Garden Anxiety

Every year I go through this!  We work and clear weeds, repair the irrigation, plant the seeds then wait...  Will my seeds germinate?  Will they survive the gophers, rabbits, slugs?  Will they be fruitfull?  Then I go up there and see that something new has emerged and I rejoice that all our work was not in vain!  Here are a few pics of the most recent arrivals in our garden.

Our Terraced Garden

Ok, so this is part 3 of our series on terraced gardening.  In this post we wanted to show how we have used our terraced garden to plant our community victory garden.  As you have read earlier we have only planted peas, lettuce, arugula, garlic, onions, swiss chard, fava beans and potatoes so far.  Many things have already sprouted! The rest of the plants have been started in a greenhouse and are kept warm at night with a heating pad.  They are doing beautifully and will be ready to put into the ground as early as April (if the weather cooperates)

Here is the link to a drawing of our garden and the plants we are growing http://www.hiddenvalleyspa.com/images/garden2011.jpg.

Sorry about the blurry pics but you get the idea, stuff is growing!

Arugula

Strawberry

Peas

Radishes

So Much Zucchini!!!

Anyone who has grown zucchini knows that once it comes, it comes in mass quantities all at once.  And you can't neglect it otherwise you end up with something that looks like this.

GIGANTIC, MONSTER ZUCCHINI!!!

In case you can't tell, that zucchini is as long as my arm from elbow to fingertip.  And there wasn't just one, there were 6 this size. 

That being said, we have had to get creative with the recipes.  Here is a recipe we've been enjoying for the world's best, super moist zucchini bread.  My friend Daune came up with the recipe and it has been getting eaten as quickly as it is getting baked.  Plus, it freezes well and lasts in the fridge for up to a week.

Ingredients:

6 c AP Flour

2 tsp Salt

2 tsp Baking Soda

2 tsp Baking Powder

2 tsp Cinnamon

1 tsp Nutmeg

1 tsp Allspice

1 tsp Cloves

6 Eggs

1 c Vegetable Oil

1 c Applesauce

2 c White Sugar

2 c Brown Sugar

2 Tbsp Vanilla

6 c Grated Zucchini (with the excess moisture squeezed out)

Directions:

1. preheat oven to 325 degrees

2. Grease and flour a 4"x8" loaf pan

3.Sift dry ingredients together in a large bowl (everything up to the cloves)

4. Beat eggs, oil, apple sauce, vanilla and sugar together

5. Add tthe wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Mix to combine.

6. Add the zucchini and fold to combine.

7. Pour batter into pans (about half way up)

8. Bake 1 hour or until the a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.

This recipe make 3-4 loaves

It took me about 1 hour and 25 minutes to cook 2 loves at once but it was well worth the wait.  Enjoy!!

Garden Update

Here are the current pics of our veggie garden.  As you can see it is doing very well.  Our sunflower has bloomed, we have a ton of baby zucchinis growing, the beans are blossoming and our watermelon is starting to vine.  It's so exciting to see all our seeds grow into such huge plants.  Our hard work is soon to be rewarded with fresh vegetables.