My Garden / Recipes

In the Northeast, we use Mother’s Day as the official opening for our gardening season. For those of us who want to get a jump on growing, starting seedlings a month or two in advance is a way of life.

Before I can plant these outdoors, I’ll start hardening them off by putting them outside in a sheltered sunny spot for a few hours a day. That will help lessen the transplant shock.

Then I’ll direct seed the rest of … Read More

Next to growing garlic, potatoes come in as a 2nd favorite on my list of most fun and rewarding things to grow. And they taste so much better than store-bought.

The other great thing about potatoes is that you can harvest them over a few months. So when I’m looking for stuff to throw together for dinner, I can go out, dig up a few, grab whatever else is ripe, and have a delicious vegetarian meal in no time at … Read More

More than the economy is falling on hard times these days. A potentially huge problem is looming for gardeners and food growers everywhere.

I just had a friend share with me that, in her area, zucchinis aren’t setting full fruits. So I checked my plants and , lo and behold, found some developmentally challenged zukes in my own garden. Confirmed in newspapers and online sources, many zucchini and squash plants are setting miniature or quickly rotting fruits.

The reason? The … Read More

With all the anticipation of getting ready for my gardening season, I’ve been cooking up a storm testing new recipes.  Cait is always very happy when this happens.  As she was munching and I was preparing, we got to talking about favorite childhood tastes.  For me, hands down, it’s my mother’s Orange Salad recipe.  It’s so simple and refreshing.

Orange Salad Recipe

1. Peel skin off several oranges, leaving a fair amount of pith (the white inner skin).
2. Slice and cut

It’s that time of year; hard frosts herald the end of my gardening year.  As I work to put my garden to bed until next spring, it’s a good time to take stock of the growing season. This year, with summer weather more typical of Ireland than upstate NY, and less time available for gardening chores than I like, my garden was more under Mother Nature’s charge than mine. The results were mixed.

As I review the different veggies that … Read More

I’ve been growing my own garlic for about 15 years — all from my own bulbs that I harvest from year to year.  I don’t remember what possessed me to order my first bulbs from Seeds of Change way back when.

After all, garlic seems a slightly peculiar item to grow when they’re so plentiful and cheap at the grocery store. And even more peculiar to fall in love with. I’m not ashamed to admit it. I get a bigger … Read More

For the tenth time, Andrew opened the refrigerator, hoping that something “good” would magically materialize. For the tenth time, when no miracle occurred and the exact same food stared back at him, he finally exclaimed, “Is it me, or is there only weird stuff in here?”

Because I hate grocery shopping even more than I hate cleaning toilets, I’ve been known to prolong going to the store for as long as is humanly possible, or until no one can stand … Read More

— To cook up all this zucchini. This is one week’s worth.

You’ve seen Monster Trucks. How about Monster Zucchinis?

Actually, it’s just one of my seed zucchinis from which I’ll save seeds for next year’s crop.

I’ve shared two of my favorite zucchini recipes here.

This is another family favorite.