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Wednesday, May 4, 2011

First Friday Giveaway and Life in the Garden

Ooh. Let's do a garden update! I haven't done one of these in awhile! Lol. It's been a little hectic around here. April wasn't really a good month (it's wasn't that bad, but it wasn't that good, either). There were only a few handfuls of days were the sun even shone, and it was cold, windy, and rainy for almost the entire month. My greens didn't make it, but the tomatoes are still holding on, as well as the bell pepper plants and zucchini. Here's a look at the garden:


As you can see. It's pretty damn big! On the left, those small plants that start at the front are tomatoes (celebrities, juilets), followed by an assortment of peppers in the back (hot bananas, long cayennes, poblanos). Behind my boyfriend is six rows of sweet corn and about four rows of green beans. We also planted some cucumbers in mounds after this shot was taken (small picking cucumbers and tasty eating cucumbers). There is also a row of butter beans on the very left, but they're not above the ground yet. To the left of the tomatoes we're going to plant some Roma tomatoes and eggplant.

On the right, you can see a little plastic container in the front. I have a zucchini plant in there. They're a little tempermental, so they have their own little "greenhouse" for now. I have five zucchini plants total. I have a feeling I'm going to be swimming in zucchini... Also on the right, near the font of the garden you can see potato plants. Most of them are covered in a layer of grass to keep the sun off them. And the back has a row of turnips, kohlrabi (usually a fall plant), radishes, butter lettuce, and a dozen rows of onions; mostly green onions and I think some yellow ones.

We haven't even planted the melons and bell peppers yet!

Once this garden starts producing, I'm going to learn how to can as well. I'm looking forward to that! I'm working on all my homesteading skills, lol.

I was also able to take home my first "harvest" of the season! The turnips needing thinning out, so I was able to take home a whole bag full of baby turnip greens, as well as some green onions.



















Beautiful! And since nothing goes better with greens than beans, I made some of that to enjoy for supper that night! I had sauteed greens with garlic and onions and some large butter beans. I'm not gonna lie though, after that picture was taken I doused that plate in hot sauce and more green onions. I'm a fiend for all things onion-y or hot-sauce-like.

Anywho. So that was my garden update! I'm just now starting to get my finals out of the way, so you can except some good ol' fashioned recipe posts soon. I've mostly been eating stir-fries and noodle stuffs because they're quick and easy, although I did make up a batch of my famous Super 'effing Awesome Chocolate Cookies, by request. Oooh! And I discovered the most glorious tofu scramble magic evah! But that's a post in itself! I'm also going to make some Cinco de Mayo deliciousness tomorrow. Since I'm down for all things autentico Mexicano. Luckily, my May issue of Saveur contains some accidently-vegan recipes! 

And one last thing before I bounce out: 
Now that my giveaway has been posted, it is time to begin our First Friday giveaway!

The first book is The Conscious Cook by Hal Ronnen:


In order to qualify to win this book, all you have to do is leave a comment about anything! It could be about cookbooks, gardening, daily life, winning stuff, etc. Just leave a comment! That will get you one entry. To gain another entry you can post an entry about this giveaway on your blog, and then link back to me. To gain a third and fourth entry, you can facebook and/or twitter about it. Since I don't have a facebook or a twitter, I'll just have to take your word for it! Lol. Anywho, the winner will be picked by a random number generator. The deadline to enter is Wednesday, May 11. I know I said it's a "Friday" giveaway, but by making the Friday the midpoint, you get a whole week to remember to enter. :)

The winner will also get some super-awesome, secret, snickety-snacks in their book box! Good luck! Oh, and anyone can enter. You don't have to be a regular reader to get in on this! Have a great afternoon!

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dang girl when you said you were gardening you weren't messing around! Love it.

Whitney

Anonymous said...

I wish I had a garden!

Courtney

Lauren said...

I would love to have a garden! And this book :)

Heather said...

I just found your blog and I'm green with envy over that garden. Of course, since I slaughtered my poor balcony plants it probably wouldn't end well. Oh well, E for effort right? :)

Karla said...

aww..that garden reminds me of Wisconsin. The bay area does not have enough garden space!!

sara said...

congrats on your first harvest! we moved in our new place too late to start a garden this year, but i'm all about having one next year!

Sarah said...

what fun! that is such a large space to garden- impressive!

Carol said...

I am super impressed with the large amount of land you have to garden!

I enjoy reading your blog and the things you are cooking.

Chef Amber Shea said...

I know NOTHING at all about gardening, but I do know that I don't have this book, and I want it! :)

Domestic Diva said...

I'm drooling over your gardening space. That's one downside to city living.

lovelydomesticdiva@gmail.com

Cynthia said...

I'm not gardening but I joined a CSA so I get farm fresh food every week.

sara said...

posted your giveaway on my blog http://busyveganmama.blogspot.com/2011/05/chickpea-piccata-and-happy-mothers-day.html

Sarah said...

I love cookbooks!

Cadry said...

Good luck with your garden! I keep threatening that I'm going to garden this spring, but so far I haven't gotten that far with it. Oh, well, more reason to love the farmers market! :)

Anonymous said...

I have had a chance to try several of the recipes in the book (which were delicious!) and would to own a copy of my own.

Suzie B said...

Your garden puts my little square of dirt to shame :-) Looking forward to reading about the process!

Lenna said...

I wish I had a garden, it would be such a relaxation! But I live in an unpretty block of flats where the nature has hidden away a long time ago:)

Just A Mom said...

I am so jealous of your garden, it is huge. I can only dream of having one of that size! Sure hope the weather improves so you have a plentiful garden this year!
annehoffer at hotmail dot com