2014 Garden So Far...

It has been a bit of a crazy year with the baby, and since she just took her first steps this week, I expect my life is about to get that much crazier! Besides working from home and caring for an almost-one-year-old, I have also been busy with turning an abandoned area of a local elementary school into a school garden. More on that later! But first, here's my own garden this week, looking a bit wild as tomatoes are wont to do in a Sacramento mid-summer!

The biggest breakthrough I had this year was learning to mulch my raised beds with hay instead of straw. See how much stronger and taller the plants on the right are than the others? That's the power of hay, folks! Just keep it thick so it doesn't sprout and you're golden!

Striata di Italia, an heirloom zucchini.

Red Marconi peppers are doing great in pots!

 Trying my hand at Charentais melon in the raised beds this year. So far, no fruit, but many blossoms! 

Same for the butternut squash!

 

I made zucchini pickles using this recipe from the Zuni Cafe. 

The tomato harvest begins, along with many wondrous tomato dishes...

Panzanella

Caprese salad, with basil from the garden too.

I'm grateful for this year's early planting when I read my garden journal from a few years ago and see that this week back then, I still didn't have any ripe tomatoes! I have already dehydrated two bags of sun-dried tomatoes and frozen several bags of diced tomatoes to be used in place of canned tomatoes all year. Bring it on, garden!