spinach, carrots, onion, corn and lettuce. We've been watching everything grow and sometimes die daily. Emily and Ben are really interested in it also. It's fun to get them involved and see their excitement when something starts to grow. Lately, there has been a lot of rain and it seems things were doubling in size overnight. I went out to show Ben the garden and I moved a zucchini leaf and we had our first full size zucchini. I had seen them growing a week ago and they were the size of my finger. It's unreal how quickly they grew. We are going to have more zucchini than we know what to do with. I imagine we will be eating zucchini casserole, fried zucchini, zucchini kabobs, grilled zucchini (Forest Gump shrimp reference)... If you have a good zucchini recipe, please leave it for me in the comments.
We've also had some spinach. It was growing so fast that I used it in some salads and cut a bunch of it and cooked it. We've already learned quite a few lessons from this garden and I'm sure next years will be even better.
Lesson #1 Don't bother growing cheap stuff like carrots. Focus more on the expensive items like bell peppers and zucchini.
Lesson #2 Don't buy any established plants. Use seeds. They will grow. It's what they do.
Lesson #3 Corn needs lots of room. Depending on how much we get will determine if we bother with corn again next year.
Lesson #4 Onions don't grow very easy.
We have also started a compost bin. I know, we are turning green. It's amazing how many kitchen scraps we have. We started it a few months ago, so next year we will have lots of great mulch to start our garden back up with. We'll keep you updated on the rest of the progress of the garden as the summer goes on. And if you come up for a visit, expect to eat some form of zucchini.
4 comments:
This is great and it's very funny because before I looked at your blog tonight, I was going to take photos of all of the vegetables that I've harvested and post them. We must really think on the same wavelength sometimes - first the dolls and now the veggies. :-)
I have 2 gigantic zucchini plants that have already given us about a dozen zucchini and like you, I've been thinking of different ways to make them. I also give them to my parents and people at work. I just picked some hot peppers tonight as well.
Have fun with the gardens!
I forgot to mention though - my zucchini, tomatoes and peppers are all from established plants and they're huge and producing. I've always grown all of the other things from seeds, but this year, I stuck only to the peppers, tomotoes and zucchini and bought plants which is what I always do for those. We have really black, rich dirt though and I believe that's the difference. Farm country, you know... ;-)
OH don't forget zucchini bread!!! It is one of my favs! :) We buy summer squash and zucchini all the time! It is one of our fav veggies. The way we cook them is this..... We have 2-3 zucchini and 2 summer squash. We cut them into small thin triangles (there is a quick easy way but I can't explain it very well) put in microwavable bowl with salt and pepper. Add a little splash of water. Cover with a paper towel. We cook it for 8 min. Then we stir it and cook for 6-8 more minutes. Add a little more salt and pepper. Grate cheese on top. Make sure you use a spoon that drains as you serve these cause there is excess water that you don't want to run all over your plate. This sounds kinda gross I am realizing as I write it, but Matt and I can almost eat the whole thing in one sitting and there are so few calories - just the cheese basically!
I am very jealous of your garden! Something I would LOVE to have!!!!!!!! It looks awesome and I can't believe how much you guys have in the way of variety! Thanks for the tips too!
Hey Gina,
Sean and I also grow a garden and most years have more vegetables than we know what to do with. Here are a couple of recipes for zucchini.
Zucchini Bread
3 eggs
1 Cup oil
2 Cups sugar
2 Cups grated zucchini
3 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp. baking powder
3 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 Cup nuts (Raisins Optional)
3 Cups flour
Beat egg, oil and sugar. Mix dry ingredients. Stir into liguid. Pour into 2 greased loaf pans. Fill 1/2 full. Bake 325 degrees for 1 hour.
Zucchini Souffle
7 to 8 small zucchini
1 large can Ortega green chilis(whole)
1 to 2 cups grated cheddar cheese
2 eggs
2/3 cup Bisquick
1 1/2 cups milk
1 to 2 tsp oregano
salt and pepper to taste
Wash and thinly slice zucchini. Seed but do not peel the green chilis. Butter a 9X16 baking dish. Spread half the chilis out flat on bottom of pan. Layer the zucchini over the chilis. Put the remaining chilis on the top of the zucchiniin strips. Cover with cheese. In a spread bowl beat and blend the last 5 ingredients. Pour over the zucchini, chilis, and cheese. Cover with foil refrigerate 1/2 a day or perferably overnight. Bake covered at 350 degrees for 1 1/2 hours. Make 8 to 10 servings.
Gina I hope you enjoy these recipes. I really enjoy reading about you and your family.
Diana
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