An Ailing Zucchini Plant - Already?

Tuesday, May 29, 2007

I've planted several types of cucurbitaceae in the back part of the plot this year. (And boy, do I feel like Hermione for just having uttered the word cucurbitaceae.) This includes cucumbers, crookneck squash, one of my butternut squash plants that is still hanging on after the initial shock of being set outside, and one zucchini plant. Out of all of these, the zucchini plant has been doing the best. It's been growing fast and already has quite a few buds at its center. My mouth begins to water at the thought having the chance to try fried squash blossoms.

But I get ahead of myself sometimes. My excitement for a plateful of crispy fried squash blossoms was indefinitely squelched when I went out to the plot on Saturday and found that the leaves of my zucchini plant had started turning yellow.

Initially I thought this might be caused by a nutrient deficiency, but then I remembered reading about the squash vine borer -- the larva of a moth that can bore into the stem of zucchini and cause the entire plant to wilt and die. So much for squash blossoms.

So I inspected the stem and found that it indeed was damaged. It was split open and looked as if it had nearly dried up. I am not sure how the plant is even surviving at this point.


But I saw no sign of any insect larvae, and the plant is not wilting, so I don't think this is a case of squash vine borer. My theory is that the plant simply became too top-heavy with leaves and caused the stem to snap open. Could this be the case? And more importantly, can the plant survive on such a thin lifeline to the soil? I wish I had a Hermione here to tell me the answer.

I decided to leave the plant in for now and see how it goes. I have a sinking feeling that I just need to start all over, though, and so I planted two more seeds. There is still enough time in the season to grow those desired squash blossoms, not to mention the zucchini itself. At least I hope so.

Green Thumb Sunday / Tribute to Rachel Carson

Sunday, May 27, 2007

Friday's harvest from my garden: A radish, red lettuces, mizuna, arugula, and sage -- all grown without the use of chemicals.
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This post is dedicated to Rachel Carson, author of Silent Spring, on the centennial of her birth. In Silent Spring, this courageous woman criticized the use of synthetic pesticides and examined in detail their detrimental effects on plants, animals, and the human body. The book set in motion a wave of events that ultimately led to the banning of DDT.

Related Links:
The Story of Silent Spring
Rachel Carson Online Book Club
Re-reading Silent Spring, Environmental Health Perspectives
Silent Spring Institute
Photo, Essay, and Poetry Contest (deadline June 15, 2007)

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Tomato Update - And a Watering Tip

Saturday, May 26, 2007

I transplanted our tomatoes into the garden about four weeks ago. I have six plants in total: four San Marzanos and two Brandywines.


When I set the plants in the ground, I added bone meal to the soil. I've since also given them two light feedings of fish emulsion mixed with water. The fish emulsion provides calcium, which is one of the essential nutrients tomatoes need to develop well. (Calcium deficiency is one of the causes of blossom-end rot, which can be a problem with tomatoes. Irregular watering is another.)

At our garden association's spring meeting in April, Linda, the chair of our Agriculture Committee, handed out a paper with tips on growing tomatoes. One of the tips was: "Avoid wetting leaves of tomatoes. It promotes fungus and other diseases."

This was news to me. It seems like a basic tip I should have learned three years ago when I started the garden, but somehow I missed that one. Now I'm being extra careful to water the plants down at the base. To aid in this, I remove most of the lowest hanging leaves (especially as they start to yellow).

So far so good. The plants look healthy. They've developed strong stems and they're filling out with a lot of new leaves. A couple of them already have their first blossoms -- the bright yellow stars that portend the fruits to come. I can't wait.

Starstruck at the Farmers' Market

Friday, May 25, 2007

My husband and I were standing in line at the Dupont Circle Farmers' Market on Sunday, waiting our turn to buy two beautiful bundles of asparagus. I was browsing the piles of fresh herbs and lettuces displayed on the table next to me, when all of a sudden Michael looked up and pointed off to my left.

"Hey, it's Giada," he said in a sort of hushed exclamation.

I looked up and saw her.

"Oh my goodness. It is!"

About 20 feet away from us and in plain view was Giada De Laurentiis, star of Everyday Italian on the Food Network. She was buying something from a nearby vendor, all the while beaming that megawatt smile that is unmistakably Giada's.

As a resident of DC, I've seen a fair share of famous people: the past two presidents on a couple of occasions, and the current vice president on more occasions than I care to count. A few weeks ago I was briefly held up in traffic near the British Embassy. The Queen of England was visiting! It was just an ordinary weekday. I'm almost not phased by sightings of politically important people anymore. They're here, I'm here; I am bound to see them around once in a while.

But admittedly, I was a bit starstruck by Giada. I am a big fan of her shows and her style of cooking: good ingredients and classic flavors combined with uncomplicated style. There hasn't been a single recipe of hers that my husband and I have tried and didn't like. Her wonderful Stuffed Peppers recipe, in fact, was the inspiration behind my desire to grow my own bell peppers this year. (She is also extremely enthusiastic about anything with chocolate, hazelnuts, and amaretti cookies. This woman speaks my language!)

When we saw Giada at the market, with a camera crew following her every move, I kept telling myself, don't stare, don't stare. But I stared. And other people were staring at her too. She was just as beautiful and smiley as she is on TV, and she seemed genuinely friendly. She hugged everyone on her crew before she got into the car to leave, and with a wave she cheerfully yelled, "Bye! Have fun you guys!" She was completely down to earth, which was pleasant to see in someone with star status.

Perhaps our farmers' market will come up on her show at some point. Who knows. Her visit definitely shook up an otherwise ordinary round of produce shopping, though, for those of us there who recognized her.

[Update on 5/26/07: Washingtonian reported that she was in town filming an episode for the new season of Giada's Weekend Getaways, which will air on Food Network after the summer.]

Strawberry Shortcake

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Strawberry season is so short-lived; it calls for something celebratory. Weeks ago, I started thinking about what I wanted to make with this year's crop. From the few plants I have in my plot, I get a good seven or eight handfuls of berries at most (not counting the ones I eat on the spot).


There's not enough for a pie, nor a jarful of jam, so I pondered other possibilities. Cheesecake with strawberry topping? Strawberry parfaits? Strawberry ice cream? A small strawberry tart for two? Decisions, decisions.


So I asked my husband what he would like to have with this year's strawberries, and he immediately gave me a look that spoke two magical words before he even uttered them from his mouth.

Strawberry shortcake.

But of course. We celebrated last year's strawberry crop with shortcakes and cream, and that's how we would do it again. There is a reason why strawberry shortcake is a classic dessert. Why mess with perfection?


I use Williams-Sonoma's recipe for the shortcakes. Their recipe calls for a teaspoon of grated lemon peel, which is utterly complementary to the strawberries. And there's a little bit of salt in the shortcakes too. Don't skip the salt. I used to think it was odd to include salt in recipes for sweets, but I have since learned what I was missing. Keep the salt. Trust me.


Make real whipped cream... Pile everything together...

Enjoy strawberry shortcake bliss.

Sunday's Strawberry Harvest

Monday, May 21, 2007

A picture worth a thousand yums.

Cooking With Flowers

Saturday, May 19, 2007

My journey in the garden has led me to discover -- and appreciate -- the flowers that grow on some of our edible crops and herbs. Here is where I first learned what a potato flower looks like, a red cabbage blossom, and now the flowers of arugula and kale . That latter two, blooming in my garden right now, look like wildflowers to me. I enjoy their presence just as much for the ornamental quality as I do for the practical purpose; ultimately I hope to collect their seeds.

With so much edible-flower beauty around me, I've taken an interest in the ways in which people have creatively erased the dividing line between what we normally think of as "flowers" or "food." There are so many types of edible flowers, and I've seen some very inventive uses for them around the blogosphere as of late. For just a sampling, check out these recipes:

Elderflower Fritters by MyUrbFarm

Elderflower Champagne by Bliss

Violet Shortbread, made with violet sugar, by Storybook Woods

Violet Jelly by Take Joy! (She has a lot of violets.)

Fried Squash Blossoms from Gardening in Central Florida

Squash Blossom Pancakes from Zenobia

Chive flowers in A Perfect Omelet by Chez Pim

Dandelion Syrup by Adventures in Active Fallow

Dandelion Wine by Snappy's Gardens Blog

This is my own florally flourished recipe -- chive blossom tabbouleh. It features parsley and onions from my garden and, instead of mint (which is called for in traditional tabbouleh recipes), I went with chives.

Chive Blossom Tabbouleh

1 large bunch of flat-leaf parsley (enough to make about 1 1/2 cups finely chopped)
1 cup cooked and cooled bulgur wheat
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cucumber, peeled, seeded and diced
1 tomato, seeded and diced
A bunch of chopped scallions (as many as you like!)
1 Tbs. chopped chives
Olive oil and juice from one lemon
Salt and pepper to taste
Chive flowers for garnish

Chop everything and mix it all together. It tastes better the next day once all the flavors are blended. Serve cold or at room temperature.
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This entry is part of Weekend Herb Blogging. Visit this week's host, Rinku from Cooking in Westchester, at the end of the weekend for a recap of posts featuring herbs, flowers, and vegetables.

Mockingbirds Aplenty, But Few Crows

Thursday, May 17, 2007

On Monday evening I had the chance to chat with Brad, the man who tends the plot to the west of mine. We briefly swapped notes about what we're growing in our gardens, and then we turned to the subject of birds. Always a favorite topic.

"You know, there's a mockingbird who wants to claim the rights to your plot," he said with a smile.

"Yes, I know. He was sitting up there on the trellis when I was here on Saturday. He must have sat there for a good 20 minutes or so, singing his little heart out. He has a lot to say, apparently."

And so it is that I have a friendly mockingbird that makes regular visits to my plot. When I'm in the garden I thoroughly enjoy having a front-row seat from which to watch him sing his melodious aria. That is, except for the times when he stops to give a good long glance at my ripening strawberries.

Don't. Even. Think. About it.

Who me?

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I had only intended to write about my encounters with the persistent, strawberry-seeking mockingbird today, but this morning I read some astonishing news about other birds -- and in particular, about birds here in the Washington, D.C. area. On the front page of the Express (a free daily publication of The Washington Post), a lead story about West Nile virus was titled, "Where have all the birds gone?" And in the photo caption with the story: "Crows have been hit particularly hard by West Nile virus. In D.C., 90 percent have died."

Ninety percent of the crows in D.C. have died?! Wow. That statistic was shocking to me. It seems as if it was only a few years ago when we first heard the reports about West Nile virus affecting birds in our area. I can't believe so many crows have since died. Crows certainly aren't the most endearing of birds, but this makes me wonder: How is the loss of so many crows affecting other species? Everything is connected.

The news became even more disturbing when I read that it's not just crows that are dying in mass numbers. Many popular types of backyard birds are affected as well. According to the full story in The Washington Post,

"In the Northeast, for example, chickadees have dropped by 53 percent and the Eastern bluebird is down 44 percent. In Maryland, American robins took an especially large hit, with the virus apparently responsible for a 32 percent population reduction."

Unbelievable. And sad, really. The article goes on to note that the best thing people can do to curb the spread of West Nile virus is to remove any sources of standing water in their yards (where mosquitoes, the carriers of the virus, breed).

The Post referred to a study published today in the journal Nature.

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

I can hardly believe we're at the middle of May already. Time flies. Here we are at another edition of Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day, the day when garden bloggers share the flowers they have in bloom or bud. On a virtual stroll through my garden today, here's what you'll see:

Arugula

Chives -- I tried these edible flowers last year in Chive Blossom Vinegar

Red Russian Kale (for soup!)

Chamomile -- Tea, Anyone?

Thyme

Sage

Onions -- Is this how they "bloom?"

Strawberries -- I see strawberry shortcakes in my near future.

Yellow Squash

Purple flowers I rescued from the compost bin a week ago. Are they violas?

Lobelia

Comfrey

An Iris unfurling

Larkspur buds

A still-buttoned Bachelor's Button

Yarrow

Visit May Dreams Gardens to see who else is participating in today's edition of Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day.

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Related Posts:
Bloom Day, April
Bloom Day, March
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P.S. -- A note to those of you who subscribe to my RSS feed: I am re-publishing a few of my older posts in order to change the font and make them consistent with my newer posts. Because of this, you'll probably see some of last year's posts showing up on your reader. I hope this isn't too annoying. The good news is that most of these repeat posts will be seasonal, and perhaps interesting enough to read a second time around. Thanks for your understanding. And thanks for subscribing!

Spring Salad

Sunday, May 13, 2007

This is what I picked from the garden today: arugula, red lettuce, thyme, and flat-leaf parsley. The parsley was sown from seed last fall and it has grown into a gigantic bush. It is so great having our own fresh parsley again. Last year we had so much trouble getting it started from seed for some reason. Now we can hardly keep up with it! I am planning to make a tabbouleh salad with the leaves; Michael is going to use the stems, and the thyme, to make chicken stock.

Flat-leaf Parsley

This evening we ate the lettuces in a simple salad with our dinner. The nutty-peppery flavor of the arugula is incredibly delicious. I think it's my new favorite vegetable from the garden. Sometimes I even like to snack on it while I'm pulling weeds. It is so delicious -- even just by itself.


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Related Post: First dinner in the spring garden (2006)

Bee Balm from Mom

Saturday, May 12, 2007

For the past two years or so, I've been wanting to add a few bee balm plants to my garden. I like their spiky, wild-looking blooms, and they're a favorite treat for hummingbirds and bees. It's been one of my goals to add more pollinator-attracting flowers to the garden, and bee balm is an ideal choice.

But I didn't want just any bee balm for my garden; I wanted a few clippings of my mom's bee balm. She has grown it in her garden for years, and that was where I discovered this plant for the first time.

My mom lives about five hours away by car and it's been a few years now since I've seen her summer garden in full bloom. (It seems we most often make the trip up north during the colder months, e.g, for holidays and birthdays.) In early April, though, I had the chance to visit her. One afternoon I was standing at the window that looks upon her backyard garden, which was still brown and barren from its winter rest.

I said to her, "Mom, I'd really like to have a few of your extra bee balm plants some day. I guess they haven't come up yet, though, huh."

"Oh, they've probably starting coming up by now. Why don't we go out and see?"

So with shovel in one hand and an old pot in the other, she slipped on her shoes and coat and led the way out back. She went right to a familiar place in her garden and started tapping at the still-cold ground with her shovel.

"You see? That's bee balm," she said, pointing to a few small tufts of green that were unrecognizable to me. She then began scooping several pieces into the pot that would sit by my side during that five-hour ride back to Washington.

And so there is my bee balm -- my mom's bee balm. It's in my garden plot and ready to grow into a colorful beacon for pollinators. It'll be a favorite flower for them, for sure, but perhaps even more cherished by me.

Fuzzy Buds

Thursday, May 10, 2007

The garden is brimming with an energy right now. Few things are in full bloom, but so many plants are swelling with buds. The first couple of butterflies have returned. I've seen them flitting about in a frantic pattern, desperately looking for wide-open blooms dripping with sweet nectar. Soon, dear butterflies, soon. There should be something good in the next week or so, and just in time for another round of Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day. This photo is a preview of coming attractions. Can you guess what it is?

Russian Kale in Portuguese Soup

Monday, May 07, 2007

Red Russian Kale

Decisions about which vegetables to grow in my plot are often heavily influenced by the pretty pictures on seed packets. Oh, that looks nice, I'll think to myself, without any thought whatsoever of what I'll actually cook with the vegetable once it grows. Such was the case with Red Russian Kale, a beautiful purple-veined, bluish-green plant.

I sowed the kale seeds late last summer -- a bit too late according to the instructions on the package -- and so I only ended up with a few purple leaves for a salad before the plants went into their dormancy for the winter. But I left them in the ground and a few weeks ago they started growing in earnest again. So I've been wondering, what should I cook with this kale? I wanted to do something more than just sauteing it for a side dish, but I wasn't sure what. In the meantime, those beautiful purple-tinted plants just kept on growing. And now they're starting to bolt.

Mushroom soup inspiration

An answer to this question of kale abundance blew in on the winds of the cooler weather we had this weekend; chillier temperatures put us in the mood for soup. On Saturday night, Michael made the most delicious mushroom soup and that got us thinking about what to do with the kale.

Caldo Verde ("green soup") is a classic Portuguese dish that combines kale with potatoes and sausage. Michael found a recipe in the Savoring Spain & Portugal cookbook, and we adapted it as follows:

Caldo Verde / Green Soup

3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 large onion, chopped
3 medium potatoes, chopped into 1/2 inch pieces
2 cups of chopped kale
2 links of chicken chorizo sausage
4 cups chicken stock
2 Tbs. fresh flat-leaf parsley
Salt and pepper to taste

Flat-leaf parsley from the garden

Saute the chopped onions in olive oil until they're soft. Add minced garlic and potato pieces; cook for a couple minutes and then add the chicken stock. Let this cook for about 20 to 30 minutes, until the potatoes can be broken with a fork. In a separate pan, cook the sausage. (Michael, the head chef on this one, took the sausage out of the casing and cooked it crumbled, but you could also cook whole sausage and cut it into slices). When the potato mixture is cooked, add the sausage bits and heat through. Add the chopped kale and turn off the heat. Season to taste and garnish with fresh parsley. Enjoy it with a good crusty bread!

(Click on the photo for a close-up of tasty morsels!)

Just as we started making this soup, Michael said, "I don't really like kale." So I think he was just playing along because I wanted to have a garden-inspired dish that would be blog-worthy. Two bowls of soup later, as he was sopping up every last little drop with a piece of bread, he said to me, "I like kale."

Green Thumb Sunday

Sunday, May 06, 2007

Onion Rings

This is the first spring I've had onions in the garden, thanks to fellow gardeners Albertino and Juan, who passed along a few of their extras. Right now the plants are swelling with these buds that have water trapped inside. Each little pod looks like a work of art.

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Purple Beans Return

Saturday, May 05, 2007

When I was out at the plot earlier this week, I was surprised and delighted to find that two of my Ruby Moon hyacinth beans had reseeded themselves. On Sunday, I didn't see any evidence of them. On Tuesday, they were fully emerged from the ground and already pushing out their colorful leaves. I think they are so interesting looking, like miniature purple fire-breathing dragons.

Now I have to find a good place to put them. My plot neighbor, Steve, has his tomatoes planted directly on the other side of the fence, and I know these beans, once they grow up to their mature height of about 5 feet tall, are going to block his afternoon sun. He put up with my unruly, sprawling purple bean experiment last year (when I first planted them), but I'm feeling like I shouldn't subject him to it again. I'm trying to practice good plot-iquette.

So I'm going to move these to a different area of the plot. Where? I'm not sure yet, because I already feel like I planted more things than I realistically have room for. The Ruby Moons are staying, though, for sure. So I'd better make a decision about moving them, and soon, because obviously they grow fast.

Miracle-Gro vs. TerraCycle

Thursday, May 03, 2007

Oh, this story angers me to no end. I learned from the ladies at Garden Rant that Miracle-Gro is suing the maker of TerraCycle, an organic liquid fertilizer made from worm castings and packaged in re-used soda bottles. I first read about TerraCycle in the premier issue of Nature's Garden magazine (which, ironically, had a big splashy ad for Miracle-Gro books on the back cover). Nonetheless, I was excited to learn about TerraCycle: the company is run by a young guy who's trying to build a business by re-using as many materials as possible. Even the boxes used for shipping the product are ones that are reclaimed from other businesses.

Is TerraCycle perfect? Probably not. (The best thing one can do is make their own compost -- the real organic fertilizer.) But I at least give the TerraCycle guy credit for trying to build a viable business with a lower environmental impact.

So, Miracle-Gro claims that TerraCycle's green and yellow packaging looks too much like theirs. I guess they don't want the competition to threaten their own organic line of products - which have been advertised all over the place as of late. And while it would seem like Miracle-Gro's organic products are a good thing -- a step in the right direction -- I won't buy them. Why? Because doing so would mean that I'd be lining their pockets with more money to continue making their non-organic products, like their all-in-one plant food and weed preventer. How does that stuff work? I wonder what kind of chemicals it contains. (The Material Safety Data Sheet, which would list information about toxicity, is not currently available for that product on their Web site). Anyway, I won't ever buy Miracle-Gro products -- any of them -- so long as the company endorses Roundup, which is widely used on genetically-modified crops, has been linked to cancer, and kills frogs.

Here's to good ol' fashioned compost.

Gardener's Guide to Global Warming

Wednesday, May 02, 2007

The National Wildlife Federation just released a 40-page report called the Gardener's Guide to Global Warming. It includes lots of tips on things we can do in and around our gardens and homes to give wildlife a better chance of survival -- and keep the air and the environment in general more healthful in the process.

Some of the suggestions are fairly simple things many gardeners do anyway: compost food scraps, use barrels to catch rainwater, plant native species, etc. But there are also suggestions for going deeper: encourage home stores and garden centers to carry (and use!) energy-efficient products, participate in citizen science (e.g., Project BudBurst), and create a green roof. The report also recommends using human-powered garden tools. (Good grief, who thought gas-powered leaf blowers were a good idea anyway?)

Has the threat of global warming prompted you to do anything differently in your garden or yard? If so, what changes have you made?