An entirely local dinner.

OK, been busy lately, and that means I forget or procrastinate on the blog. This was a few weeks ago.

Dinner was:

Fresh made bruschetta with heirloom tomatoes, and onions from the garden. A little sea salt, fresh basil and oregano, and garlic for seasoning.

That went on top of a baguette that was locally made (although not with local flour) at the Dekalb Farmer's Market. I also picked up fresh made pasta there.

On the side were summer squash that were breaded and baked and a homemade pesto made with that garden basil for the pasta.

Garden Harvest this Evening

I just picked a gallon of snap beans (mixture of green, yellow, and purple), half a gallon of snow peas (4th harvest), and the first yellow squash. I also pulled an onion, and I would venture to say that they are about half grown.

YUM!

My wife is making dinner, of which I am told beans are a key player. I still need to take the shells off of the snow peas, as these are a little past their prime, being as it is getting way too hot for them.

Coming soon: What to do when you pick 10 pounds of cherries at the orchard...

Big Updates (It's been a while, sorry!)

Update 1:

I caught a varmint in the basement. It was a small female rat who now lives a mile away in a forest-y creek. She no longer eats my plants. My picture did not come out. However, Little Ms Bandit seems to have had a companion. I had the no-kill trap to hopefully catch them, but alas, he (or she) decided that the rat poison looked good, and ate about 6-8 packs of poison. I am sure Little Ms Bandit's partner in crime (the crime being eating my seedlings) is no longer around, but several traps are set to hopefully catch any more critters who eat my pepper plants, flowers, and tomatoes.

While in the pursuit of Bandit, I put clear plastic around the planters of seedlings, making them small greenhouses. Upside: Bandit didn't eat my sprouting tomatoes. Downside: A little bit of white mold growing on the newspaper pots...

Real upside: A lot of baby plants which will hopefully grow quickly so I can put them outside in the garden in a few weeks. I've brought the largest ones inside to get sunlight in the south-side window and stay away from the critters.

Yay, tomatoes growing... it makes me happy.

Update Number 2.

I've began planting things in the garden. I bought a bunch of red onions and sweet onions to plant (a brown lunch bag full) for $2. They are outlining the major perimeter of the garden, in three rows. I have moved the scallions outside to the garden, and planted some more scallion seeds with the row. I've also planted some carrot seed, radish seed, and flax seed. YUM!

The onions, which I planted a few weeks ago are thriving. I saw one that was starting to sprout out of the ground, and so I went to re-plant it this morning (I may have missed it the first time). The roots were over 3 inches long!

Update 3: Berries!

A colleague of mine moved to Chile last year and gave me raspberry and blackberry plants. He told me to keep them outside in pots/ inside with the grow light until spring. I did, and I planted them outside. The raspberries are doing well. The blackberries aren't far behind.

Also, I planted that strawberry pot I blogged about before with those strawberries I got at Lowes or Home Depot. The berries are all doing well, except for one little plant. It should be ok - strawberries spread a lot.

Oh, right - strawberry pots are difficult to maintain because of multiple holes in the side, and it is so deep that it can be hard to water. The solution is to put a PVC pipe, that you drill a lot of holes into the side of, in the middle, and fill it with rocks. The result is a watering tube to keep the center moist.

Update 4 (Random leftover stuff):

I got compost for the whole garden. It is between 1 and two inches thick and at least the onions love it thus far.

The neighbors trimmed their rosemary. I took some trimmings and dried it, and made some of Urbanbreadmachine's Famous Rosemary Bread, and stuck some of the trimmings in some dirt, and they seem to still be alive.

Lastly, the peas sprouted. They are all growing quickly and starting to cling to the trellises. Yay! (And you can also see the blackberries (left) and raspberries (right) in this photo.

That's all for now. I'll try to post a picture of the onions (and my new design for a tomato cage) tomorrow.

Onions and a "heat wave"

This is more like a typical Atlanta winter right now. It was almost 60F today. Gorgeous, clear skies, and it looks like the overnight lows will not drop below freezing for a few days. We're expecting rain, so with the beautiful day I decided to try to harvest a few of the onions that didn't look as great in the garden.

I planted some sweet onions and some purple onions last year. They outlined the entire growing area, as many garden pests hate the smell of onion so much they will run the other way (and except for a few pesky chipmunks, that seemed to work pretty well). A few of the red onions came back after they were harvested, and I dug those up today. If you've ever wondered what exactly is meant by the ground being frozen, I think I can sum it up...

Those are little ice crystals on the onion and in the dirt. The fall onions I planted in October haven't grown much, so I put some fertilizer on them and I'm hoping for a bit more growth before the major planting season coming up in about 2 months.

I think I'll freeze the onions I did pick, maybe use them in a cup of soup next week. We'll see.

If you want to know how to freeze onions, it is simple. Cut them into small chunks, place on tray. Put tray in the freezer. Wait a while. Put onions in freezer bags and use as needed. They are typically good for about 6 months. And hey - I might as well freeze them, they are frozen already!

I placed the order from "Garden's Alive" that I was thinking about last post. I just got it today! I received a pack of insect repellent. It looks like it will be enough for several applications. This is good because I had such a problem last year with bugs eating my squash plants. I also have packets of seeds for scallions and German Tomatoes. We'll see how I do with the scallions. I haven't had much luck with onions yet. I am looking forward to a new variety of tomatoes this year.

I think that is about all I have to say for now. Cheers!

Snow and Rosemary...

It snowed in Atlanta! That statement doesn't get said enough. Granted, it was about a half inch of snow, and because of the lack of snow handling equipment, the city is essentially shut down today. (I had been out of town, so I am happy I made it back right as the snow was starting, and not after all the ice.)

Anyways, my wife is making bread with a breadmaker a lot now (her new years resolution) and made a delicious rosemary loaf last week. The cool weather onions and rosemary are all that are alive right now, and the bread is so good, we may eat all of the rosemary plant before it is able to grow larger and recover.

The point of the matter is that even now when it is below freezing and there is snow covering everything, I am happy that I can go outside, pick rosemary, and about 3 hours later, there is a wonderful, delicious loaf of rosemary bread for us to enjoy a local grown fresh spice.

Rosemary Loaf

Those poor onions... we'll see how they do.