garden update

Ok well I got yelled at this weekend because I haven't blogged in a long time. Truth be told, I've just been focusing on trying to go through and haven't had the time for my garden inspections and whatnot. Plus I'm working on writing a novel also and so that takes up a lot of my "write-y" time.

So the garden has gotten pretty messy. Mostly because I never got any mulch to lay between the beds. I've decided to pull up all the rotted cardboard and stuff in between the beds and just start having Tommy mow between them. At least it won't look as crazy with tall grasses and stuff.

It's almost time to pull the garlic. Yesterday I pulled a couple heads that had died back completely and I was very excited to see full-size heads :) I've pulled a couple here and there to use and they were pretty small so this was nice. This weekend I was at the property and pulled up the 3 heads of garlic that grew (from the 5 I'd planted) and they were pretty small. My mom said that our neighbors who also planted garlic ended up with fairly small heads too.

My cabbages and broccolis are growing like nuts but nothing forming on them yet. The pumpkins have blooms forming, and I think the one melon that didn't get eaten by the slugs has some on it too. I'm not sure if they need to cross-pollinate, but I hope I get at least one melon out of it :)

I've got some peppers and tomatoes forming, and a couple cute little tomatillos. Some of the onions are bulbing up nicely. My basil is slowly plugging along, not growing as fast as I'd hoped.

We've had a couple harvests of a couple strawberries. They are so delicious when homegrown! Incredibly sweeter and more flavor. Eleora likes to take them from the plant when they are barely ripening, though, so it's kind of a race to see who gets them first.

Peas are producing, which is fun. I've showed Eleora what they look like so she is having fun looking through the mess of vines for the pods. The beans are coming along nicely and will probably start blooming in the near future. I still need to plant more carrots, never did the succession planting that I'd planned and so I only have 2 squares of them right now. Gave up on radishes which is fine, we burned out on them anyway :)

OH and the nasturtiums I planted, one has a bloom. The most beautiful deep rich bright red I've ever seen in a flower. I think they are called "Empress." I'll have to take a picture of that one... absolutely gorgeous. Oh, and the cucumbers also have blooms and I have a few cute little ones forming :)

Hummus

Just made this yesterday and it's fantastic! I'm kinda excited to see all the new uses I'm gonna find for this stuff. Made with fresh garlic from my garden, of course.

1 can garbanzo beans, drained and liquid reserved
3 tbs tahini
3/4 cups reserved bean liquid
3 tbs lemon juice
1/2 tbs olive oil
2 cloves garlic
1/2 tsp salt
pinch cumin
pinch black pepper
1/4 tsp mediterranean seasoning (I have a gyros spice mix I bought in Germany to use for this)

Throw it in a blender and blend till creamy. You can use more or less liquid from the beans to make it the consistency you like. 3/4 was what I used which is about the minimum that my blender liked, I used Tommy's magic bullet blender.

So good... great with triscuits, veggies, and I'm thinking if I made a runnier one it would make a good pizza sauce... lots of good fats and healthy protein in this stuff, especially when eaten with a whole grain cracker or pita.

And it's CHEAP!