What’s Going On In My Garden – August 2011
Not nearly enough is happening in my vegetable garden to satisfy my Inner Perfectionist. He’s shouting so loudly it’s drowning out my Inner Cheerleader. I’ve been out of town three of the last four weeks, which hasn’t helped. Surveying my small inner city farm I see tired and sun-blanched kale; epazote, bulbous fennel, and mint gone to rack and ruin, one pathetic overgrown tomato good only for tomato transplants per Jean Fefer, one lonely okra pod; one stunted eggplant with a single two-inch eggplant attached; stunted lemon balm, large patches of bare dirt, and brown-tipped Mexican coriander commiserating with nearby chicory.
Vegetables that mercifully look okay but are not producing are: zucchini, cucumber, Stewart’s speckled butter peas, radish, and cantaloupe. What seems to be happy and producing are sweet potatoes, nontuberous sweet potato vines, asparagus (long) beans, Lamb’s quarter (lookin’ good), rosemary, lavender, some basil, and giant zinnias. And the winner is: ZINNIAS! They are the most productive thing in my garden right now. Too bad they’re not edible. But I figure I’m saving money we would normally spend on flowers and the saved money can be applied to food purchases.
I made soup this morning as I lamented the lack of produce from my garden. I used one can of lentil tomato vegan soup to give the soup a flavorful base. I added chopped wrinkled red tomatoes from harvest of green tomatoes a month ago. They’re dry but they taste good. I selected a few modest onions from my bowl of tangled onion tops. I remembered to choose one medium sweet potato from last winter’s harvest. I debated adding some cubed eggplant from my garden, but the last one I tried was terribly bitter. I decided to salt, blot, and cook the eggplant separately and taste it before adding to the soup. I tasted the cooked eggplant and the verdict was: YUK! Nasty. I composted the cooked eggplant. I added about 3/4 cup home grown and frozen kale. I added a few spices (masala garam). Voila! I amazed myself at how much of this soup is from my garden despite the reality that not much is producing. My Inner Cheerleader is giving me a high five.
