Timing Is Everything

When it comes to growing vegetables, one has to stay on top of things. In the past, I have been derelict I sadly admit. See Why I Hate Brussels Sprouts if you don‘t believe me. This summer I am determined to keep up with harvesting and to create healthy dishes using the vegetables that Neil grows.

My successes so far are thinning the onions and carrots in a timely manner. We had scallions for salads, and the stalwart little onions that are left will be good until the fall. Carrots are also an obedient crop if thinned at the right time. They can sit in the ground and grow until the first frost.

I’m good with green beans—one of my favorites. I had help picking them when our son and daughter-in-law were here. And despite their singing of South Park’s “day is never finished; master’s got me working” while picking, I think that they actually enjoyed it. Neil also helped me pick beans. I brought a chick flick home from the library and cut up the beans to blanch and freeze while watching Letters from Juliet. That way it didn’t seem like work.

My brother Tom and his wife Sue are the best when it comes to efficient use of the bounty of a small garden. They live in Massachusetts, so their growing season is shorter. They do a great job though and seem to be perfectly synchronized from garden to table. Sue also has a pressure cooker for canning, and she is a wonderful cook who makes everything from scratch—from pie crust to pickles. I could learn a lot from them about hard work and dedication.

Zucchini. This is a vegetable that can easily run amok if allowed. I have been picking them regularly while they are not too big and already made some loaves of zucchini bread. Beets are a nice vegetable to grow because they freeze well. I’ve already picked some to thin the rows out a little, and so far none is bigger than a tennis ball. The gold finches love to pick at the beet greens, but they do not seem to keep the beets from growing. These well-behaved root veggies will stay peacefully in the ground until we get the urge to eat them. Once they’re gone, they’re gone, unlike the diabolically prolific beans, peppers, and tomatoes and the endless butternut squash.

The green peppers are coming along now at well-paced intervals. We’ve had several meals of stuffed peppers. Not only are they tasty, but they are a 3-veggie meal: peppers, onions, and tomatoes!

Neil told me that he “accidentally” fertilized the tomato plants too much. They are growing at the edge of the garden and tower over everything. Since the plot is only 10 feet from our porch, it looks like a six-foot-high wall of tomato bushes. “Wow!” is the comment we get most frequently when people see it. So I’m looking up tomato recipes in preparation for this crop and bracing myself for the onslaught with mozzarella and basil for Caprese salad and bacon for BLTs. La, la, la, only four ripe tomatoes so far. We'll see how long I sing this happy tune.