How Does My Garden Grow?

[ladysprite]

This has been a busy summer - mostly a good one, but definitely a full one, and so I haven't taken much time to talk about my garden yet. But that doesn't mean it's not there, or that I've forgotten it.

If anything, this has been the best year for my garden in a long, long time. We've finally figured out how to grow zucchini in a container, so for the first time since we've moved to the new house I've got actual, edible squash again, instead of just overcrowded stems and a few flowers that succumb to blossom end rot. So there's been zucchini bread, and zucchini-corn panini, and quesadillas, and all sorts of goodness.

Our peas have come and gone, and the first round of green beans is over, but the plants have started flowering again, so soon there will be more. Our peppers are thriving; the trick seems to be starting with slightly older seedlings to compensate for the shorter growing season. The cucumbers, which at the start of the season were so small that I gave up on them, have grown to cover their entire trellis and are producing at almost alarming rates.

After a ridiculously slow start, we just started harvesting broccoli by the pound this week. Eggplants are almost ripe, carrots and potatoes seem to be percolating along happily as far as I can tell from the parts of them that are above ground, and this year's experiments (celery and Brussels sprouts) seem to be keeping up as well.

And the grape vines that we put in last year? The ones that we figured would take a couple of years before anything actually came of them? They've already overgrown the 8-foot-high trellises that umbran put in for them and are moving on to conquer our back deck, and they're covered in grapes. Still green, but growing and thriving, and hopefully they'll ripen before too too long.

The only (minor) hiccup is in our tomatoes. Between one of our Early Girls failing to thrive and the fact that the one seedling I thought was a plum turning out to be just an overgrown cherry, we now have maybe one or two plants of globe tomatoes and four happy, thriving, overproducing-like-crazy cherry tomato plants. Which is great for snacking and salads, but not so ideal for sandwiches, salsa, or sauce.

So - any ideas of what to do with a crazy preponderance of cherry tomatoes?

Comments

[kightp.livejournal.com]

Run the tomatoes through a food processor with a little garlic & basil for a fresh tomato sauce/spread. You can cook it down to reduce the liquid a bit if you want to get fancy.

[mermaidlady]

So - any ideas of what to do with a crazy preponderance of cherry tomatoes?

Yes! From the new issue of Martha Stewart Living:
Halve tomatoes; toss with minces ginger and sugar. Place on a baking sheet, cut sides up. Bake in a 225 oven until dry, but still pliable, 3 to 4 hours. Use to top salads or cooked greens, or eat as a snack.

[guruwench.livejournal.com]

I made this tomato sauce recently with cherry tomatoes, and it is *good*. Here's the recipe: Tomato sauce, ahoy!

Notes: I only used half a tsp of pepper flakes, and to me that was a good bite. I think the full 2 tsp would be fire-breath-inducing. I'd advise using a smaller amount and going from there with future batches. I also didn't add much salt - just the inital bit for the roasting. It didn't need any more.

[dreda.livejournal.com]

You'll need to get some corn, but:

http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2013/08/burst-tomato-galette-with-corn-and-zucchini/

Cherries roast really well, and since this August has been temperate enough that turning on the oven doesn't seem crazy... a little olive oil, a little salt and pepper, and they get blistery caramelized yummy spots all over. Smoosh onto any unsuspecting edible surface.

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

I was about to suggest roasting them too. After roasting they can be pressed through a sieve for sauce or just tossed with oil and cheese and pasta, or...

cherry tomatoes

[wren13.livejournal.com]

I had the same thing happen one year, I found that sauce made with half large tomatoes and half cherries came out just fine. Glad to hear your garden is going so well!
I have the worst time getting my zucchini bread to come out - do you mind sharing your recipe?

*hugs*

[citabria]

Yay on your garden!

Re: cherry tomatoes, I've been using extras for omelettes: cut in half, saute with some salt, add herbs of choice (for me usually basil, though sometimes thyme) and cheese of choice (usually goat or feta), use as filling for omelette. It reheats great the next day, too.

[lisagw.livejournal.com]

I cut them in half, put on toothpicks with a basil leaf and bit of mozzarella for bite size caprese. Can dip in balsamic & olive oil (plus salt and pepper to taste) for a dip. Usually I use these as appetizers with guests. For your own noshing purposes, you can just use them in a mini caprese salad if the toothpicks are too labor intensive for just the one or two of you.

[starcat-jewel.livejournal.com]

Nota bene -- be sure you like roasted tomatoes before putting a large batch of them in the oven! I love tomatoes most of the time, but IMO roasted ones are nasty -- they come that way as side items with a lot of Middle Eastern dishes around here, and I just can't eat them at all. Which annoys me, because I love tomatoes!