I haven’t posted anything about our garden this year, primarily because I always think I will jinx it.
Well, I have to brag so here goes nothing!
Our tiny Red Haven peach tree—loaded.
We picked about five pounds of peaches off this tree last weekend and I made peach marmalade from Rachel Saunders’ Blue Chair Jam Cookbook . It was a two day process but well worth it.
Our first harvest.
Our white peaches are not quite ready yet.
We are hoping they might be ready for eating this weekend.
I planted some zucchini that was meant for containers.
In fact, we grilled one last night—delicious!
It is called Astia and I ordered it from Renee’s Garden. It is a French bush variety, developed for container growing. It grows in a non-rambling, compact squash vines and the vines are ornamental, early bearing and productive. So far, we have harvested three beauties.
The first tomatoes are ready to pick.
There’s nothing better than the first tomatoes! Now if we can just keep the rabbits away from gnawing at them!
Earlier this spring, I ordered a grab bag full of seeds from Sustainable Seed Company. I got a lot of things I would never have ordered but was glad to get. I planted some giant pumpkins, some baby pumpkins, some Casaba and some watermelon. (I took the rest to school for our school garden.)
We just went to the garden and these are doubling by day! This is a Mammoth Gold variety.
Babies. A Jack-Be-Little pumpkin.
The cucumbers are vining up the hoop house but no production yet.
I can’t wait.
And the “vineyard”…
Will we have enough to make wine?
I know it takes 34 pounds to make a case of wine. I don’t think we will have that many, alas.
Finally, our latest project—a bee hive. They are loving the beauty berry bush.
It is really hard to catch a picture of a fast moving busy bee.
I hope I didn’t jinx this and I hope I have more garden posts soon!
Now for the winning portion of this post!
Please check out my winning post. I was so honored that David Kamp, the author of the latest Cook the Books selection, The United States of Arugula, chose my post as the winner. He actually read my blog and even commented on my smoked goat cheese:
Probably the least aesthetically pleasing of the entries, looking, in its final state, like something removed from a patient rushed into emergency surgery after collapsing in abdominal pain. But this was the recipe that I read and thought “Good god, this is something I must try as soon as I am able!”
I am honored! 🙂 Kamp said my goat cheese looked like an un-needed anatomical part! (Tee-hee!)
Seriously, I am laughing out loud right now!
Please check out the rest of the Cook the Books participants.
Congratulations on both a wonderfully productive garden AND a winning post! I only wish my garden was as far along as yours is, but no such luck on the East Coast.
Thanks, Anne. We had a really mild winter and I put tomatoes out super early this year.
Beautiful!
We’re currently working our way through our red globes, our white peaches aren’t ready yet. But that means more peaches later!
Our grapes are ready too!
No veggies though this year. So, I’m SUPER jealous of your veggies! GORGEOUS!
Congratulations on your win–that’s wonderful! That line is absolutely fabulous–the part about abdominal surgery made me laugh out loud. And did I mention that I have garden envy?
Thanks. Really hope I didn’t jinx it all.
[…] Garden Update (and a winning post) !!!!!! […]
I’m so jealous! I don’t even have zucchini yet! But lots and lots of lettuce. A friend gave me 2 nectarine trees from her garden so I have high hopes – for a few years from now. We had peaches at our last house but never so many! Lucky you,,,
I am envious of the nectarines!
Your garden is glorious. And now you are an apiarist! I’m buzzing with envy. Looking forward to more of your delicious posts about your cooking and gardening.
Thank you, Rachel. The Hubs loves his girls (that is what he calls his bees)! I am waiting for our first harvest so we can make some mead!
OMG … Congratulations!
Thanks, , CJ
[…] to be a Peach-palooza! By Eliot, on July 8th, 2012 I recently posted about the early arrival of five pounds of peaches off our tiny, tiny redhaven peach tree. I made a fantastic peach marmalade from that batch […]
[…] first recipe I tried was her “Early Summer Peach Marmalade” with the peaches from our Redhaven peach tree that pleasantly surprised us with five pounds of peaches this year. Thanks to Rachel’s […]
[…] David Kamp is my friend…. By Eliot, on September 2nd, 2012 I was lucky enough in May to win a round at Cooks the Books. We had just read United States of Arugula and posted recipes inspired by David Kamp’s book. Long story short, I based my post on my mortification that I might have gone through life not knowing the pleasures of goat cheese and I featured some truly delicious and divine smoked chevre. (For the original post and recipe, click here. For my winning post announcement, click here.) […]