Garden update

The garden is doing pretty well right now.

I'm picking green beans every day, got 3 baseball bat size zucchini today, pulled several beets and even found a few small ears of corn in the bean vines.

Our 3 sunflower plants are probably 10 feet tall and have just headed. We call one of them the Leaning Flower of Pezzee. :)

Cabbage should be heading pretty soon, the onions will be ready to pull soon, too, and the couple of pumpkins in the garden are starting to turn orange. The pumpkins in the separate pumpkin patch have probably gotten a virus of some kind. They have white powdery stuff on the vines and they are starting to die back. There are a couple of small pumpkins in there that may still be OK, but nothing spectacular.

(Ghost Pumpkin, Swiss Chard and Carrots)

Oh, Oh, Oh! I found a handful of RED tomatoes in the garden the other day!!! Didn't think I could do that. The ones in the greenhouse grew huge, but only produced a few small tomatoes.

(The jungle in our greenhouse)

I think the insects just didn't go in there, so the flowers never got pollinated.

Overall it's been a great garden year. I haven't bought veggies all summer, which is the goal. I think every year I change what I plant and move things around to a better place. Maybe one day I'll get it just right...maybe not. :)

Beet Salad

I was talking to Kate and Sue today about beet salad. So I thought I'd post the recipe I used a while back that was very yummy!

Beet Salad:
4 medium beets - scrubbed, trimmed
1/3 cup chopped walnuts
3 tablespoons maple syrup
salad greens
1/4 cup frozen orange juice concentrate (I used this, but I think it made it too sweet, so maybe omit this one)
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 ounces goat cheese (I used crumbled goat cheese)

DIRECTIONS
Place beets into a saucepan, and fill with enough water to cover. Bring to a boil, then cook for 20 to 30 minutes, until tender. Drain and cool, then peel and cut into cubes.

While the beets are cooking, place the walnuts in a skillet over medium-low heat. Heat until warm and starting to toast, then stir in the maple syrup. Cook and stir until evenly coated, then remove from the heat and set aside to cool.

In a small bowl, whisk together the orange juice concentrate, balsamic vinegar and olive oil to make the dressing.

Place a large helping of greens onto each of four salad plates, divide candied walnuts equally and sprinkle over the greens. Place equal amounts of beets over the greens, and top with dabs of goat cheese. Drizzle each plate with some of the dressing.