A lot has happened in the garden since the last post in July.  We are now at the beginning of September and the air is already starting to feel like fall. What a strange summer it has been here in Chicago and I’m assuming in most places.  It has been unseasonably cool with about a scattered week of actually hot days through out summer. Despite it feeling like an unusual summer, we have been really lucky to have a lot of rain and enough sun to keep our garden productive and happy. So, Here is an update of the progress:

We’ll start with the peppers because there are so many types and so many peppers growing! Our habeneros started forming around the beginning of July; they seemed to reach full size towards then end of the month and while it seemed time for them to turn orange it took longer than I expected.  It wasn’t until mid August when the first few started to change and by now we have already picked 5 peppers and it won’t be long before the next. The other night we made a fresh salsa and a roasted pepper sauce to top our chiles rellenos all using the heat of our home grown habeneros. For such a cute little pepper it sure does create an intense heat, you definitely need to use these sparingly.  The plant itself is short and squat the peppers are near an inch large and turn into a beautiful bright orange, but the heat might be the most impressive part of all.

Next, we have ancho peppers as labeled when we purchased the sprouts, they are also known as poblano peppers which are traditionally used to make chiles rellenos. I didn’t realize these two peppers were the same until I Wikipedia’d them and found out that “ancho” usually refers to dried pablanos. Anyway, we have already eaten a few of our anchos so far in our gourstada. They were definitely the largest of the peppers on our porch but not as large as we are use to seeing them at the market. We decided to cut them because the the plant was not creating any new peppers and it seemed to have a difficult time supporting the weight.  Since the first harvest a few more peppers are off to a great start and we’re hoping to grow them even larger than the first batch- hoping for 5-6 inches. We will see!

Last of the pepper updates is on our red chilies which are planted in a large pot along with jalapenos.  This pot of peppers was the first to fruit.  We started seeing peppers at the very beginning of July.  When I planted the sprouts I remember doing it in a specific way- one row of 3 jalapenos in the center and 2 red chilies on each side of that row.  Once the peppers began to grow I was no longer sure how I planted them; it was very confusing because all of the peppers were seemingly the same! I would see peppers that seemed to resemble a jalapeno, dark green and a bit round at the bottom and then would see others that seemed to resemble chilies- thinner and a bit more pointy, but there was no consistency from plant to plant. All the same color growing from plants that looked alike. As they would grow they would seem even more similar and because of this I felt more confused- I had planted them specifically in such a way that I would know which was which.  In the past when I have grown red chilies, in a smaller pot, they would start off as a slightly lighter green and have a distinct chili shape.  They also took less time to turn red.  Judging from the limited experience under my belt I began to lose hope in that they were actually “red chilies.” I started to assume that they must have been mislabeled and came to terms with it. Whatever the case, this pot bears over thirty peppers (jalapenos and chilies together) ready to eat at any moment.

After going a way for the third week of August we came home to find that our chilies were beginning to turn red! Yessss! And, to make it even more exciting, the first two peppers to turn red were the first two to start growing in the garden- I know this because one of them had a particular mark and an odd shape- within a week a few more turned red justifying my original planting method! Mystery solved, we picked our first 4 chilies earlier today and made my favorite soup Arhar Dal using them- look forward to the recipe this fall!

I’ll make a quick mention of the serrano peppers, I barely have any photos of them for some reason, they seem to get lost among all of the other peppers in the garden. They’ve been growing well throughout the summer but we have not eaten any yet! I’m thinking they’ll have to have a special meal revolved around the first ones we pick.

Let’s breeze by possibly the saddest part of our garden- the cucumber(s). I almost didn’t mention them at all but once I saw the lone stunted cucumber emerge from the vine I thought- how the hell did that happen?- I figure I should mention them too, even if pathetic. I love cucumbers and before planting them I imagined a healthy row of cucumber vines wrapped around the porch rails, and maybe we would even get some food from them. They are planted in 18in wooden cube along with mint. Cucumber & mint, it’s obvious they would go together.  The 2 types of mint were quick to get comfortable extending their roots in all directions.  The cucumbers however never got comfortable at all. The entire time we’ve had them they looked somewhat alive but never healthy. It’s only promise is the one cucumber that is hanging on by a strand, still slowly growing.  I think these sprouts were not doing well to begin with and once the mints took off they hogged the nutrients and the light making it even more difficult for the cucumbers to survive. But, it’s not quite over yet, there is still an ounce of life left but I don’t expect you’ll hear about them from me again.

The cherry tomatoes have been mentioned a few times; throughout August we have been eating them, more and more appear each week and they’re still coming.  I sense the plant will be winding down for the season soon, but I expect we’ll see a more tomatoes for a while.

Another unexpected surprise appeared when we returned from our vacation.  One giant strawberry (image taken on August 23rd). The last time we saw strawberries in our garden was towards the end of June and I assumed that would be it for the year and put the pot off to the side but continued to water it. By mid July the plant was sending out new vines reaching for the ground in order to sprout more plants. Towards the end of July a few new flowers appeared and by the end of August we received this beautiful strawberry, the largest of the year! 2 days later the strawberry was bright red, for some reason it had gone unnoticed by the squirrel who lives upstairs and is known for meddling in our plants. Because it was a cold and rainy day I decide that I would photograph and pick it the next morning… but by then it was gone.  I should have learned my lesson the first time around and pick it immediately when ripe! Perhaps there will be another this fall.

The brussels sprouts are showing some progress.  They are not drastically taller, but the stalks are getting a little thicker and the tiny sprouts are getting bigger every week.  Joe does not notice the change and worries we will not get sprouts this year,  but I am confident that they are eventually going to give us some food even if they’re smaller than we’re use to.

Last, an update of our herbs- mint, sage, lady lavender, thyme, french lavender, and basil.  We have been able to use fresh herbs all summer so far and I’ll mention that we have saved a lot of money because of it.  I absolutely love basil but I will often choose to not buy it at the store in order to save some money; we bought a our basil plant for $2.99 and have used it in 2-4 meals a week for the past 2 months. I’m interested in continuing the herb garden inside for the winter.

Gourstada, as in gourmet tostada.

Tostadas have to be one of the easiest and quickest meal or snack to make.  We make some sort of variation of a tostada meal at the very least once a week. Whether it’s our huevos rancheros, a simple bean and cheese, or loaded with random delicious it always proves to satisfy.

On this tostada we used almost all home grown vegetables! Starting from the top- straight from the garden, 3 anchos, a handful of cherry tomatoes, and fresh basil were combined with balsamic vinegar and salt to make a fresh Italian inspired salad. Just beneath baby bella mushrooms sauteed in plum sauce with home grown kale. Below that are black beans warmed with fresh jalapeno from… you guessed it, our garden!  And of course at the base of it all are El Ranchero’s tostadas.

Ingredients : cherry tomatoes, basil, ancho, balsamic vinegar, kosher salt, baby bellas, kale, plum sauce, black beans, jalapenos, El Ranchero tostadas, mozzarella, and cheddar cheese.

At the base of most our our tostadas we use some sort of bean, in this one we used black beans- no, we did not grow them. However the jalapenos were fresh cut from the pot, our first actual harvest of peppers all year! We may have picked these jalapenos a little soon, but they have been growing for quite a while & we just wanted to try them. There are plenty more where they came from; our jalapeno & “red” chili pepper pot is growing like crazy. So many peppers to go. Now, if only these supposed red chilis would turn red. Back to the black beans and jalapenos- drain black beans and simmer on low heat with diced jalapenos while you prepare the rest of the meal.

Next prepare your salad for the top.  We used all the red cherry tomatoes from our garden, which was about ten and an additional handful from our organic produce delivery. They were chopped in quarters from the top making small wedges, a perfect bite size for this dish.

3 anchos were hollowed out, sliced in thin rings and then halved. They were the largest of our peppers so far, although they probably would have grown a little bigger; we felt it was time to cut them down as the slender stems could barely hold them up anymore and were not producing any more flowers. They were perfect for this meal though, very crisp and had a nice mild spice to them.  The basil was sliced into thin strips as well. All ingredients were combined and tossed with some balsamic vinegar and kosher salt to taste.  Set aside and refrigerate until serving time.

The last step in preparation for this meal is the mushroom kale layer.  First chop kale into small pieces.  Remove the stem from the center and slice or tear the leaf into small bits.  Set aside and slice the mushrooms, in a large frying pan heat up a 2-3 tablespoons of plum sauce and a splash of olive oil, sautee mushrooms coating them with the plum sauce flavoring.  Toss in kale and saute a bit more. Once they are done cooking it’s time to plate your tostada.  Remove from heat and get ready to assemble your meal.

Joe and I made 4 tostadas, 2 each and it was the absolute perfect amount.  We were both completely full but not even a little bit over stuffed!

To assemble : lay El Ranchero tostadas on the plate, add beans and jalapenos, sprinkle with cheese if desired- we used a mixture of shredded cheddar and mozzarella because that’s what we had. Next make a layer of the mushroom and kale with plum sauce and top it off with your fresh ancho, basil, and tomato salad.

Generally we think of tostadas as being a mexican flavored dish, we still used a lot of the same traditional ingedients (beans, corn tostada, tomatoes, and jalapenos) but introduced some completely different flavors to the dish as well. I really enjoyed this combination because the bottom layer of beans was a bit spicy and totally cooked, the middle layer was cooked a bit but still somewhat fresh with sweetness of the plum sauce, and the top layer of salad was also a bit spicy and flavored with basil but very fresh. It’s an odd mix of flavors but they all add something interesting to the dish and complement each other quite nicely.

Our cherry tomatoes are finally turning red! The other day we made our first salad using them- I have to say, fresh picked cherry tomatoes are oh so delicious and satisfying; I’m already anticipating the next ripe bunch any day now. This salad was thrown together with a mix of our usual produce, offerings from our organic produce box and some wonderful from our garden. Just thought I’d share the idea with you, it’s always nice to have salad inspiration- mmmm vegetables!

ingredients :: red leaf lettuce, raspberries, cherry tomatoes, olives, cheddar cheese, 1 baby ancho, pine nuts, basil, hard boiled egg, mustard seed dressing.

The preparation of this meal is pretty obvious, chop vegetables as necessary and combine.  The basil in our garden is now growing well and we have been able to use it a couple times a week with out depleting it completely.  One of our plants started off slowly and seemed to be struggling so we repotted it, changed it’s location, and trimmed it down. Now, it’s growing really well. Another basil plant started off full and healthy, once we started to chop stems from it we found it wasn’t growing back; we started to pick just the larger leaves from the top so that new growth could move in and it seems to be working out right. New leaves keep appearing and the plant is now becoming more stable.

Our ancho peppers, also known as pablano peppers, are probably the most impressive peppers growing in the garden right now because they are getting so big. We have three fairly large ones that seem to be taking over the plant and weighing it down.  We’re going to pick them to eat tomorrow and hopefully the plants will continue to produce.  The one we used for this salad was tiny and fell prematurely- but we decided to use it anyway.  Although it was very small it still tasted nice. Anchos are a fairly mild pepper, this one smelled like it might be spicy but didn’t really offer any heat.  We just sliced it as a topper for fun.

The cherry tomatoes are doing well, the whole pot of plants is filled with green, orange and red fruits.  We only had a handful this time around but it was definitely enough to brighten up this salad.  They were near perfect!

We used a red leaf lettuce as the base of our salad, raspberries from our fresh produce delivery last week, and pine nuts.

Green olives are always a nice addition to a salad, I don’t always like to use dressing- if I do, I take it on the side.  Olives and fresh herbs usually add enough extra flavor on their own for me.  And last, cheddar cheese and a hard boiled egg for some extra protein. We have a little egg slicer which is perfect for slicing uniform rounds for a salad. I also like to quarter them or halve them as well- any way will be good!

The dressing on the side is one we have been preparing an awful lot these days.  It originated from our raw kale salad, and now that we’ve made it several times it’s an easy one to whip up and modify quickly.  This time we added some crushed red pepper to spice it up.

During the last week of July our cherry tomatoes have decided to start turning red. It seems to take about a week or so for them to fully change.  So far we have had about 6 red cherry tomatoes 4 of which split ;(shown in the last image).  I think it’s off to a slower start than ideal because we are only getting one or two red ones at a time; we have been holding off on picking them because we want to have enough to use in a meal, or at least more than one.  But by the time they turn to a really nice red, we get split cherries instead of them being perfect like they seemed the day before.

These images were taken on July 22nd, 25th, & 27th.

After doing a little research about cherry tomatoes and why they might split, I found out that it has to do with how they are watered! Often tomatoes will split if watered too much or if they are watered irregularly.  For example, if the plant’s dirt was pretty dry and then got hit by a heavy rain, there’s a good chance that the fruit will split, or if we allowed the pot to get too dry and then over compensate by watering it too much they will most likely split- this is probably the problem. Luckily we’re figuring this out now so we can attempt to prevent it going forward. I think we’re learning our lesson; we’ll need to pay better attention to how much they are watered and when. Also, we are going to pick them when they are ready, not when we have a bunch to pick at once.

On May 17th 2009 our potted garden was born.  Planting on the porch is something I always look forward to, it happens every year but this time we have decided to plant with a focus on food.  The majority of our plants are growing and cared for with the intention to eat.  We started all of the plants from greenhouse sprouts and we used over 300 pounds of dirt & peat!  Most of our pots are ceramic or terracotta, but we also have 2 larger wood pots built by my dad for our tomatoes, cucumbers, and mint. So far we have seen a lot of progress in just a couple of months and I couldn’t be more excited about it. Here is a set of photos to introduce what we are growing in summer of 2009 (fair warning- it’s a long post); to start off we have some basic shots of when the garden was being planted going through the evolution of the porch. Stay tuned for the details of what is here…

We are growing five types of peppers: jalapeño, red chili, serrano, habenero, & ancho.  Every plant has several peppers already; none are ready to be picked, but it’s clear that we will be eating a lot of peppers this year! It’s so much fun to watch the flowers bloom, the petals fall, and the peppers emerge into something we certainly can use.  Can’t wait until our red chilies and habeneros begin to change color.

The strawberry patch, or rather the one pot of strawberries we have, were the first to travel through their fruit cycle in this garden. It was possibly the most exciting one as well! It took several weeks for the flowers to form into strawberries.  The small fruits were so beautiful they looked plastic and fake! Over the course of a few days they turned from green to white to the most stunning fleck of red in the yard.  How did they taste?!!! Ask the squirrels! Sadly they got to them before we did ;( and with the storms of Chicago the rest was history, our plant will now remain fruitless until next year.

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Brussels sprouts.  A lot of people don’t like them but we happen to love them, so we thought we would try growing them.  If you haven’t seen a stalk of Brussels sprouts before take a look at this post on 101 Cookbooks.  I’m impressed.  They started off as a couple of scant leaves protruding from the dirt and quickly bloomed quadrupling in size in only a couple of weeks!  At this point we aren’t seeing any drastic growth- probably because they are a bit crowded with four in the pot. We can see on the stalk that there are tiny sprouts forming and keep our fingers crossed that they will continue to grow.

The cherry tomatoes are planted in a long wooden crate like planter (thanks dad).  There were 8 sprouts to start with plenty of room.  However, “plenty of room” quickly turned into a huge leafy burst out of the planter.  These plants are luckily separated from the rest because they have aphids. Yikes. But these little bugs have not stopped the plants from growing; we give them weekly soap baths to keep the bugs down but can’t seem to keep them out for good. Anyone have a winning plan to defeat these little guys? Lady bugs? Anyway, with or without aphids our tomatoes are flourishing, everyday there are new flowers and new tomatoes showing up. Tons of green just waiting to turn red- squirrels, we will not let you get a hold of these babies!

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Kale! As you already know we love kale. Naturally we had to include it in our garden. It started off rather small and is now about ready to eat. We’ll let you know how the first harvest goes…

There’s more! We also have 2 types of lavender, 2 types of basil, sage, thyme, mint, cucumbers and several other plants that are better left uneaten…  So far we have been able to use a few of the herbs in meals and drinks. Mojitos are a popular drink at this house and with the way our mint has been growing it seems that we will keep a healthy supply at the tips of our fingers. Basil and thyme have already been used a few times as well, details to come.

After a long scroll down the page you’ve made it to the end of the first look into our garden.  There will be more to show in the coming months that will include recipes.