I can haz garden?!

[MorningGlow]

Wow, we have edibles--some of last night's dinner came from my first garden!

Zucchini (stir-fried with onions and garlic) for me, a fresh jalapeno for Mr. MG's burger.

:thumbsup: on the zucchini (yeah, I know it's kind of hard to screw up growing zucchini, but still :D), but Mr. MG said the jalapeno didn't even rate on any hotness scale. Eh, whaddya gonna do--we get too much rain for them to be potent. :shrug:

Still, it's kinda cool to go out back, pluck a veggie, and make it into a meal!

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. I am starting to be afraid of my zucchini plants.

The pumpkin vines are looking a bit menacing, too.

Some things are growing very, very well this year. Too well, maybe. :scared: This might be one of those summers where I sneak around late at night leaving bags of zucchinis on my neighbors' front steps.

[yellowdogintexas]

2. zucchini and all its relatives appear to have a Plan of World Conquest

of that I am certain.

If you have a freezer, grate up all the zucchini that get too large too fast, package up in the amount needed for your favorite zucchini bread recipe(s) Frozen grated zucchini will keep quite well and this winter you will enjoy baking the bread or muffins with it.

[Shakespeare]

5. Indeed. I had a gourd plant a few years ago I was afraid of.

That thing would send vines out across the entire plot OVERNIGHT. :scared:

[MorningGlow]

4. Me too.

And the cucumbers. My mom had a garden for a couple of years when I was little, and I remember the all-powerful, all-invading cucumbers and zucchini, so I only planted two of each. I think even that was too much! The zucchini leaves are overshadowing the habanero peppers, much to Mr. MG's dismay. I may have to attempt a little sabotage pretty soon. But don't tell the zucchini plants. I don't want to get them riled up ahead of time, if you know what I mean!

[Flaxbee]

7. Make Zucchini Chocolate Chip Cookies!

From Barbara Kingsolver's book, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle and accompanying website... the book talks about how people would sneak around leaving bags of zucchini on their neighbor's porches at night :D

http://www.animalvegetablemiracle.com/Zucchini%20Cookies.pdf

ZUCCHINI CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
(Makes about two dozen)
1 egg, beaten
½ cup butter, softened
½ cup brown sugar
1/3 cup honey
1 tbsp. vanilla extract
Combine in large bowl.
1 cup white flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
½ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp nutmeg
Combine in a separate, small bowl and blend into liquid mixture
1 cup finely shredded zucchini
12 oz chocolate chips
Stir these into other ingredients, mix well. Drop by spoonful onto greased baking sheet, and flatten with the back of a spoon. Bake at 350°, 10 to 15 minutes.

[China_cat]

23. I did that last year with eggplant.

3 plants. Just 3. We ate eggplant in some form at least 3 days a week, put up 20 quarts of eggplant. My husband took at least a bushel to work with him. I took eggplant to PA to my sister and to my aunt. By CHRISTMAS last year the plants were looking scruffy...but still had fruit on them. From 3 plants.

I wanted to put a sign on my gate saying 'free to a good home'. I hate to think what would have happened if I'd tried growing zucchini.

[Raven]

3. Yup. I was talking to my cucumbers tonight and telling them

that global conquest is not cool. They keep heading for my bush beans and I have decided that they must be Democrats.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

6. The genus Cucurbitaceae is not to be trifled with.

Squash, pumpkins, cucumbers; all of them are bent on world domination. Today I noticed that one of my pumpkin plants had snaked a tendril (tentacle?) across the sidewalk next to the house, moving toward the door...

[MorningGlow]

9. I actually moved a tentacle out of the way of the lawnmower

I was afraid of retribution if I cut it off.
:scared:

[Kali]

19. squash bugs will kill them

I lost zucchinis and cukes last year, didn't even try this year and I'm glad because I saw a few of those bastids wandering around the plot looking for some cucurbits.

[Lethe]

8. sounds good!

i got tomatoes, rosemary, cilantro, and basil growing in my backyard.

i used to grow marijuana too but i stopped cause i'm getting a roommate.

[MorningGlow]

10. A ready-made tomato salad!

My basil has gone nuts, which is great, because I hate spending more than $3 for a hydroponic bunch at the supermarket, using just a few leaves, and having the rest wilt before I can use it again. (I prefer fresh over dried.) I've got oregano going, too, and mint, rosemary, and sage in my herb garden along with some medicinal herbs (not pot, though :D ).

[RedShoes]

11. leave the seeds in the japs next time

or just hit him with some chipotle peppers. :D

[MorningGlow]

12. I have habaneros growing too

:evilgrin: They haven't ripened yet.

I usually leave the seeds in--he's seriously hardcore with his peppers--but there was too much pulp in this particular pepper. Maybe I picked it too early--dunno. He did give me props for at least trying to bypass the milquetoast ones in the supermarket, and hey, I gave his stuff space in my garden, so he can't really complain too much.

[RedShoes]

14. heh

good for you. My father is a hard core pepper guy. His chili is so hot, you NEED a beer just to get through it.

[MorningGlow]

16. That's what Mr. MG would prefer (although he isn't into beer)

He wants his chili to HURT. I'm more of a wimp, although I've upped the level of heat I can handle in the 10 years we've been together. I've learned to be liberal with my salt to offset the pain.
:rofl:

[Gormy Cuss]

20. Habs'll fix him but good.

I live with a hardcore case --we have 20 varieties of hot peppers growing in our garden. There's only one hab plant. The others range from mild heat to mighty toasty, but only the habs take the roof of your head off. At the end of the season when we're knee deep in peppers the SO makes pepper sauce --- we never buy commercial hot sauce anymore.

For next year, look for a Thai pepper variety. They tend to pack a good amount of heat for everyday use. Serranos are also good --more heat than Jalapenos and one plant produces at least 100 peppers.

[MorningGlow]

22. Nah, not him

He can eat habaneros without breaking a sweat. He's a tough one to please, when it comes to peppers. Not to say that I won't try, though! :evilgrin:

[stuntcat]

13. rock on!

:headbang: I've got lots of eggplant so far and I'm afraid I'm gonna have way more tomatoes than we can deal with. I have yellow squashes this year and no zucchini :(

That's so weird, jalanenos that aren't HOT. My aunt helps me out starting my garden every year and she brings me a few veggies to plant, which totally rocks, but this year she brought me THREE jalapeno plants. I only had one plant last year and I had so many I had to throw a lot away.

[MorningGlow]

17. It was a tough choice to say no to the eggplant and yellow squash

But my garden is really small--first year, experimental, not sure how it'd do, and all that--and I knew there'd be no room for eggplant--it'd join forces with the zucchini and cucumbers bent on world domination, and it'd get ugly. There's always next year, however. And then I can learn how my mom and aunt make the family eggplant dish (sauce, oil, grated cheese, layered, no breading, no frying--best eaten cold or on top of pasta or in a sandwich made with Italian bread).

Our jalapeno plants are producing TONS of peppers already, but the habaneros only have blossoms right now. Yeah, we get lots of rain, which gets absorbed by the peppers and dilutes the heat. I'm toying with the idea of putting them in pots next year so I can control how much rain they get--see if that makes them more potent. It should.

[Courtesy Flush]

15. We've been doing the same thing

I wasn't even thinking about upcoming high prices when I planned my garden last winter, and my wife said it would never pay for itself. She's now saying it was a good financial move. We hardly eat a meal that doesn't have something we grew ourselves.

I really love my black-eyed peas. Sure, the tomatoes were a great treat, but the peas were the unexpected delight of the garden.

And you should see all the fresh pesto we make!!!!

[MorningGlow]

18. Mmmm...black-eyed peas

Good choice. I wanted green beans, because I remember going into my grandparents' garden when I was little, pulling them off the beanstalk, and eating them in the yard (hey, a little dirt won't kill ya). I used to eat tomatoes like apples, too--all warm from the sun.

Great idea on the pesto! I LOOOOOOOVE pesto--and now I certainly have enough basil for some (and more besides). Does it freeze okay, do you know?

[Courtesy Flush]

24. I've only frozen one batch

And haven't eaten it yet. But I got the idea from people who claim it freezes well, so I say yes.

[NV Whino]

21. Yeah, me too

I've been dining on the lettuce for a while, but plucked my first jalapenos the other day and promptly made some corn bread. Stole a zucc from a client's garden. Tomatoes are coming on. I've had fresh peas for some time.

Gardens--oh yes!