Tuesday, August 10

From the garden.

From the garden.

Still life photos of vegetables are not my strong point, but I take them every year because I get so excited about the bounty from our garden.

The eggplant is growing like crazy this year. Last week we used the first two eggplants for eggplant parmesan. Perhaps not the best way to showcase homegrown eggplant, but it's a dish I love and it turned out to be quite delicious. Tonight we are having grilled pizza with grilled eggplant and zucchini (from my dad's garden). I'm very excited about it. There will be some fresh mozzarella too, of course, and perhaps a touch of basil from the garden as well.

The grape tomato plant is HUGE. I may have to cut it a bit so it doesn't suffocate my little jalapeno plant. This is the first year I have planted grape tomatoes in the side bed instead of in the back or in a pot and the difference in size is unbelievable. It was definitely a good decision. The yellow pear tomato plant is big too, though not as big, and it is producing lovely and bright fruit. We prefer the grape tomatoes but I love having the color of the yellow pears. Our "big" tomato plant isn't so big compared to the ones I've grown in the past. I think it may mature a bit later than the types we've had in the past. We did get two early tomatoes from it and WOW, they blew us away. Sweetest tomatoes I've ever had. I think they are Super Fantastico or something like that. And they are definitely super fantastic.

I only planted one jalapeno this year because we had waaaaaaaaaay too many last year. We've had two so far which I used in guacamole and they were superb. I make a pretty awesome guacamole with fresh jalapenos. My other pepper plants didn't do so hot. Oh and my cucumber plants that are in pots have itty bitty cucumbers starting! I still have my doubts that we'll actually get one that is big enough to eat, but it's exciting nonetheless. All the herbs are thriving as well. The parsley that I planted in a big pot in the back is enormous and going to seed now. It looks like a small tree it's so big.

The echinacea is looking good and my zinnias are finally starting to get nice and tall. I was worried there for awhile because they didn't seem to be growing, but now all is well. (Although the ones in the front bed that are usually as tall as the fence are awfully short this year. Not sure why that happened.) I shall be cutting them and enjoying them inside soon.

So it's a fairly decent garden this year. I am still sad that my lettuce went to seed immediately because it was so nice having fresh lettuce last year. Perhaps I will have better luck next year. (I am not going to plant anymore this season.)

Last night we had dinner with some friends who recently moved into a new place. We had such a good time. The house is amazing. It's very, very Santa Fe in all the best ways. Old adobe, nichos everywhere, vigas in many of the rooms, and the best old kitchen cabinets. And they are right on the acequia so when the water runs through, it's the sweetest of sounds. The house just has a wonderful feel to it and it was great to hang out and relax all evening. And the mojitos? Like icing on the cake.

2 comments:

  1. Anonymous3:32 PM

    Your garden sounds amazing! Wow!
    I'm trying my first foray into vegetable plants this year (normally I plant herbs), and I'm pretty excited about how my one little tomato plant is doing. :D

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love their new place! Your description made me miss Santa Fe soooo much. Love you.

    ReplyDelete

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