05 September 2011
summereview
Summer is almost over. It's still warm, but evening light is waning. I'm trying to grow so tired of tomatoes and zucchini that I won't miss them this winter. Here is a summary of my summer, in food (mostly).
Baby eggplant seeds.
Broccoli. (This was about the extent of my broccoli this year. Beautiful plants though!)
Tomato plant, in June.
Tomato plants, in August.
My two bell pepper plants... that only ever grew the tiny pepper that was already on the seedling I bought.
Julienned zucchini pasta with beef bolognese sauce - absolutely divine.
Cherry tomatoes from my garden and lemon cucumbers from a co-workers.
Homemade chicken stock.
My gorgeous flower box, courtesy of mi madre.
Bell. Bella. Bellaboo. Bellatrix.
The Klausmeister. Mister.
Fab quick meal - canned sardines mixed with cooked onion, carrot, an egg, some almond meal and spices - baked for 20 minutes.
$20 worth of produce from the Atwater Village Farmers Market. I've been buying all my produce at the farmers market, eating seasonally, and both my bank account and I love it.
The last of my tomato harvest. I got four bowls of tomatoes from two plants that drank an astonishing amount of water. While it definitely wasn't a financial boon, it was lovely to grow my own tomatoes.
Gladiolas from Trader Joes, and a new location for my desk.
After a summer of trying to grow vegetables, I can attest to the fact that sunlight is everything. Despite plenty of water, my summer plants, with direct sun for only a few hours a day, just didn't take off. The tomatoes were the most bountiful, and that's not saying a lot. My zucchini plants didn't flower enough to get pollinated, my pepper plants never grew any more peppers and my eggplant seeds have grown too slowly. The parsley and chives thrived, until the well-meaning gardener overwatered them (without asking) and drowned the soil. This fall I'm going to try planting lots of lettuce - that's something I hear does wonderfully with shade!