November starts with a mound of greens

The victory garden is still enjoying the cool fall rain and warm rays of sunshine. The frost has not hit yet. This means the bitter melon is loving the sun and grown into a large curtain of green leaves. We are harvesting as much bitter melon as possible. We hope that the sun will stick around so that the thumb-sized fruit can mature into bitterlicious lumpy green 6-inch or longer fruit. Once the frost hits, the entire plant will wilt and die within a week.

a green curtain of bitter melon leaves

The greens are doing very well. Our recent harvest produced a mound of southern giant and giant red mustard greens with a small bouquet of Russian and dinosaur kale on the side. The greens will be put to good use. My mother loves to stir-fry the greens with pork and steam a small batch to eat as a side dish. I personally like to stir-fry the greens with chili oil, garlic, mushrooms, eggplant, and any other veggies from the garden.

variety of eggplant and peppers

The warm fall weather has kept the eggplants producing purple and white fruit in all shapes and sizes. The pepper plants are still pushing out green bell peppers, jalapenos, and habaneros which add a certain zing to any stir-fry or soup dish. I hope to harvest a few more eggplants and peppers before retiring the plants to the compost piles.

habanero pepper... spicy goodness

While working in the garden, I was greeted by a mantodeas elder. The mantodeas are plentiful and I have seen over twenty mantodeas when peaking behind the bitter melon curtain. The biggest mantodeas are living in the herb garden. They are roughly 4-5 inches in size. I still remember when they were the size of my pinky finger nail. They must be keeping the herb garden and bitter melon bug free.

However, we still have a few causalities from time to time. We laid the swiss chard to rest in the compost last week. We had a terrible aphid infestation that would not go away. I saw many mantodeas elders fighting the good fight but the chard was too weak to survive. I have taken additional precaution and will be using an organic bug killer (Captain Jack's Deadbug Brew) to help keep the evil invaders away during the colder winter months. Once the frost hits, most of the mantodeas warriors will retreat, lay egg sacs, and die. Without the warriors to protect the garden many of the greens, cabbage, and brussel sprouts will not survive the winter. Rest in compost sweet and delicious swiss chard. You will be missed in our winter soups and stir-frys.

We see cauliflower!

Warming up to fall...

We started off the fall season with a mini heatwave. We saw an entire week of 75+ degree weather. Most of the plants loved the sun.

My family and I pick the eggplants, joi choy, and Russian kale daily. I like to steam the kale and choi too. They are a great combo and are excellent as a hot steamy side dish to any meal.

joi choi (4 bunches)

The warm weather helped one pepper plant push out a handful of large green peppers. These will be great in soups, stir-frys, or roasted on the grill.

bouquet of kale, mustard greens, and swiss chard

Most of the eggplants have been frozen for use during the winter months.  I love eggplant in soups.  It adds a creamy texture to the soup broth.  Yum!

The sugar snaps sprouts are climbing to the sky.  These plants are very easy to grow and grow extremely fast.  Check out the before and after shots below. Sugar Snaps are located in the back against the trellis.  You can also see the quick growth of the six gold mark cabbage and the two red cabbage.

before - September 11, 2012

current - October 11, 2012

RIC - Rest in Compost
A group of renegade squirrels dug up and dispersed the Napa cabbage and spinach seedlings last week.  I tried to salvage as many of the seedlings as possible. However, the seedlings shriveled up and died. The seedlings were then laid to rest in our compost.  I will replant the spinach and will replace the cabbage with radishes, carrots, and beets.

2012 MVG Fall Crops

MVG transitioning into fall

The fall season is here! Last year, I planted mustard greens and radish when the weather turned cold.  This season I decided to plant mustard greens, radish, and much much more.

The following has been planted in the Morrison Victory Garden. Items in green are being grown by seed.

1. Russian kale
2. Dinosaur kale
3. Winterbor kale
4. Snowball cauliflower
5. Broccoli romanesco
6. CA Stockton red onions
7. Yellow Spanish onions
8. Red acre cabbage
9. Gold mark cabbage
10. Jade cross brussel sprouts
11. Swiss chard
12. Sugar snaps
13. Spinach
14. Napa cabbage
15. Minowase Radish
16. Giant red mustard greens
17. Southern giant mustard greens
18. Joi choi
19. Red choi
20. variety of lettuce

I was disappointed in how many of my spring seedlings did not grow up to be big and strong.  I decided to visit my local nursery to find most of my fall vegetable plants.  There are a few seeds that I knew would do well in the garden and I sprinkled them in with the nursery bought plants. This is the biggest and largest variety of fall crops the victory garden has ever seen. I hope to be eating lots of greens and steamed veggies in time to celebrate Thanksgiving.

winterbor kale with lettuce

The eggplants and bitter melon are the only summer crop still producing delicious veggies.  This summer has produced a great deal of bitter melon.  In previous years, my family was lucky if we grew a dozen bitter melon.  Now, we have three gallon bags of frozen bitter melon to consume over the winter season.  This is not counting the many that were eaten during the summer.  My mother loves to stuff the bitter melon with meat and make soup.  I am sure my house will smell of boiling bitter melon and pork this holiday season.

jade cross brussel sprout

I have included a final count of our frozen and canned produce.  This season, I did more canning than freezing. Our 2012 harvest is smaller in size, when compared to our 2011 season, but we made up for it with variety.

2012 MVG Summer Stock
Frozen
3 - gallon bag bitter melon
5 - quart bag bean mix (burgundy, scarlet emperor, and blue lake)
5 - quart bag corn kernels
2 - quart bag strawberries
3 - quart bag plums

Canned
4 - quart salsa
15 - quart garlic pepper veggies
10 - quart bread and butter veggies
4 - pint bread and butter veggies
8 - quart plums (heavy & light syrup)
2 - pint plums (heavy & light syrup)
3 - quart pickled garden veggies
4 - quart dill veggies
2 - pint dill veggies

hot pepper plants are back in pots

Victory Garden Spotting!
The Mantodea warriors are still fighting the good fight.  I have recently spotted three full grown warriors while watering the garden.

Can you find him in the oregano? He is looking at you.

The warm fall weather and newly planted crops have drawn the adult mantodeas out of hiding.  Look at how much they have grown.  Remember how small the nymph Mantodeas were?

Mantodeas are very friendly

Eggplants and tomatoes are finally here!

Variety of eggplant

The eggplant harvest is upon us.  So far I have used the eggplant in breakfast dishes such as scrabbled eggs and omelets. I like to shred the eggplant and sprinkle it on the eggs like shredded cheese.  Most likely, I will use the remaining eggplant when BBQing or making soup and stir-frys.

garlic pepper veggies

Canning is still in full swing.  I have recently canned 10 quarts of garlic pepper veggies. I followed a canning recipe for dill pickles but made the following changes:

• Instead of dill, I use 3-5 cloves of garlic and 5-10 hot peppers.  I prefer to use Thai Dragon Chili Peppers but you can use any amount or type of pepper.  Just make sure you can handle the heat.
• I use a variety of veggies in place of only using cucumbers. This season I used cubed or sliced cucumbers, squash, and zucchini.

Our Juliet turned out to be a grape.

We also have ripe and juicy tomatoes peaking out from behind the long green tomato vines.  We have a variety of Romano, Early Girl, Grape, and Big Mama tomatoes to cook and eat.  I thought I had lost all of my Romano seedlings in the spring but to my surprise one plant survived.  Additionally, what was thought to be Juliet tomato seeds were actually grape tomato seeds.  The big difference between Juliet and Grape tomatoes is the way the fruit hangs from the plant.  Juliet tomatoes grow all over and are picked one at a time.  Grape tomatoes hang in a group, like the purple and green grapes you buy at the store.  I began to notice the clusters of tomatoes after a few harvests. They taste like small tomatoes so we are not bummed that the seeds produced a different type of tomato.  Actually, this is my first time growing yellow tomatoes... YEAH!

I did not expect much from the tomato plants because of the cool temperatures in June and July. We have harvested 20 tomatoes so far and will have at least 60 more to harvest.  But we need more heat and fall is upon us. We still have a few gallons of frozen tomatoes to cook from our 2011 season.  The frozen tomatoes should hold us over for winter but I will definitely be planting more tomatoes next spring.

The victory garden is winding down.  The yellow squash, all of the beans, melons, and zucchini have been pulled.  The vines, roots, and leaves will be chopped up and composted for next season.  The two large melons that were harvested a few weeks ago were sweet, juicy, and filled with flavor.  I will also be planting more melon next spring.

cubed Crenshaw melon

As the seasons change so does the victory garden.  Over the past month, I have begun to uproot the summer crop and prepare the soil for our fall and winter seasons. My family and I have our sights set on cabbage, kale, onions, brussel sprouts and a whole-lotta greens this upcoming season.  Stay tune for this will be the first time the Victory Garden stays open for growth during the fall and winter seasons. Keep your roots crossed!

Herb garlic bread with pesto pasta!

herb garlic mixture

I love to make garlic bread.  I can also eat garlic bread with any meal.  Recently I discovered a new way of making garlic bread that utilizes fresh herbs from the victory garden.  In the past I have made garlic bread with garlic powder, dried parsley, and butter. But now I use only fresh ingredients in place of the garlic powder and dried store bought herbs.  The end result is fantastic and your taste buds will be blown away.

Here is my garlic bread recipe along with a few vegan alternatives for those dairy-free individuals.

no butter and lots of herb garlic mixture

Ingredients:

• A loaf of bead.  I used half of a herb slab from Acme Bread Company. Acme's breads are delicious and freeze well.  I throw the unused half in a Ziploc bag and place it in the freezer. You can also find vegan bread in your area or you can make the bread yourself.  Here is a website that can help you hunt for vegan bread while shopping at your local grocery stores, http://happyherbivore.com/2012/03/looking-vegan-bread-ingredients/.
• 10 garlic cloves. You can use more or less depending on how strong you want your garlic bread. I love garlic and use at least 10 cloves.
• 1/4 cup Italian parsley leaves
• 1/4 cup sage leaves
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter or margarine, softened. I sometimes omit this item if I am in a vegan mood or have guest who cannot consume dairy. If you are looking for a vegan alternative consider using a thin layer of soft or silken tofu in place of butter.
• Parmesan cheese, fresh or powdered.  You may also use soy cheese to keep your bread toppings vegan. It all depends on who is eating the dish and how you like it prepared.

half loaf used both fresh and powder Parmesan

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees
2. Cut your loaf of bread in half, horizontally.  You can also slice the bread vertically if you want to make small individual slices. I prefer to have one big piece of herb garlic bread and let my guest cut off or rip apart the bread.
3. In a food processor mix garlic, parsley, and sage until creamy. I use my Magic Bullet in place of a large food processor.
4. Spread softened butter over the bread slices or loaf halves. Use soften or silken tofu for a vegan alternative.
5. Spread the garlic herb mixture over the butter.
6. Sprinkle with fresh grated Parmesan cheese or a powder substitute. I sometimes use both since each type of Parmesan has a different flavor.
7. Bake the bread for 15 minutes or until you reach your crunch preference.  I have family members who love both soft and super-crunchy bread.  To match my family's variety of crunch preferences, I bake half of the garlic bread for 15 minutes and the second half for 25 minutes. I am left with a variety of soft and super crunchy garlic bread for all to enjoy.

whole wheat noodles, pesto, tomatoes, and herb garlic bread

I like to pair my herb garlic bread with my homemade pesto pasta and fresh grape tomatoes from the garden.  YUM! Hope you all enjoy this recipe.  Feel free to experiment with additional herbs too. Happy eating and don't forget those breath mints.

2012 MVG Harvest BBQ

This year the MVG Harvest BBQ was a hit with neighbors and friends. There was lasagna, beans, cupbread, and a big plum cobbler for everyone to nibble, munch, and devour. But let's follow the order in which my family and I cooked the vegetable filled mounds of food.

Morrison Victory Garden 2012

My first entree, VEGETABLE LASAGNA! Yum! I used the following steps when preparing and cooking the lasagna.

Golden on the top. This lasagna is done.

Ingredients: Green indicates items found and used from the victory garden

• 1 gallon Ziploc bag of frozen tomatoes (skin off)
• 4 tablespoons fresh chopped basil
• 2 tablespoons fresh chopped oregano
• 4 garlic cloves minced
• 1 chopped sweet white onion
• 1 chopped bell pepper
• Salt and Peppers
• 3 medium zucchini thinly sliced the long way
• 3 large yellow squash thinly sliced
• eggplant thinly sliced (amount depends on size of fruit)
• big tub of ricotta cheese
• big bag of shredded mozzarella cheese or use a mixture of mozzarella and cheddar cheese

lasagna layers

Directions:

1. In a sauce pan, mix tomatoes, basil, oregano, garlic, bell pepper, onion, salt, and pepper.  Bring to boil and stir constantly until sauce becomes thick.
2. In a large casserole dish, lay down a layer of sauce at the bottom.  Follow with a layer of zucchini, ricotta, sauce, squash, mozzarella, sauce, eggplant, ricotta, sauce, zucchini, mozzarella, etc. Your final layer should be shredded cheese. You may insert lasagna noodles into the layers.  I found a box with four lasagna noodles in my pantry. I cooked the noodles and placed two on the bottom layer and two in the middle layer. The long zucchini slices can be used in place of the lasagna noodles too.  It all depends on what you want in your lasagna or have on hand.
3. Cover lasagna with tinfoil to keep the cheese from burning. Cook at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.  Remove tinfoil and cook for additional 30 minutes or until the cheese is golden brown.

Veggie lasagna is good!

The PLUM COBBLER was next on my cooking list.   I have never made cobbler but have watched my father make plum pie and cobber. I wanted to make sure I did not mess it up.  I searched online for a recipe that was easy and quick.  I found a recipe posted by Elise on Simply Recipes.

The outcome was fantastic. Many of my guests saved room for the cobbler or started the feast with a great fruit appetizer. I served the dish at room temperature since the day was warm and sunny.  During the winter months, I will heat up the cobbler and serve it with whip cream. I also think a scoop of vanilla ice cream is a great pairing with this dish.

Cobbler was sweet with a hint of tart. Yum!

Now time for the sides! A variety of beans from the garden were stir-fried and tossed with a lemon  herb mixture. I used the following steps when making the BEAN TOSS.

Ingredients:

• 4-5 cups of beans*, washed and cut into two-inch pieces
• 2 tablespoons lemon zest
• juice from a large lemon or 3 tablespoons of lemon juice
• 4-8 cloves of garlic (I like a lot of garlic and use the max)
• 2 tablespoons fresh chopped rosemary
• 3 tablespoons fresh chopped Italian parsley
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• Salt

Directions:

1. Bring salt and water to a boil.  Boil beans 5 minutes. Remove beans from water and run under cold water/place in ice bath.
2. Combine zest, lemon juice, garlic, rosemary and parsley in a bowl. Set aside.
3. In a wok, heat oil on medium heat.  Add beans and cook beans until tender.
4. Remove wok from heat.  Toss bean with lemon herb mixture.
5. Serve and enjoy!

*I used a mixture of Blue Lake, Burgundy, and Scarlet Emperor beans from the garden.

The ears of corn and pesto were the most consumed item at the MVG Harvest BBQ. I boiled the corn for 5 minutes.  Guests were given the choice of plain corn or Elote.  Elote calls for lime mayo, Cojita cheese and hot sauce. I personally love Elote but give my guess the option to try it or not.  To make Elote you do the following:

1. choose your ear of corn.
2. lather the corn with lime mayo.
3. roll the mayo covered corn in a plate of finely grated Cojita cheese
4. sprinkle or douse your ear of corn with hot sauce.
5. eat and enjoy!

I used a 8-oz. plastic freezer jam jar of frozen pesto and a thawed quart of whole Juliet tomatoes when making my PESTO PASTA. Read my Pesto. Pesto, Pesto! blog post for the pesto recipe. I cooked and drain one box of whole wheat spaghetti noodles. In a large bowl, I toss the noodles with the pesto, tomatoes, and a handful or two of pine nuts. I top the aromatic pile of noodles with a generous sprinkle of goat or feta cheese. If you like basil, mix fresh basil (leaves or roughly chopped) with the cheese before topping off the dish.

I also made zucchini squash bread using cupcake tins. I like to call the dish ZUCCHINI SQUASH CUPBREAD  This makes the bread easy to handle and easy to transport.  I like to send my guests home with goodie bags.  I always wrap a few in tinfoil and place them in the bags. I referred to my Better Homes and Garden New Cookbook when making these cupbread delights.  I followed the zucchini bread directions but made the following alterations:

• use 2 cups of thawed zucchini and squash shreds**, for every cup of zucchini requested
• add 50% more oil (if recipe requests a cup add an additional 1/2 cup of oil)
• add in dried fruit mixture chopped up into small pieces ( use anything from dried coconut to dried mango to dried plums)
• Cook cupcakes at recipe temperature for 15-18 minutes.
• an occasional combination - add in 1/2 cup of granola but follow recipe zucchini measurement when using the thawed zucchini squash shreds**.

** Last season I froze fresh (skin on) zucchini and squash shreds in the freezer.  I place 4 cups of fresh shreds in each Ziploc quart bag.  This season, I placed a bag on the counter to thaw. Once at room temperature, the water and shreds separate.  I drained the water from the shreds.  You now have 2 cups of shreds to add to your baking recipes.

We also had additional items to consume.  My mother made chili with our frozen tomatoes.  We served hot dogs and soy dogs to feature our zucchini relish, kosher pickles, dill pickles, and bread and butter pickles. I also made fresh Ginger-Spice Cucumbers with fresh cucumbers from the garden.

Fresh cut herbs make fragrant center pieces!

Bouquets of herbs were tied.  Food was eaten.  The Morrison Victory Garden was toured. Goodie bags were taken with full bellies and warm hearts.  The feast was a success!

My family and I had a great time with our friends and neighbors at this year's MVG Harvest BBQ. Thank you to everyone who came out to see our garden.  A big thanks to everyone who tried the variety of dishes on the tables.  I am getting better at cooking and hope to one day WOW you in the yummy tummy department.

This pie was gobbled up, mmmmmm.

A big thanks to Deloris for making a fabulous apple pie, with the apples from her apple tree! A big thanks to Esther for the ice cream and doggie treats!

Happy gardening, cooking and eating to all!

Let it rain CORN and BEANS!

The MVG is in full swing and the vertical gardening is proving to be well worth the time and energy to set up.  As you can see in the picture above there is lots of green leaves and plump veggies to harvest.  This week, in preparation for the annual Harvest BBQ, we had our bean and corn harvests!

The bean box has matured and is producing handfuls upon handfuls of long firm Burgundy beans.  These beans are great when eaten raw but also taste good when canned or used in casseroles.  I will be using all three types of beans, Burgundy, Blue Lake and Scarlet Emperor, to make a bean stir-fry for this year's Harvest BBQ.  Additionally, any beans not canned or eaten have been blanched and frozen.

Here is our bean breakdown for this season:

• 4 quarts blanched and frozen
• 2 pints of Bread and Butter beans

Our corn harvest occurred on a cool Wednesday morning.  The harvest went well but is very small when compared to our corn harvests in the past.  We reduced our number of corn rows and used the remaining years-old corn seed when planting this year's corn crop. This decrease in quantity and quality has brought forth a small corn harvest for the 2012 victory garden season.  Luckily we had a great harvest last year and have plenty in storage for the Harvest BBQ this year.  Elote! Horn Corn! Cheese Corn! Mayo Corn! It does not matter what you call the yummy corn dish but one this is for certain... corn, lime mayo, Cojita cheese and hot sauce will be on the 2012 Harvest BBQ menu.

Corn husked and ready to be blanched.

I decided to store only the corn kernels from this year's harvest.  Here is my step by step process for freezing corn kernels.

1. Blanch the ears of corn in boiling water for five minutes.
2. Immediately transfer the corn to a cold water bath to cool down.
3. Once the ears are cool, cut the corn kernels off and pack them in Ziploc freezer bags.

I was able to pack 5 quarts of corn.  It might not sound like much but to eat sweet corn in the dead of winter is sweet delight!

Typical July Harvest

The victory garden is in full swing.  We have daily harvests of zucchini, yellow squash, beans, peppers, a variety of herbs, and cucumbers.  As expected, the harvests are increasing in size.  Today's harvest  (pictured below) produced a sink full of vegetables, strainer full of beans, and one lonely pepper.

I have some good news from the eggplant patch.  We officially have a SECOND GENERATION EGGPLANT growing in the garden! Woo hoo!  Remember my post, Transplanting and Mulch, about the eggplant that survived winter?  That eggplant has grown exponentially and is now giving birth to three eggplants.  There are over ten flowers on the plant and I hope to see everyone turn into a delicious eggplant by the end of the summer.

Second generation eggplant

All of the eggplants grown, from seed this season, have begun to push out flowers or fruit.  I envision lots of BBQ eggplants and eggplant lasagnas filling my table and tummy later this season. YUM!

eggplants are growing bigger each day

The strawberry pot is doing very well.  Each day I pick two to four large strawberries, rinse and freeze them.  So far I have 1 1/2 quarts of frozen MVG strawberries.  These frozen berries taste great in homemade slushy drinks or strawberry jam. I hope to have the second quart bag filled by the end of July.

daily harvest of strawberries