A Weed by Any Other Name

Friday, July 21st, 2012

weed¹    [weed] noun

1.

a valueless plant growing wild, especially one that grows on cultivated ground to the exclusion or injury of the desired crop.

2.

any undesirable or troublesome plant, especially one that grows profusely where it is not wanted: The vacant lot was covered with weeds.

And yet…sometimes they are quite beautiful, as with the Morning Glory, or Field Bindweed (Convolvulus arvensis), pictured above. Beautiful…and deadly, in the sense that they will choke the life out of your precious little sprouts and seedlings without a second thought.

Ah, nature.

Zucchini for Days

Sunday, July 15th, 2012

…plus crookneck squash, cilantro, red and white chard, young serrano peppers (not as hot as their mature counterparts), anaheim peppers, onion greens, and a single green bean.

What a harvest!

The cilantro is starting to bolt–see the little flowers? That means it needs to be harvested and consumed ASAP, before it goes to seed. Some of the chard is trying to bolt, as well, possibly due to the hot dry spell we “enjoyed” a week or so ago.

This current mild and cloudy weather, however, is perfect for gardening.

Look for upcoming posts on what to do with all the zucchini!

-SC

Zucchini Pasta Salad and Halibut, Two Ways

Friday, July 13th, 2012

Okay, so it looks a teeny bit sloppy here. These were the left-overs, which I guess would be the 3rd way to enjoy zucchini fresh from the garden.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Have you noticed it’s hot as all get out? I’m sure you have. Especially at night, right? Hot enough that I want cold things for dinner.

Cold things like pasta salad and cold cooked halibut. The pasta salad has quinoa pasta, roasted zucchini and yellow squash, edamame, avocado, fresh cilantro, vegenaise, lime, and of course salt and pepper. The halibut is cooked in foil with lime juice and salsa.

Easy enough right? And it comes together quickly, like this:

Growing Up

Monday, July 2nd, 2012

Our garden looks like this now!!! So organized, and with room to grow. For a better frame of reference, you can look back to when it looked like this.

We’ve come a long way, baby.

-SC

On Our Shelves: Teaming with Microbes

Hey, everyone. I thought I’d post about one of my favorite gardening books, Teaming with Microbes by Jeff Lowenfels and Wayne Lewis. If you like biology at all (and you probably do if you’re a gardener…), this book will really …