The Vegetable Garden

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This is my vegetable garden right now. It's cold and it's snowy in upstate new york and there really doesn't seem to be an end in sight. But, it is getting closer to seed starting time and with that comes the hope of spring and the excitement of a new garden. 

As I ordered my seeds a few weeks ago I remembered that I took a million photos of my seed starting process last year and then I realized I have a million more photos of the vegetable garden that I always meant to write a post about and never did. So here is a quick recap...

 

 

the very beginning.

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they grow! and get hardened off in brooklyn.
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meanwhile, upstate...the dirt is delivered and the beds are made.
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the temporary fence.
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the transplants go in and seeds are planted.
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the garden grows.
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and grows. (ugh...there were a lot more photos here but they disappeared! posterous!!)
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the reason we built that 7 foot fence.
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the goods.
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the strange tomato.

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tomatoes ripening on the window sill in brooklyn

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planning for next year by smothering the grass with dirt, cardboard and compost to have more beds.

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the garden's last few days. the parsley made it into the thanksgiving meal!

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overall the garden was very successful and pretty great for my first official garden (meaning not just a few pots on the patio in brooklyn). The lack of peppers was disappointing but i think i planted them too close to the tomatoes and the tomatoes just completely overtook them. So this year i hope to have a whole separate bed of peppers to go into bbq billy's crazy chili

i'll try a few new things this year but i'm mostly just sticking to what i know...i don't want to push my luck. Here's to spring coming quickly and happy gardens!

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the best tomato soup IN THE WORLD

finally, it was time to make tomato soup (august 13th). i can not tell you how excited i was. the reason i grow tomatoes, is to make tomato soup. my mother started making this soup when i was a little girl and my father had an amazing vegetable garden. i can actually remember numerous times that my mother would yell at my father for growing too many vegetables, saying she couldn't possibly cook them all. she's crazy.

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the flower garden

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to the Gardener who planted and cared for this garden before we bought the house:

i am sorry, truly sorry, that i allowed your beautiful flower garden to come to this. if you ever saw the state of the garden you would probably close your eyes and run away blindly. if it is any consolation, i know how bad it is... i just wanted to focus on getting a vegetable garden going this year so i could begin to feed my family with fresh homegrown vegetables and herbs. now that that is going well i promise to focus on the flower garden. i will spend hours a day pulling weeds. i will plant more ground cover and perennials and i will make sure they can survive under the black walnut tree. and i promise, PROMISE to mulch next spring, and summer, and fall and even winter if there is no snow on the ground.

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well, now that i got that out of the way i can show some pictures of the progress. today i pulled weeds until i almost couldn't see what i was pulling out anymore. i did accidentally pull out a few perennials but hopefully i got them back in the ground before there was too much damage done. there are some things that i am just unsure of whether they are weeds or actual flowers but i will decide what to do with those tomorrow in the light of day. it was fun to uncover things as i went along. the hostas are beautiful and going strong. the ferns looked a little choked but hopefully will take off now that they can breath. those spotty plants (not sure what they're called) are everywhere and really pretty. and there is some pachysandra, which i was planning on planting beforehand thinking it would be a great ground cover. though i am a little discouraged by the fact that it doesn't seem to be covering much ground. i'm also planning to move some things around but that will probably take me weeks...and weeks. 

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on another note, the sunny flower garden doesn't have nearly the amount of weeds as the shady garden and is looking really beautiful. these are photos from a few weeks ago. the lilies are gone but the black eyed susans and purple coneflowers are still going strong.

before and afters

though i could never be another bbq billys or more, please, i can't resist sharing a few before and after photos and recipes. this is a vegetable garden after all and these vegetables do turn into delicious meals. 

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recipe #1 Tomato, Basil, Garlic and Fresh Mozz Pasta (a combo of 2 mark bittman recipes)

• heat about 4 TBS olive oil in saute pan

• add 4-5 cloves crushed and sliced garlic

• cook until soft

•add 1/4 cup white wine and cook off about half

• add 3-4 chopped medium tomatoes

• cook about 5 mins.

• add 1/2 cup fresh sliced basil

• add salt and pepper to taste and about a tsp sugar

• cook 5 mins more then pour over about 2 servings of pasta in a big bowl

• add 1 cup cubed fresh mozzarella and toss

• serve garnished with fresh basil

(makes about 2 servings)

the first scallion

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my dear son usually does not go within 5 feet of a vegetable BUT give him the chance to yank one out of the ground and he's there in a heartbeat. maybe some goodness of the scallion seeped into his body as he gladly posed with it for the camera.

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it's nice to grow scallions because i feel like whenever i buy them at the store they are in such a big bunch that i never actually use them all and end up wasting. these scallions made it onto gumbo that very night and later into our favorite cobb salad salad dressing.

the finished (for now) herb garden

it took me a few days but i got all the gravel down and mulched around the plants and even put in a few new flowers. right now it's kind of heavy on the gravel but i think the plants just need a year or so to grow in and i will be better about planting some more annuals next year. 

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i did pick up some dying petunias at lowes for a dollar and they are actually doing quite nicely.
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nico the cat is always happy to help out and watch me work while she sits comfortably in the shade.
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the first tomato of the season

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there is really nothing more delicious than a home grown tomato and there is nothing more exciting than the first tomato of the season. this is a 4th of july tomato, which i love to grow because they are always ready early in the season. though i can never quite get one by the 4th! close enough i guess. 

we haven't eaten it yet...it's sitting on the kitchen windowsill waiting for a few companions to make tomato basil bruschetta deliciousness! can't wait.

the herb garden

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this is my herb garden. yes, there are herbs in there somewhere fighting for their lives. I began to organize and tackle this little garden off of the kitchen last fall after having completely neglected it last summer. the previous owners of the house did use it as some sort of herb garden, though all i could find in it was mint, lemon mint, chocolate mint and pineapple mint. yes pineapple mint. i actually pulled them all out (except the pineapple mint cause i think it's kinda pretty) and potted them. away from the garden. mint is as much of a weed as any other weed i know.

there were also chives and purple salvia planted already which are still there and going strong. anyway i decided to redesign it, put a little path in and plant a lot more herbs and flowers. last fall i planted some transplants, oregano, thyme, lavendar and catnip, from my potted herbs in brooklyn. i also started on the pebble path which i very naively thought could hold the weeds at bay come spring. no. these weeds could get through 10 feet of cement forget about a little pea gravel. they are relentless. i could spend my life pulling weeds.

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so that's where i began. after pulling out most of the weeds i started pulling up the gravel. crazy job but i wanted to put some weed blocker down underneath. this spring i planted tarragon, rosemary, yarrow, basil, nasturtium, marigolds, sweet peas up a trellis and one more lavender to go around the bird bath which i hope will spread and encircle it completely. still working out what flowers will go where but i feel more content with it now and hope the weed blocker and mulch can keep all those nasty weeds in check.