Gazpacho - Fresh Garden Soup

This is a great way to use the summer surplus. This recipe comes to me from my friend Julie.

"Here is my recipe. I added in fresh basil and sundried tomatoes."

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 5 minutes

Total Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

1/2 pound tomatoes (about 2 or 3 medium), divided use

1 cup chopped sweet onions, divided use

1 medium cucumber, peeled and chopped, divided use

1 medium bell pepper, seeds removed, divided use

5 ounces roasted, peeled red peppers (jarred is fine), divided use

1 (14-ounce) can tomato juice

1 clove garlic

2 teaspoons olive oil

2 or 3 slices of bread, cubed

1 Tablespoon balsamic vinegar

1 teaspoon hot sauce, or to taste

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

3 Tablespoons chopped chives

Preparation:

Place half of each of the tomatoes, sweet onions, cucumber, bell pepper, and roasted red peppers into a food processor or heavy-duty blender. Add 1 cup of the tomato juice and puree until smooth.

Pour puree into a large mixing bowl and mix in the remaining tomato juice. Cover and chill for at least 2 hours. Place serving bowls in the refrigerator to chill.

Rub the clove of garlic around the interior of a large skillet. Heat over medium heat until hot but not smoking, then add the bread crumbs and saute until golden brown. Set bread cubes aside.

Chop remaining vegetables to a uniform 1/4-inch dice. Place in a small mixing bowl along with balsamic vinegar, hot sauce, salt, and pepper. Toss to combine. Let marinate at room temperature up to 1 hour, then mix into the refrigerated puree.

To serve, ladle gazpacho soup into chilled bowls and garnish with chopped chives and toasted bread cubes.

Yield: 8 servings

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Garden Tour

The Coleman's suburban square foot garden - a photo collage!

This garden mom hates worms so planting through landscape fabric keeps them safely apart.  They get to do their part beneath the surface and she can reach in and pick without fear or  weeds!  Thanks for sharing. 

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Garden Pest

The pictures in the previous post are of garden pest.  In an attempt to get ahead of a huge infestation and loss of my crops I'd posted these to get some advice.  Krista of Forrest Green Farm offered this advice by phone:

The yellow eggs could be ladybugs, but orange eggs are usually potato bugs.

The the tomato problem - blossom end rot - needs calcium.  For immediate intake she suggest eggshells soaked in water and poured at the base of each plant. 

The yellowing leaves - definitely a soil problem - water fruiting plants with a mix of 2 TBS Epsom salt: 1 gallon of water once followed by weekly doses of 1/2 strength fish emulsion.

Moles/voles - chewed juicy fruit gum in their holes will be ingested and kill them. I know it sounds cruel but a gardener can't be friends with a critter that eats roots.  I've also used repellent with success. 

Flea Beetles - on eggplant, cabbage, arugula - no organic solution that works permanently, its best to plant these in cool seasons and eggplant will have to have a complete cover to survive.

Aphids - buy aphid eating ladybugs (not to be confused with the imported ones in our houses who don't eat aphids), or try organic insecticidal soap

Grasshoppers - dust with flour- they ingest it and die - but you have to wash it off during the day so they can photosynthesize. 

Squash bugs - a real pest, so you have to be diligent - remove mulch, lay down boards to trap them at night pick and destroy them in the morning. Watch for reddish eggs under the leaves and destroy them.

I refuse to loose to squash bugs this year, so when I found them in my mulch, I gathered it up and piled it outside of my planting beds and dusted it with Sevens (a non-organic bug killer) so call this "semi organic."

 

Japanese beetles are attacking string beans, kiwi, passionflower, ornamental and fruit trees so I'm spraying with neem and pyrethrins as well as manually knocking them off into a bucket of soapy water.  

 

This week I spotted a tomato horn worm (a fat camouflaged green thumb sized caterpillars with a horn) eating my tomato leaves.  You can find him by looking for bare stems whose leaves are completely chewed away, and by looking for the droppings on the leaves. 

 

So far pest are under control. I'll post pictures of this year's garden soon.

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Organic Gardening - Pest

Can you identify these pest and problems and offer any organic suggestions? 

Mystery Eggs?

Squash bug?

 

A tomato with a problem I've never seen before.

Flea Beetles?

Aphids?

wild rabbits (this one was a pet on the loose)

moles/voles

yellowing leaves

Your help would be greatly appreciated.

If you have suggestions leave them in the comments below.  Thanks!

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Raised Bed Gardening

I never thought I could be excited about gardening.  When I was a teenager,  it was forced upon me by my father and grandfather.  Who hauled me out the garden for tedious chores like weeding, harvesting, shucking and shelling. 

Now I can hardly stay out of my garden. I only wish my father were alive to see me. 

But my garden is not my father's and grandfather's garden.  I spent my first 3 years here in the country gardening the the old fashioned hard way.  Tilling, planting in rows, weeding, loosing the battle to weeds, and finally quitting in August. 

Last summer I started a raised bed rotation garden - not exactly square foot gardening - but close. 

No more tilling, no more extreme weeding! 

• the soil isn't walked on and so it isn't compacted
• good soil is added above the ground therefore avoiding the hard red clay (which takes years of amending to improve)
• the plants are spaced close, beds are filled with mulch and interplantings, so there is less weeds. 

In addition to being less work, this garden is healthier because it can remain chemical free by:

• interplanting -  mixing in aromatic herbs and veggies to confuse pest and save space
• companion planting - planting herbs and flowers to repel pest, and attract beneficial insects
• yearly crop rotation - moving plants so that pest and disease can't get established
• adding flowers and water to attract pollinators and predators. 

I hope to share my gardening victories and failures and hear about yours so we can learn from each other.

Have you found a way to make gardening easier and more enjoyable?  Leave a comment and if you have a blog or website, leave a link. 

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