Shallot Substitute

I pulled up the rest of my failed onions last week and then brainstormed how to use them.  Then, when I saw the recipe for mushroom and kale pie that called for shallots I thought why not?  I can't say that I followed the recipe exactly.  I didn't have enough parmesan, so I threw in some mozzarella and then added cauliflower-which the recipe didn't even call for-and used plain old ordinary button mushrooms because I had bought a bunch on sale and needed to use them up.  Otherwise I stayed true to form.  The kitchen has to be one of my favorite ways to unwind after a day at work next to spending time in the garden.

Granted, all that came from the garden were my little defunct onions, but it was a crowd pleaser.  I love pie in any form and and this one is a definite must make again.  I'm attempting the Hoosier Sugar Cream Pie from the same Kitchen Window post to share later on this week at a get together.

Part of planning for the move to Zone 3b includes looking forward to growing kale and other cool weather greens.  The two varieties I will be comparing this year {yes, this year!} are Baker Creek's Marrow Stem and Russian Red-Ragged Jack. Don't even get me started on garlic.  As you may remember, I'm dreaming of that too.

Along with the pie there was baked eggplant as a side {not from the garden...you can see mine has a way to go...not sprouting quite yet and something that will go in this summer's garden}.  I have some Pandora and Cambodian giant planned.

This Morning...

red & yellow onions

country gentleman corn

runaway watermelon vines

no mouse yet...the peanut butter kept washing off...cheese tonight

winter luxury pumpkins starting off

blue hubbard sprouts

those French pumpkins

more French pumpkins

New England sugar pie pumpkins...love the look of new squash leafs

sweet dumplings on the side of the house

the herd of zinnias

the first zinnia

Over the Weekend

It's been busy, busy around here.  This is a little of what I've been up to over the weekend.  I must admit the garden and everything else took a back burner to Sophia!

enjoying my new sunflowers

picking squash

wishing the onions were ready

enjoying more sunflowers

encouraging my tomatoes and keeping my fingers crossed they don't burn up in the heat

watching Jewel get jealous....

...while Sophia visited for the weekend

Garden Outlaws

Ishikura improved bunching onions sprouting as of this morning...it looks like pretty much every seed sewn is coming up (I always get excited about that)!  Mike McGrath of You Bet Your Garden would die if he saw the amount of wood chips in my garden I think-it was mixed in with some of my compost I got, no harm done yet....!


According to the ASU garden publication I've tried to use as one of my guides things like bunching onions and lettuce shouldn't be planted until September.  I've decided to plant for the spring season though.  The only risk I think I'm taking is that my lettuce may bolt easier...we'll see what happens-so far so good.  The plan is to compare this season to the recommended one so I'm going to keep careful track of harvest time and amounts.  Lettuce and onions are both things I plan on marketing, plus things I use a lot of, so on top of enjoying my share I'm hoping to have extra (planting is staggered so that it all doesn't come in at once) and after this trial season I'll be deciding which varieties I want to specialize in (if not all!).  Thomas Jefferson is reported to have grown 19 varieties of lettuce at Monticello.  I only have 14, but if you count my other greens I have 24 (granted I'm growing on a much smaller scale!).

The Greens List:

red velvet lettuce with a stray lemon leaf hanging around

Lettuce...
Big Boston Lettuce, Brune D’Hiver Lettuce, Little Gem Lettuce, Mignonette Bronze Lettuce, Parris Island Cos Lettuce, Sunset Lettuce, Tom Thumb Lettuce, Amish Deer Tongue, Bronze Arrowhead, Crisp Mint, Forellenschuss, Red Velvet, Susan’s Red Bibb, Lolla Rossa

Other Greens...

Arugula, Corn Salad Dutch, Wild Rocket Arugula, Red Orach, Georgia Southern Collards, Mizuna (2 varieties), Tatsoi, Pak Choy, Boc Choy

All Sorts of Things Sprouting!

Tending garden in the dark during the week means I often may not glimpse everything that's going on since I usually get home after dark.  I was pleasantly surprised Saturday morning to see some things starting to sprout!

Alisa Craig sprout...I've never grown onions from seed before...I am doing both seed and bulb as a sort of an experiment this season.  I've been eagerly waiting for a few sprouts to show up!

beets...first time growing these!

sweat peas!!

can you see the lolla rosa?

My lettuce mix...this is the planter Jewel hopped in and I've been waiting to see
if and how things sprout so I can patch it up.  This row did well.