From My Garden to You

Black Eyes Peas - the veggies, not the group ! My Black Eyed Peas have really started to grow like crazy the last week or so. They love the heat here ( unlike us gardeners !) and are really easy to grow. Not only that, they are good for the soil - they fix nitrogen, provide shade for other plants AND you can eat them too ! So...if you would like to know more about them - read on.   Black Eyed Peas growing in my garden - Photo taken June 27th 2017 Black Eyed Peas are also called Cow Peas. They originate from Africa and are grown in many areas around the world. Their name comes from the so-called small black 'eye' where the bean joins to the pod within the shell. Here in the Low Desert, unlike the traditional peas that are planted in the Fall, black-eyed peas are a warm season crop. They do tolerate poor soil much better than most legumes. Planting guides may say plant in March for a crop in early June, however, I have found you...

Another spiralized recipe - a healthy salad So my zucchini are still producing - albeit slowly and now I trying patty pan squash in the spiralizer. This is a very easy salad to make and while I have not grown all of the ingredients, most are from Arizona, so I am supporting local producers, if nothing else !   You can pretty much use any greens of your choice to start with. In this case, I used hydroponically grown lettuce, but I have also used spinach that I purchased at Prescott framers market too. (A good little market to try out on a Saturday morning at Yavapai college.)   I then layered on top the following:   Spiralized patty pan squash (my own) Spiralized cucumber Halved yellow cherry tomatoes (my own) Chopped local figs Toasted AZ pecans Crumbled feta cheese ( Goat Cheese would work too) Chopped basil from the garden.   ( You could also try spiralized carrots, chopped melon and mint, the combinations are many, ...

What’s happening in the garden end of June/beginning of July ? July is a month of hot days and warm nights – how is this any different from June??!! (ha ha) Well, the humidity has increased for a start and fruit production for tomatoes, sweet peppers and summer squash is markedly decreased. My cherry tomatoes are still producing, albeit slowly and the bigger ones have by now either given up the ghost completely or are just ticking along trying to weather the next few months without actually dying ! There is still green growth but it is slow. To be honest, if that is all they are doing, then I am fine with that. All my summer vegetables are mulched with straw to keep the soil and plant roots cool and to try to retain some moisture. You will find that many of your plants - such as squash may be wilting in the afternoon or the hottest parts of the day. If the soil around them is moist, there is no need to water any more. Just wait until it cools down a bit and if the plant p...

    Tomatoes June 2017   So....this is my very first post of this blog and where better to start than Tomatoes !   Here in the low Desert, it may be 108 degrees outside, but the tomatoes are still ripening like crazy. Nothing beats the taste of a freshly picked warm tomato, straight from the garden. It is incredible satisfying to grow the plants from seed, carefully nurture them throughout the spring and then reap the delicious rewards of all that hard work ! Local, organic and delicious, plus the added attraction and fun of growing many varieties that you cannot buy in the supermarket. What more could a gardener ask for ?     Tomatoes picked June 6th 2017     Tomato - Black Krim       Tomato Tip:   What do you do if your tomato fruit develop a hard, brown base ? (the opposite end of the stalk).   This is called Blossom End Rot and is caused by lack of calci...

Malabar Spinach - A heat tolerant Summer Green ( Basella alba) Yes... there is a summer green you can grow in the Low Desert !!   Red Stemmed Malabar Spinach Malabar Spinach is a heat tolerant summer green. It is not really a spinach but actually a type of semi-succulent vine, but the good thing is it grows really well in our Arizona summer. There are 2 kinds - the more popular red stemmed, as well as a green stemmed variety.   Red Stemmed Malabar Spinach - note how the stems are vining up the sunflower stalk. Cultivation: It is native to Asia, the  plant having thick, succulent heart-shaped leaves and white flowers. The red stemmed cultivar "rubra" has thick reddish purple leaf veins and stems and thus is considered to be more ornamental. As the season progresses the flowers give way to purplish-black berry looking fruit. Once the temperatures reach above 90 degrees F, it really starts to ramp up its growing habit, often growing ...

Harvest Pasta Sauce with Spiralized Zucchini Having made the pasta sauce as I described in the previous post, you can now choose to either sieve it or use it as it is. If you do sieve it, that removes the seeds and bits of skin. For sieving, I use the method shown below:- Sieved pasta sauce - all organic, sown, grown and harvested in my own garden. Such a delight to be able to do this I must say ! So now I have the pasta sauce, I can either freeze it or use it in the next day or so. One of the ways I like to use it, is with spiralized zucchini "pasta". The good thing about this, is that the "pasta" is completely carbohydrate free. I just heat up the sauce and then throw in the zucchini "pasta". Turn off the heat, stir the "pasta" into the sauce thoroughly and by the time you get your plate out and serve it, the zucchini "pasta" is cooked. Spiralizer and homegrown zucchini Zucc...

June Harvest Easy Pasta Sauce So by now you will have gathered that I have been harvesting quite a lot of summer fruiting vegetables and I thought I would like to share a very easy recipe for a June Harvest Pasta Sauce. Ingredients A mixture of any of the following vegetables, but I always include an onion - it adds flavor. Onion Summer squash of any kind Tomatoes Peppers Eggplant Olive Oil - about 2-3 tbsp. depending on how many vegetables you are using. Sprigs of Oregano and Thyme, remove leaves from stems. Method Set oven to 375 degrees F Using a large non-stick baking sheet, lay out the chopped veggies. Sprinkle with herb leaves and then pour over with olive oil.       Bake approximately half and hour, stirring once halfway through cooking. Again, this depends on how many vegetables you are cooking. You do not want them to burn, just to be cooked and the onions very slightly caramelized.     Scrape all the vegetabl...

Harvest in the Heat   Believe it or not, all these were harvested yesterday morning. Despite the heat, I am still harvesting from my vegetable garden. As well as tomatoes, there are 3 kinds of squash, peppers and just ready - the first grapes.   It is too hot to really plant anything right now, so hold off for a little while. Now is the time to look at those seed catalogues/websites and decide what you are going to plant in the Fall. Another post will include some suggestions of good low desert seed varieties, so watch this space !      

  Heirloom Tomato Tart photo      

           Tomato Tart Recipe A great way to serve all those heirloom tomatoes !           1 sheet puff pastry, thawed but still cold 2 tbsp olive oil 1 cup ricotta cheese 4 oz crumbled goat cheese 2 large eggs 1/3 cup chopped fresh basil ¼ tsp fresh ground black pepper ¾ tsp coarse salt ¾ lb tomatoes, cored halved and sliced about ¼ - ½ “     Heat oven 425 degrees.   Line large baking sheet with parchment paper.   On lightly floured surface roll pastry to 10’ x 15” and transfer to baking sheet. Score border 1’ from edge all around rectangle, not cutting through the dough all the way. Prick dough inside the border all over with a fork, this allows the border to rise higher than the inner part. Brush inner part all over with 1 tbsp of the oil.   Mix 2 cheese, eggs, basil, ½ tsp salt and the pepper.   Spread this mi...

Hot, Hot, Hot !!! What's a Gardener to do ? Over the next few days, we are going to experience some dangerously high temperatures here in the low desert of Arizona. As I write, it is 109 degrees Fahrenheit outside with 4% humidity. Below is a weather link if you are interested in more details. https://www.google.com/search?q=weather+phoenix&sourceid=ie7&rls=com.microsoft:en-US:IE-SearchBox&ie=&oe=&gws_rd=ssl Tuesday, it is supposed to be 121 degrees Fahrenheit ! Neither I,nor my plants, have experienced anything like this sort of heat before. I am not sure what it is going to do to the tomatoes, but I will definitely let you know.  Watch this space later in the week. In the meantime, watering and any gardening will be done early in the morning, when it is cool(ish), if 80 degrees Fahrenheit can be called cool. In fact it is not necessarily the daytime heat that will kill the plants, but rather the fact that it does not cool off enough at night that ...

How to grow sweet potatoes I have been asked quite a lot recently, what can I plant now ? Well......it is going to be dangerously hot quite soon and honestly, you really shouldn't be planting anything. However, for those of you who are interested. Here's a little bit of information about planting sweet potatoes. It is rather late to be doing this, but if you want to try - I say go for it ! Sweet potatoes grow very well here in the low desert. They need a long warm season to grow to full maturity, not a problem here. It is a fun thing to start them off at home. ( See photos below). Begin by purchasing an organic sweet potato, you don't one that has either been sprayed with pesticides or a chemical to stop them sprouting.   Place the potato in a glass that is half full of water and just put it on the counter in the kitchen or somewhere else in the house that you can keep an eye on it.   You can see that there are little indentations on the surface of t...

Desert Gardening in June So......it is going to be nearly 120 degrees Fahrenheit here soon. Excessive heat warnings abound. What's a gardener to do ? And more importantly, what about your poor plants ??!! Well, apart from trying to stay cool and hydrated, h ere are a few tips to help your garden over the next week or so (and beyond ) ~ Temps are so high and the air so dry that plants simply cannot take up available water fast enough. PM shade helps alleviate this problem. If you have not already done so, use shade cloth to cover fruiting vegetables such as tomatoes and peppers. Wilting is a sign of heat stress.     May not be pretty, but does the job.     ~ Most cacti and succulents benefit from afternoon shade too ( don't we all ). Either cover with shade cloth or if possible, move to a shady or partially shady spot.     Container grown cacti in the shade     ~ Now is not the time to pull out any dead or dying p...

What to do with all those cherry tomatoes ? Arizona gardeners know that cherry tomatoes grow and produce like crazy here. But what to do with them all ? Here is a very easy delicious recipe to try. ( Adapted from the cookbook - Nigella Express) Slow Roasted Cherry Tomatoes You will need as many cherry tomatoes as you like, olive oil, salt, sugar, basil leaves. Set oven to 400 degrees F.   Choose tomatoes.   Half tomatoes and lay on baking sheet     Sprinkle with about 1tbsp sugar and a good grinding of salt. Drizzle over Olive oil and scatter with basil leaves.   Put tray in oven. Turn oven off. Do not open oven until cold. Remove. ( you can do this in the evening, leave it, then go to bed. It will be ready for you in the morning)     Scrape tomatoes, olive oil and all the lovely crunchy caramelized bits onto fresh crusty bread. Top with mozzarella cheese, balsamic vinegar and fresh basil. Delici...