Blog Update!
For those of you not following me on Facebook, as of the Summer of 2019 I've moved to Central WA, to a tiny mountain town of less than 1,000 people.

I will be covering my exploits here in the Cascades, as I try to further reduce my impact on the environment. With the same attitude, just at a higher altitude!

Friday, May 23, 2008

Backyard Booty: Vegetables

Calabrese BroccoliThis is the second installment of the Backyard Booty series. Today I want to talk about all the super exciting vegetables I'm growing this year.

Okay, most of these I grew last year, so there aren't too many surprises, but since I know better what grows successfully in our maritime location as well as what vegetables we'll actually eat, I know things will be more productive this year.

Anyway, here's the list so far (number of plants in parenthesis).

  • Tomato (3: Black Krim, San Marzano, Sweet Million Cherry)
  • Kale (2)
  • Lettuce (4)
  • Broccoli Raab (4)
  • Broccoli (3)
  • Red onions (12)
  • Carrots (16)
  • French radishes (16)
  • White Lisbon bunching onions (16)
  • Garlic (6)
  • Spinach, Viroflay (2)
  • Zucchini (3)
  • Sugar snap peas (2)
  • Sugar pie pumpkins (3)
  • Potatoes (French fingerling; Yukon gold)

    This weekend I'll be planting some beets. We used the tops and the bottoms last year quite regularly, but I won't be growing as many of them. My broccoli plants are looking fantastic and I can't wait to try homegrown, fresh picked broccoli to see how it compares to store bought.

    Did you know that broccoli leaves are edible? That's right, just prepare them as you would any other green, like beet, collard or turnip tops. Harvest and prepare only young, tender leaves as older, tougher leaves often develop a somewhat bitter taste.

    I'll be keeping the spinach going since we ended up eating a lot more spinach last year than the lettuce, mostly since it's a hardier plant and can withstand aphid invasions better.

    Last year my zucchini was a total bust (I know, WTF?) so I'm expecting this year to be inundated by acres of zukes. I'll be freezing them in batches for making tons of bread next fall and winter. I also will be planting more pumpkins since making my own pumpkin puree was incredibly satisfying and it gets used for so many things.

    I'm not bothering with peppers, watermelon or any other heat-seeking plants. This summer is supposed to be hotter than normal, but last year was such a disappointment I don't want to relive it again. I still have a few other things to plant and a lot more of the things already in the ground to keep enough going to last through the summer.

    What about you? What are you growing veggie-wise this year?

    (By the way, I'll have an ant update soon.)
  • 53 comments:

    Anonymous said...

    this year I have tomatoes (white currant, little white rabbit, fantome du laos, cosmonaut volvkov) - about 40 probably. Sweet peppers, about 6 (ukrainian red round), 5 eggplant (lil darlin, for pickling). Yellow onions. Pumpkins, yellow summer squash, maybe some cucumbers, if my famer friends started too any seedlings.
    I just added to my fruit list black mountain watermelon, ground cherries, and chinese haws. I probably won't get any haws this year, though. And one of my husband's coworkers is giving us some raspberry canes in exchange for tomato plants.

    I'll probably add more veggies as my friends put their seedlings in the ground at the farm and discover they have some leftovers here and there. My husband just expanded my garden from 10x15 to 30x35. SCORE! He keeps reminding me that we have a CSA share and I'm also working at the farm, but I've got big plans for canning this summer. I just need to scare up a solar cooker to run my water bath.

    Wendy said...

    With the exception of tomatoes, I've learned to stay away from heat-loving plants, too. Even peppers don't fare so well in my garden. But those cold-loving guys - woo-hoo, they're a happy lot! My lettuce is already being harvested for our salads, and as it's only May in Maine, and I don't have a greenhouse, I think that's wicked cool :)!

    Your broccoli is beautiful ;).

    Julie said...

    So far, I've planted peas, lettuce, kale, chard, collard greens, and broccoli (my first try with broccoli!). This weekend I'll be adding tomatoes and maybe peppers. I don't have much room for pumpkins or watermelons (and it's not that hot here anyway), and my zucchini always shrivels and dies. I'll probably do some potatoes as well.

    I also have an asparagus bed, but I'm harvesting it very gently since it's only the third year.

    And I have strawberries on their way!

    Cave-Woman said...

    This year I planted my first vegetable garden in our "flower beds".

    So far...4 cherry tomato plants, 4 summer squash, rosemary, 1 brandywine tomato.

    At least, that's what's is coming up.

    I also planted eggplant, broccoli and spinach, but these got washed away in a righteous good storm.

    So, we'll see how they do in the hot Mississippi heat. ( Fingers crossed).

    We'll be putting in a 4X5 raised bed this fall. I can't wait!

    Matt said...

    I'm jealous of Wendy already getting some lettuce. Mine has been in the ground for a long time and not a lot of growth. I think my beds are short on nitrogen.

    This year I'm growing 4 kinds of lettuce, spinach, kale, swiss chard, carrots (3 kinds), parsnips, kohlrabi, beets, turnips, arugula, sunchokes, delicata squash, sweet corn, 4 kinds of taters, cucumbers, 3 kinds of peas, garlic, 3 kinds of onions, broccoli (2 kinds), cabbage, brussel sprouts, 4 kinds of dried beans, green beans (3 kinds), 4 kinds of peppers and a partridge in a pear tree.

    The rhubarb has already been harvested once. I planted 5 fruit trees and 2 more rhubarb roots and the asparagus is too young to harvest yet. Tons of herbs too so far.

    I still have some beans and winter squashes to plant once the corn is taller to support the beans. Then it's just harvesting and filling in spots as plants expire.

    Lots of work so far without much back in food.

    Anonymous said...

    This year I have potatoes, okra, spinach, several varieties of lettuce, three varieties of onion, chard, tons of tomatoes, corn, beans, peas, zukes, watermelon, pumpkin, eggplant, sweet and hot peppers, bell pepper and beets. I also have a good size herb garden.

    We wild forage a lot too, so we're expecting lots of blackberries, nuts and herbs from wild foraging. Today we head out to pick blueberries from a local berry farm.

    Anonymous said...

    i am only growing curly parsley. and 4 different types of flowers. i live in a bachelor apartment, so there's only so much room for pots... especially since i already have 5 houseplants :P but it's my first time growing anything from seeds, so i'm very excited! two of the flowers started germinating already (a week earlier than expected) - i feel like such a proud mom :)

    Anonymous said...

    i am only growing curly parsley. and 4 different types of flowers. i live in a bachelor apartment, so there's only so much room for pots... especially since i already have 5 houseplants :P but it's my first time growing anything from seeds, so i'm very excited! two of the flowers started germinating already (a week earlier than expected) - i feel like such a proud mom :)

    KatieB said...

    This is my first year trying to grow anything. I started modest with two tomato plants, parsley, lettuce, and a yellow bell pepper. I had two cucumber plants but something dug them out and carried them off, roots and all.

    There are rows of black-eyed peas at my grandmother's garden, so I plan to can or freeze them this summer.

    I planted dill and rosemary from seed. The dill is coming up, but I can't get the rosemary to sprout. If the lettuce does ok, I might try growing spinanch next.

    Anonymous said...

    We live in such a different climate than you here in North Central Florida. Our lettuce and collards were harvested between November and April, but finally bolted last month. Now we're harvesting cherry tomatoes, bell peppers, strawberries, corn, onions, and basil. Still waiting to harvest are sunflowers, bush beans, pole beans, winter squash, sweet potatoes, brandywine tomatoes, and maybe a volunteer watermelon. Our garden will be practically kaput by July when it's so hot, muggy, buggy, and fugus-ridden, we mulch and let it go... Except for six weeks of zero rainfall, it was a pretty good season for us. We can start planting cool-weather things again in October.

    Theresa said...

    I've planted a much bigger garden this year, and I'm really excited about it! We just passed our frost-free date up here, so the entire garden is not in yet, but so far I've planted kale, rainbow chard, lettuce, beets, turnips, carrots (chantanay, danvers half long) snap peas, snap beans, spinach, onions, garlic, cucumber and cantaloupe! Still to go in are potatoes, buttercup squash, pumpkins, radishes and some more lettuce. Some of this is in half-whiskey barrel planters, which I have chosen to grow food plants in this year, rather than flowers. I did start some pansies from seed which I'll be planting in some smaller pots outside just for some color. They're edible too, so they will be added to salads and such. Last year I only had a 4X4 raised bed, so this year will be very interesting. Oh, that reminds me: I've kept my 4X4 bed as an "experimental" garden, and it has a little bit of barley, wheat, flax and oatgrass in it.

    Anonymous said...

    Here in New England some of my plants aren't in the ground yet, but hopefully by the end of this weekend I'll be all done planting. I've got tomatoes, lettuces, peas, green beans, cukes, yellow squash, carrots, basil, parsley, chives, sunflowers, sugar pumpkins, butternut squash, spaghetti squash, and birdhouse gourds. My first attempt at a home garden after moving off my parent's farm. We'll see how it goes, but I'd like to get enough to freeze and can to last throughout the winter.

    Anonymous said...

    I live in an apartment in California without any outdoor space (it drives me crazy, but finding an affordable place with a balcony can be challenging), so I am pretty limited. I have basil, chives, mint and lettuce right now. I also have a bunch of avocado pits sprouting which will later be moved to secret spots outdoors or to my boyfriend's parents backyard. I had some garlic growing in another secret spot outdoors, but I think some little animals keep on stealing it! For the most part people left it alone because it looked like the nearby daffodils.

    Maeve said...

    I started pumpkins, squash, cukes, watermelon, a variety of tomatos and peppers, and a bunch of herbs, in my greenhouse. (unheated variety). We dug out lawn, so this is a "first year" garden and is in dire need of much compost and loveliness. But I planted out the pumpkins and some of the squash in our hot snap last week. And also put seeds in the ground for a mesclun salad mix, beets, spinach, two varieties of beans, two varieties of peas, carrots, and lots of herbs and edible flowers. Then we started getting rain (just when I was groaning at having to try to keep well-draining-soil moist for seeds), and the peas and beans are practically leaping out of the earth. I haven't checked today, but am hoping the salad plants are sprouting too. When this cold weather spell is past, I'll be planting out the rest of the stuff in the greenhouse that loves hot weather. Our last frost date is about 15th May, so our season is just getting started for warmer crops. I was late getting things like salad and peas into the ground, in large part because we didn't get the garden area dug up last fall. I'm just looking forward to the year when my garden soil is rich and black and nicely hummus. :)

    Anonymous said...

    I'm only going to say what I have actually planted, because my original plans were so grandiose:

    three zucchini plants, in a container in the driveway with a trellis up the side of the garage.

    A tomato called "Siberian", in self-watering containers in the driveway - I had sworn off tomatos for watering reasons, and all kinds of squash for lack of sun, but then I realized since we don't have a roomate we have half the driveway free and it gets a lot of sun...

    Sweet corn, in the flower bed against the fence.

    Purple tomatillos.

    Peas - planted very, very late and so not producing yet.

    Potatos in trash cans.

    Cilantro, parsley, oregano, and basil.

    That leaves me with three big tire stacks that I think will be full of chard, but I haven't planted anything yet. And all the flowers, some started and some going in as seeds this weekend.

    May said...

    Since I live in an apartment, all I've got right now is a pepper plant.

    Greenpa said...

    Can't tell you how delighted I am to find so FEW references to zucchini here.

    I'm not sure why, exactly, but somehow I find zucchini actually offensive. As food. Not because of its flavor (does it have one?) but because of its trivial nutritive value. Why not eat styrofoam packing peanuts?

    The labor put into this plant is staggering- and mostly wasted. It's not the growing- when it does grow, it's insanely prolific, of course (one of the reasons neophytes love it- look, I can grow something!) - the labor comes in the extensive work to prevent perceived "waste".

    "We've got to DO something with all this FOOD!" (Never mind that it ISN'T "food" - it looks like it.) So gardeners harvest, cook, bake, and eventually spend hours trying to give the stuff away, ultimately descending to abandoning bushel baskets of it on innocent neighbors' porches at 3 AM- incidentally depriving the entire community of sleep.

    Humbug! I say. St. Michael of Pollan abjures us to "Eat food." Zucchini, I maintain, is not food. It's the stone in stone soup, nutritionally- and using a real stone is far less work- and probably more food.

    :-)

    Anonymous said...

    I'm in so far over my head, it's not even funny. Behold, my vegetable garden:

    60 +/- onions: those flat italian ones, will thin and eat all summer, save some for storage.
    10 shallots
    15 potatoes: yukon gold, red, and purple
    2 - 12 ft row of hutterite beans
    6 ft row of cannellini beans
    9 ft row of peas
    12 sq ft carrots
    10 sq ft beets
    10 roma tomatoes (canning!)
    1 yellow pear tomato
    1 slicing tomato
    1 red cherry tomato
    12 lettuce, more underway
    12 bok choy, more underway
    3 sunflowers
    13 hot peppers (was aiming for 6, they ALL sprouted!)
    10 new zealand spinach
    1 test quinoa
    1 pumpkin
    1 zucchini

    The peppers will live in pots on the hot cement walkway and go into my cheesy greenshelf at night. I still don't know where I'm going to put the pumpkin.

    I'm going to start kale, leeks, chard, collards, and corn salad later for my first try at a winter garden.

    Last year my garden was: 2 tomatoes, 4 feet of peas, and a handful of pitiful lettuce. So I'm doing way, way more this year. Halp! hehe.

    Megan

    EcoBurban said...

    I live in a suburban waste-land, so I only was able to container garden. I managed carrots, beans, peas, tomatoes and some herbs. This is my first year, so I nervously check the pots daily for sprouting. It has been unseasonably cold here in Michigan, so things are LATE. Yesterday I saw my first carrot tops poking through!! And, my tomatoes have teeny, tiny blossoms! WOOT!

    Anonymous said...

    This is the second year of my garden experiment. I'm trying 3 varieties of tomatoes in 3 different locations with different temps. We'll see what gets the best results.

    I've got peas, lettuce(mix), green onions that I've been successful with in the past. I've added walla walla and white onions, broccoli, cauliflower, yellow squash, pumpkin, zucchini, cucumbers, string beans, and brussel sprouts. I'm converting flower beds for half of it and will try to keep spinach in my cool flower bed thru the summer.

    Anonymous said...

    Oooh, Megan, just wait till August! Yikes! I mean... good for you! And go all your first-timers!

    We just harvested all our spinach and froze it, and our lettuce is about to bolt here in Denver. We also have in the ground pumpkins (2), butternut squash (2), okra (6), bush green beans (6 square feet), parsley, dill, onions that are going to seed from last year, strawberries (about 10), cherries, apricot, new baby apple trees, kale (about 8 square feet), peas (that the birds ate and so they are about 3 inches tall and will be trashed this weekend), and Napa cabbage (only one survived).

    Going in this weekend will be six tomatoes (2 slicing, 1 cherry, 3 paste), peanuts (6), cantaloupe (3), beets, jalapenos (6), ancho chiles (2), scarlet runner beans (mostly to hide our hideous porch ironwork), brussels sprouts (6), cucumbers (about 8 ... last year's 14 was way ambitious), new lettuce and radishes.

    Last year we grew 14 8-lb. butternut squash. We still have two left, and they have stored wonderfully all winter in our basement laundry room. Can't wait to do more "cellaring" this year.

    Anonymous said...

    Cheap Like Me: I KNOW! I'm askeered! Especially of the tomatoes. But I mean to learn how to can tomatoes this year. I forsee having to take time off of work to manage this. Doh. And I lied, I forgot I had some carrots last year too that did well. I'm nearly a beginner, not quite. This is just the first year I'm doing it BIG with storage in mind and folowing directions. :)

    The pumpkin kind of scares me too. I don't know where to put it, everything else is pretty contained and I hear pumpkins will go to town. I think I might put it in a big pot and give it something to climb on, instead of putting it in with the other veggies. I do have a flat section of roof too ... hehe.

    ~plantain~ said...

    This year's veggie garden:

    Asparagus
    Leeks
    Walking Onions
    Shallots
    Potato Onions
    Peppers: 4 varieties
    Tomato: 2 varieties
    Potatoes: 3 varieties
    Sweet Potatoes
    Corn
    Squash: 3 varieties
    Cucumbers: 3 varieties
    Green Beans
    Tigger Melon
    Quinoa
    Carrots
    Radish
    Beets
    Lettuce: many varieties
    Sunchokes
    Kale
    Bok Choy
    Collards
    Amaranth

    Your broccoli looks great!

    Tina Cardone said...

    I've put together a balcony garden, I'm worried that I don't have enough soil/space for all these things, but seeds aren't expensive so its a worthwhile experiment. I have:

    Basil, Parsley, Chives and Garlic
    Bell Peppers, Peas, Carrots and Corn Salad (I was too curious to pass it up)

    I planted onions, they sprouted and then they shriveled up. I think the soil was too wet?

    Ecodea said...

    We're temporarily in a teeny tiny apt., but my husband has half of our table covered with sprouting wheat, onion, carrot, green bell pepper, and lettuce.

    Unknown said...

    this is also the second year of my garden experiment. i think i am more productive this year, as well, but i am trying to be easy on myself. i've already started harvesting lettuce and arugula, a few radishes, and a few strawberries (these are first-year plants, so maybe i'll get a total quart).

    a small snapshot of what i've planted thus far:
    fruits: 10 strawberry plants, 4 blueberry canes, 1 blackberry cane, 5 raspberry canes, a ume apricot tree. just bought a dwarf nectarine and a pomegranate tree today.

    flowers: morning glories (heavenly blue), Alaska nasturtium, zinnias, spider flowers, marigolds, bee balm..and more.

    veggies and grains: amaranth, sunflowers, yellow squash, cucumbers (japanese soyu, sumter, straight 8), radishes (cherry belle), turnip greens, swiss chard, carrots (baby), lettuce, tatsoi, arugula, tomatoes (about 20 plants...gold currant, green zebra, silver fir, sugar sweetie, cherokee purple, brandywine), peppers (jalapeno, sweet California bell, asia santaka, tabasco greenleaf), eggplant (black beauty), potatoes (yukon gold), peas (sugar snap and progress 9), pole beans (blue lake, coco, Kentucky wonder), bush lima beans, garlic, pumpkins (jack b'littles), muskmelons, icebox watermelons, broccoli raab, okra.

    herbs: some herbs overwintered well here in Richmond, such as rosemary, oregano, moss-curled parsley, lavender, peppermint, sage. also planted more lavender, peppermint, catmint, clary sage, borage, lovage, rosemary, parsley, English and lemon thyme, basil (genovese, thai, lemon, lime, cinnamon, Greek, purple petra), chervil, dill, fennel, anise, cilantro, marjoram, lemon balm.

    i feel as if next year, i will have the right mix of what works and what is useful. i've discovered that i love growing things, and giving away things i've grown to friends and neighbors. :)

    Anonymous said...

    I have an awful lot of stuff going, it's a 365 day a year game here. I'll just say that yesterday I got a half meter pile of yucca cangles {casava plant stalks}and will cut them up and plunge them in the loose earth so they form plenty of yucca potatoes. These are the stalks you see on the backs of the indigenous when they have scenes of the tribes moving to a new location in the Rain Forests in the new world. So it's a kind of a primitive renewal thing when you get your nice new pile of cangles.
    And Greenpa, while I agree 100% with you about the ridiculous production of the fabled zuke, PLEASE do not say they are not food. I love them. You probably just had some kind of juvenile nightmarish experience where your family grew too much of the dang things and your Mom served them three times a day for six months and after that even the thought of smelling cooking zucchini caused your throat to close up. So sad, yet why not dehydrate that extra zucchini {the ones that people force on you , Greenpa, we know you would never grow it} into little chopped disks and use them to cushion fruit shipments in place of the foam peanuts? You'll be able to advertise completely recyclable packaging materials that way.

    Kristi said...

    I'm trying to stay away from Monsanto seed, and so am trying lots of new varieties this year:

    potatoes (Yukon Gold and Yellow Finn), 2 types of onions, 2 kinds of leeks, broccoli, cabbage, spinach, lettuce, corn, acorn squash, garlic, shell peas, soup peas, 14 tomatoes (5 varieties), carrots, and scallions.

    Normally I'd have baby lettuce and spinach by now, but the snow in April did them in. Everything is really late here, too. My tomatoes are usually at the top of the wall-o-waters by June 1st, but I'll be lucky if they reach it by mid-June this year.

    Sueinithaca: I'm so jealous! I wish my hubby would expand my veggie garden. He says I have to keep what I have weed-free, though. Humph!

    Jenette said...

    tomatoes (6) The neighbors cat ate a bunch lat year so this year we over planted
    pimento (1)... by accident
    Corn (16) but the dang wind blew 6 over yesterday
    Strawberry (30)..oh yeah not a veggie :)
    Carrots (lots)
    Sweet and snow peas (lots)
    Potato (blue and something else)
    Bell peppers (12) but just sprouted so I don't know if there is any hope

    Deb G said...

    Megan I think you need to add some tomatillios to that list! :)

    My list: Tomatoes (20-yikes1), potatoes, lettuce, spinach, beets, peas, green beans, zucchini, winter squash, pumpkins (hull-less), corn, tomatillios, shelling beans, onions, garlic, shallots, swiss chard, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, Brussels sprouts, asparagus (too little to harvest)lemon cucumbers, carrots, and my grand experiment-sweet potatoes. Whew...I think that's it.

    Kelsie said...

    I got my landlady's permission to dig up the backyard. I think she thought I wouldn't actually do it...but I did:

    Tomatoes (about 15 plants): Brandywine, Stupice, Black Plum, Yellow Pear, Big Rainbow, Cherokee Purple, Mortgage Lifter, and my "mystery 'maters" (from a mixed heirloom packet)

    Carrots: Parisian Market, Purple Haze, and Chantenay

    Squash: Buttercup and Early Golden Crookneck

    Lemon Cucumbers (baseball-sized, with tasty, tasty flesh and edible skin!)

    Corn: Sweet Sunshine & Golden Bantam

    Peppers: California Wonder & a "carnival mix"

    Sugar Snap Peas

    Ozark Beauty strawberries

    Pumpkins: Cinderella's Carriage

    Watermelons: Icebox melons (smallish) and a Moon & Stars

    Huckleberries

    & many, many medicinal, culinary, and magical herbs including horehound (for cough syrup/drops), motherwort, mugwort, catnip, Genovese basil, white sage, mallow, and MANDRAKES!!

    Robj98168 said...

    This year, Tomatoes - Many varieties including Oregon Springs, Swett Hundred, Yellow pear and Roma- Peppers- habanero, jalapeno, sweet bell and golden bell. Radishes, Sw. CHard, mescalin, Pumpkin, zuke, cuke strawberrys. Asian Golden plums, apples, strawberries, pears. Dandelions seem to be my specialty

    Joanna said...

    Oh yes garden fruit and veg. My favorite subject!!
    Well here is my list:
    plum and cherry trees are fruiting (for the first year), blueberry (on one bush in abundance), cranberry, little gem lettuce, carrots, brocolli (regular and purple sprouting), cauliflower, broad beans, peas, sweetcorn, popping corn, rhubarb, onion, parsnip, pumpkin, tomatoes, strawberries, sweet potatoes, butternut squash and corgette(zuchinni). It all looks lucious, though I don't think either the cherry or strawberries are going to be up to demand.
    I want to grow more but our raised beds are a work in progress dependant on getting more reclaimed wood and top-soil off freecycle.

    Anonymous said...

    This is my very first year growing food and so far I'm loving it. I had THE BEST chard ever the other day, when I harvested my first bunch from the garden. I didn't know it could be sweet! I'm going to post a "Veggie Tales" update on my blog today, so you can read all about my garden there.

    Anonymous said...

    First year for a garden so here's hoping it all goes well! Oh and it's a container garden, so my apt patio is COVERED with pots :-D

    3 tomatoes (2 Black from Tula, 1 Silvery Fir Tree)
    2 Bell Peppers
    1 hot pepper
    spinach
    lettuce
    4 sweet peas
    4 okra
    2 zucchini
    2 asian eggplant
    2 types of carrot (dragon and scarlet Nantes)

    and also some herbs

    rosemary
    basil
    chives
    cilantro

    and some edible flowers!

    nasturtiums
    borage

    Anonymous said...

    We are growing two types of tomatoes and one type of pepper (but Colorado is predictably hot so they should do well), carrots, zucchini, spinach, lettuce, broccoli, sorrel, mustard, strawberries, parsley, basil, rosemary, mint, thyme, oregano, chives, lemon balm, bee balm, sage, cherokee trail of tears beans- umm I think that's it. We are growing all of this in containers (most of them in an used part of the warehouse at work.

    We are only growing a couple of each since we are newbies and using containers but hope to expand next year.

    Anonymous said...

    Well Greenpa, zucchini may not be the most exciting vegetable, but it is reliable. Reliable is good because I like to eat every day. I tend to eat it grilled rather than steamed. My grandmother used to steam it and it was horrible.

    My quick googling suggests zucchini: "contains useful amounts of folate (24 mcg/100 g), potassium (280 mg/100 g) and vitamin A (115 mcg]/100 g). 1/2 cup of zucchini also contains 19% of the recommended daily amount of Manganese".

    Erika said...

    Y'all put me to shame... between your gardens and keeping up on your blogs... wow... Anyway, my sunflowers survived our April snow (in a VERY make-shift coldframe), I've also got popcorn, beets (detroit supreme), mix lettuce, bunching onions, three kinds of cucumbers, 'Walla Walla' onions, dry beans, quinoa, peas, green beans, acorn squash, sugar pumpkins, zucchini, yellow squash, roma tomatoes (we'll probably also have volunteer cherry tomatoes too), carrots, parsley, and I'm sure I've forgotten some...

    greenmama said...

    My mother and I collaberate on a garden, she is a pro. Neither one of us have enough time to keep up with it on our own, so this works well for us. We put in lots of fixins for salsa and tomato sauce, and plan on doing quite a bit of canning. Tomatoes (16 plants), lots of peppers (mild and hot), eggplant, zucchini, onion, and lots of herbs. Put in aspargus for the first year and our other new addition is blackberries. I talked her into turning her fenceline into a blackberry patch. We won't have any berries until next year, but I can't wait. And aspargus takes much patience. We turned one of her flower beds into and asparagus bed, the garden is slowly taking over. Happy growing, your broccoli is lovely!

    Carrie and Justin said...

    I was inspired by your list, and have added my own to our site. We are late getting started this year (getting to be a theme), but we've gotten several things in the ground already. You can see the full list on my page.
    What I wanted to share was something really cool that happened with trying to get in some late "cool season" crops. I threw down some carrot & mustard green seeds at the end of last summer, hoping to harvest before it got too cold. Nothing really came up enough to harvest though so I thought "oh well, they'll compost and leave the ground nice for next year." -- WRONG!!! Those little suckers picked right back up where they left off and we were blessed with a really early harvest of them both. We've now harvested all of the carrots and have let the mustard go to seed (I love making my own mustard, so trying to get my own mustard seeds for this is really cool!).
    Wanted to share this with you since you talked about broccoli - a friend left her broccoli in the ground and had the same results with it springing right on back up! I'm, of course, kicking myself for pulling all of ours out and now aiming for what else I can get to over-winter!!

    Miss Sub said...

    Hey girl, I'm getting kind of worried about you. I hope everything is ok in the Crunch household. Maybe you're just enjoying our glorious weather away from the computer.
    XOXO

    Jess said...

    Okay, I've stalked your blog for awhile and I have got to ask you how your broccoli already looks so much like...broccoli. Did you start seeds indoors? Did you buy starts? Or did you do what I did and plant the seeds directly into the ground way back in early March? With the cool spring this year, I'm blown away by that picture, and envious as all get out.

    Hopping on the booty veggie train, we've got beets, broccoli, kale, leeks, onions, spinach, tons of tomatoes (4+ varieties), 3 types of potatoes , peas, lots of peppers, cilantro, basil, butter lettuce, mesculin mix, 2 types carrots, radishes, 4 kinds of beans, cabbage, strawberries, and the ever present rhubarb (an 100 year old plant!), reproduction crazy fennel and mints, and ever-bearing raspberries. Oh and summer squash!

    Anonymous said...

    this is the first year the kids and i have tried to grow anything and, thus far, i have to say i'm pretty pleased. we have watermelons (who knew they loved texas heat so much) pole beans, and cucumbers along with strawberries, rosemary, basil, lemon balm, thai basil, parsley, and greek oregano. we had a lovely lettuce mix that had barely started to poke their little heads above ground when the big bad garden thieves nibbled them all to nothing. i've started some okra, tomato and broccoli seeds in makeshift pots. all those spare dogfood cans have to be good for something so we drilled them fulla holes and filled them with dirt. the squirels made off with not only the corn seedlings but all the seeds as well. it's probably for the best... i've got more than enough for this first go round. i'm so please that i've started putting in beds where ever i find the space. with out suburban lawn there's plenty of space. some time this week i'll start some acorn squash and give the lychee seeds a go. i hear they're a long shot but what the heck..nothing ventured, nothing gained

    Anonymous said...

    Crunch?

    I'm getting a bit worried too. Everything OK?

    Katie said...

    I'm a little concerned as well. I'm sending lots of good wishes and positive thoughts your way.

    EcoBurban said...

    Hope everything is OK with the Crunchy Crew... Sending best wishes your way!

    Lisa Zahn said...

    I've been worrying, too. Hope all is okay. Your family is in my thoughts! Sending positive vibes...Lisa in MN

    Theresa said...

    Yes, sending all good thoughts and vibes to the Crunchies. I hope things are going ok with all of you!

    Christy said...

    I see I'm not the only one getting worried. I hope all is well and you guys are just busy.

    Anonymous said...

    diddo on the last few posts...

    Crunchy Chicken said...

    Nobody panic!

    I'm okay... I'll post an update soon.

    Crunchy Domestic Goddess said...

    glad u r ok. i was getting worried as well.
    hugs, amy

    cindy24 said...

    Late in posting here. I have most of mine in wine barrels with only a few in the ground. When I purchased my home 10 years ago I wanted all shade to keep the sun off me. Now I have very little room to plant. I have 10 containers in my driveway and a small patch of dirt by my driveway.
    In ground: 5 tomatoes, 1 zuchinni, 2 bell peppers. In containers: 6 tomatoes, bell peppers, radishes, lettuce, strawberries, lemon, lime, basil, rosemary, dill, sweet potatos, pototoes, garlic. My passion fruit seeds and beets did not grow. The tomatoes are just starting to grow fruit. I have been using the dill and basil already. On the fruit note, i spotted a apricot tree nearby with fruit falling. I left a note after noone answered the door. Got call back to go ahead and pick some. Picked about 10 pounds this am and did not make a dent. Will go back in a few days and pick the others about to fall off. I have to say my kids are thrilled after I passed buying the apricots at the farmers market because of the price. My goal is now to ask more often and see what I can collect for the family.