A Winner

Zucchini-Ricotta Fritters featured in this month's Food and Wine

Ingredients

2 medium zucchini (about 7 ounces each), coarsely shredded
2 garlic cloves, very thinly sliced
3 large scallions, very thinly sliced
1/2 cup fresh sheep-milk ricotta cheese
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons finely grated lemon zest
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
Olive oil, for frying
Lemon wedges, for serving

Directions

In a large bowl, combine the zucchini, garlic, scallions, ricotta, eggs, lemon zest and 1 teaspoon each of salt and pepper. Stir well, then stir in the flour just until incorporated.
Line a large baking sheet with paper towels. In a large skillet, heat 1/4 inch of olive oil until shimmering. Working in batches, add 2-tablespoon mounds of the zucchini batter to the hot oil, spreading them to form 3-inch fritters. Fry over moderately high heat, turning once, until browned and crisp, about 3 minutes. Drain the fritters on the paper towels and serve right away, with lemon wedges.

Thoughts for next year

1. Vertical

2. Raised Beds

3. All Heirloom

4. Thin skinned cucumbers

5. More herbs, onions, potatoes

Check out the #3 link from this months food and wine mag. This couple is dedicated to this cause but can you believe he wore THIS for his article!!??

Damn rolly pollys & birds

We've lucked out with the pests this year except for the rolly polly's and birds.
Dedication to an
Organic garden prohibits all the really serious pesticides but I discovered diatomaceous earth dust which is harmless to pets and humans but has razor sharp particles that shred the lungs of breathing bugs. I love the violence of it because I hate those damn stem eating bugs!

The birds have been pecking my tomatoes so last night Teri whipped me up a scarecrow. I love it when she gets creatively inspired. within an hour she had a chef scarecrow in the garden with both happy and scary faces.

























Panzanella salad with our tomatoes, cucumbers and basil.



Little tomato eater















Our first ever watermelon!

Xeriscaping Garden Tour

Inspiring Pictures from the Dallas Water-Wise Landscape Tour







A totally Patty porch!






Drift Wood Container plant





The "nightstands" are bee keeping boxes.






Hard to see but that's a container plant balanced on the end of this tree branch.





Close up of the bee box.







- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Zucchini Oven Chips

These are delicious! We've had them two nights in a row.

Recipe Here.

Fruitful Bounty

Corn Cobs!
Zucchini
White Pumpkin
The first red tomato
The joy of night time in the garden.

Teri strung these lights on the fence and they create a wonderful atmosphere at night, add in the fire flies and it's almost magical.

Last night Vin and I went round and round about pj's, teeth brushing and bedtime. By the time it was all over we were both crying. Once he went to sleep I headed out back to spend some time with my veggies. It was so relaxing and enjoyable that once the summer heat sets in I think I'll do most of my gardening this way.

Pumpkin Pollination

5-20 Pumpkin Pollination
Pruned back basil

Tassles, Flowers and Fruit

Lots and lots going on and everyday brings a new discovery and progress from ground to table.

My absolute favorite plant out there is this enormous pumpkin that came up from last year.The first pumpkins was there this morning but was not there last night. That's just amazing to me that it can grow so fast!

I still don't know what kind of pumpkin it'll be so I'm looking forward to the surprise but I'm really wanting a "Big Max" which can weigh hundreds of pounds. To insure an abundance of pumpkins I planted an assortment of three different kinds on a strip on the back part of the garden that had been dug up with the plumbing issue from January. I'm calling it "Pumpkin Alley".

I have critters that come out at night and eat my seeds so I keep them covered at night with wet newspaper. Once they've sprouted I'll remove the paper and bricks.

This is a close up of the corn tassels. I just learned about tassels yesterday when I had to come in and look up how a corn plant actually develops. According to the chart below, we're at the 6th or VT stage of growth. In the next few days we'll start to see the silk of the actual corn. I also learned that that the silk is the female flower and the tassels are the male flower. Once pollinated each corn silk corresponds to a corn kernel.
First flowers on the squash plants with lots of buds ready to start blooming at the base.

Stats:

Planted on May 18th - pumpkin alley and yellow onions

May 19th - Cantalope and Watermelon germinated, 1st pumpkin

May 14th: Planted Cantaloupe & Watermelon

May 16th: Fertilized entire garden with M.C.

1st post

Tomatoes









Pumpkin




Corn



green beans

Coming Soon