Vegetable Adventures: Next year already?

This week's thoughts have been focused on next year.  Yep, already.  Here are my notes.

• More plants in pots in the sun ~ Our yard is quite shaded and is the kingdom of a 70 pound dog.  We have a few spots that get more sun than the current beds but they are not protected from the dog.  The best alternative for sun is in a pot, outside the yard fence in our drive way.  I would like to be able to use the lovey rasied beds for everything... but it seems the more I put in the pots, the more veggies I will reap.
• Use more compost ~ Realized lots of grass clippings in the compost pile is a good thing.  I do throw most all of my produce 'trash' in it also.
• Get plants from the Farmer's Market & local growers ~ the tomato plant we bought at the Farmer's market has 10 little green tomatoes, the four from the garden store only have one each.  They are different varieties, but I'm thinking the local grower may have a better idea of the right variety for our climate.
• Use new seeds or plant starts ~ thinking this especially for the lettuce.  We would LOVE to have TONS of lettuce but didn't get any this year with second year seeds, of which only 50% sprouted.  Then 100% of that 50% didn't grow well at all.
• Keep the herbs ~ my complete success story is the herbs!  Love them! I like to go out and pick some for dinner every day.  And I plan to learn more about drying and storing yet for this year.

PS. Sorry for the photoless (possibly boring) post.

Ah summer.
Vacations. Heat. Baseball games. Work. Long evenings. Cooking out.  Sun. Friends. Farmer's Market. Garden.

There is no menu again this week with all the fun things going on.

Vegetable Adventures: Tomato and cucumber plants

It's fun when we go away for the weekend and come back to a garden or plant that seems to have grown a lot; a difference I often don't notice when watering and monitoring twice per day. This weekend the cucumber plant showed what it's made of. I just hope the growth continues to the fruit!

Click below for more garden inspiration:

Welcome to our swamp

Three different days with a Severe Thunderstorm Warning over the last week lead to a soggy yard.

5 Star Meals

I enjoy cooking. 

I like trying new recipes and falling back on old favorites.  Each week I try to put a new meal on the menu.  Thing is, Ryan and I like a bit different style of taste in meals.  So sometimes we'll try a new one of his, and sometimes it will be one of my choosing.  Always trying to find that middle ground.

Last night, I made a new goulash recipe.   As we were finishing I ask the standard new-recipe questions, "Should I make this again? Often? or just once in a while?"  Last night's response... "Not a fan". Translated, I would eat it but don't make it again.  That's what I want to know... and it's on to the next new recipe to try.

Later that evening, talking with some other ladies, one mentioned that she and her husband had a 5 star rating system.  He would rate the meals based on 5 stars and put it right on her recipe card.  Sometimes she would want to make his favorite meal... or she could warn him "It's a 3 star meal tonight." 

Great idea! Went home, told Ryan and he responded that he was actually thinking about something like that during dinner.  So, we're going to implement the Recipe Rating System.

*****5 stars = Yum! Make it everyday!
****4 stars = It's good. You can add to the meal rotation.
***3 stars = I like it.  Make again someday.. but not too often.
**2 stars = Edible, but don't make it again, please.
*1 star = No good.  Didn't even finish it the first time.

These will probably show up on the weekly menu plan, as the blog is a good place for me to track things like this.  And then you can get to know our tastes... I know, how exciting! [with a hint of sarcasm]

Vegetable Adventures: Sun

Thoughts of this week:
It seems to me that a professional gardeners plot would not be so shaded at 5:30pm on a summer day. This is my plight. It's our second year of gardening and more than that of owning this house. We didn't buy the house for it's 'garden-able' yard - in fact it was all the shade that we liked. At the time I didn't foresee a veggie garden in our future. But now I'm definitely hooked and looking forward to more land and sun.

This photo isn't the clearest, but it's a good view of the garden overall... including accessories (named Camden). I know there is so much more I could do to make this more abundant, and sometimes I wish I put for the effort. But for now, I'm just working with the time, sun, soil, and chicken wire/snow fence I have.

On a more encouraging note, things in pots are doing well.
(Yes, I purposely put the green pepper in a pot because it's my favorite.)

And this first year with herbs is a huge success. I enjoy that when cooking I can just step outside and pick the needed herbs! Sunday I harvested some basil and rosemary and hung to dry.



Click below for more garden inspiration:

Menu June 13

Sunday: Chef salad, fruit
Monday: Feast with friends: Fried chicken, cole slaw, cheesy potatoes, green beans, dessert. Yum!
Tuesday: Goulash
Wednesday: Grilled dijon pork steaks, roasted green beans, potatos
Thursday: Ryan's choice
Friday: use the Quiznos coupon?